Diploma/M.Sc in Systemic Management

About the course

A sea change is taking place in the worlds of leadership, organisational studies, community development, management and consultancy. Traditional ways of thinking, problem-solving and acting are being supplemented and superceded by creative methods growing out of systemic, social constructionist, pragmatist and appreciative leadership methods. This move into the post-modernist context creates new forms of action and reflection. Traditional leadership methods are being transformed, moving beyond the frames of measurement and instructive interaction to new forms of activity created by the language of appreciation and affirmation. The new leaders, persons in positions of authority and trust, are developing abilities in communicating, questioning and reflexivity, managing future visions and action researching to create transformation of environments for fulfilling work.

This change is characterised by a focus on language, emotions, stories lived and stories told, future visions and dreams such that organisations and communities become life-giving organisms achieving purposes in new ways.

This course provides a training based in these new approaches developing participants' skills, abilities and understanding. We aim to enable leadership to be exercised such that organisations and communities can be transformed and give of their very best.

An international dimension is part of this course. This programme is being run in Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Greece. Course participants are linked to groups in other countries to learn from each other and to develop networking skills. Groups from different countries meet and work with each other at least twice over the duration of the course.

A range of foundational leadership skills for creating, managing & consulting

Creating inspiration, participation and commitment leading to fruitful outcomes in different contexts

Working with people to develop team spirit and achievement

Planning and project skills

Time management

Contractual aspects of leadership in management and consultation processes

Supervision and quality management

People management and coaching and mentoring

Conflict management

Leadership to use the resources made possible in diversity

Financial management

Training abilities and presentation abilities

Appraisals and assessment methods

As a Course participant you will

Acquire a wide repertoire of sophisticated practice skills, frameworks and methods, which will equip you to work with increased confidence, competence and agility in complex, fast moving, multiple stakeholder environments.

Learn advanced methods for understanding and making sense of organisations and the processes through which they live, grow and flourish.

Gain academically validated and professional qualifications to enhance your current practice and open up new career possibilities.

Join a growing international network of systemic leaders, managers and consultants, learning with the leading practitioners and academics in the field of systemic constructionist studies from around the world.

Combine personal and professional development, cultivating a deep appreciation of what connects the individual and the corporate, implementing and sustaining systemic change in the organisation.

Achieve your goals, personally, professionally & organisationally in an ethical, collaborative, innovative and effective manner.

Engage in links with other leaders in Scandinavia and Greece both learning from them and creating learning for them from within your knowledge.

Who is the course for?

This is a professional training programme designed to develop significant, practical leadership skills for Managers, Organisational Consultants, Human Resource Professionals, Community Leaders and others in commerce, industry, public services, voluntary agencies, the unions, the churches and charitable organisations:

providing a comprehensive range of leadership skills for new ways of managing, consulting and creating change in organisations and communities

creating competence necessary for enhanced effectiveness in exercising leadership in situations of complexity and possibility

Those who wish to refine and develop professional management and organisational leadership skills: to build upon and enhance their existing knowledge base by learning from leading edge thinking from experienced practitioners. Facilitating and enabling change to develop, conflict resolution to take place and liberating the potential of the human dimension in organisations, unlocking the blocks of organisations. Learning abilities to work with individuals, pairs and groups of different sizes in leadership processes.

Organisational Consultants and Trainers wishing to enhance their skills in process and whole organisation consultation.

Practising systemic leadership

This draws on systemic, radical constructivist, social constructionist and narrative methods of post-modernist practice.

This range of practices and reflexive methods provide an unusual range of skills and resources:

Making sense of and managing complexity

Developing the language of organisations. Understanding communication processes and managing them

Designing and implementing strategies that fit for particular organisations and particular contexts at specific points in time

Widely applicable reflexive abilities and skills

Enquiry and questioning skills

Intervening skills

Creating and maintaining change

Developing a holistic picture of organisations and the effects and consequences of particular actions in them

This combination supplies a special training which is exceptional in its potential for professional development as leaders.

Positive Action

The KCC Foundation is dedicated to enhancing professional practice using innovative management, consulting and training methods from the developing field of human communication and systemic studies. Through dialogue, action research, consultation and training KCC creates unique opportunities for:

managers and their teams

consultants and their clients

organisations and professional networks

health and social services purchasers and providers

commercial and industrial enterprises

schools and educational establishments

churches and their communities

members of communities

The KCC Foundation aspires to be a positive action organisation. We are constantly working to value and celebrate diversity among people as expressed through the unique abilities provided by their race, culture, ethnicity, gender, class, religion and sexual orientation. Course participants and clients are welcomed from all groups.

Learning Experience

The course is created to provide a learning experience which is relevant to each participant in their practice. The programme is organised to enable course participants to develop their learning both in their working context and also in the context of the course. Each two day session is divided up into different activities designed to enhance the learning of course participants.

Each two day session may include :

Two Hours In depth review of learning, future planning and self-managed learning

One and a half hours Literature & Reading Seminars

Three hours Lecturing, presenting and ‘Practician skills’ development

Three hours ‘Mapping’, Supervision and Consultation in relation to exercise of leadership in the workplace

Three hours Skills practice and development

One and a half hours Student presentations, case discussions

The Learning process

The course is structured to enable participants to carry out projects in the situations in which they are working. This is organised in such a way that participants bring their project work into the course sessions, receiving consultation and tutorial support. There is, therefore, a continuing flow between course work in the participant’s setting and in the training programme for the MSC.

The course starts with where you are; your skills are identified, your abilities checked, the level of your leadership task analysed; you create with other course groups a profile of skills and achievements as targets for the course, building on what you do well, challenging what you need to improve and learning what you do not yet have as skills. The course is based in the belief that managers have the competence to develop and identify their own developmental pathway given the systemic skills of consultation and research to create and identify those pathways.

It is anticipated that course reading, course projects carried out in participants’ at home agencies and peer group support provided by participants between time-tabled course meetings will be provided for course members to develop their leadership skills.

Course participants will each have a Learning Coach and be part of a Consulting Group made up of a staff member acting as Learning Coach and other course participants. The Learning Coach and the Consulting Group will work with the course participant from the beginning of, and continuously during the programme. In this activity each course participant will identify learning objectives and abilities to enhance their leadership potential. The Consulting Group will provide a base from which course participants can act and a space for them to contribute from their own knowledge. Thus the Consulting Group will be both a place for support in learning and a space to provide learning support and challenges to others.

Course participants may negotiate with other course members to contribute to learning as well as gain learning from others’ knowledge. Course participants will be part of an international network through internet and contact with other course members undertaking the course in Scandinavian centres and in Greece. This contact will be managed through internet connections and meetings with course members from other countries at least once each year.

Year One

Leadership, Language, Organisation and Action

Module One

Introduction to the key principles of systemic, social constructionist and appreciative practices and their application to leadership, management and consultation. A systemic constructionist framework is located in relationship to other management theory and practice.

The roles of leaders are analysed through studying the stories lived and told in organisations to provide possibilities for acting more effectively in context. The relationships between individuals and the organisation or community are explored through mapping organisational and community systems.

Course members develop understandings of the ways that co-missioning or task giving processes work to develop leadership in the organisation. The overall frameworks, structure and approaches to learning of the programme are introduced including an overview of core themes and practices of the course.

The module is structured with a focus on:

an introduction to systemic frameworks

managing diversity and power

systemic models and techniques

creating learning profiles

Module Two

Course participants work using systemic constructionist thinking in ways of working with, and managing people in different contexts. We focus on how relationships are constructed in interaction and the importance of understanding the links between patterns of relationships for individuals and organisations. Systemic communication and relationship skills are acquired to enhance working with people. These skills include circular questioning, systemic interviewing, reflecting processes and appreciative inquiry.

The module requires course members to use and develop reflexive skills in examining the contexts and values that shape their organisational practices and how these practices facilitate freedoms and constraints for others.

The module is structured with a focus on:

leadership and team development

accountability, coaching and mentoring

systemic consultation practice

an introduction to organisational research

Year Two

Managing Meaning and Action

Module One

In this module course members study, envision and act in their organisations using aspects of

co-ordinated management of meaning (CMM), complexity theory and postmodernism. Course members reflect on organisational processes, tools and products in practice. The development of management and consultant identity is explored with an examination of how reflexive sense-making processes influence choice and decision making in action. The use of moral and ethical frameworks is emphasised.

The module develops skills in the management of conflict. Abilities are practised for transforming and transcending stereotypes and negative accounts of difference so as to create affirmative working environments. Ethical insights to enhance structures, policies, procedures and behaviour are surveyed and used. The management of communication, in the context of moral conflict, is given attention so as to structure conversation for purposeful communication with reference to the complexity of power.

The module is structured with a focus on:

developing systemic professional identity

developing processes, tools and products

managing conflict

Module Two

The focus of this module is on how learning, knowledge and change processes can be developed and critiqued within organisational contexts. It draws on systemic methodologies for constructing effective organisational development and on organisational theory of the learning organisation and knowledge management. Methods for engaging staff in envisioning and planning processes and constructing team and organisational commitment are practised and designed. The links between the grammatical abilities for individual and organisational strategy are explored as different levels of context.

Methods for organisational change and development are acquired and their application in different contexts is refined. Methodologies such as appreciative inquiry, circular questioning and open space technology are offered and explored, tuning into the power of language to make realities in the organisation rich with potential for change.

The module is structured with a focus on:

strategy, envisioning and change

management and consultancy and change

the learning organisation and knowledge management

Course members concentrate on their own specialist areas of interest and investigate ways of using the complexity of systemic constructionist knowledge and practices within their own organisation.

Course participants are encouraged to be innovative and creative in how they carry out management or consultation in systemic constructionist organisational innovations in their chosen field. Throughout the course there is a focus on the use of methods and actions that can or should be taken in organisations to fulfil visions, hopes and dreams. Intrinsic to all this is the use of IT resources in creating good leadership in organisations and communities.

Research Methods

The course member is introduced to the study of research as a tool for leadership. An intensive seminar on research methods creates a context where the affordances and constraints of a range of methods are articulated and inquired into. We develop a language for noticing the connections, distinctions and uses among different research methods.

Particular attention is paid to the grammars of a range of qualitative methodologies and methods including the use of CMM, discourse analysis, narrative analysis, conversation analysis, grounded theory and ethnography.

These are juxtaposed with quantitative approaches and the contexts and consequences of their use are explored. Tools for engaging in ethical considerations in research are given prominence.

Research Project

The research dissertation in the third year is supported by a research group of course members and tutors who meet over 8 days. Learning and practice of action research is developed over the year, culminating in a research dissertation of 15,000 words. The research processes and outcomes are relevant to the course members’ work setting, enhancing leadership in practice.

The course offers a unique systemic constructionist approach to research which gives attention to the detail of organisational life in order to enhance practice wisdom as well as ensuring relevance within the research and organisational communities.

Assessment

The assessment process aims to combine clear managerial competence with critical and analytic skills to enhance practical competence. Theory, research and practice are integrated in assignments of relevance to the work setting - 4 assignments in Year One and 3 assignments in Year Two. These are generally of 3000 - 4000 words and correspond to the individual modules of the course. Peer assessment is undertaken in the presentation of seminars and workshops which students take turns to prepare in advance.

For the Master of Science degree in Systemic Leadership and Organisation Studies, course participants undertake a research project which is summed up and submitted as a 15,000 word dissertation.

The forms of assessment used reflect the opportunity for the course member to show how the accomplishment of using systemic mind sets and tools are integrated with research, management and consultation in a number of way.

By enabling course members to develop a high level of competence in working with practical research material and enhancing their abilities to analyse and to evaluate critically such material

to evaluate course members’ abilities to manage their own learning, undertake independent research and produce high quality written presentations

using models of peer and self-assessment to enable course members to develop a personal and professional managerial profile of their experiences, skills, knowledge and competencies

to demonstrate course members’ abilities to employ course knowledge and practical skills effectively in their workplace

The programme uses a wide range of assessment methods including

written assignments

research dissertation

personal reports

peer assessment

project work

direct observation

reports from colleagues, managers, users

self assessment

Teaching and Learning

The programme bases its teaching on principles of adult learning and self-managed learning which include

identifying and using course members’ previous knowledge and skills

matching the learning process to course members’ needs

encouraging independence in relation to the management of course members’ learning

developing flexibility and responsive attention through working with peer evaluation

emphasising the importance of living theoretical ideas in practical skill

The main teaching format is block modules which are organised on a workshop basis with formal lecture input, group discussion, video and open learning materials and a range of experiential and activity-based learning techniques.

Workplace learning is also very important with course members developing a range of learning activities in their own work setting involving their colleagues, staff and user groups.

Attendance for achievement

Three-year part-time course

Year One

8 x 2-day meetings each year

2 day plenary meeting

5 day Research Methods

Year Two

8 x 2-day meetings each year

2 day plenary meeting

5 day International Summer School

Year Three

8 days Research Consultation, Supervision and Tutorials

Course Dates and Times

Commencing September 2008

Year One

Start Date 18 and 19 September 2008

8 x 2 day sessions held 9.30am to 4.30pm

plus plenary event

For course dates, please contact Christopher Gunstone, Courses Registrar.

International Meeting for Course Participants from Denmark, England, Finland and Sweden. The costs of this event (ie travel, accommodation and subsistence) would be extra. Venue to be confirmed.

The Leadership & Management Summer School will take place in Sunday 28 June to Friday 3 July 2009. Participation in the first year is an additional option.

Fees

Post Graduate Year 1 �3500.00

Post Graduate Year 2 �3500.00

Includes Summer School and International Event

Post Graduate Year 3 �3500.00

Fees are due at the beginning of the course. Instalment options are available.

For students with difficulties in relation to fees, a limited number of bursaries are available. Details from Christopher Gunstone, the Courses Registrar.

Eligibility

Applications are welcomed from people who should possess a degree and/or a professional qualification and experience in a field of practice to support theoretical and practical aspects of the course, namely in developing leadership in a community, business or other organisational setting.

Applications are also welcomed from people without a degree but with a professional qualification, such as social work, medicine, teaching, or other examples, where achieving the qualification has required a level of academic development and skill showing an ability to undertake postgraduate study, may be considered. The ability to undertake post-graduate study may be shown through writing a paper based on some reading recommended by the course director and making connections between the reading and a piece of practice.

Candidates without degrees or professional experience will be required to undertake a special access course. To be accepted on the course candidates will need to show their ability to work cooperatively in a group setting, their readiness to examine their own assumptions and participation. They will need to write a paper to demonstrate their ability to enter the first year of postgraduate study. This ability will imply skills of comprehension, analysis, evaluation and communication.

Candidates should be in a work setting, or role, in a community, organisation, or as a consultant, which will provide frameworks enabling the participant to undertake the projects on the course. To be accepted on the course candidates will need to show their ability to work cooperatively in a group setting.

All candidates will be required to provide two satisfactory references.

How to apply

For the MSC complete the application form and return it to the KCC Foundation. For a discussion or further information contact Christopher Gunstone, our Courses Registrar. Christopher will be pleased to help answer any questions you may have.

Core Staff Members will be happy to meet and discuss your application and interest and you will find an invitation to informal information sessions enclosed.

Information Events

To find out more about what the course involves and can offer you, we provide an opportunity to meet a course tutor and have your questions personally answered at one of our information events. To arrange to come in and discuss our Leadership Training, please contact Christopher Gunstone.

To apply for the course, please fill in the Application Form

School of Organisation & Management Studies Faculty

Peter Lang BD, AKC. Management Trainer and Organisational Consultant working in Scandinavia, Greece, South Africa and Colombia. He has developed systemic appreciative methods in working with business, public organisations, schools and whole communities. He is a founder and co-director of the KCC Foundation.

Susan Lang MA (Oxon), Dip. Management, Dip.Sys.Therapy Management Trainer and Director of the KCC Foundation Therapy training. She has worked with supervision, personal mapping and personal growth through coaching and affirmative practice.

Martin Little MSC, Dip. Soc. Admin He has developed methods for networking in large scale institutions and communities, breaking down limiting boundaries and developing collaboration across organisations to provide better integrated services. Widely sought after as a management trainer and consultant in Scandinavia and the US. Founder and Co Director of KCC Foundation.

Christine Oliver MSC, CQSW, RMN, Dip.Sys.Therapy. Her current interests are in creating critical appreciative approaches to organisational development. She works as an organisational consultant and teacher in the UK and abroad and as a systemic psychotherapist. She has published widely in the field of organisational development.

Course Consultants and Research Advisors

Kevin Barge PhD Professor, Department of Communication Studies, University of Georgia, USA.

Vernon Cronen PhD Professor of Communication Studies Dept. of Communication Studies, University of Massachusetts -Amherst, USA

John Shotter PhD Worked extensively in academia in Europe and USA. Based at the KCC Foundation. Writer and Contributor to the field.

To apply for the course, please fill in the Application Form