Residential Workshops

Residential workshops

Workshop dates 2012-2014

Introduction to Management Learning & Leadership
15-19 October 2012

Research, Inquiry and Consulting Processes
21-25 January 2013

Leading and Working in Globalised and Intercultural Organisations
17-21 June 2013

Learning and Capability in a Complex World
18-22 November 2013

Research and Inquiry Refresher Clinic (ONLINE)
10-21 February 2014

Dissertation marking and Final Review
15-17 September 2014

For the MAMLL programme, there are five residential workshops and one on-line workshop over the two years - three per year. Each workshop is five days (starting and finishing with lunch) except for Workshop 5 which is an on-line workshop spanning a 2 week period and the final workshop which is a two and a half-day review workshop. All the workshops are organised around a broad theme to provide an initial impetus for discussion but the detailed content of the workshops will reflect the concerns and challenges that participants face in their current work situations. The intention is to examine such issues through the perspective of the workshop’s title theme. Assessment of assignments is built into the 1st day of each workshop, working in tutorial action learning sets.

Precise dates will vary each year; however, the dates for the 2012/14 programme give a good indication of broad timings.

Venue and accommodation

Residential workshops 1 and 3 are held off-campus, normally at Alston Hall, near Preston. Workshops 2, 4 & 6 are held on the University campus. Workshop time on campus will also enable you to use library facilities and meet other members of the Department and Management School.

Workshop themes

Year 1

• Programme Participants at Alston Hall

Programme Participants at Alston Hall

Workshop 1: Introduction to Management Learning and Leadership
(5 days at Alston Hall)

This first workshop provides essential building blocks for the course as a whole; the philosophy and design of the programme is explored and considered in terms of participants' professional and personal expectations in relation to their studies. Initial Action Learning sets are formed, with emphasis also placed on finding ways of developing a learning community, supportive of all its members. Participants are invited to exchange ideas on how they have come to ‘know’ their communities of practice, with an eye to challenging existing assumptions about learning and, more specifically, the nature, purpose and characteristics of managing and management and leading and leadership within contemporary organisations.

Workshop 2: Research, Inquiry and Consulting Processes (5 days on campus)

This workshop provides an introduction to the different philosophies, methodologies and practicalities of carrying out research upon issues related to management learning and leadership. The workshop provides the ground work and preparation necessary for doing the projects and dissertations. The aim is to help participants become aware of the variety of research methods on offer, and to give opportunities to both consider and practise the different modes of inquiry, including the political, ethical, and social issues encountered.

Workshop 3: Leading and Working in Globalised and Intercultural Organisations (5 days at Alston Hall)

Hub cafe, Lancaster University management School

Workshops held on campus provide an opportunity for informal discussions with departmental colleagues and fellow students

All learning and work is situated and takes place in social, political and cultural contexts. In this workshop the impact and importance of the macro and micro dynamics of such contexts is emphasised and explored. The importance, for example, of understanding and working with ‘difference’ is considered. In this workshop participants are invited to analyse, through different social, political and cultural theories and perspectives, the processes and structures at work in shaping a range of different ideas and dynamics. Examples might include our ideas about ‘effective leadership’ or influences at play when developing management development or learning policies, strategies and/or interventions. (e.g. power, surveillance, culture, identity, gender, race, conformity and resistance).

Year 2

Workshop 4: Learning and Capability in a Complex World (5 days on campus)

This workshop explores how socio-cultural, economic, political and technical changes have impacted on learning and educational practices at the individual and organisational level. Issues include the impact of communications technology, the reorganisation of work processes, diasporic movements linked to migration and ‘globalization’. Educational and organisational learning developments increasingly emphasise social and situated theories of learning and multiculturalism. Within such perspectives it is recognised that any intervention has the capacity to privilege particular forms of knowledge and learning, while marginalizing or dismissing other ways of knowing. An issue important when considering leadership and management development programmes, courses or other kinds of learning interventions.

Workshop 5: Online Research and Inquiry Refresher Clinic (On-line over a 2 week period)

The idea of this workshop is to revisit the issues associated with research and inquiry that participants might be encountering in carrying out their dissertation work and research. Attention will be given to exploring varied and different methodological approaches and research designs for carrying out management learning and leadership research and inquiry.

Workshop 6: Dissertation marking and Final Review (2.5 days on campus)

The programme ends with a final review of the course as a whole and of participants’ learning over the two years. It is also an opportunity to consider the future of Management Learning and Leadership within the organizations in which participants work, within society at large, and within their personal career plans.

MA Management Learning and Leadership