THE UNIVERSITY OF MANCHESTER
ALLIANCE MANCHESTER BUSINESS SCHOOL
Academic Year
2020/21
Semester
Semester 2
Course Unit Code
BMAN31842
Course Unit Title
People, Management and Change
Credit Rating
10 credits
Year
UG Final year course unit
Course Coordinator and contact details
Prof John Hassard, Room 7.067 AMBS
Tel: 0161-200-3473
Email address: john.hassard@manchester.ac.uk
Office hours: currently by email appointment
Programme restrictions
Available as a free choice option to students who have received prior agreement from their
registering School. Available as option for BSc ITMB. Core for MLBM.
BMAN31842 is available to study abroad and exchange students admitted through the
University of Manchester’s International Programmes Office.
Pre-requisites
None
Co-requisites
None
Dependent course units
None
General introduction
The course is an historical introduction to the field of business and management studies known
as ‘Organizational Behaviour’ (or ‘OB’) – basically the study of management, work and
organization. The course develops students' abilities to analyse theoretical concepts and
research methods in this field. In so doing, it takes students through three main phases of
developments – foundational concepts (c.1900-1940); theoretical consensus and orthodoxy
(c.1940-1980); and theoretical challenges and critiques (c.1980-present). In the process, major
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management and organization theories will be examined alongside practical examples to
enhance your analytical skills.
Aims
Through historical analysis, students will come to understand relationships between individual,
group and organizational processes in relation to issues of strategic management, cultural
formation and corporate change. A critical approach underscores this evolutionary
understanding of the nature of industrial and organizational behaviour.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course students should be expected to be able to:
- Understand how management theory and practice has evolved and changed, with particular
focus on the development of people and design of organizations.
- Understand the relationship between management perspectives/practices and economic,
social and organisational change in the 20th and 21st centuries.
- Develop critical and analytical skills necessary to judging the value and relevance of
emerging strategic and managerial strategies.
Methods of Delivery
Lectures, seminars
Lecture Hours
20 hours: 2 hours per week over 10 weeks
Seminar/Tutorial/Workshop/Lab Hours
5 x 1 hour seminars (see below)
Private Study
75 hours
Total Study Hours
100 hours
Attendance
Class attendance is compulsory.
Special arrangements during coronavirus
Given the coronavirus pandemic, the modes of tuition and assessment for the module have
changed this year vis-a-vis those practiced in previous years. An overview of these changes is
presented in the “Welcome” announcement on the module’s Blackboard site, which you are
advised to consult. Despite changes necessitated by the pandemic, as your tutors, myself and
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Dr. Nathaniel Tetteh (who will lead seminars) will be trying as far as possible to deliver the
module in a manner analogous to the way it has been taught previously – i.e. with similar
lecture topics, seminar issues, assessment methods, etc. If you have any issues to raise
regarding teaching, learning and assessment on the module during the pandemic please
contact your tutors by email so that we can discuss ways in which these can be resolved.
Syllabus
The course considers the changing nature of management, work and organization since the
turn of the 20th century. Thus, the course examines, for example, the theory and practice of
Scientific Management, Bureaucratic Administration, Human Relations Management, Sociotechnical Systems, Corporate Culture Management, and many other ways in which firms have
attempted to organise their affairs strategically, behaviourally, and operationally. The teaching
schedule (i.e. lecture topics and seminar classes) is outlined below. All teaching materials
(module outline, lectures and PPT slides, seminar exercises, etc.) will be made available on
the module’s Blackboard site during the semester.
Lectures
The system the university has adopted under coronavirus is for these to be pre-recorded and
uploaded on the Blackboard site for the module. As such, I will prepare video-based lectures
for each of the eight substantive academic topics (weeks 2-9) we will cover, as well as for the
introductory and concluding/revision sessions. In so doing I will try to keep the lecture
presentations as close as possible to what I would normally teach on the module – i.e. by
explaining a weekly topic through discussion of information provided on PowerPoint slides. I
will post the weekly lecture (usually comprised of two video recordings) in the 24 period
preceding the official slot for the session. Please note that in addition to the ‘recorded’ lectures
and ‘live’ seminars, Dr Tetteh and I will also run a general ‘live’ discussion session (in addition
to live ‘open’ seminars in weeks 6 and 10) on course and exam issues in the final week of the
module (details to be announced later).
Lecture Schedule
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
Week 9
Week 10
Introducing PM&C
Scientific Management and Fordism
Bureaucracy and Classical Management
Hawthorne Studies & the Human Relations Movement
Socio-technical Systems and Team-working
Organization & Environment
Organization Culture and Corporate Style
Organizational Paradigms & the Paradigm Wars
Researching Management and Organizations
Revision & Overview
Lecture slot = Thursday (1000-1200); room = (N/A – lectures uploaded weekly on Blackboard)
Seminars
Seminar slots = Students to be advised by UoM administration
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Seminar programme:
Guidelines for participating in the seminar classes are outlined below. The first seminar (a
video-based case) concerns issues of mass production and relates to the topic of Scientific
Management and Fordism. Seminars 2 and 3 are text-based cases. They relate respectively to
issues of Socio-technical Systems and Team-working (seminar 2) and Organizational Culture
and Corporate Style (seminar 3). The final two sessions (seminars 4 & 5) are dedicated to
‘open discussion’ with your seminar tutor of course topics and exam preparation respectively.
Seminar 1 (Week 2): Modern Times (film-based class discussion):
Before Seminar 1 (on Scientific Management) you must view the first 18 minutes of the feature
film “MODERN TIMES” (Charlie Chaplin, 1936). The full film is currently available at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAPilyrEzC4
In preparing for class, you should make brief notes on the following three questions, which will
subsequently form the basis for class discussion …
1. What are the main messages the filmmakers are trying to convey?
2. What are the main organizing principles evident in the company?
3. Are there any parallels between the management of this company and that of modern
enterprises?
Seminar 2 (Week 4): Continental Sweets (case study #1, and figure) – see Blackboard site
Seminar 3 (Week 6): Open discussion 1 (of your questions related to topics covered so far).
Seminar 4 (Week 8): Robinson Ltd (case study #2) – see Blackboard site
Seminar 5 (Week 10): Open discussion 2 (of questions related to the course and the exam).
Text-based case preparation:
The short text-based case studies (weeks 4 and 8) can be accessed on the module Blackboard
site. Case study seminars are designed to complement lecture classes by relating theoretical issues
of management and organization to practical problems in the “real world”. Thus the two text-based
case studies you will analyse (Continental Sweets and Robinson Ltd) are based on research with
actual UK companies and invite you to suggest solutions to practical management problems. As
such, there is always a “what happened next” element.
To prepare for the text-based sessions, prior to class you are required to read the case and prepare
brief answers to the questions set. During the session you will initially discuss your answers with
your colleagues in small groups. Subsequently a spokesperson for each group will present a brief
set of agreed answers. Following these presentations, the tutor will give brief feedback on the case
and outline “what happened next”. The 50 minute seminar sessions can therefore be summarised
as follows: You must:
 1. Print, read and make notes on the case, and personally answer the questions set, prior
to class
 2. In class, participate in group discussion of questions and arrive at agreed answers (c.25
minutes)
 3. A spokesperson for each group then presents brief answers (3-4 minutes) to class (c.20
minutes)
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 4. Finally the seminar tutor presents a debrief on “what happened next” (c.5 minutes)
Reading
PowerPoint Notes
The main reading is the lecturer’s weekly PowerPoint (PPT) notes on course topics (which will
be posted on Blackboard in addition to the lecture videos). For most weeks these notes are
very extensive and often comprise over 100 slides. For the most part, we will cover only the
first 30 slides in lecture sessions – the remainder are for you to consult in your private study
(and contain references to films, videos, articles, images etc. relevant to the topic).
Internet Links
In addition to the weekly PPT slides you will find at the beginning of the PPT slides links to a
number of short articles relevant to the week’s topics. These articles expand upon issues
discussed in the lecture sessions. You are advised to make notes on the issues raised in these
materials.
Recommended Texts:
There is no textbook that exactly replicates the structure of the course. As such there is no “set
textbook” for this module; i.e. a book to be followed week by week. Instead students will find
each topic discussed in the weekly PPT notes and internet links, while in addition you are
encouraged to do your own research on topics in the time allocated for ‘private study’.
However, there are a number of textbooks on the market in the area of Organizational
Behaviour, albeit they tend to discuss a very broad and extensive range of issues. As students
often wish to consult/purchase a generic textbook for a subject, I have listed a few below.
Buchanan, D & Huczyniski, A (2020) Organizational Behaviour. Prentice Hall (10th Edition)
(also available online through the UoM Library as the eTextbook for the module)
Of the many OB textbooks on the market, I feel one of the best is Buchanan D and Huczynski A
(2019) Organizational Behaviour: An Introductory Text, Prentice-Hall. This is one of the largestselling OB textbooks in Europe. Many of the topics covered in the module are explained, although
the degree of detail varies significantly. In addition to explaining many of the topics covered in the
lecture/seminar programme, “Buc and Huc” offers at the end of each chapter a “springboard” guide
to further reading. This may be useful for those who wish to research an issue further. Also at the
end of each Buc and Huc chapter are sections to help the reader recap the material presented.
These sections can be helpful in relation to preparing for the exam. Again, please note this is a
“recommended” rather than “set” text.
New or second-hand copy? One question I’m often asked is – “if I buy a second-hand copy of
Buchanan and Huczynski (e.g. on Amazon) will that be OK?” My answer is generally ‘yes’, as long
as you don’t go too far back. The last few editions are much richer in content than earlier ones.
The first two editions for example would not be appropriate.
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A Short Introduction to the Subject
Grey, C (2013) A Very Short, Fairly Interesting and Reasonably Cheap Book about Studying
Organizations, Sage
This is a short but quite insightful and highly readable introduction to some of the main topics to be
covered on the module.
Other Useful Textbooks
Hatch M-J (with Cunliffe A) (2013) Organization Theory: Modern, Symbolic and Postmodern
Perspectives, Oxford U P (earlier editions are also useful)
Thompson P and McHugh D (2009) Work Organizations: A Critical Introduction, Palgrave (earlier
editions are also useful)
These textbooks are more theoretically advanced than Buc and Huc. They are useful for those
who may have studied management and organization theory previously and wish to explore,
respectively, the more philosophical and political aspects of the field.
Alternative textbooks to Buchanan and Huczynski (of which there are many) include:
Wilson, F. (2010) Organizational Behaviour and Work: A Critical Introduction Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Knights, D. and Willmott, H. (2012) Introducing Organizational Behaviour and Management
London: Cengage Learning.
Journals:
Occasionally, reference will be made to articles in some of the main research journals in the
field (e.g. in Academy of Management Review, Journal of Management Studies, Human
Relations, Organization Studies, Work Employment and Society, etc.). These articles and
journals are often useful for gaining a deeper level of understanding of an issue to that
provided for example in textbooks.
Assessment
100% Examination.
Exam structure = answer 2 questions from choice of 8. Your exam answers will take the form of
mini essays. I will conduct a formal revision session in the last lecture of the module – in which
exam preparation will be discussed. (Please note that there is no coursework for this module.)
Practice Exam Paper
To give you a feel for the type of questions in the examination, please find below a ‘sample’ exam
paper (which is very similar in form and content to the exam paper you will be presented with in the
examination period):
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SAMPLE EXAM PAPER
Answer TWO questions
[1] Discuss the extent to which knowledge of the principles of Scientific Management is relevant to
understanding how modern enterprises are managed?
[2] The concept of bureaucracy is often discussed in negative terms? Can we defend bureaucracy
in terms of the management of modern organizations?
[3] To what extent did the Hawthorne Studies and ‘human relations’ thinking stimulate a new
approach to managing work organizations?
[4] What is meant by the socio-technical systems approach to work organization? Discuss with
reference to research studies associated with the socio-technical concept.
[5] ‘To achieve success an organization must effectively manage relationships between its internal
systems and the demands of a changing external environment’. Discuss this statement.
[6] What is meant by “organization culture”? Does the culture of an organization influence the work
behaviour and performance of employees?
[7] Discuss what is meant by the concept of ‘paradigm’ in relation to understanding different
approaches to analysing management, work and organization.
[8] In relation to theory and practice, discuss key differences between some of the major
approaches to conducting research on management, work and organization.
General Marking Scheme Guidelines for Undergraduate Courses
90-100% Excellent First
Work that is outstanding in all aspects. Answer is thoroughly independent, original and insightful.
Work of this standard is in the highest range of the class.
80-89%
High First
Exemplary work, that is highly accurate, analytical and critical in its approach. Answer demonstrates
an illuminating use of sources and thorough mastery of the subject matter.
75-79%
Clear First
Excellent work that is very accurate and fully answers the question set. Answer demonstrates a
well-developed ability to analyse, synthesise and apply relevant knowledge and concepts. Superior
understanding is shown through the use of sources and/or examples to illustrate points and to justify
arguments.
70-74%
First
Highly competent work that provides a near-full answer to the question set. Answer is wellstructured and coherent, and demonstrates the ability to identify key issues, analyse and apply
knowledge and concepts effectively. Wider reading and appreciation of the subject matter is
evident. Free of all but very minor errors.
60-69%
2.1
A good piece of work that demonstrates a sound grasp of the subject matter - though possibly
lacking the breadth and depth expected of a mark in the first class range. Most aspects of the
question are covered. A good attempt at analysis, synthesis and application of relevant knowledge
and concepts is evident. Work is competent in most respects, though there may be minor errors.
Ideas are expressed with clarity and coherence.
50-59%
2.2
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A fair piece of work, showing an understanding of the key elements of the subject matter – though
there may be some gaps in knowledge or areas of confusion evident. Answer covers the basic
ideas of the question set. There may be some attempt at analysis, synthesis and application of
knowledge and concepts – but this may lack insight or rely too heavily on course materials. Work
may contain some errors. Ability to tackle questions and issues not previously encountered may be
limited.
40-49%
Third
An adequate piece of work, which demonstrates some familiarity with the subject matter. Answer
covers only the basic requirements of the question. There may be major gaps in knowledge and/or
serious misconceptions. Ideas may be confused or poorly expressed. There is limited evidence of
analysis, synthesis or application of knowledge. Answer demonstrates an inability to address
questions and issues not previously encountered and/or parrots course material.
30-39%
Compensatable Fail
Work which marginally fails to reach the standard required for a third class mark at the appropriate
level (40%), but which the examiner(s) would consider it appropriate to condone, provided the
necessary conditions for compensation are present. Answer identifies a number of relevant issues,
but fails to show a grasp of relevant concepts and displays (whether implicitly or explicitly) major
gaps in knowledge. Limited understanding and/or familiarity with the subject matter.
20-29%
Outright Fail
Work which fails to reach the standard required of a third class mark at the appropriate level, and
which the examiner(s) would not be prepared to condone.
Answer fails to address the question set but may demonstrate some understanding of the general
subject. Contains many significant errors or totally inadequate in terms of quantity.
10-19%
Serious Fail
Answer is largely irrelevant, but may display some knowledge of the general subject. However, a
muddled understanding or major confusion regarding the subject matter is evident.
5-9% Disastrous Fail
No real effort to answer the question. Answer is totally irrelevant or comprises of no more than a
few sentences.
0-4% Abysmal Fail
A blank or near-blank script. A response which entirely fails to address the question.
Module Evaluation
At the end of the module you will receive a questionnaire from the university which will ask for
comments on various aspects of the module.
Marking Process
The School follows a rigorous and transparent marking process for all examined work. A full
outline and description of the grading system can be found on Blackboard. You can also
access a ‘penalty and plagiarism’ document on Blackboard.
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Feedback
Generic feedback will be provided following the examination via Blackboard: this will reflect both
on how individual questions were answered and the overall exam performance of the cohort.
Methods of Feedback from Students/Course Unit Survey
There will be a course unit survey issued at the end of the teaching period for you to express
constructive views and ideas.
Social responsibility
The course will be instructive with regards to issues of ‘social responsibility’. This is in terms,
for example, of the notion representing (to quote Wikipedia) “an ethical framework [that] and
suggests that an entity, be it an organization or individual, has an obligation to act for the
benefit of society at large”. Much of the history of business and management studies suggests
that notions such as ‘social responsibility’ are specious or hypocritical when we consider, for
example, high-profile corporate scandals, such as those at Enron, WorldCom, Foxconn,
Lehman Brothers, Barclays etc. Similarly, in the public sector, claims of organizations being
guided by principles of social responsibility can be questioned, when one considers for
example the effects of opaquely or weakly justified redundancy campaigns in the public sector,
such as in some UK universities.
Employability
The course aims to provide students with an insight into the history of the management and
organization of the workplace, so will directly enhance their understanding of many employment
issues and contexts. To know the history of management in terms of its theoretical and practical
foundations is an essential pre-requisite to providing good management in contemporary
organizations. How to build reasoned arguments through the mobilization and interpretation of
classic management and organizational scholarship remains important for developing
successful strategy, policy and practice in business.
Your Tutor for Lectures: Background and Research
Finally, I thought I’d offer a brief biographical sketch, so you know something of my background.
For over 20 years I’ve been Professor of Organizational Analysis at AMBS, and before that I taught
at the London Business School and universities of Cardiff and Keele, where I was Head of the
School of Management. I am a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, and for many years was
the Visiting Fellow in Management Learning at Cambridge University, where I am still a Dining
Fellow of Corpus Christi College. My main research interests lie in organization theory, business
history, managerial work and organizational change. On these subjects I’ve published 20 books
and around 180 research articles, including receiving ‘Article of the Year’ awards from FT50
academic journals. Examples of my research can be found in journals such as Academy of
Management Review, British Journal of Management, Human Relations, Industrial Relations, and
Organization Studies. I also have industrial experience, having worked as an equities dealer on the
(UK) Northern Stock Exchange before commencing an academic career. Finally, outside of work
I’m married, have four children, and was born and live locally: my main leisure interests are football
(Stockport County), cricket (Lancashire) and music (jazz, soul, blues). Best of luck with the module!
John Hassard
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