Management Skills for a Diverse Workforce

MGMT206 and MGMT207

Timetable Note

Lectures for MGMT304 are not recorded using the ECHO360 lecture recording system.
UC Timetable

Course Coordinator / Lecturer

Sarah Wright

Lecturer

Sanna Malinen

Assessment

1. Reflection & Analysis
After each class, you will confidentially write and submit (via Learn) a brief reflection and analysis of what you have learned, and issues or questions you have about the class session and the readings. These reflections will then be discussed in class the following week. You will be guided in class. Your honest reflection will not be evaluated, only evidence of your thoughtful reflection and questioning.
2. Assignment
There are two parts to this assignment. The first part will be in class where we will discuss relational skills learning with each other (using the questions below as a guide to facilitate the discussion in pairs or small groups). The second part involves writing a 3000-word analysis of your learning from the discussion. We will discuss how to structure the written assignment in more detail in class.

Guiding Questions for Discussion
1. What role do you think interpersonal or relational skills play in the workplace?
2. What feels most important to you when it comes to your future work?
3. How important is it that you connect with others at work? Why/what makes you say that?
4. When have you most felt like you ‘fit in’ at work?
5. Consider this scenario: you have graduated from University and you’re in your first full-time job. You turn up to work on the first day. You don’t know anyone. What will that first day be like in terms of getting to know other people? [how will you go about getting to know your co-workers?]
6. How do you build relationships [not generally, but you personally]?
7. How did you learn those building skills?
8. What kinds of interpersonal or relational issues have you encountered at university and/or in the workplace so far?
9. Is there a certain interpersonal or relational skill you are particularly good at? (You might need to dig a little deeper if your classmates are humble). Talk about a situation where you used that skill. How did you develop that skill, do you think? [Probing—what motivated you do develop it?] If you classmates can’t offer any skill they think they are good at, ask them what they might want to develop? What is the motivation for that?
10. Describe someone you know or you’ve known in the workplace who has really good relational or interpersonal skills. What do they do well? What do they do differently than other people, in your observations/experience?
11. Have you had mentoring/coaching in any aspect of management development? [probe for formal/informal arrangement]
12. If yes, what aspects of that mentoring/coaching would you say contributes to building relationships at work?
13. Talk about a time when you had to work with a fellow student or co-worker/supervisor/customer you did not get on well with. If positive outcome - How did you know what to do to handle that situation/outcome? If negative outcome – what skills do you think would have helped deal with that situation/outcome? How do you think you/one would learn these skills?
14. Thinking about the courses you’ve done or doing at university; which courses are having the biggest impact on your learning [impact can be positive or negative]?  Why was this impact so big? What do you think contributed to the learning impact? How were these courses structured [that helped your learning]?

References
Please include full references for all sources cited in the text using the 7th edition of APA. Sample APA citations can be found here for a variety of media types: https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines/references/examples

3. Student-run Learning Session
You can do this assignment on your own in small groups. We will organise this in class.

You will research a topic related to management skills needed in diverse organisations, and then design a learning session on that topic for the class.

Your objective is to educate your peers on your chosen topic and help them retain what they learn in your session. A question-and-answer/debrief period that you will moderate will follow your session (to be included in the session time).

You must complete the following tasks at a minimum:
1. Research the topic thoroughly; including the best academic and practitioner material you can find (use the library database, please do not rely solely on Google as a research search tool), and any relevant popular press/media articles or films to illuminate the topic.
2. You must engage your audience in activity/discussion/experiences during the session.
3. Evaluate the material to determine what you want to your classmates to learn
4. Develop an effective verbal/visual/physical session that involves audience participation and practice it!

Group work note: Everyone in your group must participate meaningfully in all tasks (including participating in the learning session). If you encounter fairness issues with workload please contact me as soon as possible.

You may use whatever technologies you wish, with the caveat that you are asked to practice their use prior to the session to ensure they work smoothly. Please only use projects slides to present necessary visual material – you should use them sparingly if at all. Please do not stand up and just talk at your peers against slides! It is not a lecture presentation, it is an opportunity for you to help your peers learn something and it should be a mix of content and skill learning.

You are encouraged to be creative, for example by using a skit, making a movie, develop/use a learning exercise, role-play, etc. Just remember that your creativity, like every other aspect of your learning session, should be aimed at the objective of involving your peers in the learning process, and helping them retain what they learn.

You can also require that your fellow students participate in exercises/self-assessments etc. before or during your session. I can help facilitate these on Learn.

You will be evaluated on this project on how well you/your team helped the class learn this material.

Maximum session time will be discussed in class because it depends on how many individuals/groups we have presenting.

Topic choice – you can choose the topic you like and we will decide who is doing what in class.

 
Below are some example learning sessions that students have done in the past. You are free to choose other topics that interest you about management skills – please discuss with me.

Your learning session should be related to the management skills needed to understand and develop best practices around these topics in organisations (a good way to learn about this is to interview/discuss your topic with a manger on what skills they require to manage the issues associated with these topics in the workplace).  

1. Disability
1. Religion and work
2. Generations in the workplace
3. Gender
4. Sexual identity
5. Cross-cultural communication
6. Sexual harassment
7. Social class and/or occupational status
8. Body image/size
9. Flexible work practices
10. Individual differences (chose one aspect, e.g. personality, learning styles…)

You also have the option to choose another topic that relates to management. Please come and discuss your ideas with me.

Assessment In Te Reo Māori
In recognising that Te Reo Māori is an official language of New Zealand, the University provides for students who may wish to use the Te Reo Māori in their assessment. If you intend to submit your work in Te Reo Māori you are required to do the following:

Read the Assessment in Te Reo Māori Policy and ensure that you meet the conditions set out in the policy. This includes, but is not limited to, informing the Course Coordinator 1) no later than 10 working days after the commencement of the course that you wish to use Te Reo Māori and 2) at least 15 working days before each assessment due date that you wish to use Te Reo Māori.

Textbooks / Resources

All readings are on  Learn. You will need to find your own readings through the library website for your assessment work.

Notes

Departmental Academic Policies
A summary of Departmental academic policies on course grading, special considerations, etc. is available under: https://www.canterbury.ac.nz/business/departments/. The Department assumes that you have read this document.

You should also read the following:
• UC Business School Student Handbook on the UC Business School Students Learn page https://learn.canterbury.ac.nz/course/view.php?id=7744
• General Course and Examination Regulations http://www.canterbury.ac.nz/regulations/general/general_regs_enrolment_courses.shtml

Dishonest Practice
The University of Canterbury considers cheating and plagiarism to be serious acts of dishonesty. All assessed work must be your own individual work unless specifically stated otherwise in the assessment guidelines. Material quoted from any other source must be clearly acknowledged. You must not copy the work of another person (student or published work) in any assessment including examinations, tests and assignments. Any person, who is found to have copied someone else's work, or to have allowed their work to be copied, will receive a fail grade for that piece of assessment and may face disciplinary action which may lead to a fine, community service or exclusion from the university.

IMPORTANT: Where there are concerns regarding the authorship of written course work, a student can be required to provide a formal, oral explanation of the content of their work.

Citations and referencing

Indicative Fees

* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.