- Context:
You receive an E-mail from a senior manager in your organisation (has no formal qualifications) who has been told he has to send three members of his junior management team on an MBA course. He has received information about the course from the local university but needs clarification on the content of one of the units being offered in year one. He knows you have completed this course.
The e-mail says:
“I have been reading about this unit, Leading and Managing People. The course information says it is not a subject like Financial Management or Quantitative Methods in Business, but I am not convinced of its purpose. What value will such topics such as: flexibility and the psychological contract, team-working, ethics and social responsibility, organisational change and managing a diverse workforce really add to my staff’s development and how will they ever use any of the concepts learned? The brochure says there are really no right or wrong answers so far as the leadership and management of people are concerned. Are you able to explain to me why this is the case and what this all means please?”
Your Task:
Formulate a critical and constructive response to this manager in the form of a carefully considered e-mail (no more than 1,400 words) on ONE of the following topics (incorporating evidence-based argument to support your views and to advise what it all means):
flexibility and the psychological contract;
team-working;
ethics and social responsibility;
managing organisational change;
managing a diverse workforce.
