Management Analysis and Problem Solving
Overview
The aim of this unit is to introduce students to a range of ways of exploring the management and organisational issues that confront organisations and businesses. Students will be offered a range of techniques designed to help them work effectively with others in inquiring into opportunities and problems, framing them in useful ways and creating options for tackling them. The unit offers a range of perspectives for doing this, including analysis using metaphor, gap analysis, and systems thinking. It is intended to help students integrate and apply the different discipline perspectives they study in their degrees; think holistically as well as functionally; and develop skills in collaborating with others whose training and perspective may be very different from their own.
Requisites
01-June-2025
02-November-2025
Learning outcomes
Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:
- Apply coherent and advanced knowledge of techniques in inquiry and analysis to organisational and business problems and opportunities
- Critically evaluate and utilise diagnostic framing for understanding presenting problems and opportunities
- Critically Analyse differences in individuals’ mindsets, experience and background, including their own
- Work collaboratively with a range of people and act as a member and a leader of a team and work with others in developing their diagnostic practice
Teaching methods
Hawthorn
| Type | Hours per week | Number of weeks | Total (number of hours) |
|---|---|---|---|
| On-campus Class | 2.00 | 12 weeks | 24 |
| Unspecified Activities Independent Learning | 9.50 | 12 weeks | 114 |
| Online Lecture | 1.00 | 12 weeks | 12 |
| TOTAL | 150 |
Swinburne Online
| Type | Hours per week | Number of weeks | Total (number of hours) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Online Directed Online Learning and Independent Learning | 12.50 | 12 weeks | 150 |
| TOTAL | 150 |
Assessment
| Type | Task | Weighting | ULO's |
|---|---|---|---|
| Presentation and Report | Group | 40 - 50% | 1,2,3,4 |
| Report | Individual | 40 - 60% | 1,2,3 |
Content
- Creating opportunities by understanding problems/issues differently
- Introduction to different ways of framing/re-framing an issue
- Metaphor as a tool for understanding organisational issues
- Taking a 'systems thinking' approach
- Gap analysis
- Developing a range of solutions to a real client problem
- Presenting and justifying an option to a real client
- Graduate Attribute – Communication Skills: Verbal Communication
- Graduate Attribute – Teamwork Skills: Collaboration and Negotiation
- Graduate Attribute – Digital literacies: Informational Literacy
- Graduate Attribute – Digital literacies: Technical Literacy
Study resources
Reading materials
A list of reading materials and/or required textbooks will be available in the Unit Outline on Canvas.