Management

This module traces a century of management thinking as a practical diagnostic kit rather than a history lesson. It covers Taylor's scientific management, Fayol's five functions, Zaleznik and Kotter on management and leadership, Mintzberg's ten roles, Drucker's management by objectives, the Hawthorne studies, McGregor's Theory X and Theory Y, Wiseman's Multipliers and Google's Project Oxygen, so you can recognise which lens fits the problem in front of you.

This module is about turning objectives into direction a team can actually run on. It works through Doran's SMART test and Google's use of objectives and key results, the urgent and important matrix popularised by Covey, Pareto's eighty twenty principle as applied by Koch, and Hersey and Blanchard's situational delegation, before looking at how delegation erodes during reorganisation and how to protect it.

This module explores what actually moves people to do good work, and why carrots and sticks alone fall short. It works through Maslow's hierarchy of needs, Herzberg's two-factor theory, Vroom's expectancy theory, the candle problem studied by Duncker and Glucksberg, and Daniel Pink's autonomy, mastery and purpose, closing with what a manager can still offer when pay, promotion and certainty are off the table.

This module explores why change is hard and what actually carries people through it. It distinguishes change, the event, from transition, the human process, using Lewin's unfreeze, change, refreeze model and food habits study, the Kubler-Ross change curve and Bridges' transition model, then turns to making change stick with Kotter's eight steps and the Heath brothers' Switch framework, and how to choose between them.

This module asks why the same five people can be a group under one manager and a team under another. It uses Katzenbach and Smith's conditions for a real team, Tuckman's stages and regression after change, Amazon's two-pizza teams, Lencioni's five dysfunctions and Alan Willett's approach to the difficult performer, so you can diagnose what kind of team you have and where its problems really start.

This module focuses on the conversations managers most often avoid and teams most need. It explains why the feedback sandwich backfires and replaces it with the Situation, Behaviour, Impact model, explores Kim Scott's Radical Candor, builds the coaching habit through Michael Bungay Stanier's questions, uses the Thomas-Kilmann conflict modes to choose a response deliberately, and draws on Acas guidance to prepare for a difficult conversation.

This capstone module brings the six areas of management together and applies them to real situations. It explores Aaron Dignan's idea of the organisational operating system and the Morning Star case, settles the boss versus leader question, and works through three applied cases, the Toyota Production System, Zappos and holacracy, and a council reorganisation, naming the frameworks at work so you can choose and combine tools in your own job.