MBA (Healthcare Leadership) - Learning Outcomes

Educational aims

The MBA (Healthcare Leadership) is a career development generalist programme for those who are working in healthcare and have significant post-graduation and relevant work experience on which the learning process should build. The main emphasis of the programme is on healthcare leadership through strategic management. While the academic level is masters, there is a strong practical and professional orientation to the curriculum.

As an MBA graduate you should be able to ground your new knowledge within the base of your healthcare experience. You will be able to reflect on and learn from that prior experience and thus be able to integrate new knowledge with past experience and apply it to new situations. You will be able to challenge preconceptions and to remove subject and functional boundaries so as to handle complex situations holistically. You should also have particular strengths in analysing, synthesising and solving complex, unstructured business problems. In addition to being able to communicate your findings, you should have developed the skills to implement agreed solutions effectively and efficiently. You should therefore have strongly developed interpersonal skills and be able to interact effectively with a range of specialists.

This MBA is directed both at the acquisition and critical understanding of a body of knowledge and at the acquisition of a range of personal capabilities.

Learning outcomes

Knowledge and understanding

On completion of this masters degree you will be able to collect relevant information across a range of areas pertaining to a current situation, analyse that information and synthesise it into an appropriate form in order to evaluate situations and alternative courses of action that may be contemplated. Within the broad framework of organisations, their external context and management, you will be able to use knowledge to analyse (e.g. by classifying, contrasting, discriminating, examining), to synthesise (e.g. by constructing, creating, formulating, hypothesising, negotiating, planning, validating) and to evaluate (e.g. by appraising, concluding, judging, measuring, prioritising, recommending) cases in the following topic areas:

  • the impact of contextual forces on organisations including legal systems; ethical, economic, environmental, social and technological change issues; international developments; corporate governance
  • markets and customers; the development and operation of markets for resources, goods and services; expectations of customers and equivalent stakeholders, service and orientation
  • the concepts, processes and institutions in the production and marketing of goods and/or services; the management of resources and operations
  • the financing of the business enterprise or other forms of organisations: sources, uses and management of finance; use of accounting for managerial and financial reporting applications
  • the management, leadership and development of people within organisations: organisational theory, behaviour, industrial/employee relations, human resource management, change management
  • the practice of safe and compassionate healthcare and associated accountability. 

Cognitive skills

On completion of this MBA, you will be able to:

  • think critically and creatively: manage creative processes in yourself and others; organise thought, analysis, synthesis and critical appraisal; including to identify assumptions, evaluate statements in terms of evidence, detect false logic or reasoning, identify implicit values, define terms adequately and generalise appropriately
  • tackle situations by establishing criteria, formulating potential courses of action implementing and controlling selected courses of action, evaluating results, and reviewing processes.

Practical and/or professional skills

On completion of this MBA you will be able to:

  • select appropriate leadership style for situations
  • set targets, motivate, monitor performance, coach and mentor, in order to continuously improve the people, activities, operations and units being managed

Key skills

On completion of this MBA you will be able to demonstrate the ability to:
  • scan and organise data, abstracting meaning from information and sharing knowledge
  • perform everyday mathematical skills in relation to quantitative data, including using models of business situations; exercise basic qualitative research skills
  • use proficiently communication and information technology, including word-processing and spreadsheet software, messaging and conferencing, and the internet
  • communicate effectively, orally and in writing, using a range of media, including preparing and appraising business reports; including listening to, negotiating with and persuading and influencing others
  • exercise self-awareness and self-management, perform time management; exercise sensitivity to diversity in people and different situations; and continue learning
  • perform effectively within a team environment, and recognise and utilise other people’s contributions in group processes; perform team selection, delegation, development and management.
 

Teaching, learning and assessment methods

You learn through two inter-related methods. First, using a range of specially-written study materials, case studies, original texts, study guides and assignments and through a range of multi-media material. Secondly, you are allocated a tutor. This tutor is your first and main point of contact. The tutor answers queries on the materials, grades and comments on your work and arranges and runs tutorials, face to face or online.

As well as your module tutor, who generally will change as you progress through your MBA modules, you will be assigned to a programme tutor who will normally be with you throughout your studies; his or her main role is to help you integrate your learning across the range of subjects and disciplines which you will be studying.

Samples of tutors’ comments are monitored by members of the central module team who generate comments intended to support and develop tutors’ assessment and grading of assignments.

In some cases the assignments are formative (for example at the beginning of a module to enable you to develop your confidence), but usually they are summative. Modules may also include computer-marked assignments or examination papers.

Most modules also include a three-hour written examination but may involve an end-of-module assessment which could include an investigation-based report.

Evidence of key skills will be apparent in all tutor-marked assignments (TMAs) and tutors will comment on the evidence of skills as well as on demonstrated levels of knowledge and understanding.

You are also encouraged to participate in online forums at both national and local levels. This gives you a chance to share and resolve issues with fellow students as well as tutors and the module team.

Formative assessment, in the form of informal self-assessed questions allow you progressively to assess your own progress and understanding. Formal assessment of knowledge and understanding components of the programme is achieved by a series of tutor-marked assignments (TMAs). These assignments are marked and assessed by the module tutor. They are central to the teaching of the module since they allow you an opportunity to display your knowledge and understanding – and in consequence any issues concerning either – and so enable tutors to identify and comment on your knowledge and understanding. Tutors receive detailed marking guidance from the module team.

Cognitive skills in the programme are developed through a range of activities within the programme’s modules. Case studies and residential school activities allow students to engage with the issues around management and develop appropriate analysis, evaluation and problem-solving skills.

Skills associated with working with others in a group are developed at the residential schools, which are compulsory components of the compulsory modules within the MBA.

The programme materials and support from tutors helps develop your skills in managing your own learning. In particular, many of the modules expect you to work largely under your own direction and initiative. You are expected to reflect on your own performance, identify your own learning needs and develop appropriate learning strategies.

Key skills will also be assessed in each end-of-module examination.

You are expected to have work experience in management. As such, you should already have gained some of these skills. The programme will however allow you to demonstrate and develop them further.

Evidence of practical and professional skills will be apparent in all TMAs and tutors will comment on the evidence of skills as well as on demonstrated levels of knowledge and understanding.

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