APPLIES TO ACADEMIC YEAR 2013/2014

BMP 2703 Process Leadership

Responsible for the course
Birgit H Jevnaker

Department
Department of Innovation and Economic Organisation

Term
According to study plan

ECTS Credits
30

Language of instruction
Norwegian

Introduction
Action-based learning is a unique type of learning where knowledge and skills are acquired through a combination of theory, action and reflection related to the
manager’s own dynamic reality. (The manager can be fulltime leader, a specialist or employee with leadership as important part-time activity, or persons who want to become leaders or contribute to improved leadership).
This reality is at times so complex that one person’s knowledge may not be sufficient to find a solution. In the search for solutions and renewal, the need to involve more people with special knowledge has made process work increasingly common. In working with leadership challenges, two different learning cultures come into play: a knowledge culture that presents a theory and says that this is what you must learn, and then, through action and reflection, a practice-oriented reflection culture which asks: “what can we learn from this?”
This type of expanded learning also enables the managers, and specialists interested in leadership, a foundation to implement various change and development processes or innovation and learning processes within their own organisation and network.
This way, knowledge and action-based learning will help create value in the managers’ own organisation and area of action.

Learning outcome
The purpose of this company-internal Bachelor programme in process leadership is to develop the managers’ knowledge, skills and attitudes in their leadership role through action learning in groups and further readings.
Acquired knowledge:
By the end of the programme, the manager will thus have received an introduction to fields of competence such as action learning, team management, process management and change management, with a focus on the learning organisation and competence change - and is expected to be capable of presenting these key perspectives.
Acquired skills:
This will enhance their ability to lead their staff through various phases of change and renewal, processes of development or innovation and learning processes in their own organisation. Such processes will place the manager in a many-faceted teaching and learning role.
After the introductions to EQ and management styles such as situation-based leadership, self-management and coaching, the manager will be more able to support a better competence development and learning in his/her staff and will have gained a good understanding of how to develop self-managed teams.
Reflection:
Enhanced ability in reflection and communication is expected. This is based on learning reflection
and communication, including working with own attitudes for listening and dialogue with co-workers, managers and various stakeholders. Communication and reflection will be key ingredients in all the teaching modules. In these ways, the manager will be more conscious about how to choose among the arenas and tools of dialogue, debate and discussion, according to the purpose and situations.

Prerequisites
No particular previous knowledge is required to participate in the Bachelor programme.

Compulsory reading
Books:
Berg, Morten Emil. 2006. Coaching : å hjelpe ledere og medarbeidere til å lykkes. 2. utg. Universitetsforlaget. 165 s. (Boken erstatter 1. utg). OBS Vedr Coachinglitteraturen, det kan være aktuelt å bytte ut de to obl ref her med en nyere bok (spør faglærer!)
Guldbrandsen, Arild. 2001. Prosessledelse : å bidra til læring. Universitetsforlaget. 330 s
Kaufmann, Geir og Astrid Kaufmann. 2009. Psykologi i organisasjon og ledelse. 4. utg. Fagbokforlaget. Kap del II og del III. 260 s
Klemsdal, Lars. 2006. Den intuitive organisasjonen. Gyldendal akademisk. 233 s
Martinsen, Øyvind L., red. 2009. Perspektiver på ledelse. 3. utg. Gyldendal akademisk. 340 s
Rennemo, Øystein. 2006. Levér og lær : aksjonsbasert utvikling i resultatorienterte organisasjoner. Universitetsforlaget. 165 s

Articles:
Berglas, S. 2002. The very real dangers of executive coaching. Harvard Business Review. 80 (6). 86, June. 7 s
Drücker, P. 1999. Managing oneself. Harvard Business Review
Engwall, Mats. 2003. Mysteriet med den orimliga modellen : om utvecklingsmodeller, kunnskap og kontroll. Nordiska organisasjonsstudier. 5 (4). s 28-53
Goleman, Daniel. 2004. What makes a leader. Harvard Business Review. Jan. s. 82-91
Jackman, J.M. & M.H. Strober. 2003. Fear of feedback. Harvard Business Review. April. s. 101-107
Jevnaker, Birgit H. 2000. "Dynamikk mellom design og innovasjon i bedrifter". Magma. 3 (1). s. 21-39
Wales, S. 2003. Why Coaching?. Journal of Change Management. (3) 3. s 275-282

Other:
- Aktuell litteratur vil bli vurdert av kursansvarlig og faglærer i forhold til den enkelte organisasjon som dette kurset skal implementeres i. Listen av bøker under vil derfor bli aktivt vurdert før kursstart. Noen av bøkene under kan også bli byttet med nyere lærestoff, så ikke kjøp bøkene før du har snakket med BIs faglige kursansvarlig.
Haalien, Tonje, Edseth, Thomas, Stensby, Jørn Kristian. Paper 2006. Multiperspektiv under aksjonslæring. En metode for trening av refleksjon som ferdighet. 13 s


Recommended reading
Books:
Dalin, Åke. 1999. Veier til den lærende organisasjon. Cappelen akademisk forlag. 312 s
Eriksen, Thomas Hylland ... [et al.], red. 2003. Selvledelse: menneskelig kapital i det nye arbeidslivet. Gyldendal Akademisk. Kap. 3-4
Farstad, Per og Birgit Helene Jevnaker. 2010. Design i praksis : designledelse og innovasjon. Universitetsforlaget. (Hvis vekt på fornyelse, prosess for identitetsutvikling mv. Utdrag som passer i den aktuelle konteksten.)
Hargrove, Robert. 2008. Masterful coaching. 3rd ed. Jossey-Bass. 279 s
Hennestad, Bjørn W., Øivind Revang og Fred Strønen. 2012. Endringsledelse og ledelsesendring. 2. utg. Universitetsforlaget. 226 s
Hernes, Tor og Anne Louise Koefoed, red. 2007. Innovasjonsprosesser : om innovasjoners odyssé. Fagbokforlaget. Utdrag etter avtale med faglærer. Boken gir innsikt i innovasjonsprosesser ut fra nyere organisasjonsteori og innovasjonsprosessbaserte perspektiver
Johannessen, Jon-Arild og Bjørn Olsen. 2008. Positivt lederskap : jakten på de positive kreftene. Fagbokforlaget. 337 s.
Langslet, Gro Johnsrud. 2002. LØFT for ledere : løsningsfokusert tilnærming til typiske ledelsesutfordringe. Gyldendal akademisk. 166 s
Melhus, Jon Morten og Trond Haugen. 2006. Begeistring! : om engasjerte medarbeidere og inspirerende ledere. Begeistringsforlaget. 240 s
Pedler, Mike. 2008. Action learning for managers. 2nd ed. Gower
Treffinger, Donald J., Scott G. Isaksen, K. Brian Stead-Dorval. 2006. Creative problem solving : an introduction. 4th ed. Prufrock Press

Other:
- Råd vedr. anbefalt litteratur gis av faglærer ved kursstart. For noen mulige referanser til supplerende og evt. videre lesning, se under.


Course outline
A detailed course outline can be adapted or tailor-made based on e.g. these nine elements:
1. Recent leadership theories. Management throughout history. What is good, future leadership? Leadership for improvements and innovation. My own role as a manager and leader. My ambitions and development plan.

2. Management of organisational changes. Learning and competence are key words for an organisation’s ability to change and renew itself, but it is not sufficient that each manager or employee becomes more proficient. They can be trained to manage processes by spotting opportunities in the course of the process, utilising previous experience and knowledge and making use of tools and models. The organisation and its units can together be developed and energized to become a learning organisation. What forces in an organisation’s culture work for and against the introduction of new structures and work patterns? Dynamic processes require good management and the ability to solve problems creatively. It is vital to address issues as they arise. What is needed, and how should the process be implemented to achieve the desired results?

3. Action-based development. The foundation of process-oriented learning: Action, reflection and learning. Elements that lead to overall competence development. Theory and learning models.

4. Collaboration and team management. To many, a team is the answer to organisational challenges and renewal, but how do you get a group of people to cooperate and achieve good results? That is the manager’s challenge. He or she will need competence in relationship management, developing social skills, insight into group dynamics and creative problem-solving. Extensive networking across various boundaries can be critical.

5. Emotional work and emotional intelligence (EQ). Self-insight into our own emotions and how we control them is a necessity if we are to understand other people’s emotions and capabilities.

6. Self-management. The current trend towards project organisation or a flat/mixed organisation form calls for independence, but this poses a problem when uncertainty and perhaps gaps of competence increases during a change. Through awareness-raising, insight and training in methods and new competences to improve one’s own performance, the topic of self-management can make each manager better prepared for his job. Another goal for this course is to give the managers a good understanding of how to develop self-managed teams.

7. Coaching. Most organisations have resources in the form of un-utilised potential in their managers and staff, but they are not always able to develop this potential on their own. Coaching helps managers as well as teams and individuals to develop their way of thinking, behaving and learning in order to realise important organisational and personal goals.

8. Process leadership. Process leadership is to contribute to the joint development and learning through constructive sub-processes where it is important to be a role model, give examples and share one’s competence both as a professional and as a fellow human being – and support, listen, answer, encourage, correct, demonstrate, explain, be available and set limits. However, process leadership is also the facilitating and structuring of situations and innovation measures that allow for learning, related to one section as well as the entirety. It includes start-up and implementation of creative processes plus evaluation and debriefing of the processes afterwards.

9. Identity and value-oriented management is to activate the organisation’s foundational values and refine the opportunities for distinctive competence and communication. This includes highlighting through creative design processes and a continuing openness and willingness to discuss and take in the paradoxes of the foundational values, plus the courage to raise and discuss ethical dilemmas. It also includes an awareness of identity, perception of the user profile and work for renewal.

Computer-based tools
itslearning

Learning process and workload
Process management
1st course module: My own role as a manager, communication and team management
2nd course module: Emotional intelligence and work, motivation, self-management and coaching
3rd course module: Process management
4th course module: Value management, renewal and future requirements for management

The course will run over two semesters. Participants must be registered for each semester. The lecture course for the first semester is called BMP 2704 and for the second semester, BMP 2705.

The participants will be working on a project paper throughout the course. The paper may be prepared by one student or by two or three together. The topic of the paper will be chosen from the participants’ own work situation. The participants will develop their ability to solve problems on their own, across the course disciplines. The project work will teach systematic problem analysis, the skill of applying a theory to specific problems in a job situation, and it will give practice in presenting the outcome of one’s work in the form of a report.
Each course module will include time for project paper tutoring. Participants will be introduced to relevant methods and analytical techniques that may be used for the project paper. The course will be concluded with the submitting of the project paper, which counts for 60 per cent of the total grade.

Synopsis
This is an individual theory and reflection paper where the student chooses 800 pages of literature and on the basis of this writes a theoretical discussion of an issue or a dilemma over four A4 pages. It will also be natural to make use of the mandatory reading, which accounts for about 1600 pages. Any reading selected from the mandatory syllabus will come on top of the 800 pages to be selected freely. Teaching methodology and the participant’s responsibility in the programme.
The teaching of the programme is based on action learning.
Action-based development involves continuous switching between
1. Introduction into the theory and professional perspective (subject matter, theoretical perspectives, problem perception, tools, models and approaches)
2. Action (training, action, practical exercises, role play) and
3. Reflection (discussing, evaluating, assessing and learning from one’s own and other people’s behaviour and way of thinking.) A special logbook is used for this.

The participants’ own experiences will be drawn into the teaching, and the lecturer and/or tutors will be present during action practices.
In implementing the learning process we will emphasise the development of an open and supportive team-based learning environment. At times the learning process will take place in groups where the managers will function as process managers for each other.
”Learning and then being”.
To help the process managers succeed in their role, this form of teaching is based on the managers’
* motivation for and participation in developing their abilities and contributing to processes
* courage to challenge their own skills and attitudes and
* taking responsibility for their own learning.


Examination
The programme will be concluded with an individual oral synopsis exam and the submission of a project paper. (The project paper will be written by one participant or two or three together).
The evaluations are an integral part of the learning process. Both exams must have been completed and passed to achieve an approved grade in the course.

(1) Synopsis exam:
Each participant must write an individual synopsis paper which he or she has compiled regarding a chosen topic in consultation with and approved by the programme director. The synopsis paper must be submitted in advance of the oral exam and must also be brought to this exam (with no added comments. No other texts may be consulted during the oral exam). This individual work is a prerequisite and a basis for the oral synopsis exam. The grade is determined on the basis of the oral synopsis exam, where the written synopsis is included in the assessment (only one overall grade is given).

(2) Project paper:
The project work will be done individually or in groups of up to three people, based on the questions which the participants have formulated and brought with them to the course. They will be evaluated in the form of a project paper.

Examination code(s)
BMP 27031 Process management - oral synopsis exam which counts for 40 per cent in order to achieve an approved grade in BMP 2703, 30 credits.
BMP 27032 - Process management – project paper which counts for 60 per cent in order to achieve an approved grade in BMP 2703, 30 credits.
Both exams must be completed and passed in order to achieve an approved grade in the BMP 2703 course, 30 credits. See also the above description of the exam.

Examination support materials
For the oral exam, only the individual written paper (the synopsis with no added comments) which forms the basis for the exam, must be brought.

Re-sit examination
Re-sit at the next ordinary exam

Additional information