The MAMLL programme has six workshops over the two years, three per year, which all participants attend. Most workshops are residential and last five days. The exceptions are the final review workshop which runs over two and a half days at Lancaster and the research clinic (Workshop 5) which spans two weeks and is conducted entirely online.
Each workshop is organised around a broad theme. While this provides the initial impetus for discussion, the detailed content then reflects the concerns and challenges that participants face in their current work situations, and seeks to explore such issues through the perspective of the workshop’s title theme.
The first day of each workshop incorporates peer-based assessment of assignments where you work together in your action learning sets.
Precise dates will vary each year. The proposed dates for the 2014/16 programme can be found in the far right box. (We reserve the right to change these dates if circumstances require, but generally they remain as stated.)
Venue and accommodation
The first workshop is held at an off-campus residential centre, normally at Alston Hall, near Preston. Workshops 2, 3 and 4 are held on campus to enable you to use the library facilities and meet other members of the Department and Management School. The final workshop can be either off or on campus depending on what the group prefer to do for their last workshop together.
Year 1 workshop themes
Workshop 1: Introduction to Management Learning and Leadership (five days at a residential centre)
Providing the essential building blocks for the programme as a whole, this first workshop not only explores the philosophy and design of the programme but looks particularly at what participants expect to gain, both professionally and personally, from their studies. Initial Action Learning sets are formed, and we begin to find ways of developing a learning community that will be supportive of all its members. You are invited to exchange ideas on how you have come to ‘know’ your own communities of practice, with an eye to challenging existing assumptions about learning and, more specifically, the nature, purpose and characteristics of managing and management and leading and leadership within contemporary organisations. We also consider how people situate their learning and practice in relation to current global challenges such as environmental sustainability and social justice.
Workshop 2: Research, Inquiry and Consulting Processes (five days)
To prepare the ground for doing MAMLL projects and dissertations, this workshop provides an introduction to the different philosophies, methodologies and practicalities of carrying out research on issues related to management learning and leadership. The aim is to help you become aware of the variety of possible research methods, and to give you opportunities to both consider and practise the different modes of doing a piece of academic inquiry, including also the political, ethical, and social issues that may be encountered.
Workshop 3: Leading and Working in Globalised and Intercultural Organisations (five days)
All learning and work is situated and takes place in particular social, political and cultural contexts. In this workshop we explore the impact and significance of the macro- and micro-dynamics of such contexts. We consider, for example, the importance of understanding and working with ‘difference’. You are invited to analyse, through different social, political and cultural theories and perspectives, the processes and structures at work in shaping a range of different ideas and dynamics. Examples might include our ideas about ‘effective leadership’ or the influences at play – such as power, surveillance, culture, identity, gender, race, conformity and resistance – when management development or learning policies, strategies or interventions are being developed.
Year 2 workshop themes
Workshop 4: Learning and Capability in a Complex World (five days)
This workshop explores how socio-cultural, economic, political and technical changes have impacted on learning and educational practices at the individual and organisational level. Issues include the impact of new technology, the reorganisation of work processes, diasporic movements linked to migration, challenges of environmental sustainability and equity, and 'globalisation'. Educational and organisational learning developments increasingly emphasise social and situated theories of learning and interculturalism. Within such perspectives it is recognised that any intervention has the capacity to privilege particular forms of knowledge and learning, while marginalising or dismissing other ways of knowing. Being aware of this is important when considering leadership and management development programmes, courses or other kinds of learning interventions.
Workshop 5: Online Research and Inquiry Clinic (two separate one week clinics on Feb 15th and March 7th)
The purpose of the two online clinics is to give support to finalise dissertation research proposals. During the first week of the research and inquiry clinic the focus of the week is dissertation ideas for topic/content together with tutor facilitated discussions on methodology, approach and research design. This is followed by two weeks where people can work on and produce draft dissertation proposals for further discussion during the second online clinic. By the end of week two it is expected everyone will have finalised their dissertation ideas and research proposals and be ready to put them into practice.
Workshop 6: Dissertation Marking and Final Review (two and a half days)
The programme ends with a final review of the programme as a whole and of what participants have learnt over the two years. It is also an opportunity to consider the future of management learning and leadership within the organisations in which participants work, within society at large, and within their personal career plans.