GD900 – Final Project GD900 – Final Project (Thesis) of 8,000 words on management issues, or Corporate Live Case Project (Elective)
Master of Science in Green and Digital Management
Core Course
GD900 – Final Project GD900 – Final Project (Thesis) of 8,000 words on management issues, or Corporate Live Case Project (Elective)
Course Unit Code: GD900
Type Of Unit: Elective
Level of Course Unit: Second cycle
Year of Study: Second year
Semester: On demand
Number of ECTS Credits: 18
Class Contact Hours: Not applicable
Mode of Delivery
Face to Face
Prerequisites
None
Course Objectives
The objective is to write a Final Project (Thesis) of 8,000 words in the form of a research-based consultancy report for a real-life company, or a business plan for a new company (or alternatively, a classical research paper or a case study) that will demonstrate the abilities to investigate a specific management issue from both a theoretical and a practical perspective using business research methods and to provide relevant evidence-based recommendations. Final Project is submitted in several steps where the student receives tutor’s feedback on the submissions. An alternative format to achieve the course objectives is a Live Case Project, which is a project-type course that introduces to students a current real-life business challenge presented by the managers of a selected company. During this capstone course, competing teams of students work on a “live” business challenge. Over the period of 2-3 months, the students prepare a business consultancy report and present it to the company. The students work under the guidance of the academic advisor and in cooperation with the company’s managers. Students receive feedback from the advisor on their work-in-progress during the mentoring sessions so as to prepare a final presentation for the client company. From an educational point of view, Live Case Projects are classified as an out-of- the-classroom experiential learning activity which bears the features of the emerging PALAR framework: ‘Participatory Action Learning and Action Research.’ The first concise summary of the PALAR methodology has been published in 2018 by Zuber-Skerritt in the Educational Action Research journal where the author suggested as a working definition of PALAR the following: “a special kind of action research that integrates various concepts and processes, including lifelong learning, collaborative action learning, participatory action research, and action leadership.”
Learning Outcomes
- Transform original ideas into a professional report
- Critically review existing literature
- Choose and apply appropriate research framework
- Consistently reference academic & non-academic sources
- Collect primary and secondary data relating to research questions
- Analyze empirical data using appropriate quantitative and qualitative methods
- Interpret results in order to provide solutions to business problems
- Critically evaluate results on legal and ethical grounds
- Practically apply theory to formulate relevant recommendations
- Analyze in depth the competitive environment of organizations
- Employ analytical tools to determine the efficiency of organizations and their management functions in order to suggest improvements
- Apply the acquired research and analytical skills to professional and career development proposing a path for continuous improvement
Course Content
Course Features
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
Lectures, in-class discussions, in-class exercises – for the Final Project introductory session, followed by the independent student’s project work under the guidance of the tutor (with 2-3 mentoring sessions offered). For Live Case Projects: introductory live session at the company, 3-4 mentoring sessions with the tutor, teamwork, final presentation at the company. Research work will typically include a combination of secondary and primary research methods.
Assessment methods and criteria
100% written Final Project (Thesis) submitted in 4 stages (each stage has to be approved by the project advisor).
The final project is also reviewed by the Programme Director who approves the grade.
For Live Case Projects:
50% Group presentation
50% Individual assessment(30% via the written individual research diary and 20% via peer assessment)
100% Total
Language of Instruction
English
Work Placement(s)
Not applicable
Readings
Final Project Guidelines, slides from the Final Project Session, or alternatively, Live Case Project Guidelines, company materials, and other course materials posted via Moodle.
Optional reading on the relevant experiential learning theory:
1. Wood, L. (2020). Participatory action learning and action research: Theory, practice and process. Routledge.
2. Zuber-Skerritt, O. (2018). An educational framework for participatory action learning and action research (PALAR). Educational Action Research, 26(4), 513–532. https://doi.org/10.1080/09650792.2018.1464939
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