• Offered for Year: 2026/27

• Module Leader(s): Professor Benjamin Bader
• Lecturer: Professor Iain Munro

• Owning School: Newcastle University Business School
• Teaching Location: Newcastle City Campus

Semesters

Your programme is made up of credits, the total differs on programme to programme.

Aims

This module explores how organisations function and how leadership and people management shape their culture, performance, and capacity to adapt in a changing world. You will examine key psychological, sociological, and behavioural perspectives to understand individual and group behaviour, team dynamics, and organisational change. By critically analysing classical and contemporary theories in relation to real-world practice, you will develop insights into the challenges of leading people across diverse contexts and organisational forms. This module equips you to apply leadership and people management approaches strategically and responsibly, supporting your wider development as a reflective and purposeful leader.

Outline Of Syllabus

Understanding Work and Organisations in Contemporary Society
The changing nature of work, organisational forms, and global contexts.

Foundations of Organisational Theory
Key classical approaches including Taylorism, Fordism, and the Human Relations movement, and their relevance today.

Contemporary Perspectives and New Organisational Forms
Post-Fordism, networked organisations, hybrid and remote work, agile structures, and global value chains.

Psychological and Sociological Perspectives on Organisational Behaviour
Motivation, perception, group dynamics, identity, power, and informal networks.

Leadership, Culture and Organisational Life
Leadership styles, organisational culture, sense-making, and symbolic aspects of organisational behaviour.

Managing Culture, Change and People
Shaping culture strategically, leading organisational change, and aligning people management practices with organisational purpose.

Employee Relations and Strategic People Management
Key principles of human resourcing, employee engagement, and managing diversity and inclusion in a global context.

Ethics, Power and Surveillance in the Workplace
Contemporary debates on ethics, digital surveillance, algorithmic management, and responsible leadership.

Integrating Theory and Practice
Applying behavioural and cultural theories to real-world organisational challenges through case studies and experiential activities.

Teaching Methods

Teaching Activities

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

The module teaching and learning methods include lectures and class discussion, non-assessed and formally assessed class presentations and end of module assignment. Teaching sessions will include formal lectures, class discussions and student presentations informed by selected readings, case studies, video and/or other learning material that will be used to provide critical insight into specific aspects of the theory and practice of organization and management.

Assessment Methods

The format of resits will be determined by the Board of Examiners

Other Assessment

Formative Assessments

Formative Assessment is an assessment which develops your skills in being assessed, allows for you to receive feedback, and prepares you for being assessed. However, it does not count to your final mark.

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

The assessed group-presentations (no more than five people in each group) are held in week 10. Each group will present for no more than 30 minutes (20mins presentation time, 10 minutes for questions). It is up to each individual group to choose the topic of the presentation. All groups' final choice of topic must be approved in advance by the module leader. There are no constraints on how students choose to deliver the presentation. The groups are free to be as conventional or as creative as they like. The presentation will be assessed as follows:

• Knowledge and understanding of the subject/ topic area                   = 20%
• Use and understanding of OB theories and perspectives                         = 30%
• Oral communication skills and time management = 10%
• Level of group involvement = 10%
• Visual aids = 10%
• The quality of group response to questions                               = 20%


Assessment 2
One 2000-word assignment: Assignment guidance will be provided by the module leader during a taught session. The assignment will set a broadly framed question for critical discussion and the guidance will encourage independent inquiry to develop a focus of relevance and interest to the student. The assignment will be assessed in terms of the extent to which answers demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the assignment topic area and include evidence of good quality research, insight and originality.

Formative assessment is provided through end of class student-led discussion, unassessed bi-weekly student presentations, in-class case study analysis and end of module assessed presentation.

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If students are eligible to a second attempt, the resit will be any failed components and the resit calculation will be based upon the original module calculation.

Reading Lists

• NBS8159's Reading List

Timetable

• Timetable Website: www.ncl.ac.uk/timetable/
• NBS8159's Timetable