Discuss the role that Information Technology played in organisational change
Assessment Dissertation 8,500 words
The Research Project module provides an opportunity for students to undertake a significant
independent piece of research, drawing upon the knowledge and skills that have been learned
during the taught components of the course. Students will apply concepts, theories and
research techniques, draw on internationally published literature, and develop and interpret
knowledge about management theory and practice. Students undertaking this module will write
a dissertation of 8,500 words (plus/minus 10%) in length. Each project will be supervised by
a member of academic staff.
Students whose performance in the first term has been 60% and higher will have the choice to
either undertake an unstructured research project (dissertation) or do a structured project.
In unstructured project students will need to formulate a research question and plan their
research individually following guidelines from their supervisor.
Students whose performance in the first term has been less than 60% are requested to do a
structured project, information about which is presented in the following section.
Overview of the Structured Research Project
Choose a private, public or non-profit organisation located anywhere in the world in order
to analyse and discuss the management of organisational change. You are free to select an
organisation of your choice drawing upon case studies in the literature and articles in the
press, which indicate a significant organisational change has happened.
In your research project you should draw upon secondary information but you may also gather
primary data (subject to supervisor’s approval). Please note that prior to the collection of
primary data you should submit a research ethics application, information about which will
be provided to you in due course.
The research project should make use of relevant bibliography (suggested bibliography is
provided below for reference) and it should cover the following matters:
1. What were the reasons that led to organisational change and what was the purpose of
change?
2. Who were the involved stakeholders and what role did each of them play in the process of
change?
3. Describe, using relevant theory and/or framework, the process of change that occurred in
the organization you’ve chosen.
4. Describe how the changing organisational context has influenced the changes that have
been undertaken
5. How would you evaluate the outcome of change?
Your project should also analyse and discuss in more depth two issues from the following
list:
I. Discuss the role that leadership played in this organisational change
II. Analyse the challenges of changing organizational culture
III. Describe the role that Information Technology played in organisational change
IV. Discuss the role of innovation (in products and/or services) in the changes that have
been observed
V. Analyse the politics that occurred in the process of change and report instances of
resistance to change
VI. Report on what were the lessons that we can learn from the reported organizational
change
Research projects should be structured in the following way (please note that the word limit
is an approximation only; you may go above or below this limit):
Abstract (300 words)
Introduction (600)
Literature Review (2000)
You are expected to review literature on organisational change (theories, frameworks etc.)
in broader terms but also more specifically in relation to aspects such as leadership,
information technology, innovation, culture etc. depending on the issues (as described
above) you choose to discuss.
Research Methodology (1000)
You are expected to provide a description of the methods you used to gather information, the
ways in which you analysed it, justification of the methodology you followed and reflection
on the limitations of the project drawing upon relevant literature
Case study (2500)
You are expected to provide information about the company (background and profile) and to
describe its organisational change responding to the five points mentioned above. You should
also be mentioning here but not covering thoroughly the two issues (out of the six mentioned
above) you will be discussing in the following section (for signposting).
Discussion (1500)
You should discuss and analyse in depth two issues of the organisational change your
selected organisations has gone through using relevant literature. Ideally, the review of
the literature should be discussed in line with your case study.
Conclusions (600)
References (not included in the word limit)
Appendices (optional)
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this course a successful student should be able to:
1. Develop and devise a suitable topic for a research project in the field of management and
demonstrate a systemic and critical understanding of the relevant theory
2. Appraise, reflect, interpret and synthesise the relevant theory and previous empirical
studies to inform own research
3. Critically evaluate methodological approaches in previous studies and develop an
appropriate methodological design to meet the specified aim and objectives of the research
project
4. Appraise, reflect, interpret and synthesise the evidence gathered
5. Demonstrate the ability to plan, execute, analyse and synthesise autonomously and think
independently
