Program Overview

Overview

The FMBA5011 unit, "Leading in a Digital World," is an intensive program offered in July and August 2022. This unit aims to evaluate the main assumptions that underlie how technology is understood and employed by leaders and managers. Topics covered include current technological developments, such as artificial intelligence, big data, consumerisation of technology, the role of data and knowledge in management, the future of work, and digital disruption and transformation.

Unit Details and Rules

• Academic unit: Management Education
• Credit points: 6
• Prerequisites: None
• Corequisites: None
• Prohibitions: None
• Assumed knowledge: None
• Available to study abroad and exchange students: No

Teaching Staff

• Coordinator: Kai Riemer
• Lecturer(s): Kai Riemer, Daniel Schlagwein

Assessment

The assessment for this unit includes:

• Assignment: Individual essay (40%): Students will demonstrate their understanding of the role of technology in managing knowledge and people in organisations. The essay will require students to reflect critically on a business scenario involving technology, approaching their evaluation from divergent perspectives, elucidating the tensions created by these perspectives, and productively resolving and synthesising the insights revealed by those tensions.
• Small continuous assessment: Individual assignment (continuous week-by-week) (30%): Students will keep an individual, oral learning journal to reflect on each session, utilising a set of brief instructions provided via Canvas for each submission. The journal will assist students in keeping up to date with required work and provide timely feedback on their learning progress.
• Presentation: In-class group activities and presentations (30%): In groups, students will analyse and critically evaluate case study materials, identify underlying assumptions, and draw out the inherent tensions in the presented cases. Students will approach their analysis from divergent viewpoints, synthesise their ideas, and effectively communicate the results in a short team presentation.

Assessment Summary

• Individual assignment (continuous week-by-week): Students will submit short videos via Canvas after daily sessions, reflecting on each session and utilising a set of brief instructions provided.
• In-class group activities and presentations: Groups will participate in case study analyses, presentations, and possibly a mock debate around a controversial statement.

Assessment Criteria

The University awards common result grades, with the following mark ranges and descriptions:

• High distinction: 85-100 (exceptional standard)
• Distinction: 75-84 (very high standard)
• Credit: 65-74 (good standard)
• Pass: 50-64 (acceptable standard)
• Fail: 0-49 (does not meet learning outcomes)

Late Submission

Penalties apply for late submissions:

• Deduction of 5% of the maximum mark for each calendar day after the due date.
• After ten calendar days late, a mark of zero will be awarded.

Academic Integrity

The University expects students and staff to act ethically and honestly. Allegations of academic integrity breaches will be treated seriously. Similarity detection software will be used to detect potential instances of plagiarism or other forms of academic integrity breaches.

Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Automated Writing Tools

Students may only use generative AI and automated writing tools in assessment tasks if permitted by the unit coordinator. If used, students must acknowledge this in their work and ensure their final submitted work is their own, original work.

Learning Support

• Simple extensions: Students may apply for a five-calendar-day extension through a simple extension process.
• Special consideration: Students may be eligible for special consideration or special arrangements due to exceptional circumstances.

Weekly Schedule

The unit will cover the following topics over seven weeks:

• Week 01: Introduction and the information society
• Week 02: Foundations of organization, management, leadership, and technology
• Week 03: Changing nature of digital
• Week 04: Foundations of knowledge and cognition
• Week 05: The data-driven organisation
• Week 06: Dawn of the machine age
• Week 07: What is disruption and futures thinking in uncertain times

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this unit, students should be able to:

• LO1: Examine contemporary digital technology trends and their implications for organisations and people
• LO2: Demonstrate a refined understanding of the complex inter-relationships among knowledge, technology, and people in organisations
• LO3: Analyse implications for managing people of novel workplace technologies
• LO4: Effectively analyse business cases of IT in organisations and communicate insights in collaborative team settings

Graduate Qualities

The University of Sydney's graduate qualities include:

• Depth of disciplinary expertise
• Critical thinking and problem-solving
• Oral and written communication
• Information and digital literacy
• Inventiveness
• Cultural competence
• Interdisciplinary effectiveness
• Integrated professional, ethical, and personal identity
• Influence

Outcome Map

Learning outcomes are aligned with graduate qualities, ensuring students develop a comprehensive set of skills and knowledge.

Responding to Student Feedback

Minor improvements have been made to the unit since it was last offered, including the incorporation of new material on the Covid-19 pandemic.

Additional Information

• The University reserves the right to amend units of study or no longer offer certain units.
• This unit of study outline was last modified on 12 Jan 2023.