MGMT20148 - Strategic Solutions for Sustainable Organisations

General Information

Unit Synopsis

Researching strategically relevant business problems is an important part of professional practice and being a successful manager and leader. This is a capstone unit that draws upon your area of specialisation and your wider knowledge of business environments both globally and locally. The unit focuses on developing your ability to undertake independent research that focuses on and contributes to strategic decision making and sustainability in organisations. The unit will improve your skills in synthesising information and developing solutions to improve the long-term effectiveness and sustainability of organisations. You will use research skills to analyse a management problem in your chosen business discipline, identifying strategic challenges, and developing recommendations aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These recommendations will be based on systematic and rigorous analysis of relevant academic literature, professional business information, and publicly available secondary data.

Details

Level Postgraduate
Unit Level 9
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 4
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites

This is a capstone unit for students completing a coursework based masters.

Hence students must have completed 10 master level units (60 credit points) of study prior to enrolment.

Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School No Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 2 - 2025

Term 2 - 2025 Profile
Brisbane
Melbourne
Online
Sydney
Term 3 - 2025 Profile
Online
Term 1 - 2026 Profile
Brisbane
Melbourne
Online
Sydney
Term 2 - 2026 Profile
Brisbane
Melbourne
Online
Sydney
Term 3 - 2026 Profile
Online

Attendance Requirements

All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).

Assessment Overview

Recommended Student Time Commitment

Each 6-credit Postgraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Learning logs / diaries / Journal / log books 20%
2. Research Proposal 30%
3. Research Assignment 50%

This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).

Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades

Past Exams

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Previous Feedback

Term 1 - 2025 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 90.91% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 33.08% response rate.

Feedback, Recommendations and Responses

Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.

Source: Reflection on Student Performance Data
Feedback
Students who complete the unit in online mode are struggling to achieve high marks
Recommendation
Monitor the delivery of the unit in T3 2024 to ensure that students are getting the same level of support and are able to engage with the unit in the same way as on campus students.
Action Taken
The delivery of the unit was monitored in T3, and students were being provided with the same, if not more, support than students who complete the unit online. The issue mostly seemed to be that without face-to-face classes, students found it harder to remain focused on their research project, which meant they left it too late to start/work on it, and as a result, their final projects were not as well presented.
Source: Unit Coordinator Reflection
Feedback
The UN SDGs form a major part of the unit focus, but these SDGs will be reaching the end of their timeframe in 2030. The unit should be prepared well ahead of that time to shift to a different focus.
Recommendation
Begin the process of considering alternative measures of impact that may be useful to incorporate into the unit over the next few years as the UN SDGs approach the end of their timeframe.
Action Taken
Consideration has been given to this, however, no final determination has been made regarding what could serve as an alternative to the SDGs at this point. It is likely that the UN will develop new goals at some point over the next 3-4 years, so it may be a matter of waiting to see what they come up with.
Source: Unit coordinator reflection
Feedback
Continue to monitor T3 enrolments
Recommendation
Determine if there is a way to boost engagement in the distance mode offering of the unit to prevent students disengaging and impacting their ability to complete a high quality research project.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: Unit coordinator reflection
Feedback
As new measures of impact start to become available, begin the process of incorporating alternatives to the SDGs
Recommendation
Continue monitoring media releases regarding the future beyond the SDGs, particularly from the UN in relation to future goals they may set.
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  1. Develop an advanced and integrated understanding of strategic issues, and sustainability challenges in organisations
  2. Apply the skills and knowledge gained from other subjects to identify a complex strategic issue relevant to organisations in the context of your profession
  3. Apply research skills to plan and execute an independent investigation into a complex strategic organisational problem
  4. Critically review, analyse and interpret current relevant literature, professional business information and publicly available secondary data
  5. Communicate, in a professional manner, information in an organisational context by providing recommendations that address strategic challenges and sustainability goals.

N/A

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5
1 - Learning logs / diaries / Journal / log books • • •
2 - Research Proposal • • •
3 - Research Assignment • • • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Professional Level
• Advanced Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5
1 - Knowledge • • • • •
2 - Communication • • • • •
3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills • • • • •
4 - Research • • • • •
5 - Self-management • • • • •
6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility • • • • •
7 - Leadership • • • • •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Professional Level
• Advanced Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1 - Learning logs / diaries / Journal / log books • • • • • •
2 - Research Proposal • • • • • • •
3 - Research Assignment • • • • • • •