Achieving Success with your Leadership Project

David Middlewood, Ian Abbott

• Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd
• Year: 2011
• ISBN:
  9781446281116
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Study Aids
• Subtopic: Study Guides

This book gives a complete guide to carrying out and completing a project or dissertation which has a leadership or management focus. It is written in accessible, jargon-free language and provides practical advice in all the relevant areas of research and its reporting.

The authors provide case examples of students? work from a range of contexts. They give guidance on what pitfalls to avoid, and show clearly how to structure the project, write a literature review, present personal research findings, as well as how to understand different kinds of research, assessment, and maximising tutorial support.

The book is essential for Masters? students - and their tutors - in fields such as education or business studies, giving a clear step-by-step approach to doing the fieldwork and writing up the outcomes, including how to make conclusions and recommendations. It provides a comprehensive resource to ensure success in leadership and management projects and dissertations.

DAVID MIDDLEWOOD is a part-time Research Fellow at The University of Warwick, UK, having previously worked for the Universities of Leicester and Lincoln.

IAN ABBOTT is an associate professor at the University of Warwick, UK. He is currently the director of external relations at the Institute of Education at the University.

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1

Setting the Scene

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Introduction

Studying for a Masters Level qualification is a difficult, lengthy, but hopefully rewarding process. It should provide you with personal and professional satisfaction as you develop your own intellectual and professional capabilities. As you near the end of your programme of study you will be expected to complete a lengthy piece of work which is described in various ways in different institutions as a thesis, dissertation, extended study or project. During this book we will use the term ‘project’ to refer to any extended piece of Masters Level writing. The techniques we are writing about will be generally applicable to any extended Masters Level writing, but will be particularly focused on leadership and management. Carrying out a major project is the single most important aspect of Masters Level study and in this introductory chapter we will introduce and establish key ideas in this process.

In this chapter the following topics are considered:

• What is involved in completing your project?
• Are there special issues in leadership/management research?
• The nature of leadership and management
• How does your own role relate to the research context?

What is involved in completing your project?

As you start to consider your project you are likely to have already successfully completed a significant proportion of your Masters Level programme and be ready to undertake an intensive project over a number of months. You will already have written a number of assignments ranging from 1,000 to 5,000 words in length. In some of the assignments you will have carried out a literature review, reviewed policy documents, undertaken a case study; you may have collected and analysed data and you might even have conducted a small-scale research project. In many cases you will have received specific research methods training and written about particular methods of enquiry. You may also be thinking of developing an area that you have previously successfully written about. The skills you have already developed as part of your Masters Level programme will act as a useful starting point for the project. However, you will need to enhance your existing skills and to develop a range of additional skills to successfully complete your project.

So how does the project differ from your previous work? One immediate and obvious difference is the number of words required. The project can range from 10,000 to over 20,000 words depending on the requirements of your institution. Even at the bottom end of the word scale it is likely to be a significant increase on anything you have written before. At first the prospect of having to write up to 20,000 words can appear daunting, especially if you have other commitments and have never done anything like this before. However, as you get into the detail of the project you are likely to find that the 20,000 word limit is too small to do justice to your chosen topic. At this preliminary stage that is probably difficult to believe, but you will hopefully soon discover just how easy it is to write up to 20,000 words, especially on a topic of personal interest. Of course those words have to be coherent, relevant and at the right level to meet the stringent Masters Level assessment criteria.

How do you get started on the project? An obvious starting point has to be your previous written work and you need to remember to build on the strengths you have already developed. The general requirements for working and writing at Masters Level will still apply and hopefully well developed habits will be continued and enhanced. You should be well aware of the assessment criteria for Masters Level and these will continue to provide a base for your work. The skills you have already acquired and the lessons learnt from completing previous written assignments will be equally applicable to writing your project. So you initially need to:

• Get yourself organised
• Be realistic about what you can achieve
• Identify an area that you would like to investigate
• Be aware of the specific requirements for the project
• Take advantage of the support and guidance that is available.

Getting yourself organised sounds obvious, but it is amazing how many students fail to heed this basic piece of advice. By getting yourself organised we mean adopting some fundamental principles to ensure that you are fully equipped to complete the project. Firstly, consider the time implications of undertaking this piece of work. You are likely to be doing your project over a concentrated period of time, usually between three months and a year, depending on whether you are a full- or part-time student. You need to clear time to enable you to carry out the necessary work, so look carefully at your commitments and make sure you set aside blocks of time. It is often easier to focus on the project for a concentrated period of time rather than having to constantly pick up work again. Secondly, making a plan will help you to make the most of your time. A clear programme and structure, including key milestones, for the duration of the project will help you to achieve an effective use of your time. Your milestones will include identifying dates to complete your literature review, carrying out the fieldwork, undertaking analysis and commencing writing up. However, it is important to remember that your plan should not be too rigid and it is acceptable, even desirable, to amend the plan to reflect changing circumstances as you proceed through your project. You will need to discuss your plan with your tutor and we consider this planning in Chapter Two.

Being realistic about what you can achieve relates to the time issues we have already identified, but it also applies to your choice of topic. We will return to this in more detail in the next chapter, but students tend to want to ‘solve the problems of the world’ in their project. While this is a laudable aim and hopefully reflects your enthusiasm and commitment to the area you have chosen to investigate, you’ve got to be realistic. You only have a limited amount of time and of course a restricted number of words for the project, so the topic has to be manageable. If you start with a topic that is too large you will soon run into trouble, so remember to be realistic about what you can achieve.

Choosing a topic to investigate that personally interests you will increase your motivation and make the process easier. This is a chance for you to conduct an in-depth investigation into a topic of great personal interest and you may never be given this opportunity again, so make sure you choose your topic carefully. However, there may be pressure from your line manager or those funding your Masters Level study to conduct an investigation that is deemed to be useful to your organisation. This is an understandable pressure given the constraints on funding and the desire to achieve value for money. You will have to balance these pressures, but remember that by studying for a Masters Level qualification you will benefit personally and this will in turn have a positive impact on your organisation. Ideally, you will be able to choose a topic that reflects your own interests, has a positive impact on your own practice and benefits the organisation more widely.

Your own HE institution will have specific guidance on what is required to successfully complete your Masters Level project. Make sure you are aware of these requirements and remember they may differ from those you have experienced when you completed your other assignments. They will be available either in printed form or electronically and it’s worth spending some time checking on the detail. Higher Education institutions operate according to set procedures and routines, and no matter how ridiculous they may seem, these regulations have to be followed by all students, you will not be granted an exemption. Precious time and effort can be wasted by not following published guidelines. For example, marks can be deducted if word limit guidelines are not adhered to, and a completed project will not be marked if it does not conform to the presentation conventions. We will deal with such issues and look in detail at the assessment process in Chapter Ten.

There should be a wide range of support and guidance available for you to access as you navigate your way through your Masters Level project and we fully explore how to get the most from the available support in Chapter Eight. We have already said a little about the general documentary guidance available to you. For international students there is likely to be an international tutor who will be able to offer specialist support, especially in relation to access issues for research. You will also have a personal tutor who will be able to provide general support relating to non-project-specific issues, but the key person related to your Masters Level project will be your project supervisor or tutor. It is important that you establish a positive working relationship with your project supervisor or tutor who will either be an expert in your chosen area of study or in some aspect of research methodology. Having clear and consistent communication procedures are important and keeping in touch is vital. This is even more important when things are not going to plan. Your tutor will be able to act as a sounding board and to provide much needed reassurance as you progress through your period of study.

If you are a part-time student you will also be able to access support from your own institution, especially the leadership team who will be well placed to offer guidance on particular aspects of your research project. This might take the form of practical support in terms of providing information, access and most importantly time. Finally there are your fellow students who can provide an invaluable source of support and practical advice, and are especially aware of the particular pressures you are operating under.

Are there special issues in leadership/ management research?

So far, in this chapter, we have written about a range of general issues relating to your research project and explored how you actually get started. In the remainder of the chapter we are going to focus on more specific issues relating to leadership and management. Every subject area has particular issues and trends that reflect current concerns in the discipline. Over time these will change and new theories and approaches will emerge and become fashionable. Leadership and management is no different in this respect to any other subject area, and as a student of this area you will have spent a considerable amount of time looking at current theories and debates and how they have been developed and implemented. This should have enabled you to have built up a detailed knowledge and understanding of current issues within this area. Your research project should build on these issues and your knowledge and understanding to enable you to develop a deeper understanding of the theoretical and practical aspects of leadership and management. Your own research into leadership and management will provide you with opportunities to develop key ideas and concepts. We will continue to return to some of these during the book as we illustrate key issues in developing and carrying out your research project by giving practical examples based on current best practice.

Carrying out research into leadership and management will enable you to relate the theoretical aspects of your course to your own practice. This is likely to contribute to your own personal development and it may also lead to benefits for your present or future employer. Your research project is likely to involve looking at the implementation of particular theories. Research in leadership and management is much more likely to focus on the practical rather than the theoretical. Whilst there is a strong theoretical base to leadership and management, it is a living subject and is rooted in the improvement of the practice of individuals and organisations. Leadership and management theories are an essential part of developing your understanding of the area, but they also have to be applied in a practical context. In your research you are likely to have the opportunity to look at how theory actually works, in practice. In reality you may find that the application of theoretical concepts does not always lead to a positive outcome. A significant part of your research project could be finding out why desired outcomes have not been achieved and what lessons have been learnt. In many cases as much can often be learnt from research into one failed policy than into a number of successful initiatives. Students are often wary of looking at aspects of leadership and management that are not successful and want to focus on successful outcomes. Whilst this is an understandable response, you need to set this reticence aside and give yourself the best opportunity you can to develop a meaningful and worthwhile research project.

The nature of research into leadership and management often lends itself to the development of a case study approach. Basing your project in or around an organisation and a particular development is a tried and tested method for a Masters Level project. It may well be a method you have employed during other parts of your course and you can build on the lessons you have learnt earlier. Choosing a case study approach will enable you to develop a particular focus for your project and may provide you with a more manageable topic that is more appropriate to your particular needs. The tight focus for the project provided by a case study, will also enable you to investigate an area in greater depth and reduce the opportunities for ‘project drift’. This does not mean that you can ignore the theoretical aspects of leadership and management or ignore the wider issues that might arise from your project, but a case study approach makes it easier to ensure that the focus of the project remains constant.

If you decide to adopt a case study approach a key factor will be the nature of the organisation and this will have an obvious impact on the structure and nature of your project. There are core issues in leadership and management, but different sectors will have different issues and priorities. If you are interested in the public sector and your case study is based around the health service or education, it is likely that the...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• About the Authors
• 1 Setting the Scene
• 2 Choosing your Topic and Designing the Research
• 3 The Literature Review
• 4 Research Methodology
• 5 Applying Research Methods
• 6 Practitioner Research
• 7 Presenting and Analysing Data
• 8 Making the Most of Available Support
• 9 Writing Up
• 10 Understanding Assessment
• 11 Next Steps
• Glossary of Terms Used
• References
• Author Index
• Subject Index