Systemic management and leadership (5 cr)

Evaluation scale

0-5

Content scheduling

Global phenomena and operating environment analyses 1 ECTS
Complexity in the everyday life of an organization 1,5 ECTS
Systems thinking and systems understanding 1,5 ECTS
Systems intelligence 1 ECTS

Objective

Purpose of the course

Systems thinking and systemic understanding is important in management and leadership. Systems thinking helps to identify cause and effect relationships in the changing operating environment of the organization and to anticipate the effects of changes. Systemic understanding helps in adapting and solving complex problems in a holistic and sustainable way. By developing systems intelligence in the organization, both productivity and well-being effects can be achieved.

Competences

Internationality and multiculturalism
Proactive development
Sustainable development

Learning objectives of the course

You are able to identify the effects and opportunities of global development and phenomena in organizational development and management. You analyze operating environment factors and their systemic interdependencies on organizational management and sustainable development. You prepare a systemic management and leadership development plan and/or implementation report that includes customer-oriented and sustainable solutions to an identified complex problem in accordance with systems thinking and systems intelligence. You describe the implementation and consolidation of the solutions and operating models in your own work community.

Content

Systems thinking is a current and important area of ​​management and leadership expertise because it helps to identify cause and effect relationships in changing operating environments, and to anticipate the effects of changes. In this course, you will learn about systemic management and leadership and develop your systemic understanding, as well as become familiar with the interesting framework of systems intelligence.

Global phenomena
Operating environment analyses
Complexity in the everyday life of an organization
Systems thinking
Systems understanding
Systems intelligence

Materials

Dufva, M. & Rekola, S. 2023. Megatrendit – ymmärrystä yllätysten aikaan Megatrendit 2023 (sitra.fi)

Saarinen, E. & Hämäläinen, R.P. (Eds.) 2004. Systems Intelligence: Connecting Engineering Thinking with Human Sensitivity systemsintelligence2004.pdf (aalto.fi)

Saarinen, E. & Hämäläinen, R.P. (Eds.) 2007. Systems Intelligence in Leadership and Everyday Life systemsintelligence2007.pdf (aalto.fi)

Uusikylä, P. & Jalonen, H. (Toim.) 2023. Epävarmuuden aika: kuinka ymmärtää systeemistä muutosta?

Kallio, K. 2023. Moderni johtaja: työsuhteiden johtamisesta toiminnan johtamiseen. Kauppakamari.

Other material based on webinars and independent information gathering.

Teaching methods

Study methods
Systemic management and leadership is a multidisciplinary online course. Your studies take place in the Moodle learning environment, where you will find course instructions, schedules, assignments and study materials. You will also attend webinars. The webinars include expert lectures and you will reflect and share using collaborative learning methods what you have learned. Participating in webinars requires a camera, headphones and microphone.
You will conduct independent information retrieval and apply what you have learned in the Systemic management and leadership learning and development assignments, which you can apply in your own operational environment / workplace.

Guidance
You will receive guidance in voluntary online meetings. In addition, guidance takes place in the Moodle learning environment (forum for question and answer).
You will also receive guidance from peer students and in the form of mentoring.

Feedback
You will get feedback on your Leadership Development Workbook assignment.
You give feedback on the course (mid-term and final feedback on the implementation).

Employer connections

Your student group forms a working life peer learning network.

International connections

During the course, you will utilize international research literature and consider the impact of global phenomena on the implementation of systemic management and leadership in everyday working life.

Completion alternatives

You can familiarise yourself with 17§ of Jamk's degree regulations when considering the recognition of course competence based on your previously acquired competence and the objectives of the course.

Student workload

Your indicative use of time during the 5-credit course is 135 working hours, which is divided as follows:

Four online webinars 8 hours in total and preparation for webinars 4 hours
Familiarization with study material 28 hours
Individual assignment 90 hours
Collaborative learning and sparring for your own development assignment 5 hours.

Assessment criteria, satisfactory (1)

Sufficient 1
You collect source material from a few key research articles and literature applicable to the phenomenon. You recognize and can define key concepts of systemic management and leadership. You summarize the essential theory of the subject area/phenomenon, but the connection to your research task remains partially incomplete. You show responsibility for making a concise project plan for your team or work group. You outline the plan of the development project, in which you have defined key contents. You demonstrate your competence by presenting the key potential results of the plan and consider their impact on the development of systemic management and leadership. You write unstructured text with various repeated language and style errors. You follow the reporting instructions incompletely.

Satisfactory 2
You know how to acquire source material from central research articles and literature applicable to the phenomenon. You mainly use original sources. You will classify the key concepts of systemic management and leadership. You compile a knowledge base from sources that support the subject and the phenomenon. Theoretical knowledge does not discuss between sources. You show responsibility for making a project plan for your organization or work community. You write a feasible time-bound development project plan with a clear structure. You demonstrate your competence by illustrating the potential results of the plan. You reflect on the importance and impact of the plan and its results on the development of systemic management and leadership and the success of the organization. You also consider the topic from an ethical point of view. You write partially unstructured text with various language and style errors. You somewhat follow the reporting instructions.

Assessment criteria, good (3)

Good 3
You know how to acquire and evaluate source material from several original research articles and academic literature applicable to the phenomenon. You distinguish the central concepts of systemic management and leadership in relation to each other and the effects of phenomena. You write a relevant database, which is limited in terms of the topic and the phenomenon being discussed. You show responsibility for the practical implementation of the development project in your own team or group. You lead a goal-oriented development project where you apply research and development methods. You develop the organization's operations by finding solution options. You demonstrate your expertise by justifying the goals of the development task and applying its key results. There is a connection between the results and the theory, which has been demonstrated from the perspectives of systemic management and leadership development and organizational success. You are able to promote ethically sustainable activities for the selected target group. Your writing is coherent, well-reasoned and perceptive. You write structured text with occasional grammatical errors. You follow the reporting guidelines.

Very good 4
You know how to acquire and critically evaluate source material from several versatile, current, reliable, relevant and original research articles applicable to the phenomenon, as well as other high-quality works. You analyze and compare the central concepts and phenomena of systemic management and leadership and make a summary of them. You write an essential and limited scientific database of the subject area, in which you demonstrate the ability to monitor, break down and analyze the research data of the subject/phenomenon. You show responsibility for implementing a development project in your organization or work community. You lead a goal-oriented development project where you apply an appropriate research and development method. You develop the organization's operations effectively. The results are demonstrated and justified. You demonstrate your expertise by justifying, analyzing and reflecting on the goals and results of the research. In the report, you present a synthesis of the results and consider their applicability. You produce new applicable information for the organization about systemic management and leadership from the perspectives of sustainable development and ethics, and demonstrate its relevance. You write structured text in a fluent and almost flawless style.

Assessment criteria, excellent (5)

Excellent 5
With your extensive, critically evaluated and high-quality selection of sources, you demonstrate your familiarity with the subject and your expertise in the discipline. You evaluate the central concepts of systemic management and leadership critically and interpret global level phenomena, presenting them visually. In the database, you demonstrate a critical ability to monitor and interpret international research data. You reflect on the topic on a societal level. In your development project, you show responsibility for the development of accumulating new information and practices in your professional field, as well as goal-oriented learning for the organization. You are looking at the social significance of development. You lead a development project where you produce and analyze new information and renew operating methods in the changing operating environment of your field. You utilize development methods and demonstrate creative thinking. The solutions you find correspond to the goals you set. You demonstrate your expertise by justifying, analyzing, evaluating and reflecting on the goals and results of the research as well as practical action proposals. You present new perspectives and/or insights in the report. You critically examine the key results of arguments in relation to theory and previous knowledge. You produce new information about systemic management and leadership from the perspectives of sustainable development and ethics, renew operating methods and comprehensively reflect on the social significance of the results. You write convincingly, presenting a clear, logically progressing whole, where you combine things in a new way. You demonstrate a critical and argumentative ability to write.

Further information

The learning during the course will be qualitatively evaluated based on the learning outcomes using many different methods: feedback and mentoring from the teacher, the student's own self-assessment and feedback received from peers in webinars.

During the course, the utilization of artificial intelligence, instructions and possible ethical questions follow the updated recommendations of Arene and Jamk's rules.

The participants of the course will be checked three weeks after the start of the implementation. Participation in the course requires that you have submitted the first learning assignment by then.

The course begins in week 39. The deadline for all assignments is the end of week 48.