Paper - Academic Registry and Council Secretariat - Queen Mary ...

TPB2012-015
Section 2 - Module Specification
Module Title Leadership and strategy in public service delivery
Module Code
Credit Value 15 Level 7 Mode of Delivery On Campus Semester Semester 2
Module Organiser
Perri 6, Professor in Public Management
Pre-requisite modules Co-requisite modules Overlapping modules
n/a n/a n/a
1) Content Description
Provide a description of the module, as it will appear in the Module Directory and on the Student Information
System (approx. 70-80 words).
We explore principal theories, typologies (e.g., transactional and transformational) and styles of individual and collective
leadership both in high office and at team level in public services, before reviewing research evidence on the effectiveness and
otherwise of leadership on performance in public organisations. Particular attention is given to crisis leadership. The module
questions the scope for deliberate, prior objective-driven rather than emergent strategy in the highly constrained and politicised
setting of public authorities, reviewing recent more optimistic evidence for its prospects and its effects upon performance.
Strategic capabilities required for both styles are considered. The role of stakeholder consultation in strategy development and
legitimation is examined. The module contrasts growth and retrenchment strategies. Strategic issues in organisational and interorganisational
design are addressed, and processes of change management in the politically sensitive conditions of the public
services are explored.
2) Module Aims
Specify the aims of the module, i.e. the broad educational purposes for offering this module.
The module aims to provide students with a clear appreciation of the distinctive features of leadership and of strategy in the
politically sensitive context of public management. Secondly, it aims to provide students with a broad understanding of the
challenges, limitations and constraints faced by public managers in exercising leadership and in undertaking explicit strategy
development and planning, while also exploring the means available to public managers for overcoming these challenges.
Thirdly, the module aims to provide students with an understanding of some principal conceptual frameworks, arguments and
middle-range theories used to explain the varying styles and discretion of leaders at every level, and of the scope for and form
taken by strategy and planning, and of the actual impact of leadership and strategy on measurable organisational performance.
Fourth, it aims to provide students with an appreciation of the significant continuing importance of some classic works in the
field.