General provisions

Master programme course – track MIG. The course syllabus was approved by the board of the Department of Business Studies, on delegation of the board of the Faculty of Social Sciences. The syllabus takes effects as of 2009-08-31.

Entry requirements

A Bachelor's degree, equivalent to a Swedish degree of at least 180 credits including the equivalent to 60 credits in Business Studies. Proficiency in English. Exemption: Students already registered on a Master Programme within the Faculty of Social Sciences.

Learning outcomes

Consultants play a prominent and important part in companies and in the development of organisations. Management consultants have been used for a long time to lead and contribute to development and change of organisations, both within the private and public sector. Lately we have also noticed an increase in other forms of consultancies and consultancy activities, such as PR consultants who are involved in marketing organisations and creating trademarks, recruiting- and HR consultants involved in employing and educating personnel and investor relations consultants who work with the investment contacts of companies.

The purpose of the course is to discuss and analyse the phenomenon management consulting and to give a good insight and understanding of the work of management consultants.

The purpose is therefore to:

1) give insight and training in practical management consultancy both regarding the realisation and purchasing through discussions and use of methodological- and analytical tools

2) critically analyse and contrast different scientific perspectives of consultants and their work in relation to businesses and organisations, but also the way in which consultant's work connect with broader changes in society.

The students are trained to independently and critically formulate and analyse central problems within the subject both orally and in writing.

After attending the course the students should:

. be acquainted with, be critical to and use methodological- and analytical tools within the subject area "management consulting"

. be able to discuss and analyse the growth of various forms of consultants and their businesses, such as PR consultants, HR consultants and recruiting consultants.

. be able to discuss and contrast various perspectives of consultants and consultancies and critically analyse these in relation to organisation theories

. be able to independently handle complex information, identify problems and develop solutions in relation to various central problems at management level in businesses and organisations

. be able to discuss ethical dilemmas which may occur in the role of management consultant

. be able to orally, in writing and visually present arguments in an objective, interesting and convincing manner

Content

The course consists of two blocks. One is practically based and consists of lectures about consultants and their business, one is partly a project in which the students independently work with problem solutions and get acquainted with some of the methodological-analytical tools which are used in practice. The work of the students will be presented for and discussed with management consultants from the industry. The second block of the course includes literature seminars at which the students are given the opportunity to reflect on the work and role of management consulting, critically discuss and contrast different research perspectives of management consulting, spread of management ideas and organisation theories.

Instruction

The course will be based on lectures, seminars and independent work. At the seminars the students are asked to reflect upon and critically discuss the course literature as well as solve and present case assignments by using the methodological- and analytical tools. Skilled practitioners will be invited to participate in the course in various ways.

Assessment

Course examination includes written examinations, project work and oral and written tasks presented at seminars. The examination is carried out individually or in groups. The grades will be shown in the study guide, which is handed out at the beginning of the course. The grades used are passed with distinction (VG), passed (G) and fail (U). Home tasks and other tasks handed in after the dead-line are not graded, unless there are special circumstances. Additional information is also given in the form of grades in accordance with the seven-graded ECTS (European Credit Transfer System).

Students are given a final grade of 7.5 credits. To obtain a final grade G for the whole course, a G in all blocks is required. For the grade VG the whole series of seminars should be finished

and the grades for both the written examination and the project work should be VG. The course contains obligatory parts.

Moreover, all remaining tasks must be completed and handed in by the dead-line given in the

study guide. If this is not done you will not receive a pass for the task in question. The whole course (including all the examinations) must then be redone a following semester, provided there is space in the course.

Uppsala University looks very severely upon cheating and plagiarism and disciplinary actions are taken against students who are involved in any kind of cheating or plagiarism. The disciplinary actions are warning and suspension during a limited amount of time.

NB Only a finished course can count toward a degree.

Transitional provisions

This course replaces/overlaps Management Consulting 2FE406.