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Strategic Leadership - ELE00149M

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  • Department: Electronic Engineering
  • Credit value: 20 credits
  • Credit level: M
  • Academic year of delivery: 2023-24
    • See module specification for other years: 2024-25

Module summary

This module introduces students to the key facets of strategic leadership in an engineering management context and includes change management, Skills for Business Leadership and the latest up-to-date thinking on the 4th Industrial Revolution (digitisation) of engineering for strategic leadership.

Module will run

Occurrence Teaching period
A Semester 2 2023-24

Module aims

Subject content aims:

  • Compare and discriminate between different legal forms for organisations.

  • Understand and explain the meaning behind a company's mission statement and how it reflects corporate values.

  • Explain the meaning of common strategic management terminology.

  • Strategically analyse an organisation’s or business unit’s position.

  • Compare strategic opportunities and recommend a way forward.

  • Plan an organisation’s structure and systems to achieve an agreed strategy.

  • Understand how the human resource management processes, within an organisation, supports its mission statement and corporate values.

  • To explore the foundations of change management including the nature of change in organizations, hard and soft changes, soft management change systems, sources of resistance and managing transitions.

Graduate skills aims:

  • Demonstration of capacity for analysis and synthesis throughout the module as the student uses case studies representing differing strategic approaches appropriate to different business forms.

  • Critical analysis skills through case studies and the summative closed book exam

  • Creativity – being able to propose and articulate new strategic approaches in engineering

  • To develop skills in gathering and critically analysing information from reliable sources

Module learning outcomes

Subject content learning outcomes

After successful completion of this module, students will:

  • be able to plan an organisation’s strategic and operational systems for effective operation

  • demonstrate leadership skills in interpreting strategic information to set future strategic plans

  • be able to discuss the impact of change on the management of engineering businesses.

Graduate skills learning outcomes

After successful completion of this module, students will:

  • be able to show improved analysis and synthesis skills

  • plan and manage their time and work more effectively

  • be able to independently carry out research feeding into strategic improvement plans

  • be more creative in generating and evaluating ideas and solutions for business strategy improvement.

Module content

  • Strategy in changing environment

  • 4th Industrial revolution - Digitisation

  • Leadership & Culture

  • Commercial strategy – Case study of strategies in action

  • Skills for business leadership

  • Leadership styles

  • Networking and Negotiation for business leaders

  • Managing strategic role out

  • Strategic processes

  • Managing skills and leading changes

Indicative assessment

Task % of module mark
Closed/in-person Exam (Centrally scheduled) 100

Special assessment rules

None

Additional assessment information

The summative assessment will be based on a case study scenario to be released to the students at the end of the teaching period. Students will be able to make appropriate notes on their copy of the actual case study document (no extra sheets of paper will be allowed in the exam room) and to take their copy of the case study into the exam room for reference purposes. Questions will be given out at the start of the exam and students will be expected to write their answers clearly in an official exam script booklet. All paperwork will be handed in together at the end of the exam, including their case study document.

Indicative reassessment

Task % of module mark
Closed/in-person Exam (Centrally scheduled) 100

Module feedback

'Feedback’ at a university level can be understood as any part of the learning process which is designed to guide your progress through your degree programme. We aim to help you reflect on your own learning and help you feel more clear about your progress through clarifying what is expected of you in both formative and summative assessments. A comprehensive guide to feedback and to forms of feedback is available in the Guide to Assessment Standards, Marking and Feedback.

This can be found at https://www.york.ac.uk/students/studying/assessment-and-examination/guide-to-assessment/


The School of PET aims to provide some form of feedback on all formative and summative assessments that are carried out during the degree programme. In general, feedback on any written work/assignments undertaken will be sufficient so as to indicate the nature of the changes needed in order to improve the work. The School will endeavour to return all exam feedback within the timescale set out in the University's Policy on Assessment Feedback Turnaround Time. The School would normally expect to adhere to the times given, however, it is possible that exceptional circumstances may delay feedback. The School will endeavour to keep such delays to a minimum. Please note that any marks released are subject to ratification by the Board of Examiners and Senate. Meetings at the start/end of each term provide you with an opportunity to discuss and reflect with your supervisor on your overall performance to date.

Indicative reading

  • Schwab, K. (2016) The Fourth Industrial Revolution, Geneva: World Economic Forum.

  • Johnson, G., Scholes, K. & Whittington, R. (2011) Exploring Corporate Strategy, Text and Cases, 9th Ed, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.

  • Thompson J.L. (2001) Understanding Corporate Strategy. London: Thomson Learning.

  • Chan Kim, W. and Mauborgne, R. (2015) Blue Ocean Strategy, Expanded Edition: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant, Boston: Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation


The information on this page is indicative of the module that is currently on offer. The University constantly explores ways to enhance and improve its degree programmes and therefore reserves the right to make variations to the content and method of delivery of modules, and to discontinue modules, if such action is reasonably considered to be necessary. In some instances it may be appropriate for the University to notify and consult with affected students about module changes in accordance with the University's policy on the Approval of Modifications to Existing Taught Programmes of Study.