How can exploring and analysing music and metaphors help us to better understand management, work organisations, working lives, and ultimately ourselves too? As you set out on your journey through this innovative course, the answers to these questions will be revealed. Through the lens of metaphor and music, you will be introduced to core managerial and organisational concepts and theories. You will explore issues related to, for example: organisational and work design; motivation and productivity; employee voice; careers; and management and leadership styles. You will research and analyse contemporary management dilemmas and challenges and gain new insights into the lived experience of work. You will explore the power of music to creatively engage and motivate employees, boost their morale, and give voice to workers who might otherwise remain unheard.
The course has been designed to be highly interactive and creative with lots of opportunities for you to share your ideas and engage in discussion and debate with your fellow students. You will develop your own original organisational metaphors, write lyrics to your own company song, write and record your own short radio play, and develop your own motivational music playlist. By the end of the course, your understanding of management, organisations and the lived experience of work will have increased considerably. You will develop new skills in research and creative writing and will have lots of new ideas to take away with you and apply in your own organisation and your own working life.
This week includes: management and organisational metaphors, musical management metaphors, classical management theory and the machine metaphor and McDonaldization.
Lecture 2 – Management, metaphor, music and the lived experience of work•5 minutes
14 readings•Total 232 minutes
Becoming a lifer? Unlocking career through metaphor•60 minutes
Activity – Reflections on career metaphors•20 minutes
Interview with the CEO of Netflix•30 minutes
Interview with the CEO of Netflix – teacher notes•2 minutes
Activity – Metaphor analysis•20 minutes
Metaphor analysis – teacher notes•2 minutes
What my McJob taught me •10 minutes
Are McJobs really history?•10 minutes
James Taylor – ‘Millworker’•4 minutes
Researching songs about working lives – teacher notes•2 minutes
Sea shanties•30 minutes
Pearl divers of the Arabian Gulf•10 minutes
Activity – Researching music performed while working•30 minutes
Week 2 summary•2 minutes
1 assignment•Total 10 minutes
Management, metaphor, music and the lived experience of work•10 minutes
3 discussion prompts•Total 120 minutes
Developing your own career metaphor•20 minutes
The McJob monologues•60 minutes
Researching songs about working lives•40 minutes
Music, motivation, metaphor and management maestros
Module 3•6 hours to complete
Module details
This week includes: music and its impact on productivity and motivation, company songs and corporate anthems, leadership and musical management metaphors.
Lecture 3 – Introduction to the role of music in management•3 minutes
Summary and conclusion•6 minutes
13 readings•Total 198 minutes
Why does music affect the way we feel?•25 minutes
Singing songs at IBM•25 minutes
Activity – Analysing the impact of singing songs in the IBM workplace – employee and managerial perspectives•20 minutes
Analysing the impact of singing songs in the IBM workplace – teacher notes•5 minutes
The best ever corporate anthems•20 minutes
Music while you work•4 minutes
1941 ‘Music while you work’ project•20 minutes
How music can improve productivity and focus•5 minutes
Does music help us work better? It depends •10 minutes
Bored at work? Create a productivity soundtrack•10 minutes
Lead like the great conductors•22 minutes
What great leadership and music have in common•10 minutes
Managing without a musical score•22 minutes
1 peer review•Total 45 minutes
Managing motivation and morale through music and metaphor•45 minutes
4 discussion prompts•Total 100 minutes
Exploring the uses of music in organisational settings•30 minutes
Composing a corporate anthem•20 minutes
Creating your own productivity soundtrack and playlist•30 minutes
Your leadership and management style•20 minutes
Prepare for a degree
Taking this course by University of London may provide you with a preview of the topics, materials and instructors in a related degree program which can help you decide if the topic or university is right for you.
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Prepare for a degree
Taking this course by University of London may provide you with a preview of the topics, materials and instructors in a related degree program which can help you decide if the topic or university is right for you.
The University of London is a federal University which includes 17 world leading Colleges. With extensive experience in distance learning since 1858, University of London has enriched the lives of thousands of students, delivering high quality degrees across the globe. Today, University of London is a global leader in flexible study, offering degree programmes to over 45,000 students in over 190 countries, delivering world-leading research across the world. To find out more about University of London, visit www.london.ac.uk
Royal Holloway, University of London, is ranked in the top 30 universities in the UK (Times & Sunday Times Good University Guide, 2018) and the top 200 universities in the world (Times Higher Education World University Rankings, 2017-18).
The university was founded by two social reformers who pioneered the ideal of education and knowledge for all who could benefit. Their vision lives on today. As one of the UK’s leading research-intensive universities Royal Holloway is home to some of the world’s foremost authorities in the sciences, arts, business, economics and law.
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