Module Directory

The purpose of this module is to develop your ability to conduct and manage a piece of individual research in the context of managing a hotel business. Your skills and knowledge will be developed through a professional project that requires demonstrable expertise with a range of business data, research resources and methodologies and personal communication skills.

A focus for the module will be the development of techniques and strategies for self-management of your continuous professional development, critical self-reflection of professional experience and application of these within an organisational setting.

The aims of this module are to enable students to:

• Research, plan and design a work-based management project that demonstrates an awareness of strategic issues.
  
  
  
  • Identification of research area - tools and techniques
  
  
  • Understanding the problem
  
  
  • Reviewing the literature.
  
  
  
  


• Generate appropriate feasible research objectives.
  
  
  
  • Identification of a viable project
  
  
  • Writing a project proposal; Developing a project plan
  
  
  • Scheduling techniques and tools e.g. flow charts, Gantt charts, critical path analysis and use of appropriate software packages e.g. Microsoft Project.
  
  
  
  


• Critically review the literature relevant to the area of investigation.
  
  
  
  • Literature review and existing knowledge
  
  
  • Qualitative and Quantitative research methods and techniques
  
  
  • Discipline-specific research considerations and issues
  
  
  • Ethics, reliability, and validity.
  
  
  
  


• Select and justify a research methodology, and apply appropriate research skills in order to critically assess and evaluate the relevant data.
  
  
  
  • Data analysis techniques
  
  
  • Critically evaluating and interpreting data and synthesising conclusions
  
  
  • Effective management research report writing.
  
  
  
  


• Draw conclusions and make recommendations related to the presented analysis.
  
  
  
  • Delivering effective presentations
  
  
  • Drawing conclusions and making recommendations.
  
  
  
  


• Undertake a critical review of the project research report.
  
  
  
  • Critical reflection on the research experience and implications for future professional development.
  
  
  
  

By the end of this module, students will be expected to be able to:

1. Research, plan, and design a work-based management project that demonstrates an awareness of strategic issues.


2. Generate appropriate feasible research objectives.


3. Critically review the literature relevant to the area of investigation.


4. Select and justify a research methodology, and apply appropriate research skills in order to critically assess and evaluate the relevant data.


5. Draw conclusions and make recommendations related to the presented analysis.


6. Undertake a critical review of the project research report.

Learning and teaching will take the shape of classroom based lectures and seminars where Wivenhoe House will be used to contextualize theory and illustrate practice. Self-managed learning will supplement seminars where you will be provided with guidance on required reading and on-line learning resources