Well, I must be a glutton for punishment, because I’ve already registered for my next two courses – which I’m planning to study simultaneously from May to October.
The two courses are: ‘B121 Managing in the workplace’ and ‘B325 Managing across organisational and cultural boundaries’.
B325 seems particularly relevant to me because I regularly encounter management problems that involve virtual teams spanning organisation boundaries, cultural boundaries, and sometimes both at the same time!
To quote the OU website:
This course is about collaboration – working, managing and organising across organisational and cultural boundaries. Whether within or across organisations, via partnerships, joint ventures and alliances, collaboration can be both stimulating and rewarding. It entails the combination of resources and expertise which enables partners to achieve something jointly that they cannot achieve working alone. However, collaboration is also fraught with difficulties and dilemmas. In this course you’ll explore the many issues and challenges associated with working collaboratively across different contexts. You will also learn about concepts and theories that can help you to better manage collaborative situations in the future.
B121 sounds like an interesting course because of the way it recaps many of the subjects I’ve already covered in the Professional Certificate in Management (B628, B629 and B690) – while also allowing me to draw on my own workplace experiences and compare them to the theories encountered in my studies.
Again, quoting the OU website:
This introductory Level 1 course introduces management ideas and uses activities to build on your existing knowledge and skills. You’ll also use your own workplace experiences to develop an academic understanding of management and valuable study skills, which you’ll demonstrate by writing about management and reflecting on your own skills as a learner. … Using a textbook, you’ll carry out various activities asking you to compare the theories that you are reading about with what you see around you in your workplace.
I know I haven’t yet finished B629/B690, but roll on May!
A Learning Diary 