712 Strategic Management Project

Unit Overview

712 Strategic Management Project is a unit within the CMI Level 7 module that contributes towards shaping the ability of the leaders in the workplace to oversee projects to their completion. A strategic management project involves being able to pursue a specific subject within the organisation of strategic significance to its completion. It involves conducting effective research on the subject that contributes towards shaping the performance or leadership unit to improve the accomplishment of the projects as well as contribute towards meeting set goals and objectives.

The leaders must have the capability of overseeing the process of managing and overseeing the strategic management projects to their completion. They should have the capabilities to effectively collect, analyse and interpret the data that is viewed to have significance in the process of managing the organisation and accomplishing the set organisational goals and objectives. They should also have an understanding of the theoretical model that is associated with completing such research and projects. The leaders must be able to make recommendations within the workplace based on strategic management projects to improve the efficiency and productivity of the organisation.

712 Strategic Management Project is a unit that focuses on ensuring that the leaders are able to effectively conduct and manage strategic projects. The unit provides the learners with training tools and approaches to effectively evaluate the business conditions and external competitive environment. They are guided to collect relevant information to set strategy formulations based on research that helps the organisation to thrive within this highly competitive environment. The unit is designed to help new and aspiring senior leaders to achieve the set goals and objectives within the workplace. The unit is taught in 24 hours of guided learning and contributes 10 credit values towards the completion of the CMI Level 7 module.

Suitability of the Unit

Leaders must be able to effectively align the organisation to changes within the business environment. With changes in the market, the relevancy of current practices and procedures becomes obsolete, and there is a need to develop new strategic approaches that help to align the practices of the organisations to the new business contexts and environments. This requires the leaders to be able to conduct a study and research on the business environment and the competition levels within the organisation. 712 Strategic Management Project is, therefore an important unit in improving the ability s of the leaders to formulate strategies that are aligned with the needs of the company in the current business context. It further helps the leaders to develop strategic alternatives to beat the competition and increase the relevance of the organisation in different contexts.

The unit is designed to serve the learning needs of the senior managers within the workplace. It helps them to understand their contribution to strategic decision-making to increase the relevancy of the organisation in different business contexts. However, it can be applied to other stakeholders to ensure that they understand their roles and contribution towards shaping the strategic approaches developed in their areas of responsibility. Employees and team members can pursue the unit to help them to understand the situational awareness within their teams and areas of operations as well as prepare them for leadership roles.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of the unit, the learner should be able to:

• Develop or identify a business case for a strategic management process within their areas of responsibility

• Propose a research design that is aimed at addressing the research need in the direction of the strategic management project

• Make recommendations of the effective methodologies and tools of project management that are aimed at structuring project delivery

• Provide a report and presentation on the outcomes of the strategic management project

• Reflect on leadership capabilities, skills, and behaviours in the process of conducting the strategic management practice

Key Learning Areas

712 Strategic Management Project is a unit that is aimed at improving the theory and practice in relation to handling strategic management projects. Some of the main areas of learning that this unit covers include:

Developing Strategic Management Project

This area of learning aims at developing the basis and principle elements of the strategic management project. The learners are taught to effectively set goals and objectives for a research process. They are taught to effectively establish the case to focus on and devise research questions from this case.

Additionally, the leaders are guided to identify the specific research design, which may include exploratory, descriptive, case studies, phenomenological study, or other approaches of research in their areas of practice that aim at completing the strategic management practice. Learners are taught different research methodologies that could be used in different contexts to contribute towards the completion of the research. These methodologies are accomplished with different tools and approaches of data collection and research, which contribute towards the overall completion of the module.

Conducting Strategic Management Project

This area of learning aims at the actual process of completing the project. The learner is taught to combine the elements that have been identified in relation to the research to complete eh strategic management project. It involves understanding the methods of analysing the findings of the research in the context of the business case that they are studying, as well as creating an effective representation of the data collected in a way that is easily interpreted by the stakeholders within the workplace.

They are also guided to understand the different mechanisms to report and preset outcomes of the strategic management practice. After completing the project. The learners are guided to reflect on tic and conduct a self-assessment which is aimed at identifying the leadership capabilities throughout the completion of the strategic management project and its contribution towards the strategic goals and objectives.

Evaluation

On completion of the learning process within the unit, the learners are required to complete an evaluation that determines the accomplishment of the learning goals and objectives. This evaluation includes a written assessment where the learner is provided with a template on the unit which they are required to complete. They are also guided to understand the various principles that are related to the practical application of the learned concept in organisational settings.