Lancaster University

Educational Aims

Organisation Studies

These degrees focus on the human dimensions of organisations and their implications for management. They are concerned with interactions that occur in organisational settings and with the ways in which the decisions and behaviour of people within organisations effect the quality of contemporary society. They aim to provide students with an analytical and critical understanding of the significance and role of organisations and management in modern industrialised societies.

The overall aim of the programme is to develop a broad understanding of contemporary organisations and management processes. Students should be able to:

• engage with a wide range of organisational issues and careers both in the public and private sectors.
• understand and analyse complex aspects related to the human dimension of organisational life from multiple perspectives.
• communicate this understanding to other people with a shared interest in these issues.

The main aims are:

• To develop an understanding of organisations and management processes in changing environments
• To understand and apply knowledge drawn from a multidisciplinary background of social sciences to the analysis of work, organisations, and management in the private and public spheres.
• To develop students understanding of organisations and management as historical processes, and thus relate past, present and potential future trends in the changes occurring in organisations.
• To develop students ability to think critically about organisation structures and practices and to be creative on this basis in their responses to complex contextual demands.
• To develop students skills and knowledge enabling them to relate to specific contemporary practices in the areas of HRM, HRD and other humanoriented dimensions of organisational life.
• To relate the study of organisations and management to other subjects in the social sciences and humanities in order to develop a flexible and multidisciplinary context consistent with a university degree scheme
• To equip students with the ability to learn and develop continuously and to instil the desire for life long learning in their future careers

Psychology

A necessary aim of the Lancaster degree programme is to provide knowledge of psychology that goes beyond the depth and breadth of the Qualifying Examination (QE) of the British Psychological Society (BPS). The accreditation of psychology degrees by the BPS is based upon a comparison of the degree scheme with the Societys QE syllabus (see Regulations and Reading Lists for the QE 2002. BPS: Leicester). This syllabus outlines necessary knowledge and skills in core areas of psychology. Degrees are accredited as providing the Graduate Basis for Registration (GBR) as a Chartered Psychologist and any student wishing to continue training as a Chartered Psychologist requires GBR.

Further Educational Aims:

  to give students the opportunity to develop the necessary academic and practical skills to allow them to progress to postgraduate study in psychology.

  to encourage students to adopt a critical approach to the subject of psychology.

  to enable students to appreciate the wider context of their specialist knowledge and methodology and the potential applications of their knowledge and skills in their future employment.

  to encourage the development of transferable skills including the ability to learn independently, understand complex problems and communicate what has been learned to others.

Intended Learning Outcomes

Organisation Studies

Knowledge and Understanding of:

• organisations, their management and the changing environment in which they are located.
• the main social science perspectives and methods relevant to an understanding of work, organisations and management.
• locating the knowledge and understanding acquired in (1) and (2) in a wider structural and historical framework.
• the analytical and critical skills relevant to the knowledge and understanding of contemporary organisations and management in their wider context
• self-awareness and personal development of students in relation to the human side of organisation and management. obtained through the research and publications of academic members of staff who work with colleagues in other departments at the University to provide a broader framework of knowledge. Students self-awareness and personal development is encouraged through engagement in dialogue and debate in seminar teaching.

Skills

Intellectual Skills

By the end of the programme, students should be able to:

• Engage in critical and analytical thinking.
• Relate different theoretical systems ideas to each other and to different contexts of practice
• Frame and interpret different theories and practices to allow a better understanding of different actions.
• Link different social science perspectives together with conceptual and empirical accuracy.

Practical Skills

By the end of the programme, students should be able to:

• Plan, structure and conduct individual assignments in written form.
• Identify, assimilate and analyse data and information from various sources, both in written and visual form.
• Appreciate the practical challenges and opportunities and threats involved in the inter-disciplinary study of organisations.
• Exhibit self awareness, openness and sensitivity to diversity in terms of people, issues
• Demonstrate effective self management in terms of time, planning and motivation, self starting, individual initiative and enterprise
• Develop an appetite for learning: reflective, adaptive and collaborative learning
• Develop IT and presentational skills throughout the degree programme.

Transferable Skills

• Students should be able to:
• Communicate complex ideas effectively in both written and oral forms.

          Work independently without the need for close supervision.

          Manage time effectively including appreciating the importance of meeting imposed deadlines.

          Appreciate the need to understand and represent coherently and fully ideas and points of view with which the individual does not agree.

Psychology

Knowledge and Understanding of:

• concepts and research methods in Cognitive Psychology.
• the theory, methods and key empirical findings of Physiological Psychology.
• an advanced understanding of some of the key topics in Clinical and Cognitive Neuropsychology.
• theory and research in a number of core areas of Social Psychology.
• current theoretical issues and research findings in Developmental Psychology.
• an awareness of key Conceptual issues in psychology and the history of psychology.
• basic techniques of psychological research methodology and the statistical analysis of data collected in psychological research.

Intellectual Skills able to:

• obtain, synthesise and critically evaluate information.
• interpret and evaluate psychological reports.
• analyse and interpret psychological data using a range of techniques.
• plan, conduct, analyse and report a substantial investigation.
• apply psychological principles and methodologies to seek the solution of problems.

Practical skills able to:

• use appropriate statistical packages to analyse data collected in psychological investigations.
• report investigations in conventional professional formats.
• use appropriate computer packages and other equipment for the control of psychological investigations.
• retrieve information from bibliographic sources.

Transferable skills able to:

          use information technology to present reports.

          use information technology to find relevant information.

          demonstrate effective written and oral communication skills

          design and prepare projects

          work independently or as part of a team developing skills of group participation.

          assess the relevance and importance of the ideas of others.

       manage time effectively and work to deadlines.