21759 Strategic Issues in Community Management

Subject level: Postgraduate

Handbook description

This subject introduces students to strategic management in community (nonprofit) organisations and provides the opportunity for students to reflect on, extend, and integrate their knowledge of community management gained from preceding subjects in the course. It also explores critical issues currently impacting on the sector, and appropriate strategic responses to those issues and encourages a strategic perspective on the management of organisations and an ability to apply that perspective within community organisations.

Subject objectives/outcomes

On completion of this subject students should be able to:

1. Demonstrate strategic thinking and action in third sector organisational development.
2. Demonstrate awareness of the strengths and weaknesses of strategic planning and apply that awareness in the analysis of an organisation's strategic plan.
3. Demonstrate integrated learning skills, in a piece of strategic analysis, evidenced by the application of knowledge gained elsewhere in the community management course.
4. Analyse and explain critical issues facing third sector organisations in Australia.

Contribution to graduate profile

Strategic Issues in Community Management provides an opportunity to gain a better understanding of the role of strategy in the management of third sector organisations. It is the capstone subject for courses offered under the UTS Community Management program in that it draws on subjects studied throughout this program including Developing Financial Resources, Managing Community Organizations and Human Resources in the Third Sector. In bringing these themes together the subject seeks to develop students' capacity to think strategically.

Teaching and learning strategies

The Learning Guide, which contains subject and content outlines and information, suggests a learning pathway students might follow and directs student learning towards the assessment tasks. It helps students to keep track of the entire subject while simultaneously working on the details, and to move through the subject with some freedom about the pace and times that best suit them. Teaching strategies also include the promotion of learning partnerships. These partnerships are made up of smaller groups and provide an open and less formal forum for students to discuss interpretations of learning tasks, theoretical issues and responses to various readings. The Partnerships also allow students to share the diversity of their own experiences and backgrounds as a way of informing responses to issues raised in the course and promote networking among class members. These strategies are supported by a series of face-to-face lectures.

Content

• An overview of strategic thinking about third sector organisations
• Core strategic concepts, issue of strategy in competitive industry
• The organisational milieu of third sector organisations
• The global background
• An overview of the relationships between the sectors
• The third sector's relationship with business, government, households and other third sector groups
• Critique of strategic planning for third sector organisations
• Internal and external strategic issues
• Strategic approaches to human service delivery
• Strategic tools.

Assessment

Assessment item 1: Strategic Plan (Individual)

Assessment item 2: Report (Individual)

Assessment item 3: Report and presentation on strategic issues (Group)