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21814 Management Project Design

UTS: Business: Management
Credit points: 6 cp

Subject level: Postgraduate

Result Type: Grade and marks

Requisite(s): 21751 Management Research Methods
These requisites may not apply to students in certain courses.
There are also course requisites for this subject. See access conditions.

Handbook description

This subject further develops knowledge and skills in management research. Specific content is determined by the student and his or her supervisor in relation to the specific project topic.

The major emphasis is on defining the topic; locating the relevant literature; analysing this literature and integrating it with relevant issues; formulating conclusions and implications arising from the literature review; designing a study to explore these implications; and preparing a report.

Subject objectives/outcomes

By the end of this subject, students are expected to be able to:

  1. conduct a competent literature review
  2. formulate and clarified a research question or questions
  3. develop a proposal for an empirical study that addresses the research question(s).

This subject should be thought of as the first half of a year long research project, with the second half being the completion of the subject 21815 Management Project. 21814 Management Project Design is aimed at selecting a topic for research, completing a comprehensive review of the literature in the area and formulating one or more research questions and deciding on a methodology you will use for conducting the research. 21815 Management Project is usually completed in the following semester, and continues the research process through the collection and analysis of data and the writing of a final report.

Contribution to graduate profile

This subject is one of a group of three subjects in the Master of Business by coursework programs which aim to develop management research skills. The subject draws on the knowledge of research methods being acquired in the co-requisite subject 21751 Management Research Methods. It directly relates to the subsequent 21815 Management Project, which forms the final stage of the research. This subject also draws in a more general way on the understanding in the field of management gained in earlier parts of the course.

Teaching and learning strategies

The major steps to be taken for the completion of the subject include:

  1. Decide on a broad topic area for the research project, and conduct preliminary reading of the literature to assist in making a decision.
  2. With the assistance of the Subject Coordinator, you will be allocated a supervisor for your research. (This supervisor will normally remain your supervisor for the subject 21815 Management Project.) Note: You should not wait until you have been allocated a supervisor before you start working on the subject. You should start becoming familiar with the literature from the start, as this will assist in the choice of topic and could assist in the choice of an appropriate supervisor.
  3. With the assistance of your supervisor, refine your topic area and develop research questions and (possibly) hypotheses.
  4. Conduct a literature review in areas relevant to the research topic.
  5. Refine the research aim(s) and hypotheses (if any) on the basis of new knowledge gained from the literature review.
  6. Designing a study to address the research aim(s).
  7. Write a final report.

Minimum requirements

The preliminary report is expected to be between 2,000 and 3,000 words in length, and would usually be expected to contain around 10 to 15 references. It will comprise:

  • A clear statement of a research question for empirical investigation.
  • A preliminary literature review which identifies the theoretical frameworks relevant to your research question, and previous research that addresses the same or similar research questions.
  • An outline of the type of research methodology that will be used for the planned empirical study. If that has not been decided upon at this stage, a consideration of possible different appropriate methodologies should be given.

The final report is expected to be between 5,000 and 6,000 words in length, and should include:

  • A further refinement to the research question(s) based on feedback you may receive from the preliminary report and your own further study, and any hypotheses, if appropriate depending on the nature of the study.
  • A larger number of references (about 20 to 30 is typical).
  • A description of the research methods to be used to investigate the proposed research question(s).

Required text(s)

Guide to Writing Assignments, 2006, Faculty of Business, University of Technology, Sydney (available at the Co-op Bookshop or for download at www.business.uts.edu.au/resources/guide.html)