NBS8651 : Managing in Extreme Contexts
- Offered for Year: 2025/26
- Module Leader(s): Dr Angela Mazzetti
- Owning School: Newcastle University Business School
- Teaching Location: Newcastle City Campus
Semesters
Your programme is made up of credits, the total differs on programme to programme.
| Semester 2 Credit Value: | 20 |
| ECTS Credits: | 10.0 |
| European Credit Transfer System | |
Aims
Over the past decades organisations have had to adapt to uncertainty and discontinuity. Throughout the eras they have had to cope with pandemics, severe weather, natural disasters, loss of trust in democracy, war and terrorism, normalised violence in society and institutionalised violence in the workplace. For some organisations, dealing with this uncertainty is part of the nature of their work and therefore built into their decision making and management practices. For example, organisations that exist to serve their communities during times of extreme crisis and emergencies. However, organisations, who work outside of these extreme contexts, might inadvertently find that they must quickly react to shifting environmental conditions that challenge their established decision making and management practices. The aim of this module is explore decision making management practices in extreme contexts to better prepare aspiring leaders for the challenges they might encounter in the workplace.
Outline Of Syllabus
The module consists of three key themes related to managing in extreme contexts. These include:
1. Defining extreme: differentiating between those organisations where the extreme is inherent in the nature of the work (for example, emergency services); those organisations that serve to work in extreme environmental conditions (for example, field medics); and those organisations who are forced to deal with unprecedented and / or unforeseen extreme conditions (for example, a terrorist attack).
2. Temporarily: the need for urgency and fast response; time pressured decision making; setting up and leading temporal organisations and temporal teams and leaders; connecting narratives of past present and future.
3. Embodiment: controlling emotions in emotional contexts; transitioning from ‘zero to hero’ and dealing with boredom and extreme stress; dealing with embodied threats of violence; using the senses in decision making; the toll on the body of engaging in extreme work.
Teaching Methods
Teaching Activities
| Category | Activity | Number | Length | Student Hours | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Lecture | 14 | 1:00 | 14:00 | The lecturers offer the opportunity to introduce key knowledge concepts used throughout the module. |
| Guided Independent Study | Assessment preparation and completion | 1 | 33:00 | 33:00 | Time to plan and write the assessment. |
| Structured Guided Learning | Lecture materials | 1 | 64:00 | 64:00 | Students are required to engage with weekly pre and post lecture readings and tasks. |
| Structured Guided Learning | Structured research and reading activities | 1 | 8:00 | 8:00 | The structured online guided tasks offer the opportunity for skills development. |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Workshops | 4 | 2:00 | 8:00 | The workshops offer the opportunity to engage in knowledge enhancement activities. |
| Guided Independent Study | Independent study | 1 | 70:00 | 70:00 | Student are required to engage in wider independent study each week to develop their knowledge base. |
| Scheduled Learning And Teaching Activities | Scheduled on-line contact time | 3 | 1:00 | 3:00 | The online Drop in sessions offer the opportunity for students to ask assessment related queries. |
| Total | 200:00 |
Teaching Rationale And Relationship
The lectures will focus on delivering the underpinning knowledge related to the module’s key themes. These themes will then be explored in more detail using contextualised examples in the workshop sessions. The structured online guided tasks will give students the opportunities to engage in a range of tasks related to the module learning outcomes. The drop in sessions will enable the students to ask about any assessment related queries.
Assessment Methods
The format of resits will be determined by the Board of Examiners
Other Assessment
| Description | Semester | When Set | Percentage | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Case study | 2 | M | 100 | 3,000 word case study analysis |
Formative Assessments
Formative Assessment is an assessment which develops your skills in being assessed, allows for you to receive feedback, and prepares you for being assessed. However, it does not count to your final mark.
| Description | Semester | When Set | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Case study | 2 | M | Case study analysis - an opportunity for peer and tutor feedback related to the case study. |
Assessment Rationale And Relationship
Situational context is important in determining decision making and management practices in extreme contexts. Case study is therefore an appropriate means of enabling students to engage in a critical evaluation of how situational context impacts decision making and management practices.
Formative Assessment: The workshops offer opportunities for formative peer and tutor feedback.
Summative Assessment: A 3,000 word case study analysis of managing in an extreme context.
Summative Re-sit Assessment: Revise and resubmit original assessment taking into consideration marker feedback.
RESIT INFORMATION: If students are eligible to a second attempt resit will be an assignment and the resit calculation will be based 100% on the submission.
Reading Lists
Timetable
- Timetable Website: www.ncl.ac.uk/timetable/
- NBS8651's Timetable