Description
This qualification is only available until 31 December 2017. In order to claim this qualification, you must have completed the required 360 credits by this time.
If you have any questions about your eligibility for this qualification, please contact the Centre for Qualifications and Ceremonies on +44 (0)1908 653003 or by email.
This degree course provides an innovative and accessible introduction to leadership and management in business, and explores their impact on organisations – including wider considerations in the external environment. You’ll develop a range of analytical and problem-solving skills incorporating the management of functions such as marketing, human resources and finance, and leading change. You’ll also examine how business organisations are shaped and changed, and how stakeholder behaviours and management decision-making contribute to the various organisational functions. This degree in leadership and management will help you gain essential and practical skills in communication; the use of IT; numerical interpretation; collaborative working; and reflective thinking. Alongside your compulsory studies in leadership, management and organisations you can choose an option which suits your particular professional or personal interest – such as marketing, business strategy, retailing, finance, entrepreneurship or inter-organisational collaboration.
Planning your studies
Whether or not you’re new to study or to the OU we recommend that you start with a module at Level 1. For this degree we suggest starting with An introduction to business studies (B120).
If you complete this Level 1 work successfully you’ll have a firm foundation for future studies as well as credits to count towards your degree.
During your studies you will have the opportunity to gain a Foundation Degree in Leadership and Management (G08) (or a Diploma of Higher Education in Leadership and Management (E43)). If you have already completed the Foundation Degree in Leadership and Management, you only need 120 credits at Level 3 to complete this degree (the two compulsory 30-credit modules and 60 credits from a list of optional modules).
You can also count the two compulsory Level 3 modules Managing 1: organisations and people (B628) (or the online version BZX628) and Managing 2: marketing and finance (B629) (or the online version BZX629) towards the Professional Certificate in Management (C31) , subject to the unique study rule.
You should note that the University’s unique study rule applies to this qualification. This means that you must include at least 120 credits from OU modules that have not been counted in any other OU qualification that has previously been awarded to you (with the exception of an undergraduate-level qualification of less than 120 credits). If you have graduated with an OU BA degree without honours and are continuing your studies on to honours, this minimum requirement is reduced to 60 credits. Before being awarded any intermediate qualifications on the way to your OU honours degree, we advise you to check that you’ll have sufficient new credits to qualify for your degree.
Career relevance and employability
The skills and knowledge you’ll develop by studying this degree in leadership and management will equip you to follow a number of career paths, and are recognised by employers as having great value for work in management and business. They’re also recognised in specialist areas concerned with developing leadership and management skills, establishing new businesses and management/business consultancy.
This degree course contributes to career development through work-based learning as it builds cognitive skills – writing, critical thinking, analysis and evaluation – and ICT skills, presentation skills and basic numeracy. You’ll explore the nature and practice of leadership and management, learning the skills of successful practice in both fields, and how to use these in your own working contexts. You’ll also examine how business organisations are shaped, changed and influenced – developing your understanding of the contribution of stakeholder behaviours and management decision-making in the various organisational functions. You can take optional modules in strategy, entrepreneurship and subjects relevant to your work, which will further increase your knowledge and skills set.
Careers and Employability Services have more information on how OU study can improve your employability.
Modules
For this 360-credit honours degree you require:
60 credits from the following compulsory modules:
Level 1 compulsory modules |
Credits |
Next start |
The dicontinued module B120 |
30 |
|
- Management practice (B123)
|
30 |
|
Either of the discontinued modules BU130 or BUXS130 can be counted instead of B123.
At least 30 credits from the following optional modules:
Level 1 optional modules |
Credits |
Next start |
- An introduction to law (W101)
|
60 |
|
- An introduction to retail management and marketing (B122)
|
30 |
|
- Discovering mathematics (MU123)
|
30 |
|
- Essential mathematics 1 (MST124)
|
30 |
|
- Fundamentals of accounting (B124)
|
30 |
|
- Introducing the social sciences (DD102)
|
60 |
|
- Introduction to bookkeeping and accounting (B190)
|
10 |
|
- You and your money: personal finance in context (DB123)
|
30 |
|
Or, subject to the rules about excluded combinations, the discontinued modules B121, BXS121, DD100, DD101, DD121, DD131, DD132, E112, LB160, M150, MU120, MST121, SMK184, T121, T171, T172, T175, TU100, TU120, W100, W150, Y157, Y159, Y162, Y165, Y166, Y179, Y182, Y186
And 120 credits from the following compulsory modules:
Level 2 compulsory modules |
Credits |
Next start |
- Business organisations and their environments (B201)
|
60 |
|
- Making it happen! Leadership, influence and change (B204)
|
60 |
|
And 60 credits from the following compulsory modules:
Level 3 compulsory modules |
Credits |
Next start |
- Managing 1: organisations and people (B628)
|
30 |
|
- or
-
|
- Managing 1: organisations and people (BZX628)
|
30 |
|
- Managing 2: marketing and finance (B629)
-
|
30 |
|
- or
-
|
- Managing 2: marketing and finance (BZX629)
|
30 |
|
And 60 credits from the following optional modules:
Level 3 optional modules |
Credits |
Next start |
- Innovation: designing for change (T317)
|
60 |
|
- International relations:continuity and change in global politics (DD313)
|
60 |
|
- Making sense of strategy (B301)
|
60 |
|
- Managing across organisational and cultural boundaries (B325)
|
30 |
|
- Marketing and society (B324)
|
30 |
|
Or, subject to the rules about excluded combinations, the discontinued modules B300, B322, B625, DU301, DU321, T306, T307
And a maximum of 30 credits of free choice from any OU modules (except B123, BU130 or BUXS130) to bring your total number of credits to 360. Within the total, you must ensure that you have at least the required minimum number of credits at each level.
Learning outcomes
The learning outcomes of this qualification are described in four areas:
- Knowledge and understanding
- Cognitive skills
- Practical and professional skills
- Key skills
Read more detailed information about the learning outcomes, and how they are acquired through teaching, learning and assessment methods.
Credit for previous study elsewhere
If you have already completed some successful study at higher education level at another institution we may be able to give you credit for this study that you can count towards this Open University qualification. You can find out more on our Credit Transfer site. If you make a successful claim for transferred credit it may affect your choice of modules so you are advised to investigate this option as soon as possible.
Classification of your degree
On successful completion of the required number and type of modules you will be awarded a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Leadership and Management.
Your honours degree will be classified either as first-class honours, upper second-class honours, lower second-class honours or third-class honours. The class of degree is determined by the best grades you achieve in a minimum of 120 and up to 240 credits from those modules above Level 1 listed above. At least 120 of those credits must come from modules at Level 3.
You will have the opportunity to attend a degree ceremony.
Regulations
As a student of The Open University, you should be aware of the content of the qualification-specific regulations below and the academic regulations that are available on our Student Policies and Regulations website.
How to register
If you want to study for this qualification, read the description and check you meet any specific requirements (for example, some of
our qualifications, require you to be working in a particular environment, or be sponsored by your employer). Then select the
module you wish to study first and ensure it is suitable for you before following the registration procedure for that module.
During the registration procedure you will be asked to declare which qualification you are studying towards.
See a full list of modules available for this qualification