• Get understanding of scientific consulting and scientific investigation and learn about a range of analysing complex business questions and develop solutions.
• Get deeper knowledge on focus topics on leadership, change management and organizational development.
• Equip students with a sound understanding of project structures, processes and dynamics within project teams.
• Enable students to apply theoretical concepts and models in leadership and change management with practical application to business situations / projects.
• Collect relevant data from a variety of sources, to perform insightful analysis and to develop appropriate problem-solving approaches based on state-of-the-art knowledge.
• Think critically about informing literature (both research and practitioner-based) and organizational practices and act interdisciplinary and to solve complex problems together.
• Explore and discuss current challenges of digitalization, organizational behavior and change or the “New normal”.
• Interact with corporate representatives on a professional level and to present and communicate their results to them.
• Cooperate with team members, to assume leadership and to manage differences and conflicts.

Learning outcomes:

On successful completion of this course, the students will be able to:

• LO1: Understand and analyse complex business problems related to leadership and change management topics. [cognitive/analytical]
• LO2: Identify and apply relevant theory and methods within different contexts. [cognitive/analytical]
• LO3: Decide how to collect relevant data from a variety of sources, to perform insightful analysis and to develop appropriate problem-solving approaches based on state-of-the-art knowledge (e.g. desktop researches and interviews), think and act interdisciplinary and to solve complex problems together.
• LO4: Apply relevant theory, develop models to explain a context and interdependencies and formulate recommendations to solve business problems. [professional/practical skills]
• LO5: Demonstrate the ability to present a concise, insightful analysis which exposes issues logically and coherently and conclude and formulate recommendations to the customer at an Austrian company and interact with corporate representatives on a professional level. [transferable skills]
• LO6: Gain the knowledge and the experience of working in project teams: Grow into a project team and develop a project plan, identify talents and define roles within the teams, schedule meetings, discuss within the project teams, cooperate with team members, to assume leadership and to manage differences and conflicts, formulate feedback and learn to understand feedback as well as make sure to implement feedback along the process.

• Literature report (20%) – in project groups
• Advisory offer (20%) – in project groups
• Final presentation and executive summary incl. overview of theoretical concepts, developed approach, recommendations (40%) at the company – in project groups
• Participation in discussion such as giving feedback to the other student´s project presentations and individual learning progress (20%) – individual assessment in each group discussion

Further literature dependent on focus topic defined and customer requests each Semester (e.g. organizational change, organizational set up, leadership, organizational and personal development, diversity management)

Other materials can be retrieved from Moodle and/or will be announced in class.