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major-programme-management-brochure
major-programme-management-brochure
Programme Management
Key facts
Qualification Entry
MSc awarded by the University of Oxford
requirements
Good first-class, or upper second-class
honours and at least 7 years of relevant
2 years
Assessment
Format 8 assignments and a dissertation
(10,000 words)
Part-time
8 compulsory modules
of typically 5 days each
Start date
September
Location (1 intake per year)
‘I use what I learned on the MSc to ‘My great aunt, Lady Kofo Ademola: the
underpin, and to reflect upon, the critical first black African woman to graduate from
decisions I make. The insights I gained Oxford. Her accomplishments made the
on the programme have allowed me to family incredibly proud. The challenges
consider things with greater depth and she overcame inspire me to push myself
confidence which has led to more effective decision making. every day, including following in her footsteps by graduating
from Oxford. Last year, I was having a discussion with a golf
With the major responsibilities I have been proud to
buddy who happened to be an MSc in Major Programme
take on in the last few years the benefits of the MSc
Management alumni, he introduced the programme to me
in Major Programme Management are not just being
and said it would be the best fit for the type of career I had.
felt by me, but ultimately by the members of the
It is probably one of the best pieces of advice I ever received.’
public from the UK and around the world that these
Major Programmes have been designed to serve.’
Programme structure
Dissertation
Capstone
Stakeholder Management
Commercial Leadership
Managing Performance
Major Programme Risk
Programmes as
Major Programmes
Research Methods
Organisations
Globalisation and
Systems Thinking
Governance and
Stakeholder
Engagement
Managing Risk
Gateway
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Programme themes
Programmes as organisations
Major programmes are far more than scaled-up projects.
The answer to successful delivery lies not in ‘better’ project
management but instead through conceiving programmes
as temporary organisations with the implied requirement
for deeper understanding of organisational structure and
behaviour and appreciation of how these affect programme
outcomes. As a result, Major Programme Managers need to
develop the competencies in strategy and governance found
amongst the best General Managers and Executive Officers.
Stakeholder engagement
Engaging and managing internal and external stakeholders
is an aspect of the complexity inherent in programmes
and one with a critical effect on success. This close
connection means that vision, negotiation and partnering
become important attributes to engage and align internal
teams and the extended network of ‘buyers’ and ‘builders’
whose support is vital across the programme life-cycle.
Fundamental topics include the role of the programme
leader, human factors and organisational behaviour.
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Modules
After a two-day induction ‘gateway’ Informed by internationally recognised Effective systems design and
designed to prepare students for the research, this course will investigate engineering are the core of a
programme, this course develops the nature of risk in the management successful major programme.
candidates’ understanding of major of major programmes. Crucial
programmes as a governance structure links between risk and the other This course will introduce
and a distinctive organisational form. disciplines associated with project participants, from technical and
and programme management will non-technical backgrounds, to the
It investigates the concept of projects be identified and integrated. central concepts and assumptions
and programmes as temporary of systems engineering.
organisations, and explores the Participants will explore how
consequences of organising by risk manifests across a range of You will explore the real-world issues
programmes. You will consider the programme sectors, and develop a affecting systems engineering,
relevance of organisational theory to sound understanding of the role of with a particular complex emphasis
major programmes, and reflect on policy, planning and management on the effects. The course will
organisational design in the context in pre-empting such risk. The be interdisciplinary in nature and
of programme performance. theoretical and practical skills required practically-grounded, with practitioner-
to address the challenges posed led case studies and intensive
by risk will be developed through team-based design activities.
practice-based tools and activities.
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• Assessing viability and evaluation • Identifying legal risk • Research design and
methods • Strategic alliances and general approaches
• Performance measurement and cooperative ventures • Literature search
financial metrics • Dispute resolution • Data collection
• Risk perception • Intellectual property • Data analysis
• Organisational, political and social • Due diligence and • Writing up research
context of large project financial contractual protection proposals and results
management
• Research ethics
• Communication and stakeholder
management and analysis
Cost overrun is one of the significant This course addresses the crucial role This course is an essential introduction
concerns facing the delivery of of contractual documentation in the to the business and management
projects and programmes. Reaching creation and management of a major research methods that are appropriate
beyond the simple mechanics, programme. Using practical, business- for researching major programme
this course will enable programme focused activities, participants will management, including both qualitative
managers to acquire and articulate a build effective contract management and quantitative approaches.
deep understanding of the financial skills that can be applied throughout Participants will be introduced to
performance of their programmes. the programme lifecycle. Detailed general research design issues,
Participants will explore the role consideration will be given to the including identifying research problems,
of financial metrics throughout the optimum structure and terms of formulating research questions, and
programme lifecycle, providing the key agreements to support project searching the academic literature, and
necessary technical knowledge success, and to the inherent risk and to specific methods for collecting and
(from procurement and negotiating complexity of contract management analysing data. The course will prepare
to auditing and reporting) for those in the programme environment. participants for planning, executing, and
without a financial background, while writing up their dissertations for both
contextualising the understanding of managerial and academic stakeholders.
experienced financial managers.
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Defence 3%
55-60
Economic Development 2%
Education 3%
35 - 39 29%
0 5 10 15 20 25
Nationality
17%
22% 20%
15% 8%
12%
3%
3%
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Selected faculty
Kate Blackmon
Module lead: Research methods
Paolo Quattrone Dr Blackmon is Associate Professor in
Module lead: Governance and stakeholder management Operations Management and a Tutorial
Fellow in Management Studies at Merton
Prof Quattrone is Professor and Chair
College, University of Oxford. She was
of Accounting, Governance and Social
the Senior Proctor in 2014-15 and has
Innovation at the University of Edinburgh
contributed to university administration, especially in
Business School and Co-Director of the
research ethics and the Bodleian Library. Her chief areas
Centre for Accounting and Society and
of interest include operations strategy and how to help
Associate Fellow at Saïd Business School. Before joining
businesses achieve optimal performance, how gender and
Edinburgh, Paolo Quattrone was Professor of Accounting
diversity can be managed in organisations, the innovation
and Management Control at IE Business School, Madrid, and
and evolution of new business models in professional
Reader in Accounting at the Saïd Business School, and Fellow
service firms, and the design of research methods for
of Christ Church, at the University of Oxford. He was also a
business and management research. She is co-author
Fulbright New Century Scholar at Stanford University. A truly
with Dr Harvey Maylor of Researching Business and
international scholar, he has conducted research and taught
Management (Palgrave), and is completing a book on the
at the Universities of Catania, HEC-Paris, Kyoto, Madrid
gender gap in leadership, Leading Women, for OUP.
Carlos III, Manchester, Oxford, Palermo, Siena, Stanford and
Luigi Bocconi of Milan. His work addresses questions related
to the emergence and diffusion of accounting and managerial
practices in historical and contemporary settings.
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Sue Dopson
Module lead: Managing Performance
Sue is Professor of Organisational Behaviour,
Fellow of Green Templeton College and
Deputy Dean of Saïd Business School.
She has a BSc in sociology, MSc in sociology
with special reference to medicine, MA
(Oxon) and a PhD studying the introduction of general
management into the NHS. She is a fellow of the academy of
Social Sciences.
Sue conducts research in a range of public and private
sector organisations, in the areas of innovation, change and
healthcare studies.
Atif Ansar
Module lead: Globalisation and major programmes
Dr Ansar is Fellow of Keble College,
University of Oxford. His research focuses on
delivering major infrastructure and integrated
real estate programmes cheaper, faster, and
with greater sensitivity to the needs of end-
users. Dr Ansar’s research with colleagues has been widely
profiled in the media. He also teaches on the Master in Public
Policy (MPP) and the Masters in Business Administration
(MBA), and helps deliver executive education programmes
such as the UK Government’s Major Projects Leadership
Academy (MPLA) for top civil servants. Dr Ansar has been a
fixture at the University of Oxford since 2006. From 2006-
2010 he undertook his DPhil (PhD), at Brasenose College,
with the prestigious Clarendon Scholarship, and from 2010-
2013 was a post-doctoral Research Fellow with Professor
Bent Flyvbjerg at Saïd Business School. From 2013-2015 he
served as a Lecturer at the Blavatnik School of Government.
He leads the Globalisation and Major Programmes module.
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Ramana Rajalingam
Director, Special Projects, Khazanah Nasional, Strategic
Investment Fund of the Government of Malaysia
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