STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP FOR HEALTHCARE - 2025/6

Module Overview

This module expands on student learning from the Leading People in Health and Social Care module, elevating thinking to an organisational and strategic level.

 

Students will be empowered to explore the complexity of the internal and external organisational environments, valuing openness, collaboration, and the need for continuous organisational learning.  Students will be enabled to recognise and analyse the factors that are key to strategic planning and successfully fulfilling organisational aims and purpose.  

Module provider

School of Health Sciences

Module Leader

ZASADA Magdalena (Health Sci.)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 7

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 2

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

Pre-requisite: Leading People in Health & Social Care or equivalent

Module content

• Consideration of the impact of the organisational context, starting with the influence of policy, national drivers and funding in UK healthcare environment.


• Understanding organisations and organisational culture, purpose and practice.


• Theories of strategic working, creating organisational strategy and dealing with uncertainty.


• Leading with courage and vulnerability.


• Principles of learning organisations, including managing performance failure and mistakes.


• The process of collaboration, integrated systems and partnership working.


• Workforce planning, financial strategy and business case development.


• Data driven decision making and evaluating information.

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

N/A

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate their competence relating to the module’s learning outcomes.

 

Thus, the summative assessment for this module consists of a strategic plan relating to a key issue in the student’s organisation (max 3000 words) which includes:

• Rational for change based on policy, other external drivers, and organisational data.


• Strategic aims


• Proposed strategy underpinned by theory and existing evidence.


• Reflection on the challenges for the student personally in implementing this strategy.

 

This assignment will assess learning outcomes 1-4.

 

Formative assessment:

Presentation of the outline of strategic plan within timetabled session

Option to submit 300-word sample of academic writing

 

Feedback:

Students will receive written feedback on their formative and summative assessment as well as verbal feedback on smaller, contributing tasks set as classwork during the module. Tutorials will also be offered.

 

Module aims

• Advance a critical understanding of organisational leadership issues and strategic decision-making.
  Equip students to recognise key internal and external factors and analyse policy and organisational data essential for effective strategic leadership at organisational level.
  Develop and facilitate reflection on students strategic leadership competencies.
  

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The learning and teaching strategy is designed to:

Stimulate students to recognise and explore their assumptions and develop their understanding of organisational leadership and equip them with skills for strategic decision-making in their organisations.

The learning and teaching methods include:

• seminars


• e-learning / asynchronous


• online tutorials


• shadowing day


• case studies/scenarios


• group work


• panel discussion


• independent study

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: HCRM039

Other information

The school/department of Health Sciences is committed to developing graduates with strengths in Employability, Digital Capabilities, Global and Cultural Capabilities, Sustainability, and Resourcefulness and Resilience. This module is designed to allow students to develop knowledge, skills, and capabilities in the following areas:

 

Digital capabilities: One of the important aspects of this module is to enable students to explore and process electronic data available within their organisations. This is key to their ability to make decisions at a strategic level within a modern health and social care system, so they will be directed to seek out and utilise all available digital data.

 

Employability: Students on this module will be emerging health and social care leaders and the key focus of the module is to provide them with skills and competencies which will support their career trajectory towards organisational leadership roles.
 

Global and cultural capabilities: This module will support the development of cultural competency and raise awareness of the significance of organisational culture when leading an international health and social care workforce.

 

Resourcefulness and Resilience: The module’s teaching approach puts emphasis on independent learning and taking a case study approach, encouraging students to independently define problems and identify evidence-based strategies for resolving them within their organisations. Resilience will be explored as a key characteristic of effective leaders and expected of students when presented with tasks which aim to challenge their thinking and skills.
 

Sustainability: Sustainability will be introduced as a core concept of strategic planning, with a particular focus on sustainable workforce planning in health and social care which requires considering workforce wellbeing and opportunities for continuous development.

Programmes this module appears in

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2025/6 academic year.