Managing Management

I’m sure everyone’s heard about how stressful and terrible the final year of university is. What with deadlines, dissertations and applying for graduate schemes. However, it’s about halfway through the first semester and I’m rather enjoying myself.

In terms of my degree, Management Studies, I really like the modules that I’m studying at the moment. In final year you are able to select two optional modules in each semester – this semester I chose Critical Management in Practice and Cyberpsychology at Work.

Critical Management allows you to analyse your own work experiences using different theoretical frameworks. This is good because you are reflecting on personal experiences so it is easier to engage with and helps you to understand certain situations that you might have been in. The lectures and seminars are also very dynamic.

Cyberpsychology looks at how technology is ingrained within organisations and how it effects everyone and everything. For me, this is particularly interesting because, yes, we’re all aware of how prevalent technology is in our day to day lives, but we never properly stop and think about what it might be doing to us. The module has opened my eyes to the fact that to some extent our personalities and even our sense of identity has been constructed around the technology that we use.

I think that what is good about Management at Leicester is that it allows for these diverse kind of modules which make you think critically about the way society, organisations and authority is structured. For me this is much more interesting that the standard modules such as Accounting and Business Environment.

There is also the core final year module of Strategy and the Dissertation. Strategy is okay and improved by my seminar tutor who is hilarious. I have chosen the topic of my Dissertation, done some initial research and had a meeting with my supervisor but haven’t properly got down to it yet. I do have a whole year though so no rush!

In a few months time it might be a different story but at the moment I’m happy with how final year is going! And as it’s my last year in Leicester, I’m trying to take time to enjoy myself too and do nice things such as go for meals, go running to explore areas I haven’t seen before, and try out the different cafes on Queens Road. Although it’s good to stay organised, there’s no point being stressed out (yet)!