This course will enhance participants’ understanding of the research process. Participants will critically explore research approaches, language, and ethics. The course will take a step-by-step approach to develop students’ knowledge, skills and understanding of the design and implementation of quantitative and qualitative research designs, including cross-sectional surveys, cohort studies, randomized controlled trials, operational study designs, quasi-experiments, and cluster randomized controlled trials. The course will equip students with the skills necessary to conduct secondary research designs including scoping and systematic reviews. The course will also help students to develop the skills to recognize and reflect on the strengths and limitations of different research methodologies and address ethical and practical issues in research. Further, the student will be equipped with the ability to methodologically review and derive meaning from the published research work for application in professional practice and growth.

Learning Outcomes

• Identify and describe different quantitative study designs, describe the key elements and weaknesses and strengths associated with each approach, and application of quantitative research in professional practice.

• To understand qualitative research approaches and their application, including qualitative data collection, analysis and reporting methods. 
• To understand secondary research design and application methods, including scoping and systematic reviews approaches, and how different research designs can be combined in a mixed-method study approach.
• To understand the concept of research quality assurance and its application in research integrity and ethical principles and application of validity and reliability principles in research.

The course will equip participants with the essential skills, strategies, and tools they need to unlock their fullest potential in taking up expanded leadership responsibilities to guide their organizations effectively. Participants will be exposed to fundamental elements and models of organizational behavior as well as research methods applied in studying Organizational Psychology. Participants will also be involved in a comparative analysis of effective leadership approaches and methodological considerations in Leadership research. This knowledge and skills will enable participants to build their capacities in integrative thinking, managing diversity, team building and managing effective teams, and negotiating and influencing skills which are essential skills in leading organizations in the global business environment.

Learning Outcomes

• To understand the fundamental elements and models of organizational behavior and the influence of individual factors in organizational behavior.
• To analyze effective leadership approaches and their application in leading successful organizations.
• Discuss methodological approaches used in Leadership research.
• To analyze and conceptualize quantitative and qualitative research methods used in organizational psychology.

This course will enable participants to develop data-driven business leadership skills required in a complex knowledge-based global business environment. Participants will be introduced to the world of data analytics, with a focus on descriptive, diagnostic, predictive & prescriptive analytics, machine learning & optimization, data visualization, and decision making and leading with data. Participants will also be led to understand the application of data analytics in the knowledge economy and disruptive technology as contemporary domains which influence business operations on the global stage.

Learning Outcomes

• To understand descriptive and inferential statistics and the application of statistics in business research and decision making.
• To understand Machine Learning algorithms and Optimization concepts, including supervised and unsupervised machine learning concepts with regression and classification techniques.
• To explore the concept of Data Mining and the challenges associated with the application of big data analytics in Business.
• Understand the application of data analytics in leading contemporary business domains including knowledge-based economy and disruptive technology.

This course will help build participants’ understanding of the role of research to develop new products, processes and technologies that also emphasise the promotion of natural resources. The course will entail enhancing the learner’s perspective on the need for the integration of sustainable innovation. The course will enhance the leadership ability of the learner to understand sustainable business model innovation. Learners understand to communicate and manage stakeholders to drive the need for sustainable competitive advantage. The learner will evaluate and critically understand the need to be a catalyst to induce and efficiently incorporate and address global issues. This course will ensure the learner understands the critical role of being a purpose-driven leader. Learners will understand the step by process to maintain a sustainable business. The course highlights the role of advanced theories in sustainability. And focuses on the research on the use of sustainable design to protect the environment (increasing the focus on thermal comfort along with helping to reduce energy consumption and using recycled materials).

Learning Outcomes

• To understand and evaluate research on innovation and sustainability and to enhance research for sustainable business solutions.
• To explore and understand models of Innovation and Sustainability in business and explore design thinking to improve sustainable innovation research. 
• To analyze research sustainability perspectives with a green design and design science approach in the field of innovation.

This course will enable learners to understand and apply elements of Action Research in the domain of operations. Students are expected to apply theoretical and data-driven approaches to add to the existing body of knowledge in Operations management. Through an initial operational understanding of the practice system within projects and processes, while controlling the standard quality linked at every stage, students gradually are trained to evaluate strategic issues of designing operational systems that yield optimized results. The research supervisors welcome a wide variety of operational domains that deserve to be improved through the application and cyclical nature of Action Research.

Active Research Areas: service management, healthcare management, retail operations, logistics, supply-chain management, sustainability, stochastic control of processing networks, revenue management, not-for-profit operations, and contracting and economic-mechanism design.

Learning Outcomes

• To understand and apply the steps of Action Research in the domain of operations management.
• To analyze and evaluate research-based practice systems within the supply chain of manufacturing and service firms.
• To critically evaluate an action plan with control checks that focuses on improving the quality of the existing systems.
• To critically evaluate the different methods of operations research with an aim to create efficient and effective operational channels.

The participants in this course will develop a 3000-word research proposal in leadership and business management. The participants will be guided to identify a researchable knowledge gap of their interest and analyze and synthesize the knowledge gap into a problem statement. Participants will receive guidance on specific aspects of doing research including literature searching and conducting critical appraisal; referencing and application of relevant computer software in reference management; framing research questions and research objectives, and application of ethical issues in research. Participants will be capacity building to develop competence in assessing and appraising evidence in published literature, determining the gaps in the evidence and developing a feasible and valid study design that they can apply in their research. Participants will further be guided to develop a full research proposal.

Learning Outcomes

• Identify a relevant and suitable knowledge gap in Leadership and Business Management and develop structured research questions to address the knowledge gap. 
• Write a literature review to identify existing evidence and knowledge gaps associated with the research problem of interest.
• Develop a well-structured research protocol/proposal with clear timelines and relevant study methods that comply with the universal principles of research ethics principles.