When faced with a complex and ambiguous work environment, how do you, as a potential leader, envision the future? How can you deliver on your vision in a way that conveys meaning and drives positive change within your organisation? In this course you will explore how leaders can create a compelling vision and communicate it, and how they create meaning and make work more meaningful. You will look at the role the brain and the body play in processing meaning, and how this can inspire your employees to follow you and your vision. This course will also teach you how to develop meaningful brand identity and the role it can play in clarifying and reinforcing your leadership vision within your organisation, for your partners and for your customers. You will discover that meaning crosses into almost every aspect of management. Finally, you will better understand how social and cultural factors can influence what you can achieve and your limitations when seeking to create meaning.
This course is part of the Leading: Human Resource Management and Leadership Specialization
Visionary leadership, identity & motivation: Become a meaning maker
Offered By
About this Course
What you will learn
Evaluate approaches to influencing and creating meaning at work
Evaluate and apply approaches to meaning making that play a role in aligning employee buy-in of organisational narratives
Evaluate, create and apply strategies to leverage meaning making through branding
Situate discussions of meaning making within broader social contexts and concerns.
Skills you will gain
MotivationCommunicationLeadershipBrand Management
Syllabus - What you will learn from this course
Week
16 hours to complete
Meaning and making meaning
This week we start off with exploring the essence of meaning, and why meaning is important at work. We also explore the conditions that facilitate or hinder meaning making. We look at how meaning could be enhanced by ensuring a fit between work and those who undertake it. We talk about the importance of linking employees’ activities with a significant bigger purpose and how this might be accomplished. We look at aspects of designing work to increase meaning and then flip our perspective and try to understand the concept of meaninglessness and some of the factors that contribute to meaninglessness.
7 videos (Total 33 min), 10 readings, 2 quizzes
7 videos
Week 1 - Outline1m
Meaningful work7m
Work design and meaning6m
Meaninglessness5m
Meaning through fit6m
Habit corner – Sample1m
10 readings
Become a Global MBA learner10m
Course overview5m
Learning activities and assessment1m
Which continent do you hail from?1m
Preconceptions: What work means to you...5m
Work design and meaning15m
Meaninglessnesss
Meaning through fit30m
About the habit corner1m
Habit Corner- Sample10m
2 practice exercises
Recall - Week 130m
Week 1 Quizs
Week
24 hours to complete
Brain, body and storytelling in meaning making
This week you will explore a slightly different perspective on meaning making that highlights the role of neuroscience and storytelling. You will look at how the brain works and how to influence people’s interpretation of meaning. You will learn some physiological techniques to project meaning through your voice and breath, body language and posture. You will learn how storytelling exploits some of our ancient tribal instincts to trigger meaning making.
5 videos (Total 41 min), 4 readings, 2 quizzes
5 videos
The neuroscience of meaning making9m
Creating meaning through voice and breath12m
Creating meaning through body language & posture8m
Creating meaning through stories10m
4 readings
Exploring the role of neuroscience of meaning making15m
How to project meaning through voice and breath40m
How to use body language to create meaning20m
Stories as facilitator of meaning making in organisations30m
1 practice exercise
Recall - Week 230m
Week
34 hours to complete
Branding as meaning making
In this week, you we will learn about the role of branding in communicating meanings, and the role of different levels of meanings, including functional, emotional, and higher purpose in this communication process. You will be shown how to shape meanings you wish to communicate and how to shape the perceptions of your organisation's stakeholders over the long-term. You will be introduced to different categories of brand meanings, or brand personalities.
You will also analyse visual and verbal brand elements, and also supporting branding strategies in communicating those personalities and meanings through brand names, logos, characters, and taglines, among others.
4 videos (Total 24 min), 3 readings, 2 quizzes
4 videos
Don’t be liked, be loved!8m
Be visionary6m
Be meaningful - Craft brand personality6m
3 readings
Meaning making through purposeful branding30m
Brand vision30m
Brand personalities30m
2 practice exercises
Recall - week 330m
Week 3 quizs
Week
43 hours to complete
Meaning in social context
In this week, you will put the management of meaning in a wider societal and historical context and appreciate that we don’t invent meanings for things as central to our lives as the work we do from scratch – the meaning this holds for people is instead patterned onto and dovetails with much longer values and ideas. Understanding this gives us a better grasp of what we can hope to achieve, and the limitations and difficulties that we face, when seeking to create meaning for others though our leadership roles. You will be introduced to the three most significant understandings of the problem of meaning in relation to work and business that have been formulated across two centuries of academic work - Marxist alienation of work, Weberian religious spirit of capitalism, and the contemporary new spirit of capitalism with emphasis on aspects such as innovation and social responsibility. You will be guided through thinking about the implications of these ideas for how we approach meaning making today. By developing an appreciation of these major social theories of meaning, you will be better able to appreciate both the possibilities and the limitations that you, and other leaders, are faced with in making and managing meaning.
4 videos (Total 21 min), 4 readings, 2 quizzes
4 videos
Alienation and work in capitalist society.7m
A religious 'spirit of capitalism'7m
A 'new spirit of capitalism'5m
4 readings
Alienation10m
The religious spirit of capitalism20m
Corporate social responsibility20m
Become a Global MBA learner10m
1 practice exercise
Recall - Week 430m
Instructors
Professor Rebecca Mitchell
Department of ManagementMacquarie University
Arabella MacPherson
Director, Resonate Communications
Associate Professor Edward Wray-Bliss
Department of ManagementMacquarie University
Dr Abas Mirzaei
Lecturer, Department of MarketingMacquarie University
Start working towards your Master's degree
This course is part of the 100% online Global Master of Business Administration (Global MBA) from Macquarie University.
If you are admitted to the full program, your courses count towards your degree learning.
About Macquarie University
Macquarie is ranked among the top one per cent of universities in the world, and with a 5-star QS rating, we are recognised for producing graduates who are among the most sought-after professionals in the world. Since our foundation 54 years ago, we have aspired to be a different type of university: one focused on fostering collaboration between students, academics, industry and society.
About the Leading: Human Resource Management and Leadership Specialization
Become an adaptable leader, ready to face the challenges of the disrupted workplace. This specialization will equip you with the skills to lead and navigate the ever-changing global environment we now work in. Through four themed courses you will: learn how to motivate staff with meaningful work (Become a Meaning Maker); better enable your organisation to deliver on its strategic objectives (Know Your Organisation); harness your team’s diversity and use teamwork to innovate and increase your organisation’s output (Know Your People); and strengthen your personal leadership skills (Adapt Your Leadership Style).
Frequently Asked Questions
When will I have access to the lectures and assignments?
Once you enroll for a Certificate, you’ll have access to all videos, quizzes, and programming assignments (if applicable). Peer review assignments can only be submitted and reviewed once your session has begun. If you choose to explore the course without purchasing, you may not be able to access certain assignments.
What will I get if I subscribe to this Specialization?
When you enroll in the course, you get access to all of the courses in the Specialization, and you earn a certificate when you complete the work. Your electronic Certificate will be added to your Accomplishments page - from there, you can print your Certificate or add it to your LinkedIn profile. If you only want to read and view the course content, you can audit the course for free.
What is the refund policy?
Is financial aid available?
More questions? Visit the Learner Help Center.
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