Medicine & Health School of Population Health

Strategy Policy & Change (PHCM9391)

This course is designed to help students develop their knowledge, skills and perspectives on strategic management and planning, and to apply strategies, techniques and tools to enhance their leading change in the health sector.

Class timetable
Handbook

This course aims to present material, engage participants in a dialogue, provide insights and feedback, and enable participants to reach conclusions about how they might improve their capacity to lead change through policymaking and strategic planning.

This is a core course of the Master of Health Management program, comprising 6 units of credit towards the total required for completion of the MHLM program. It can also be used to provide 6 units of credit towards other programs such as the Master of Public Health and Master of Global Health degrees.
Mode of study

Face-to-face classes on-campus for internal students & fully online for distance external students

Key contact

A/Prof Ben Harris-Roxas
Course Convenor
+61 (2) 9065 9672
b.harris-roxas@unsw.edu.au

Who should do this course?

We welcome students from any discipline and level of experience to contribute perspectives and understandings. In addition, we encourage you to engage with the material, ask questions, discuss relevant issues with teachers and colleagues, and regard the available literature with a critical eye. 

Course outcomes

The aim of this course is to develop and enhance your understanding and skills in developing strategies, using policy to advantage, and leading change within the health sector.

The outcomes for this course are to enable you to:

  • identify and explore management issues related to the health sector for leading change
  • demonstrate ability to think strategically about the health system including its problems and potential solutions for improvement
  • formulate policy solutions that can be defended within a health service context and contribute to change for improving health outcomes
  • identify the influence of diverse factors on change processes including individual psychology, teamwork and culture
  • apply various tools to lead change initiatives within a health service
  • propose evidence-informed approaches for integrating, sustaining and evaluating change
  • assess your own managerial assumptions, standpoints and approaches for informing strategic approaches to policy and change in health service contexts.

Learning & teaching

The creation of strategies and policies and the implementation of change and improvement initiatives are inherently practical competencies. Therefore, while this course is based on theory and evidence, it also focuses on the application of knowledge and development of managerial skills. A particular aim of this course is to expose you to a number of practical tools designed to improve managerial and organisational performance.

Assessments

Assessment Task 1 – SWOT diagram draft
Weighting: 10%
Length: 750 words

Assessment Task 2 – SWOT analysis
Weighting: 40%
Length: 1500 words

Assessment Task 3 – Change roadmap
Weighting: 50%
Length: 2000 words

Readings & resources 

Learning resources for this course consist of the following:

  • course notes and readings
  • weekly lectures (either face-to-face or online)
  • Moodle discussion board
  • webinars (external students only).

Please note there are no set texts for this course. However, the readings are a key element of the course, and are provided for each section.