This module equips experienced managers / executives to analyse and shape the strategic governance of complex, high-value projects and programmes in a volatile, technology-enabled, sustainability-driven world. Drawing on a broad range of social-science and behavioural theories, together with current best-practice professional-body frameworks, this module explores—at a strategic level—the concepts, principles and organisational implications of the increasingly ubiquitous project form of organising. While the traditional Bodies of Knowledge have long influenced the discipline, contemporary drivers such as programme management, projects as temporary organisations, systems thinking, sustainability/ESG imperatives and digital-AI–enabled delivery now reshape the field and its complexity. Taking an open-systems perspective, the module recognises that projects are deeply embedded in, and symbiotic with, their wider context. Governance actors and institutions therefore play a pivotal role in aligning this organisational form with corporate strategy and securing competitive advantage.

The indicative syllabus looks at scanning the global landscape of project‐based organising, examining megaproject growth, digital transformation, ESG imperatives and the emergence of AI-supported planning to ground students in contemporary strategic challenges. It explores the design of governance architectures—portfolio structures, programme offices, maturity models and assurance regimes—showing how organisational systems embed projects within permanent operations. Attention shifts next to strategic leadership and sponsorship, analysing the power dynamics, influence tactics and benefits-ownership mechanisms through which senior executives steer value realisation. Building on this, the syllabus investigates the behavioural competences required to lead diverse, distributed teams, emphasising emotional intelligence, stakeholder engagement, ethical decision-making and cross-cultural agility. It also tackles temporal ambidexterity, equipping learners to reconcile short-term delivery cadence with long-term corporate rhythm through agile–hybrid approaches, pacing strategies and resilience loops.

On successful completion of this module, students will be able to: - Extrapolate global contemporary and emerging issues in the strategic management of projects, from both an operational and conceptual perspective - Construct organisational architectures and structural mechanisms facilitating effective project/programme governance at a strategic level - Interpret the salient mechanisms through which senior managers might exercise leadership in and sponsorship of project/programmes more effectively

On successful completion of this module, students will be able to: - Demonstrate awareness of the personal and professional competences needed to manage and lead people and behaviours in project contexts - Appreciate the temporal challenges inherent in the strategic management of projects and understand the relevance of transcending conflicting temporal frames in order to create synergistic combinations of permanent and temporary organizing

On successful completion of this module, students will be able to: N/A

The module is designed to be both rigorous and intellectually demanding and it positions project management and its link with operations at a strategic level, with a careful balance between theory and practice. Lectures, workshops and assessment methods enable experiential learning of relevant knowledge, which is actioned and transferred by the student to real-world problems in their workplace. Graduate attributes will be developed in the following ways: Agile: Students are expected to be agile in their learning through independent study, self-directed learning and coursework; Articulate: Students will become articulate in expressing advice through the use of in-class discussions, presentations and written coursework; Courageous: Students will be required to participate openly in class discussions, group work and assessments that require them to step outside their comfort zone; Curious: Students will be encouraged to be curious in their acquisition of knowledge of through practical examples, coursework and in-class groupwork; Responsible: Students will develop a sense of responsibility through class discussions on various ethical and sustainable issues and challenges.