Dr Patrick McGurk is a Reader in Management Practice in the School of Business and Management, where he’s also Deputy Director of Education and Director of Skills and Employer Engagement.
He’s in charge of the BSc Business Management (Social Change) Degree Apprenticeship programme, and teaches several modules concerned with leadership and management practice, including ‘Mentoring and Coaching’ and ‘Leadership in the Social and Public Sectors’. Dr McGurk spoke to us about his work at Queen Mary and how he sees his students develop during their time here.
We are a different kind of business school, so teaching here is really exciting. We have the freedom and research expertise to explore critical, contemporary issues in business and management, such as topics around social justice and sustainability. We put these centre-stage in our modules, instead of as ‘side issues’. The students respond well to activities and controversial debates about what’s going on in business across the world, so this all makes for a rich learning environment.
Business Management as a subject is so broad: it tackles fascinating questions about organisations, managers and leaders, how they work and their impact on the world; but it’s also a chance for students to reflect on themselves as future managers and leaders.
So, it’s both intellectually engaging – learning about marketing, finance, human resources, technology and so on from various economic, political, sociological and psychological perspectives – as well as personally advancing, in terms of developing skills such as analysis, debate, communication, quantitative techniques, digitals and teamwork.
I have seen students arrive quiet as mice, but then flourish once they get stuck into team projects, where they have to research problems, argue with each other, present solutions to mock clients, get feedback from them and then reflect on their own progress and development. This gives them the confidence to produce critical essays, reports and presentations, and then go out to get internships and great graduate jobs.