Unit 12 Management in the Digital Economy (H/618/5690) Assignment Brief 2026

Unit 12 Management in the Digital Economy Assignment Brief 2026

Introduction

The Internet creates a borderless economy and over the last few decades has taken shape resulting from billions of everyday connections between people, business, data and processes. As the digital economy continues to evolve, each day it destabilises traditional norms and practices in organisations, therefore requiring managers to reinvent and consider new ways of working. The way in which an organisation structures and organises its workforce will affect the culture that develops within it. Its system of shared values and beliefs will determine and shape the accepted pattern of behaviour within the organisation. This structure and culture, along with the way that managers approach the workforce and motivate their staff, will directly affect performance. The management of structure and culture in digital sector organisations is now quite different to those in other sectors.

This unit introduces students to the concept of organisational behaviour and encourages them to apply this to the digital sector, developing an awareness of how organisations in the digital economy are organised and formed. It will explore topics including structures, culture, and the impact and influence stakeholders can have on digital organisations. Students will consider the use of communication and media channels to understand different stakeholders, discover a range of digital-led management styles and leadership skills to assess those most appropriate, before applying theories of motivation to digital teams.

On successful completion of this unit, students will have discussed different types of organisational structure and culture; evaluated the impact of stakeholders in a digital sector organisation; investigated digital-led approaches to management and leadership; and assessed the relationship between motivation, organisational behaviour, performance and reflection. Students will have the opportunity to progress to a range of roles within the digital sector, which could include, for example, the role of IT Manager, Team Leader, Digital Community Manager, or working within project management.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this unit, students will be able to:

LO1 Investigate types of organisational structures and cultures in the digital economy sector

LO2 Explore the role, impact and influence of stakeholders in a digital economy organisation

LO3 Investigate digital-led approaches to management and leadership

LO4 Assess the relationship between motivation, organisational behaviour, performance and reflection in a digital team.

Essential Content

LO1 Investigate types of organisational structures and cultures in the digital economy

Digital economy organisations:

ICT- goods- producing and supporting infrastructure (i.e. hardware, software, telecoms) and ICT- service- producing, e- commerce and e- business (i.e. trading of goods or services).

Existing sectors increased use of digital products or services to include: government, retail, transport and logistics, financial services, manufacturing and agriculture, education, healthcare, broadcasting and media.

Supporting organisations, e.g. charities, social enterprises; and voluntary groups, e.g. third sector role in supporting delivery of services.

Key terminology and organisational structures:

Organisational terms, e.g. hierarchy, span of control, chain of command, line management, authority, delegation, empowerment, lines of communication, delayering, centralisation and decentralisation, collaboration and cross- collaboration, examples of organisational charts.

Structures including functional, product- based, geographically based, divisional, multifunctional and multidimensional, matrix, project, tall, flat, holistic, bureaucratic and post- bureaucratic, parent, strategic business units (SBUs).

Archetypes of digital teams, e.g. centralised, hybrid, independent, informal.

Organisational culture:

Types of organisational culture, e.g. forward- looking, backward- looking, innovation, customer- centric, digital transformation.

Shared drivers of organisational culture to include: behaviours (e.g. assumptions, vision, norms, values and beliefs), systems (e.g. processes, decision- making, renumeration) and symbols (e.g. observations, language, stories).

Theories, e.g. Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions (6D’s), Handy’s Model of Organisational Culture (power, role, task and person), Schien’s Model of Organisational Culture, Lewin’s Force Field Analysis for change; and digital- led trends, e.g. social connectivity, communication speed, learning, automation.

LO2 Explore the role, impact and influence of stakeholders in a digital sector organisation

Size and scope of organisations in the digital sector:

Differences between small, medium and large- sized organisations including objectives and goals, market share, profit share, growth and sustainability. Global digital growth and developments of transnational, international and global organisations.

Role and community impact of stakeholders:

Examples of organisational stakeholders, e.g. employees, communities, shareholders, creditors, investors, government, customers, owners, managers, suppliers, competitors, unions, trade groups, analysts and media.

Stakeholders and responsibilities of organisation to engage with different internal and external stakeholder interests, perspectives and expectations.

Importance of corporate communication strategy alignment to support business objectives, brand loyalty and community relationships.

Stakeholder communication and media channels, e.g. corporate website, online communities and forums, publications, meetings and visits, to communicate technical information to both technical and non- technical audiences.

The relationship with stakeholders and meeting stakeholder expectations in the context of encouraging, developing and sustaining community; sharing and delivering welcomed and unwelcomed information; conflict management techniques and understanding of community management best practice relevant in the industry.

Influence of stakeholders in the digital sector:

The importance of effective communication and engagement with a range of stakeholders in relation to Business Analysis assignments.

Central government, e.g. legislation, budget and spending review, economic growth, education and social welfare.

Private and public sector, e.g. digital innovation and change (new technologies, business processes, business models, domains and people development), labour force (elimination and creation of jobs) and transparency of business habits.

Customer, clients and users, e.g. law of supply- demand, accessibility of data and content, surveillance capitalism, consumer rights and brand reputation.

LO3 Investigate digital- led approaches to management and leadership

Digital- led approaches to management:

Quantitative or mathematical approach (i.e. management science).

Systems approach (i.e. systems management).

Contingency or situational approach (i.e. empirical case study).

Administrative or management process (i.e. ‘traditional’ or ‘universalist’).

Human relations (i.e. social and psychological factors).

Behavioural science (i.e. interpersonal behaviour).

Decision- theory (i.e. decision- making).

IT- led management (i.e. operational and management process).

Types of management styles:

Methods used by managers to organise people, e.g. directive, authoritative, visionary, affiliative, participative, pacesetting, autocratic, consultative, servant, persuasive, democratic, chaotic, laissez- faire, paternalistic or maternalistic, transactional, results- based, transformational.

Roles and responsibilities of managers, e.g. interpersonal, informational, decisional, planning, leading, organising, commanding, coordinating, coaching, controlling, decision making, conflict resolution, managing change, delegation, contingency planning.

Identify ways that managers elicit information from stakeholders to process information, identify business needs, validate requirements and document areas of interest and influence.

Digital- led leadership skills:

Adopted roles and characteristics, i.e. digital champions, digital investors, digital pioneers, digital transformers.

Leader capabilities, i.e. cognitive transformation, behaviour transformation and emotional transformation.

LO4 Assess the relationship between motivation, organisational behaviour, performance and reflection in a digital team

Motivation and performance:

Motivational theories including content theories (e.g. Maslow, Herzberg and Alderfer), process theories (e.g. Vroom, Adams, Latham and Locke) and applications of motivational theory on management and leadership.

The use of rewards and incentives (monetary and non- monetary), effective management, performance standards (goal setting, appraisals) and staff morale on digital team’s performance management.

Organisational behaviour and reflective practice:

Organisational psychology, personality and work behaviour, self and self- image, personality traits and types (e.g. Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)), group dynamics and inter- group behaviour (e.g. Belbin Team Roles).

Benefits of reflective practice on individual and organisation performance, recognition of paradigms (i.e. assumptions, frameworks, patterns of thought and behaviour, thinking and action).

Organisational learning, monitoring and evaluation.

Addressing issues of position, conflict, resistance and power relationships.

Reflective theory and models, e.g. Dewey, Schon, Gibbs’ reflective cycle, Lawrence- Wilkes’ REFLECT model, Rolfe et al’s reflective model.

Learning Outcomes and Assessment Criteria

Recommended Resources

Textbooks

BEAMES, C. (2019) How to Manage Your Workforce in the Digital Age. Online: Blurb.

GARFIELD, S.A. (2020) Handbook of Community Management: A Guide to Leading Communities of Practice. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.

HILL, A. (2016) Leadership in the Headlines: Insider insights into how leaders lead. London: Financial Times Publishing.

HUCZYNSKI, A. and BUCHANAN, D. (2013) Organisational Behaviour. 8th edn. Harlow: Pearson.

MULLINS, L.J. (2016) Management and Organisational Behaviour. 11th edn. Harlow: Pearson.

O’BRIEN, J. (2017) The Power of Purpose: Inspire teams, engage customers, transform business. Online: Pearson Business.

RASKINO, M. and WALLER, G. (2015) Digital to the Core: Remastering Leadership for Your Industry, Your Enterprise and Yourself. Oxon: Taylor & Francis.

ROLLINSON, D. (2008) Organisational Behaviour and Analysis: An Integrated Approach. 4th edn. Harlow: Prentice Hall.

SCHEDLITZKI, D. and EDWARDS, G. (2014) Studying Leadership: Traditional and Critical Approaches. London: SAGE.

STOKES, P. et al (2016) Organizational Management: Approaches and Solutions. London: Kogan Page.

SZCZEPANSKA-WOSZCZYNA, K. (2020) Management Theory, Innovation, and Organisation: A Model of Managerial Competencies. Oxon: Taylor & Francis.

YUKI, G. and GARDENER, W.L. (2019) Leadership in Organizations, Global Edition.  9th edn. Online: Pearson.

Links

This unit links to the following related units:

Unit 53: Digital Technologies as a Catalyst for Change

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