Academic Programmes

Programme Nature

The Warwick Graduate Diploma in Service Leadership is a qualification for practising customer service professionals who hold positions of influence in their organisations. They are middle and senior managers of customer-facing operations. The programme is designed to appeal to a wide range of people, including those with degrees as well as seasoned managers with few formal qualifications but considerable relevant experience.
Learning and working through the 18 months of the programme immediately embeds key service leadership principles in your business.

90% SPUR Funding (WDA)

With the continued support of the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA), a limited number of participants who are sponsored by their companies will receive 90% SPUR funding support upon successful acceptance into our forthcoming cohort, commencing October 2010.

The  90% SPUR funding is for the course fees and is awarded to companies and their service champions who are committed to translating the programme's teachings into actual implementation of service improvement initiatives. Such initiatives should contribute significantly to raising the level of service standards in their respective organisation's service culture, environment and service delivery practices.

Benefits to Your Business

With six 4-day workshops, learning can be managed effectively in the following ways:

• Assignments consolidate and refresh learning and experience, to give you a real return on your investment of time and money

• You become enthused in the skills and abilities of practical management and service excellence

• Three-way reviews involving you, your manager and a senior tutor support application of learning in the real workplace

• The work-based project and assignments focus on issues faced by you in your job

• Promotes Best Practice in your company

• Learning with people from other organisations broadens the learning experience

Benefits to You

Develop and enhance skills in:

• Leadership
• Strategy and planning for service excellence
• Financial management
• Service and operations management
• Marketing in a service context
• Delivering excellent customer service
• Managing customer relations
   

Programme Structure & Curriculum

Eight modules are covered during this programme. At the end of the programme, participants will be able to:

Business Strategy and Planning

• Understand how strategy leads the direction of the business
• Evaluate and contribute to improvements in service and business performance

Service Performance through People

• Analyse the development needs of teams and individuals
• Develop personal leadership abilities

Service Operations Management

• Understand how operations deliver business performance
• Understand the importance of operations design, control and improvement in a service environment

Customer Service

• Develop a critical understanding of the design and delivery of service leadership within a variety of organisations
• Apply best practice in customer service

Service Excellence

• Implement service improvements as part of an overall business plan
• Make Service Excellence the hallmark of their business

Services Marketing

• Develop and implement marketing strategies that are integrated with the rest of the business
• Develop creative solutions to customer needs and understand their direct impact on business results

Personal Development, Effectiveness and Leadership

• Manage self to improve performance
• Review progress toward learning objectives
• Evaluate achievement of personal development and re-set objectives

Managing Change

• Change Architecture, creating successful change programmes
• Change Management, Leadership and Performance Management
• Corporate Culture and change
• Change Management and implementation – problems, solutions and skills

Teaching and Learning Methods

Taught workshops to include:

• Lectures from faculty and external specialists  
• Tutor-led group discussion
• Group case study
• Group and individual tutorials
• Guided Reading
• E-based learning support via Web-board
   
   

Programme Structure

The programme strikes an ideal balance between work and study; and because of its modular format it doesn't require long periods away from work. The study programme consists of six 4-day workshops, once every two months and held over a year. Classes will be conducted on weekdays and / or Saturdays from 9.00a.m. to 5.00p.m.

Each workshop will cover a combination of 2 modules. Assignments will be submitted between each workshop. After the final workshop, participants complete a final project which draws together different topics into one piece of work. (The programme will be launched subject to a minimum class size of twenty.)

Assessment and Award

The requirements of the Graduate Diploma programme are eight assignments, a work-based learning project and a personal learning portfolio. Assignment length should be 2,500 – 3,000 words.

Assignments test:

• Understanding and knowledge
• Competence in the application of skills

Personal Learning Portfolio

The Portfolio is a record of your personal development during the programme and forms part of the final assessment. It should contain your CV and a note on your current role in the business.

The Project

You will complete a final project which delivers valuable service improvement to the organisation you work for.  The topic is determined by the three-way review involving your line manager, the WBS tutor, and you.

Three-way reviews

A key part of the review process is the three-way review, which involves three meetings between your line manager, a WBS tutor, and you. These meetings allow each side to comment on progress.

The three-way reviews also allow opportunities to discuss suitable project titles and consider the impact the project will have on personal and business performance.

Attendance Requirements
Good attendance contributes to the successful completion of modules and enhances the quality of the students' learning experience.  SIM requires both international and local students to attend all scheduled lessons and activities.  Under the University, students are required to attain attendance of 100% and international students who are issued a student pass by the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) are required to achieve an attendance of 90%.

Promotion and Graduation
Students will be allowed to progress through every module. However, they will need to satisfy and meet the conferral requirements at the end of the programme to graduate.

Graduate Diploma will be awarded to students who meet the following requirements:
1. Completion of all 8 assignments
2. Successful completion of the big project and Personal Learning Portfolio


Average Teacher-Student Ratio
The average teacher student ratio for full time programme 1 : 35

Lecturers & Their Teaching Modules (as at 1 Feb 2010)

Click for pdf

Job Prospects

The delegates on the programme are professionals from various industries. It aims to enhance their service and leadership and to advance in their career.

Opportunities for Further Studies
In addition to graduating with the Graduate Diploma, the delegates will also be awarded Workforce Skills Qualifications (WSQ) credits by The Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA). With these WSQ credits, the delegates will be given credit exemptions should they decide to take up WSQ programmes in future.
  

Admission Criteria

Are Singapore organisations providing 'less than sparkling service'? This article Towards Service Excellence by Professor Robert Johnston, Specialist in Service Excellence at Warwick Business School, UK and Academic Director of SIM-University of Warwick Graduate Diploma in Service Leadership Programme at SIM finds out more.