Overview
This capstone practicum integrates strategic management, operations, finance, leadership, and business analytics through a turnaround simulation and live operational floor audit. Students assume executive, advisory, or functional leadership roles in a distressed organization experiencing revenue decline, cash pressure, process failures, customer attrition, workforce challenges, and competitive threats.
Students conduct rapid diagnostic work using stakeholder interviews, financial statement analysis, cash-flow mapping, KPI evaluation, process observation, root-cause analysis, risk assessment, and customer and employee feedback. During the live floor audit, they evaluate workflow, throughput, capacity utilization, bottlenecks, quality controls, safety, inventory, service standards, technology use, compliance, and frontline decision-making without disrupting operations.
Simulation rounds introduce changing market conditions, incomplete data, resistance to change, and operational shocks. Teams prioritize interventions, develop a 13-week cash and performance recovery plan, assign owners and milestones, estimate costs and benefits, manage implementation risk, and communicate difficult decisions to stakeholders. The practicum culminates in a board-level recovery recommendation supported by audit evidence, financial analysis, dashboards, and control systems.
Learning Outcomes
- Evaluate organizational performance using financial statements, cash-flow analysis, operational KPIs, stakeholder evidence, and process observations.
- Diagnose root causes of financial, operational, customer, workforce, and process-performance problems.
- Conduct an evidence-based operational floor audit while maintaining safety, compliance, continuity, and professional standards.
- Synthesize diagnostic findings into a prioritized and financially viable turnaround strategy.
- Develop a 13-week cash and performance recovery plan with defined owners, milestones, resource requirements, costs, benefits, and control measures.
- Use dashboards, risk registers, and management control systems to monitor implementation and respond to performance variation.
- Lead cross-functional teams through uncertainty, resistance to change, incomplete information, and unexpected operational shocks.
- Defend a persuasive board-level recovery recommendation using structured analysis, credible evidence, and clear executive communication.
- Reflect critically on leadership decisions, stakeholder impacts, implementation risks, and ethical responsibilities during organizational turnaround.
Timetable
| Type | Length | Frequency | Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seminar | 2 hours | Weekly | All semester |
| Workshop | 2 hours | Weekly | All semester |
| Practicum | 4 hours | Fortnightly | First term |
| Practicum | 4 hours | Fortnightly | Second term |
| Tutorial | 1 hour | Weekly | All semester |
Assessment Schedule
| Type | Description | Weighting |
|---|---|---|
| Deliverable | Audit documentation and evidence register. | 20.00% |
| Assignment | Diagnostic analysis and root-cause assessment. | 20.00% |
| Capstone | 13-week cash and performance recovery plan. | 25.00% |
| Deliverable | Simulation decisions and implementation controls. | 15.00% |
| Assignment | Reflective leadership and stakeholder analysis. | 10.00% |
| Exam | Final executive recovery presentation and defence. | 10.00% |
Prerequisites
- Requirement Admission to the Master of Business and Management programme or approval from the department.
Teaching Staff & Programs
This course is delivered jointly by faculty from the participating programs listed below. In line with the Douchewater Way, the University of Sexology tailors core instruction directly to each cohort's specific discipline — adapting curriculum to program needs rather than forcing students into a one-size-fits-all model. Learn more about our approach at The Douchewater Way.