Managing Complex Business Challenges

Led by Professor Paolo Quattrone, an internationally recognised academic and recipient of the Interdisciplinary Leader Award from the European Institute for Advanced Studies in Management (EIASM), this course invites curious, open-minded leaders to rethink conventional management approaches and tackle complex challenges from fresh perspectives.

Using a data-driven approach, you’ll learn to ask the right questions and reach more effective decisions.

Day One – Rethinking traditional management and decision-making  

• Deconstruct traditional management styles: their strengths and limitations
• Explore how knowledge, rationality, and action influence change and business challenges
• Understand decision-making governance and the role of data in guiding choices

Day Two – Managing ambiguity and complex challenges

• Discover innovative management strategies for complex challenges
• Learn to manage ambiguity and navigate inevitable tensions
• Build practical skills to enhance sound and wise decision-making

Day Three – Applying new approaches to organisational challenges

• Apply new management approaches to real organisational challenges
• Examine links between business challenges, supply and value chains, and social and environmental impacts
• Get introduced to the Maieutic Machine—a tool designed to improve decision quality

Day Four – Reflecting, building tools and collaborative learning

• Reflect on new concepts supporting complex decision-making
• Build your own Maieutic Machine and evaluate communication, mediation, and engagement effectiveness
• Present group projects to apply your learning in a risk-free environment

Throughout the course, enjoy opportunities to network with peers, including a course dinner that brings together a broader cohort of short-course learners.

Learn how to apply proven, research-backed frameworks to help your organisation navigate complexity and uncertainty across public or private sector projects.

Throughout the course, you will:

• Learn from world-leading academics who bring cutting-edge research into the classroom
• Collaborate with senior professionals from diverse industries
• Apply learning directly to your own organisational challenges
• Engage in lively discussions, workshops, and exercises that bridge theory and real-world practice

Stand-out learning features

• Applied learning - Work in an environment designed to foster active engagement, where your facilitator draws on the collective experience of your cohort to enrich the learning
• Peer knowledge exchange - Benefit from ongoing feedback and insights from professionals across sectors - helping you grow your leadership mindset and strategic marketing skills
• Reflective practice - Take a rare pause from your daily routine to reflect on your own marketing capabilities and challenges, with support from top-tier academic experts
• Professional networking - Build long-lasting professional relationships with peers from a variety of backgrounds, expanding your business network and perspective
• Personal growth - Deepen your self-awareness and discover how to sharpen your core marketing competencies in a changing business landscape
• Behavioural change - Embrace new mindsets and adopt evidence-based practices that will enhance your decision-making and managerial effectiveness

Learning continues beyond the classroom

Before, during, and after the course, you’ll have access to our virtual learning environment, where you’ll find:

• Pre-course preparation
• Slide decks and case studies
• Recommended readings and resources

And to support your long-term growth, you’ll continue to access these materials, plus the University of Manchester’s online library, for up to 12 months after course completion.

By the end of the course, you will:

• Develop a refreshed, creative mindset to approach organisational ambiguity and complexity
• Learn how to embrace uncertainty, rather than avoid it
• Explore ways to reframe complex challenges as opportunities for innovation
• Discover alternative approaches to data visualisation that support decision-making under uncertainty
• Gain practical insights from real-world case studies and industry speakers

Plus, your organisation will gain:

• Improved governance practices to better manage complex, evolving challenges
• Customised frameworks to navigate conflicting demands and ambiguous environments
• A stronger culture of opportunism and adaptability in the face of organisational hurdles
• Enhanced decision-making through team collaboration and distributed leadership
• New ways to leverage tension and uncertainty as sources of competitive advantage

This course is ideal for senior leaders in business or government who are open to challenging traditional thinking and exploring innovative approaches to complex problem-solving.

It’s designed for professionals in roles such as:

• Programme leaders
• Strategic planners
• Innovation or transformation leads

Whether you’re driving change, overseeing multi-stakeholder programmes, or shaping long-term strategy, you’ll gain practical tools and frameworks to rethink how you:

• Govern and manage complexity
• Engage teams with clarity and purpose
• Communicate effectively with key stakeholders

Recent participants include:

• Jonathan Falder, Director and Owner, HMG Paints Ltd – Read Jonathan's experience >>

This session explores the key drivers of productivity and how leaders can identify practical opportunities to improve performance. You will consider the wider economic policy levers that shape productivity, the factors within an organisation's control, and the trade-offs leaders need to navigate when seeking sustainable improvement.

• Explore the drivers of productivity and how they affect firm-level performance.
• Use a practical framework and checklist to identify opportunities for improvement.

This session helps leaders build confidence in understanding and applying AI responsibly. You will explore the opportunities, risks and governance considerations linked to AI adoption, while experimenting with practical tools that can support leadership tasks and organisational decision-making.

• Understand key AI concepts and how they can support productivity and decision-making.
• Identify responsible approaches to AI adoption within your organisation.

This session explores how organisational design, operating models and processes influence performance. You will consider practical ways to improve effectiveness, manage resources and support continuous improvement in complex and changing environments.

• Explore how structures, systems and processes shape organisational performance.
• Identify practical actions to strengthen effectiveness and adaptability.

This session explores how leaders can support people and organisations through change and transition. You will use practical models and tools to understand why change can be unpredictable, communicate with clarity and build confidence during periods of uncertainty.

• Apply practical tools to communicate clearly and support teams through change.
• Use models such as Bridges’ Transition Model and the 4C framework to strengthen leadership effectiveness.

This session explores strategy as the art of making choices. You will consider how leaders can assess strategic options, make effective trade-offs and allocate resources in a fast-paced world, including the importance of stopping some activities to focus on the priorities most likely to deliver successful outcomes.

• Explore how to judge strategic choices and trade-offs in different situations.
• Apply simple strategic models to support focus, resource allocation and decision-making.

This session introduces risk appetite and enterprise risk management as practical tools for leadership decision-making. You will explore how organisations identify, assess and manage risk, while considering how risk appetite can support responsible business growth.

• Understand how risk appetite supports better leadership decisions.
• Explore practical ways to assess, prioritise and manage organisational risk.

This session explores how leaders can build, protect and manage organisational reputation in complex environments. You will consider the links between governance, strategy, trust and legitimacy, and examine how organisations can respond effectively during reputational challenge or crisis.

• Explore the drivers of reputation, trust and legitimacy.
• Consider practical approaches to managing reputational challenges and values-based relationships.