Graduate Certificate in Social Innovation Leadership

Wondering how a self-paced postgraduate course in social innovation leadership works? Find out more about the course structure, units, assessments and more, below.

Course structure

The Graduate Certificate in Social Innovation Leadership is comprised of four core units. These four units are generally broken down into ten to twelve smaller, bite-sized modules for you to complete. Each unit is six credit points and designed to require a time commitment of a total of 144 hours. 

If you choose to study all four units at once over a typical term duration of 12 weeks on a full-time basis this would equate to six months of full-time study for all four units. 

After enrolling, you'll have access to all four units, and you can work through these in any order. 

Assessments

Assessments are completed at your own pace - no deadlines or due dates. Your assessments will range from portfolio activities, online quizzes, case studies and videoed presentations.

Unit information

You must complete a total of four units as follows:

• BUSN20031 Social Innovation
• BUSN20023 People, Leadership and Culture
• BUSN20022 Disruption, Innovation and Entrepreneurship
• BUSN28001 Innovation Project

Unit overviews

Social Innovation

This unit deals with how organisations and individuals confront the challenges of intransigent social problems. A basis for social innovation theory and practice will be explored. Social innovation solutions often work where traditional solutions fail, because social problems have become inured to traditional solutions. Social innovation solutions are designed to be relatively low-cost, sustainable, and disruptive. You will be introduced to design thinking and collaborative ways of using an eco-system approach to resolve complex problems by offering ways of providing social benefit. An introduction will be provided to the concept, practice and impact of measurement in a social innovation context. A grounding in empirical evidence will be provided to support effective change initiatives. A case study analysis approach will used to enable you to develop the ability to assess and design solutions to enduring global social issues. Social innovation’s value is usually available to society rather than to individuals or individual organisations. A sophisticated understanding of how social innovation fits into the role of transformative global leadership will be provided. Finally, you will become equipped and adept at applying problem-solving skills, active/participatory research skills, and the notion of fast prototyping to ‘live test’ solutions.

People, Leadership and Culture

This unit provides you with an opportunity to understand organisations by examining the drivers and behaviours of its people, the underlying group dynamics, and organisational and leadership processes. These factors influence culture building, social capital development, organisational change and ultimately, organisational effectiveness. An understanding of organisational culture and the way organisations are led is important to our working and personal lives. Employees are likely to participate in a variety of organisations over their lifespans, as workers, citizens, community or family members, and individuals or group members. This unit draws on theoretical frameworks and insights from many disciplines in the social sciences, including management, human resource management, sociology and psychology. At the individual level, the unit deals with topics such as perception, attitudes, values, personality, motivation and performance. At the group level, topics include the nature and management of teams, leaders and leadership, communication, conflict, and decision-making. At the organisational level, topics such as organisational structure, organisational culture, and change are examined. The unit focuses on both personal and organisational development and effectiveness.

Disruption, Innovation and Entrepreneurship

This unit examines the dynamics and interconnectedness of business disruption, innovation and entrepreneurship. ‘Disruptive innovation’ theory is considered the most influential business idea of the 21st century. The phrase was originally popularised by Clayton M. Christensen and colleagues in 1995. Ultimately, it denotes an innovation that generates a unique market and value proposition capable of disturbing established markets and value networks by displacing conventional market leaders, products and coalitions. Disruptive innovations are evident in both established and advanced economies at either end of complex markets. Nevertheless, while innovation is revolutionary, it may not necessarily be disruptive. Entrepreneurs who bring disruptive innovations to the market are not necessarily disruptors. Business environments created by market leaders do not tend to encourage the pursuit of disruptive innovations or entrepreneurial initiatives. Primarily, this is because these products or services are initially unprofitable and divert scarce organisational resources from competing with existing competitors. Disruptive processes often require longer lead times to get to market than conventional approaches. In addition, the associated risks are higher than are evident for incremental approaches to innovation. Once deployed to the market, disruptive innovations achieve a faster penetration and higher impact into established markets. You will be challenged to conceive of environments where disruptive innovations and entrepreneurship can flourish. Case studies will be used to provide exemplars of entrepreneurs generating market value.

Innovation Project

In this unit, you will prepare, design, and implement a professional innovation project proposal. You will draw upon your area of specialisation and advanced knowledge of innovation and entrepreneurship and apply what you have learned in a practical and real-life context. You will respond to a project brief that has been developed using real-life examples from an Australian innovation agency or provide your own project brief that meets the expected criteria. This unit will enable you to design and lead innovative projects that have a social impact

Credit transfer information

If you have already completed a study relevant to the course you have enrolled in, you may be eligible for credit transfer.