Explore Management Concepts through Metaphor and Music (Coursera)

Offered by University of London,
Explore Management Concepts through Metaphor and Music (Coursera)

How can exploring and analysing music and metaphors help us to better understand management, work organisations, working lives, and ultimately ourselves too? As you set out on your journey through this innovative course, the answers to these questions will be revealed. Through the lens of metaphor and music, you will be introduced to core managerial and organisational concepts and theories. You will explore issues related to, for example: organisational and work design; motivation and productivity; employee voice; careers; and management and leadership styles.

Class Deals by MOOC List - Click here and see Coursera's Active Discounts, Deals, and Promo Codes.

You will research and analyse contemporary management dilemmas and challenges and gain new insights into the lived experience of work. You will explore the power of music to creatively engage and motivate employees, boost their morale, and give voice to workers who might otherwise remain unheard.
The course has been designed to be highly interactive and creative with lots of opportunities for you to share your ideas and engage in discussion and debate with your fellow students. You will develop your own original organisational metaphors, write lyrics to your own company song, write and record your own short radio play, and develop your own motivational music playlist. By the end of the course, your understanding of management, organisations and the lived experience of work will have increased considerably. You will develop new skills in research and creative writing and will have lots of new ideas to take away with you and apply in your own organisation and your own working life.

Syllabus

WEEK 1
Introduction to management, metaphor and music
This week includes: management and organisational metaphors, musical management metaphors, classical management theory and the machine metaphor and McDonaldization.

WEEK 2
Management, metaphor, music and the lived experience of work
This week includes: career metaphors, the concept of the McJob, the lived experience of work through the eyes and musical performances of workers.

WEEK 3
Music, motivation, metaphor and management maestros
This week includes: music and its impact on productivity and motivation, company songs and corporate anthems, leadership and musical management metaphors.

Go to Class
MOOC List is learner-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Related Courses

Teoria Musical (Coursera) Coursera
Berklee College of Music

Teoria Musical (Coursera)

Explore os elementos básicos que compoem a música, desenvolva sua percepção, tire músicas de ouvido, e aprenda a ler e escrever usando notação musical. Procuramos criar um curso que unisse a cultura e música brasileira com técnicas de aprendizado de solfejo e leitura rítmica. Você fará parte de uma aula de Percepção Musical ("Ear Training") na Berklee College of Music, cantando e praticando com outros alunos e interagindo com os vídeos. Além disso, você terá acesso a material para praticar, como faixas de acompanhamento e partituras.

Nov 2nd 2026
5-12 Weeks
Inspiração e motivação de indivíduos (Coursera) Coursera
University of Michigan

Inspiração e motivação de indivíduos (Coursera)

Neste curso, você aprenderá como criar uma visão compartilhada para sua equipe e como comunicá-la de forma eficaz aos seus colegas. Você também aprenderá como definir metas e expectativas eficazes de forma a melhor permitir que sua equipe alcance a visão compartilhada. Por fim, você entenderá as necessidades e os fatores de desempenho mais importantes entre culturas e aprenderá a alinhar as recompensas com os comportamentos desejados para que seus colegas sejam motivados a atingir os objetivos da equipe.

Nov 2nd 2026
4 Weeks
Leadership & Organization Design (Coursera) Coursera
Illinois Tech

Leadership & Organization Design (Coursera)

To succeed in today’s knowledge intensive organizations managers need to understand how individual differences in personality, learning style and cultural values, group dynamics, organizational culture, and human resource management policies shape employee attitudes and behaviors. This course teaches managers creative problem-solving and ethical decision-making, change management, leadership techniques for enhancing social capital and influencing other organizational members, and management tools for multicultural and geographically dispersed teams.

Nov 2nd 2026
5-12 Weeks
Programación y presupuesto del proyecto (Coursera) Coursera
University of California, Irvine,Tecnológico de Monterrey

Programación y presupuesto del proyecto (Coursera)

En este curso, aprenderás los principios fundamentales de la gestión del tiempo y costo en las etapas de planificación. Se identificarán las actividades del proyecto a partir de la EDT, se establecerá la secuencia, recursos y duración necesarios para finalmente desarrollar el cronograma detallado del proyecto.

Nov 2nd 2026
4 Weeks
Developing Innovative Ideas for New Companies: The First Step in Entrepreneurship (Coursera) Coursera
University of Maryland, College Park

Developing Innovative Ideas for New Companies: The First Step in Entrepreneurship (Coursera)

This course assists aspiring and active entrepreneurs in developing great ideas into great companies. With strong economies presenting rich opportunities for new venture creation, and challenging economic times presenting the necessity for many to make their own job, the need to develop the skills to develop and act on innovative business opportunities is increasingly vital.

Nov 2nd 2026
4 Weeks
Arts and Heritage Management (Coursera) Coursera
Università Bocconi

Arts and Heritage Management (Coursera)

Today cultural institutions are facing important dilemmas in many aspects of their management. Over the past decades, a new figure has emerged that of the art manager. Imagine you went to work every day to connect artists with audiences, vision with reality, and money with a mission. That is what managers in the arts do, they play an essential role in transforming the minds, lives, and communities through creative expression. This course has been conceptualized to address the need of skills and techniques to help professionals and managers in running art and cultural institutions.

Nov 2nd 2026
5-12 Weeks
Análisis de Sistemas de Transporte (Coursera) Coursera
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

Análisis de Sistemas de Transporte (Coursera)

Este curso es una introducción a las metodologías fundamentales para la gestión, planificación y evaluación de sistemas de transporte de pasajeros. Se aprenderán técnicas usadas en la práctica para estimar la demanda, modelar la operación y realizar análisis económicos de proyectos de transporte.

Nov 2nd 2026
5-12 Weeks
Improvisación de jazz (Coursera) Coursera
Berklee College of Music

Improvisación de jazz (Coursera)

Aprenda los conceptos básicos de la improvisación con Gary Burton, uno de los improvisadores más reconocidos en el mundo del jazz, incluidos los procesos mentales, melódicos y armónicos que contribuyen a las habilidades instintivas que aplica un improvisador cuando realiza un solo.

Nov 2nd 2026
5-12 Weeks
Produção final do músico moderno (Coursera) Coursera
Berklee College of Music

Produção final do músico moderno (Coursera)

A indústria musical está passando por enormes mudanças e, por causa disso, os músicos precisam cada vez mais de habilidades em várias e diferentes áreas para ter sucesso. O objetivo da Especialização do Músico Moderno é oferecer aos alunos noções básicas sobre teoria e produção musical e composição e disponibilizar as ferramentas necessárias para escrever e produzir canções originais.

Nov 2nd 2026
4 Weeks
Influir en las Personas (Coursera) Coursera
University of Michigan

Influir en las Personas (Coursera)

Este curso mejorará su capacidad para influir en las personas en situaciones en las que no puede usar autoridad formal. Aprenderá formas efectivas de construir, desarrollar y mantener una base de poder en su organización. También aprenderá tácticas de influencia que le permitirán ser más persuasivo e influyente al trabajar con sus superiores, compañeros e incluso subordinados. Además, aprenderá cómo construir y mantener relaciones de alta calidad para maximizar aún más su poder informal y su capacidad de influir en los demás.

Nov 2nd 2026
4 Weeks
Digital Product Management: Modern Fundamentals (Coursera) Coursera
University of Virginia

Digital Product Management: Modern Fundamentals (Coursera)

Not so long ago, the job of product manager was about assessing market data, creating requirements, and managing the hand-off to sales/marketing. Maybe you’d talk to a customer somewhere in there and they’d tell you what features they wanted. But companies that manage product that way are dying. Being a product person today is a new game, and product managers are at the center of it. Today, particularly if your product is mostly digital, you might update it several times a day. Massive troves of data are available for making decisions and, at the same time, deep insights into customer motivation and experience are more important than ever.

Nov 2nd 2026
4 Weeks
The Cycle: Management of Successful Arts and Cultural Organizations (Coursera) Coursera
University of Maryland, College Park

The Cycle: Management of Successful Arts and Cultural Organizations (Coursera)

What makes a successful arts and cultural organization? Led by DeVos Institute Chairman Michael M. Kaiser and President Brett Egan, this course will introduce you to a management theory called the Cycle which supports thriving arts and cultural organizations. Learning from our work with managers from over 80 countries around the world, the DeVos Institute developed the Cycle as a simple, but powerful tool to assist managers in their effort to respond to an increasingly complex environment and propel their institutions to excellence.

Nov 2nd 2026
5-12 Weeks