1.

0 Introduction A good dissertation topic is critical to ensuring a good start to a dissertation, which is relevant, up-to-date, and focused on current issues of management. A good dissertation topic is important as it provides an initial focus for the work, and sets the tone for the rest of the work that needs to be completed, including defining the research questions and developing the research aims and objectives. These are all helpful in providing a guide to the structuring of the dissertation. The dissertation topic gives readers an insight into the rest of the document and the focus of the arguments and supporting analysis. Choosing a dissertation topic may be the most difficult task in completing a dissertation. To help make that decision there are some suggestions in this article as to what topics could be used. These topics cover the areas of organisational behaviour, leadership, management information systems, knowledge management and organisational culture. 2.0 ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR Organisational behaviour deals with the actions, either proactive or reactive, that a firm takes in order to achieve specific firm objectives. In most cases, the organisational behaviour is influenced primarily by competitive dynamics in the sector. Some suggestions for your management dissertation on organisational behaviour are: How can Tesco maintain its momentum in its Fresh & Easy brand and format in the United States? What actions are needed by Tesco to maintain its dominant market share in the UK? How can Morrisons narrow the gap with the lead ing food retailers, particularly Tesco? What organisational actions do Morrisons need to pursue to be a top food retailer in the UK? How can Carphone Warehouse ensure a successful European business with its joint venture partner Best Buy? How can the organisations of Carphone Warehouse and Best Buy co-exist? How can Ryanair continue to be a profitable low-cost airline in light of the challenging airline sector? How can Ryanair maintain its dominance in the European low-cost airline market? How can financial services firms cope with the impact of the current credit crisis? What organisational changes are needed for financial services firms to remain profitable? How can Northern Rock regain its reputation and rebound from the bank run it experienced? What actions can bring stability to Northern Rock and its business? How can the Royal Bank of Scotland maximise the benefits of its acquisition of ABN Amro? What are the key organisational actions needed by RBS to remain a top UK bank? How can Sainsbury compete successfully with Tesco in the food and non-food segments of its businesses? How can Sainsbury set up its organisation to compete effectively with the top retailers in the UK? How can the Barclays Group leverage its relationships with several sovereign wealth funds (its new equity stakeholders)?

What are the organisational implications for Barclays Group of bringing in the foreign sovereign wealth funds as new equity stakeholders? How can easyJet continue to maintain its profitability and market share in the low-cost airline sector? How can easyJet organise the firm in order to be flexible in the increasingly dynamic low-cost airline sector?

3.0 LEADERSHIP Leadership is one of the key factors that impacts on an organisations performance and drives the agenda of firms. Senior managers and leaders of organisations are in critical positions to have influence on the direction of divisions, business units and the overall organisation. The subject of leadership gives many opportunities for writing your management dissertation: How can Rentokils relatively new management turn around the performance of the business and bring the organisation back to strong profitability? How does the leadership of Rentokil compare with other firms in its peer group? How can Rentokil ensure the development of future leadership of the firm following the hiring of new senior management? How can Rentokil demonstrate the reliance on internal leadership with the Board bringing in external leaders to manage the firm? How can Tescos Fresh & Easy format in the US leverage the strength of the UK leadership to bring success to the US division? How does the leadership of Tescos US format compare with the competitors in the US? How can Northern Rocks new CEO lead the organisation to success following the drop in performance and clients? How can Northern Rock identify key leaders within the organisation that the firm can rely on? How can the new management of UBS bring back the firms reputation and regain its position as a top global investment bank? What are the requirements for the new UBS leadership in managing the firm back to health? How can the leaders of British Airways ensure the firms success and manage the organisation amidst record fuel prices? How can British Airways continue developing future leaders of the firm? How can RBSs leadership manage the integration of ABN Amro successfully within the backdrop of the current credit crisis? How can RBS and ABN Amro leverage the leadership existing within the organisations? How can the leaders of Carphone Warehouse and Best Buy ensure the proper integration of the businesses for the European joint venture? How will Carphone Warehouse and Best Buy identify the leader to manage the joint venture? How can Morrisons manage the transition after th e retirement of Sir Ken Morrison, and ensure the continued performance improvement of the firm?

What are the leadership implications with the new opportunities resulting from the retirement of Sir Ken Morrison?

4.0 MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEMS Organisations recognise the importance of management information systems but are not always aware of the ways to properly leverage this for the benefit of the organisation. Management information systems can impact the performance of an organisation in a number of ways and are largely used to support organisational initiatives designed to result in changes to organisational decisions. You could discuss the following topics for your management dissertation. How can Tesco leverage its use of management information systems to maintain its hold on their customers? How does Tesco maintain a strong management information system? How can Morrisons utilise management information systems to develop its customer relationship management and database? In which organisational processes and systems can Morrisons most use management information systems? How can Sainsbury use management information systems to develop a competitive advantage in its reward card offering? What are the requirements for Sainsbury in developing a world-class management information system? How can easyJet continue its management information systems advantage versus other firms? In which areas can easyJet improve further its use of management information systems? How can British Airways utilise management information systems to address its organisational weaknesses? How does the use of management information systems by British Airways compare with competitors? How can Northern Rock utilise its management information systems in rebuilding its reputation among the retail clients? In which areas of the bank can Northern Rock best use management information systems? How can financial services firms utilise and build management information systems as a competitive advantage in the sector? In which organisational processes and systems can financial services firms best use management information systems? How can RBS use management information systems in managing the integration of ABN Amro and building its retail customer base further? How does RBS compare with its competitors in its use of management information systems? How can Carphone Warehouse and Best Buy utilise management information systems in managing their joint venture and capturing the European opportunity? In which aspect of business management can management information systems be best utilised by Carphone Warehouse and Best Buy?

How can Rentokil senior management use management information systems in managing the turnaround and performance of the business? Which parts of the Rentokil business have the greatest need for the use of management information systems?

5.0 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT Knowledge management is critical in most sectors as this defines the capabilities of the work force and the ability to differentiate from other firms. The use of knowledge management can be a source of competitive advantage for some organisations. Again, knowledge management lends extensive topics to research and discuss in your management dissertation. How does Tesco utilise knowledge management in bringing the best of the firm in all of its markets? How does Tescos knowledge management capabilities compare with its peer group? How can Tesco maximise the use of the information from the Tesco Club Card? In which areas of Tescos business can knowledge management be best utilised? How can Carphone Warehouse and Best Buy manage the knowledge management across both firms to benefit its European joint venture? What are the key benefits that knowledge management capability can bring to organisations? How can Rentokil ensure that other senior managers successfully leverage the knowledge of the new senior management in managing businesses? How can Rentokil institute a knowledge management process across its businesses? How can RBS utilise the existing knowledge base from ABN Amro to its advantage and benefit the organisation? How can the use of knowledge management impact the integration of ABN Amro with RBS? How does Sainsbury match the knowledge management capability of Tesco and build its competence? In which areas of the Sainsbury business can knowledge management have the greatest impact on performance? How can Sainsbury leverage the information gained from its Nectar rewards programme? What is the scope of knowledge sharing between the firms included in the Nectar programme? How can British Airways learn from its mistakes in handling of customer complaints? How does the knowledge management capability of British Airways compare with its peer group? How can the Barclays Group build its knowledge management capability? What are the key areas in which knowledge management can help businesses across the Barclays Group? How can Ryanair build an organisation with knowledge management as a core competence? How well does the knowledge management capability of Ryanair compare with other low-cost airline competitors?

6.0 ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE Organisational culture helps define organisations and provides a work ethos for the work force, including the senior management. Organisational culture can be a key differentiator between organisations. Here are some more suggestions of topics for your management dissertation. How can Rentokils organisational culture impact on its performance? How has the culture of Rentokil changed with the arrival of the new senior management? How can the new senior management of Rentokil establish a new organisational culture? What are the key differences between the organisational cultures of Rentokil with their peer group? How has Tesco leveraged its organisational culture? Which aspects of Tescos organisational culture are considered to be strong compared to competitors? How can Tesco ensure that its organisational culture also moves into its Fresh & Easy brand in the US? How applicable is the corporate culture of Tesco in its US venture? How can Sainsbury develop a strong organisational culture? How can Sainsbury build an organisational culture that can match Tescos advantage? What are the implications in business performance in changing organisational culture to match Tescos? How does Tescos organisational culture compare with Sainsburys? How can RBS ensure that its organisational culture still pre-dominates the merger with ABN Amro? Which aspects of ABN Amros culture are worth keeping and incorporating in the RBS organisational culture? How can Carphone Warehouse manage its organisational culture in the joint venture with Best Buy? What are possible areas of conflict that may appear given the differences in the organisational cultures of Carphone Warehouse and Best Buy? How can Carphone Warehouse and Best Buy merge its organisational cultures and manage the best of both cultures? How can Carphone Warehouse and Best Buy minimise the potential differences in their corporate cultures? How can a new CEO for Northern Rock instil a new organisational culture? How much has the corporate culture of Northern Rock changed as a result of the challenges it faced with the bank run and drop in share price?