RECENT ASSIGNMENT

How assignment 1 fits in this course
The assessment in this course is made up of two assignments. Assignment 1 is worth 15% of the total marks available in this course and is designed as a learning experience for you. You will complete one structured reflection paper in assignment 1. You will be given quite detailed feedback on this paper in terms of comments by markers and the marks allocated for each part of the structured reflection paper.
Which parts of the course materials will help me with my assignments?
The assessment for this course is not based on the traditional essay format. Indeed many of you may have had no experience of the kind of thinking and writing skills required in these kinds of structured reflection papers. I have therefore tried to give you lots of guidance and information about the assessment so that there are no tricks involved. I have however spread that guidance across a few places in the course materials, so as not to overwhelm you all in one hit.
The section of your course materials that you are reading now will give you the theory topics you must address in your individual papers. It also includes information on how to physically present your paper, marking criteria sheets and an exemplar assignment. But, you will need more information than this to be successful in this assignment.
Before you begin your assignment you also need to read Module 3 of the course materials. It includes some selected readings that spell out the intention and some the techniques you can use to perform these kinds of reflective activities. It also includes expanded information about the marking criteria that will be applied and content that should be included in each section of your papers. After reading Module 3 and this assessment section of the course materials you should be clear about what you are being asked to do in this assignment. However, you may still be wondering how you go about actually doing them.
Therefore you also need to access the assignment 1 tutorial activities included for module 3. These are located on your StudyDesk in the Module 3 week. They lay out a step by step approach to completing these assignments. This is not the only way you could approach this assignment, but it is a very good place to start.
Assignment 1 details
This assignment is made up of one (1) structured reflection activity that has three (3) parts. It is marked out of 15.
The first part of this assignment – titled ‘The experience’ – requires you to write up a brief but specific case study of a personal experience you have had with a manager or as a manager. This section is to be 300 words (10% +/– allowance on the word count) in length and is worth five (5) of the fifteen (15) marks available for this paper.
The second part of this assignment – titled ‘Integrating theories with experience’ – asks you to make some quite specific types of links between your experience and Mintzberg’s and Katz’s theories as covered in module 1 of the course materials. You are however expected to include theories beyond the course materials. In the best papers students will articulate one major learning about or insight into the theories that they have identified by integrating their experience with the theories. This section is to be 300 words (10% +/– allowance on the word count) in length and is worth five (5) of the fifteen (15) marks available for this paper.
The third part of the assignment – titled ‘Personal reflections – asks you to engage in a more personal and introspective form of reflection where you are asked to identify previously unidentified personal strengths of yours that are worth cultivating and or previously unidentified (and possibly unhelpful) assumptions you have made about management and or what managers do. Or you could identify a preferred approach to work that you use which you have only just identified. This section is to be 300 words (10% +/– allowance on the word count) in length and is worth five (5) of the fifteen (15) marks available for this paper.
This assignment is designed to test your mastery of theories covered in module 1 and your ability to make a link between theories and your life experience. Module 1 will not be tested in the end of semester exam.
Do not be fooled into thinking that this assignment will be easy because it is short. The shortness of these papers makes them very difficult to do well. You will need to allow plenty of time to edit and re-edit what you write, down to the required length while still including enough depth and detail.
Format for the assignment
You should present your assignment using double spacing, in the body of your assignment and single spacing in your List of References. Use Times New Roman 12 point font throughout. Use Harvard AGPS referencing protocols as outlined on the Library website.
Coversheet for the assignment
As the diagram below indicates, the front page of your assignment should list your name and student number, the course name and number and the number of the assignment.
Please also list the length of each section of your assignment separately. Specifically, please list separately each of the following
? The experience. This should be 300 words (10% +/– allowance on the word count) in length. (This word count excludes direct quotes from expert sources).
? Integration of theories with experience. (This section of your assignment should be 300 words (10% +/– allowance on the word count) in length. This word count excludes direct quotes from expert sources)
? Personal reflections. (This section of your assignment should be 300 words (10% +/– allowance on the word count) in length. This word count excludes direct quotes from expert sources).
You are asked to do this, as this assignment requires you to exercise considerable judgement as to what you include or exclude. Students who submit over length or under length assignments will be penalised. You cannot use the same content of one part of the assignment for the other part of the assignment. For instance, you cannot write up a short ‘experience’ and then use the same content for the 'personal reflections'. You will lose marks if this is the case. This means you will have to write carefully and separately for different parts of the assignment.
Student name
Student number:
MGT2002 Managing
Organisations
Assignment number: 1
Word length: The experience Integration of theories with experience:
Personal reflections
The body of your assignment
As the diagram below indicates, title the first section of your assignment ‘The Experience’. Immediately under this title write up the incident you are using in 300 words (10% +/– allowance on the word count).
As the diagram indicates, title the second section of your assignment ‘Integration of theories with experience’. Immediately under this title write up your analysis of your experience and accompanying commentary on the theories in 300 words (10% +/– allowance on the word count).
Title the third section of your assignment ‘Personal Reflections’. Immediately under this title write up what you have learnt about yourself from this process in 300 words (10% +/– allowance on the word count).
The three sections of your assignment will be spread across a couple of pages – although this diagram makes it appear that the assignment will fit into one page. It is not necessary to use a fresh page to start each section of the assignment.
You should write the actual word count in each section. The word count in the diagram below are indicative only. Each section should be 300 words (10% +/– allowance on the word count).

The Experience
300 word description of the
experience
Integration of theories with
experience
300 word analysis (of the experience
using theories) and commentary on the
theories
Personal Reflections
300 word description of what you
learnt about yourself from this
experience
The List of References
Conclude your assignment with a List of References. Start this on a fresh page. Use single spacing, Times New Roman 12 and follow Harvard AGPS protocols as outlined on the Library website.
List of References
List at least 3 sources published 2000 to
present in addition to the course text
book and readings
Submission expectations
Your assignments must be submitted in Microsoft Word format. The two acceptable word document formats are .doc and .docx. Please note that you are only allowed to submit ONE Word document file (either .doc or docx) electronically. The file size of your document must not exceed 1 GB. No hard copy assignments will be accepted. Please do not submit PDF files as they will not be marked. Please do not submit additional files. Your course examiner (or marker of the course) will only mark one file per assignment. Please do not submit files of excessive size containing photos and other large graphic presentations.