RECENT ASSIGNMENT

Management and Organisation Behaviour
BMO1102
ASSIGNMENT BRIEF:
GROUP ASSIGNMENT:
MANAGER INTERVIEW AND REPORT
Part 3 – Formal Business Report
2018
PREPARED BY: Alan McWilliams
ASSIGNMENT TITLE
Group Assignment: Part 3, Manager Interview Report – Formal Business Report
This assessment accounts for the following proportion of marks for this unit
20 %
LEARNING OUTCOMES BEING ASSESSED
1. Critically analyse management practices in the Australasian context.
2. Understand organisational behaviour and management theory.
3. Critically analyse the underlying values of these theories.
4. Demonstrate knowledge of management theories and evaluate their impact on practical management decision making in the Australasian context
5. Develop skills and knowledge with regard to individual and group behaviour in the context of organisations and their environment.
(See the unit of study guide for the full list of learning outcomes for BMO1102).
SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS:
Reports must be submitted electronically as a Microsoft Word document file via the VU Collaborate
Assignment Submission process. The file name for your essay must be in the format of Family Name 1_ Student ID _Family Name 2_Student ID_Family_Name_3_Student_ID_Family Name_4_Student_ID_Assignment.
For example:
McWilliams_s1234567_Nguyen_s1234568_Chol_s1235469_Smith_s1234567_Report_Part_3.
Reports submitted with any other file name format will not be accepted.
SUBMISSION DEADLINE:
Midnight, Monday Week 4
GROUP REPORT PART 3, MANAGER INTERVIEW REPORT – FORMAL BUSINESS REPORT 3000 words
Instructions for Part 3 of the Group Report:
Each group will be assigned a video recording of a manager interview to analyse. Your report will be based on the video recording and this part of the assignment will be included as part of your report.
In Part 1 you were required to watch the manager interview and identify key information to be transcribed. In Part 2 of the assignment you are required to use your transcription of the manager interview to compare the answers given by the manager with relevant theory from your textbook. In Part 3 you are required to bring together parts 1 and 2 of this assignment and present your work as a formal business report. You will find a template for the formal business report in VU Collaborate.
Follow the template to bring together the various elements of your report, including your work for parts 1 and 2 plus your Group Process Journals and Team Members’ Contribution to the Re
An overview of the three parts of the group assignment is provided in the next section of this assignment brief.
DETAILED OVERVIEW DESCRIPTION OF THE ASSIGNMENT (ALL THREE PARTS)
This assignment is in three parts; each part is to be submitted by your group.
The first part of the group assignment is the review and transcription of the questions asked and answers given during the video recording of a manager interview. The second part of the group assignment is the comparison of the interviewee’s responses to the interview questions with relevant theory from your textbook and other sources. The third part of the group assignment is writing up parts one and two into a single, formal business report.
BMO1102 is structured around the classical management functions of planning, leading, organising, and controlling. We know from the work of Mintzberg and others that managers seldom have the luxury of structuring their day so that they spend a certain amount of time Leading, a certain amount of their time Planning and so on. A manager’s day is typically busy with short periods of time spent on many different tasks. Often managers are reacting to events taking place both inside and outside of the organisation.
In groups of four students, your task is to review an interview of a manager in order to find out how they typically spend their day, week, month, or year. The next task is to compare the answers given by the manager in their interview with the theory outlined in your textbook. This process of comparing information and observations with theory is the basis of much of the academic writing that you will undertake during your time at university. Your comparison should lead you to being able to make informed comments about the role of the manager you interview. By comparing actual management in practice with the theoretical “ideal best practice” described in the textbook and other sources you will be able to see how closely successful managers follow good theory.
Below is a set of questions that form the basis of the interview. The questions are developed from the themes covered in this subject during the block.
• How do you plan your workday?
• How far into the future do you plan for your job role?
• How do you plan for your career, and how far into the future do you plan for it?
• What is it about your job that makes it difficult to achieve goals, and what makes it easy?
• How do you motivate your subordinates and how do you maintain your own motivation?
• How do you approach the task of leading others?
• What things do you look for in a person who leads you?
• Who do you see as your mentors, and whom do you provide mentoring for?
• How do you mentor?
• How do you achieve goals by working with subordinates and fellow managers?
• How do you deal with conflict in the work groups you manage?
• How do you deal with conflict between you and other managers?
• What ethical issues do you face in your management role and how do you deal with them?
• How important is it for you to be aware of workplace diversity?
• Does workplace diversity give your organisation a competitive advantage? If so why (or why not)?
Your next task is to reflect upon and discuss the skills required by your group to complete this assessment task. What skills did you need to plan and prepare for this task, what skills did you need to complete this task and what could you do to improve the outcome in the future? Why would you do things differently? What are the possible problems with your suggestion, and how would you overcome them? Draw upon your group process journals to help you reflect upon how your group worked together. Write a brief section summarising these reflections as part of your report.
Your reflections on the assignment and your group process journals will be submitted as appendixes to your final group report submission (Part 3 of the group assignment).
Each group will be required to give brief oral feedback on progress (no more than 2 – 3 minutes) in each of the block sessions prior to the submission of the group assignment. All group members must be present for this brief oral progress feedback. The oral progress feedback will focus on detailing the progress made towards completing this assessment task, and outline such topics as: how tasks have been allocated amongst group members; who is being interviewed and any issues related to gaining access to your interviewee/manager; any problems that may be occurring with group members meeting their obligations and completing their group assigned tasks. The feedback on progress should be written up as a reflective “group process journal” (no more than 100 to 200 words) and used in the preparation of your description of team member contributions. These Group Process Journals are to be printed, signed by all group members and handed to your tutor at the time you give your progress feedback. (See below following the description of the assessment task).
Your manager interview findings are to be presented in formal report format. You will find a template for this report on VU Collaborate. The template will help you to organise your report and show you how a formal report is structured. You will see from reading the template that you need to include the following in your report:
• A cover page that clearly states; o The names and ID numbers of the members of your group o Your teacher’s name
o The name of the organisation and manager interviewed
• A table of contents that shows section headings and page numbers
• An introduction that tells the reader who was interviewed and where they are a manager. You should also include a short description of the company, the industry it is in and where it is located.
• A main body to your report. The main body of your report will be a logical explanation of your findings presented in clearly defined sections.
• A comparison between what you observed and relevant theory that will be set out with clearly defined sections.
o Be aware of the fact that every organisation is unique, and the way things are done in the organisation the interviewed manager works in may not be exactly “by the book” but it may be the most efficient and effective method for that organisation.
• A conclusion section. Your report will have a conclusion that sums up the key points of your discussion and comes to a concluding statement.
• A reference list that includes a minimum of three sources as well as your textbook. (This must MATCH the in-text reference citations of your report).
• Appendices for your group process journal and description of individual contribution (see appendices I and II of this document), interview questions and responses as well as any other material that is important to your report but may be too long to include in the main body of the work.
• An appendix containing a reflective discussion of the skills used by you for this assessment task. This section will appraise the skills you used in this assignment and outline the strengths and weaknesses of your assignment group in relation to those skills. Refer to the description of Graduate Capabilities in the Unit of Study Guide for a list of skills that your group may have developed by doing this assignment. Draw upon your group process journals to help you reflect upon your current skill levels.
Your report must be no longer than 3000 words, word processed (MS Word format) with line spacing set at 1.5 and printed on one side of the page only. All referencing must be done using the Harvard referencing system. Marks will be deducted for poor presentation, spelling, or grammar.
BMO1102 Mgmt and Org Behaviour Report Assessment Criteria Grid and Feedback Sheet (Rubric)
Content (45%)
HD (36-45) 36 points
D (31.5-35)
31.5 points
C (27-31)
27 points
P (22.5-26)
22.5 points
N (18-22)
18 points
Content Report demonstrates a deep understanding of the concept of safe spaces and how this concept is demonstrated in the film clip. The discussion is very
well supported by academic sources.
The report includes:
• concise summary of
scenario
• comprehensive
review of
literature
• concise and
insightful observations and analysis
• clear and
appropriate recommendation s and/or conclusion
Report demonstrates a good understanding of the concept of safe spaces and how this is demonstrated in the film clip. The discussion is supported by academic sources.
The report includes:
• clear description of scenario
• comprehensive
review of
literature
• thoughtful observations and analysis
clear and appropriate recommendations and/or conclusion Report demonstrates a reasonable understanding of the concept of safe spaces and how this is shown in the film clip. The discussion is mostly supported by academic sources.
The report includes
• description of scenario
• adequate review
of literature
• relevant observations and analysis
• appropriate recommendation s and/or concise conclusion Report demonstrates a very basic understanding of the concept of safe spaces and how this is shown in the film clip. Academic sources are only occasionally integrated in the report. There may be some
irrelevant information
The report includes most of the required sections, but these are not sufficiently completed. The report may seem
fragmented, or difficult to understand the relationships between each section.
Report demonstrates no understanding of the how the concept of safe spaces is demonstrated in the film. There is almost no reference to academic
sources. There may be some irrelevant information
Some required sections of the report are missing, or inadequately
completed. It is unclear how the sections of the report relate to each other.
Organisation (20%) HD (16-20) 16 points D (14-15) 14 points C (12-13) 12 points P (10-11) 10 points N (8-9) 8 points
Organisation Report has a clear and appropriate introductory section, development and conclusion. The
organisation is logical; and the content cohesive. Report has a clear and appropriate introductory section development and conclusion. The
organisation is logical; and there is cohesion throughout the report. Report has a good introductory section, development and conclusion. The organisation is logical; however, some areas need further development. There is some repetition between sections. Report has acceptable introductory section, development and conclusion. Organisation is generally clear but lacks cohesion which makes the ideas difficult to follow.
Some unnecessary
duplication of ideas or information may be present The report is unclear; paragraphs
are incoherent or under developed; seems disorganised, and there is almost no cohesion between different sections. Repetition of ideas may also be frequent.
Word choice, Punctuation, grammar and spelling
(10%)
HD (8-10) 8 points
D (7-7.5) 7 points
C (6-6.5) 6 points
P (5-5.5) 5 points
N (4-4.5) 4 points
Word choice, Punctuation, grammar and spelling Writing is error free. There is only
the occasional error in word choice, grammar, spelling, and punctuation There may be some errors in word choice, grammar, spelling, and punctuation but these mostly do not interfere with meaning. The number of errors in word choice, grammar, spelling, and punctuation make it difficult at times to understand the ideas and/or affect cohesion of the text Report has serious and persistent errors in word choice, grammar, spelling, and punctuation which significantly interfere with meaning.
Presentation (10%)
HD (8-10) 8 points
D (7-7.5) 7 points
C (6-6.5) 6 points
P (5-5.5) 5 points
N (4-4.5) 4 points
Presentation Professional physical layout and attention to detail
A correctly completed coversheet.
File submitted in the correct format for marking. Well-designed physical layout and attention to detail. Only the occasional formatting error.
A correctly completed coversheet. File submitted in the correct format for marking. Clear layout with work neatly presented. Maybe occasional formatting errors.
A correctly completed coversheet. File submitted in the correct format for marking. Acceptable physical layout, but not consistently applied to each part of the report. Some errors.
A correctly completed coversheet. File submitted in the correct format for marking. Physical layout detracts from the content of the report. May be inconsistent design, or inappropriate design. Significant number of formatting errors.
No coversheet is attached or coversheet is incomplete.
Referencing (15%)
HD (12-15) 12 points
D (10.5-11.5)
10.5 points
C (9-10)
9 points
P (7.5-8.5)
7.5 points
F (6-7)
6 points
Referencing Sources are clearly integrated the report through accurate use of summary, paraphrase, and quotation. The report consistently and accurately uses Harvard referencing style. Source material fits smoothly into the writer’s own text. Sources are clearly related to the content of the report and there is an appropriate use of paraphrase or quotation. There is accurate use of Harvard referencing style. Source material fits smoothly into the45 writer’s own text. Sources are used to substantiate the ideas in the report.
The Harvard referencing style has been used. However some errors present Source material may be used un-critically, may lack variety, or is mostly limited to quotation. Harvard referencing style is used but not always accurately or consistently. Source material may be misquoted, poorly paraphrased, used uncritically, or has an unclear relationship to the content of the report.
Inaccurate use of Harvard referencing, or a complete absence of referencing.
Overall Score
HD (80-100%)
80 or more
D (70-79%) 70 or more
C (60-69%) 60 or more
P (50-59%)
50 or more
N (0-49%) 0 or more
GROUP PROCESS JOURNAL
To be handed in each tutorial at the time of your oral feedback on progress
Group Members
Record of Meeting:
You are required to keep a record of every group meeting. At these meetings you should discuss how tasks are to be achieved, who will be responsible for various tasks and when these tasks are due to be completed – usually by the next meeting date.
Date:
Attendance: ____________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
Agreed action:
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
Time, date and place of next meeting: ______________________________
Signatures: ____________________________________________________
Date:
TEAM MEMBERS’ CONTRIBUTION TO THE GROUP REPORT ASSIGNMENT
Please provide a brief description of the work you contributed to the group assignment. This description of your contribution should be agreed to and signed by your fellow team members.
Each member must:
1. Complete 1 form individually
2. Have it signed by the remaining group members, and
3. Attach all individual statements to the group assignment (e.g. If there are 3 members in the group, there should be 3 copies of this form appended to your assignment).
Brief description of YOUR contribution to the group assignment (in point form).
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YOUR name: ……………………………………………….
Student No.: ………………………… YOUR signature: ………………………………
Fellow group members’ verification (fellow group members to write your names and sign alongside, if other MEMBERS AGREE with the contributions indicated in the above statement. If other MEMBERS DISAGREE with the contributions indicated in the statement, please consult your TUTOR).
Names of other team members Student No. Signature
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