Assignment 2 Requirements
Assessment Criteria
Suggested word limit: 500 words (per individual element)
1000 words (group element) (±10%)
Component Weighting: 35%
Due Date: Week 10 Friday 11:55pm
Submission format: Soft copy of a Word.docx to be uploaded on Blackboard through 'Assignments and due dates' menu
Important Please note:
1. Any assignments where plagiarism or collusion is detected will be awarded a mark of zero. You will need to contact your tutor if you wish to discuss this.
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Assessment Overview
This assignment will allow you to apply the concepts and skills covered in this subject. Its purpose is to draw on the concepts and models used in this course to:
a) analyse a particular situation and the management process involved in
it
b) reflect on management theories to determine if and how they are still relevant to organisations today.
Upon the completion of the task, you are to provide a formal report documenting your individual reflection and group investigation and analysis.
Assessment Tasks
Requirement:
This will consist of two parts: an individual reflection and a group analysis. Both parts will provide students with an opportunity to reflect on individual and organisational problems and challenges and retrospectively apply concepts and frameworks covered within the subject. The group report will comprise an individual element worth 15% to be completed by each member of the group, and a group element worth 20% which will be produced by the group as a whole. Both parts of the assignment will be submitted on Blackboard as a group assignment in report format.
Part A: Individual Reflective Learning (15%)
This should be no more than 500 words
Choose a specific incident from your life where you have used the four primary management functions of Planning, Organising, Leadership and Controlling.
Analyse the incident and describe the main areas where you used each of these 4 management functions. Reflect on how effective your management of this task/incident was and which areas you would change if you had the opportunity to manage the same thing again and why.
You should draw on concepts covered in the course and use the following headings to present your review:
Selected Incident: Provide a very brief description of a specific incident that you have managed using the 4 primary POLC functions. Outline the problem clearly so that you set the scene for your reader and provide a basis for your analysis, but don’t go into excessive detail. It is important to have a clearly focused starting point for any analytical piece of work.
Analysis: Break down the task and identify elements of it that fit into each of the management functions (POLC). Clearly explain what those elements are and why you believe they belong to a particular management function.
Critical Evaluation: Reflect on your analysis and determine whether your approach was effective. Identify possible alternative actions or strategies that you could have taken and why and whether or not you think they would have been more effective.
PART B: Group element (20%)
This should be no more than 1000 words (±10%)
Choose 2 of the management theories covered in lecture 2 “Evolution of Management Thinking”. Briefly describe the theory and identify its strengths and limitations.
1. For each of the theories you have selected, either
a) choose a well-known organisation for whom the theory is still relevant and utilised to some extent today, providing evidence to support your selection.
OR
b) choose a well-known organisation which contradicts the theory and provide evidence to explain why you believe this to be the case.
Recommended Structure
As a minimum, the report should contain the following:
1) A brief Executive Summary detailing the purpose of the report.
2) A section for each group member containing their individual contribution with their name and student number, clearly identified next to the work they have written.
3) A section clearly identified as the group element
4) Bibliography. (a minimum of 8 references with links back to in-text citations)
• Your report should contain a coherent argument presented within the length limit
• Your evaluation should logically follow from your analysis
• Avoid long and detailed descriptions of the individual situations or management theories, a short description with the necessary details is sufficient so that you can spend most of your time on your analysis and the recommendations.
Format
Ensure your report is presented in a professional format including headings, table of contents, page numbers and a front cover. You may wish to use a template to make this process easier.
Your report should be saved as a single DOC or DOCX Microsoft Word document file. Name and submit the document file as YourGroupID.DOCX.
Assessment Guidelines
The following criteria will be used to assess the quality of your report:
• Individual Element (15%) o Identification of appropriate management scenario (2 marks) o Identification of relevant areas of the scenario which related to each of the management functions (8 marks)
o Evaluation of process and limitations (5 marks)
• Group Element (20%) o Description of management theories and Identification of benefits/limitations of theories (6 marks)
o Identification of suitable organisations with respect to selected management theories (2 marks)
o Quality of evaluation of organisations adoption/contradiction of chosen management theories. (6 marks)
o Presentation (3 marks)
(Report structure, Layout, Grammar and spelling, Written style and expression)
o Referencing: (3 marks)
(Bibliography and in-text citations)
Individual Element Fail 50-60 60-70 70-80 80+
Selection of appropriate scenario
(2 marks) Inappropriate choice of scenario/ poorly described Identified and described suitable scenario with some clarity Identified and described suitable scenario clearly Identified and described suitable scenario clearly with some justification for selection Identified and described suitable scenario clearly with clear justification for selection
Application of POLC to scenario
(8 marks) Understanding and application of theory to scenario is unclear and demonstrates a lack of understanding of the material. Limited attempt at relating theory to scenario
Shows awareness of theory with reasonable attempt to apply it to scenario, though, largely descriptive Good attempt at applying theory to scenario In-depth, insightful discussion of theory and how it links to the scenario in question.
Evaluation of Process &
Alternatives
(5 marks) Poor attempt at reflection Limited attempt at reflection, largely descriptive Clear evaluation of process. Good evaluation of process with alternatives suggested Excellent evaluation of process with alternatives suggested and critically evaluated
Group Element Fail 50-60 60-70 70-80 80+
Identification and
Description of
Management Theories and their
benefits/limitations
(6 marks) Poor choice of appropriate
management theories with little or no attempt at evaluating theory Management theories chosen but limited relevance or explanation of benefits/drawbacks, largely descriptive Good choice of management theories with Reasonable attempt at identifying benefits/drawbacks with reasons suggested Good choice of management theories with some attempt at justifying selection and identifying benefits/drawbacks Excellent choice of management theories with sound justification of selection and identification of benefits/drawbacks
Identification of
Organisations
(2 marks) Poorly presented, no apparent structure and/or confused writing style Limited attempt at formatting, Well structured, clear writing style Page numbering, front cover, bibliography with some attempt at formatting. Well structured, focus explicit and clear, style appropriate Good attempt at report formatting incorporating all elements at credits level. Clear focus, structure and style used to emphasise discussion Excellent attempt at formatting report. Focus clear and justified, structure and style used to emphasise argument and discussion
Quality of
Evaluation/Application of management theory by
selected organisations
(6 marks) No evidence of any link between argument, theory and/or
examples
Limited evidence of link between argument, theory and/or
examples
Some evidence of link between argument, theory and/or examples within defined context
Good evidence of link between argument, theory and/or examples relevant to issue. Issues have been identified and discussed Excellent evidence of link between argument, theory and/or examples within context.
Issues have been identified, discussed and critically evaluated
Quantity and quality and presentation of references using Harvard Referencing throughout
(3 marks) Only 1 or 2 relevant references given.
Referencing is unclear. At least 3 relevant references. Referencing mostly clear but inconsistent. At least 5 relevant references given, mainly drawn from provided sources e.g lectures. Clear systematic referencing of all sources.. At least 7 relevant references including at least 5 from own research including page no’s
for all articles Bibliography includes at least 10 relevant references from good sources i.e. journals rather than popular computing press. Very clearly presented.
Professional Report Formatting, Structure and
approach
(3 marks) Poorly presented, no apparent structure and/or confused writing style Limited attempt at formatting, Well structured, clear writing style Page numbering, front cover, bibliography with some attempt at formatting. Well structured, focus explicit and clear, style appropriate Good attempt at report formatting incorporating all elements at credits level. Clear focus, structure and style used to emphasise discussion Excellent attempt at formatting report. Focus clear and justified, structure and style used to emphasise argument and discussion