Detailed Brief for Individual Assessment

Purpose of this assignment

This assignment is intended to develop your research and analytical skills by exploring a particular issue in the field of business and management in depth. You are also encouraged to reflect on your work and the feedback you received

Structure of this assignment

Overall this assignment should have no more than 2200 words, of which no more than 200 words make up 2b which is the reflective element. The analytical part 2a needs to consist of a clearly presented essay style text which is structured through headings and which includes in-text references to published work that are then listed in a reference list at the end. The reference list is excluded from the word count. The reflective part 2b does not require any references to published work but should refer to specific incidents and feedback which helped you gain new insights on the topics covered in the module.

This assignment needs to be submitted in one word file, together with the marked version of assignment 1a and 1b in an appendix.

Specific instructions for 2a:

For assignment 2a you need to choose one of the two topics set out below. To discuss your chosen topic you are required to make connections between theories and models related to any three of the six main topics that were covered in this module. In addition you are required to identify examples and theoretical perspectives published through academic, practitioner, policy and news sources and which is in addition to the articles that were provided for the tutorials. The examples you use should be the result of your own research and based on case studies or other published material you have identified in your searches. These examples need to be critically discussed by applying models, theories or concepts from any three of the main topics covered in the module curriculum. A good assignment will explore a small number of examples in depth, comparing and contrasting different perspectives on the issue you are writing on. Simply presenting material from your search, without explaining why you believe it is relevant and how it helps to illustrate theoretical content covered in the module, is unlikely to contribute to a good grade. More generally for 2a we expect that:

• The title for the assignment should make it clear whether you are writing on topic A or
• That you refer to 15 – 25 published These references must conform to the CASE Harvard Referencing guidelines. The reference list is excluded from the word count.
• You explicitly draw on three of the six main topics that were covered in this module (globalisation, organisational culture, innovation and change, diversity, ethics and leadership).
• The assignment has a clear structure with headings and sub-headings
• All diagrams and models that are included need to be clearly related to your discussion and correctly referenced
• The marked version of Assignment 1 should be included in the word file as an appendix

Submissions that exceed the maximum limit of 2000 words by more than 10% will attract a penalty by having 5 points deducted from the mark attained.

You need to choose one of the two topics below:

Topic 1: Managing organisations at times of crisis

Using examples from your own research, together with theory from at least three of the main topics covered in the module discuss:

• What is meant by transformational leadership and what are its distinctive advantages compared to other leadership approaches when organisations find themselves in
• The barriers to change managers might encounter as they are trying to deal with unforeseen
• What organisations can do to improve their competitiveness at times of

Topic 2 dealing with prejudice and discrimination

Using examples from your own research, together with theory from at least three of the main topics covered in the module, discuss:

• What is meant by cultural competence and why it is considered an advantage to foster cultural diversity in the
• The challenges managers face as they are trying to tackle prejudice and discrimination in their
• What organisations can do to promote corporate

Specific instructions for 2b:

A good starting point for the reflective part of this assignment would be to review the feedback you received on Assignment 1: in what way did this feedback help you in working on Assignment 2a? Did you develop new academic skills over the duration of this module? Also consider whether your work on this module has helped you to find new perspectives on particular issues concerned with business management. You are encouraged to write 2b in the first person.

Submissions that exceed the maximum limit of 200 words by more than 10% will attract a penalty by having 5 points deducted from the mark attained.

Tips:

• Support all your assertions and arguments with references to material from the text book and other published sources
• Do NOT use Wikipedia as a reference – but you can use Wikipedia to find links to case studies and other published material that would help you in your research
• Paraphrase others’ views, citing the relevant source, is generally better than using direct quotations
• Use Harvard referencing throughout
• Use 15 -25 published sources as references
• Refer to guidance from CASE on ‘Academic Writing’ for details on spelling, grammar and structure