Assessment information
This module follows the principles of the University’s Assessment and feedback policy developed
in conjunction with the Student Union, to ensure good practice and transparency in assessment
and feedback processes. The Assessment and feedback policy can be found in your Programme
Handbook or on your Programme’s Brookes Virtual site.
Coursework
Learning outcomes assessed
All
Assignment task
Amina has been helping to run her family’s small hotel in Oxford, La Pomme, for the last five years
since she graduated from the Oxford School of Hospitality Management. The hotel has 12 ensuite rooms and communal spaces for guests, including a small restaurant where breakfast and
dinner are served. The restaurant is open to non-guests and is sometimes booked for events.
The hotel has come through recent covid-related challenges and is back up and running, with
around 60-80% capacity over the summer of 2021. The clientele tends to be an even mix of British
and overseas clients. In addition to a small core team of full-time staff, the hotel employs parttime staff particularly at weekends and on a seasonal basis e.g. Christmas, summer.
Amina and her family are looking for some advice on how to manage the challenges they face
and on how to make sure that the business can thrive and capitalise on opportunities. They would
like advice on the following specific aspects of their business:
 How should they to motivate their staff, who tend to work part-time or on a seasonal
basis?
 How can they help the whole team at La Pomme to respond to the changes they have
faced recently and may continue to face in the coming years?
 How can they do better in terms of managing cultural diversity within the staff and the
cultural diversity of their clientele?
 What specific changes should they make in order to re-focus the hotel as a more
responsible and sustainable business? Amina has read about the UN’s Sustainable
Development Goals recently and she would like to use this as a framework for action.
Your task is to undertake critical analysis and evaluation and to make at least five specific
recommendations for La Pomme. Your recommendations must flow from your evaluation and
analysis. Your assignment will be in the form of a 3000-word business report. You should structure
your report as follows:
 Introduction
 Context
 Main argument: critical analysis which addresses Amina’s four questions (above).
Structure this section as four sub-sections :
 Change management
 Motivation
 Cultural diversity
Oxford Brookes University
5
 Responsible & sustainable business practice
Conclusions
Recommendations
References List
Additional guidance
 Be critical in your analysis – what reasonable assumptions can you make? Have you used a
range of sources and not simply relied on the company’s own website?
 Think carefully about how to use academic theory and academic research (as published in
journal articles) to inform your analysis and support your overall argument
 Ensure that the sub-sections of your report work together as a coherent argument
 Evaluate all internet sources used – they should be reliable, non-biased, up-to-date and
relevant. We advise you to predominantly use sources from the library databases, including
news articles, academic journal articles, and company and industry analysis
Checklist
Is your report well-structured? Is your writing well-organised?
Have you used sub-headings to clearly who the different elements of your report?
Have you checked the question, to make sure you have addressed it correctly and fully?
Have you used relevant academic theory?
Have you analysed the relevant issues?
Have you used appropriate sources? This will include academic textbooks and articles, plus
relevant database reports e.g. Mintel, Marketline etc
Have you cited all your sources in the main body of your report using the Harvard convention? Is
your Reference List complete and accurately formatted, with sources listed A to Z and using the
Harvard convention?