Description of

Assessment Task

This is an individual assessment.

You must produce a business report that makes specific recommendations about a business issue that has been presented to you from one of our business partners. The report should include your analysis, options and recommendations and should clearly show the use of data, research, tools and frameworks.

You should not waste words in the report describing the firm and it’s history in detail not should you write a literature review about the tools and frameworks that have been used. This approach is likely to result in a fail or very low grade.

You are allowed to work in groups in preparing your research but the submission must be individual.

How the project will be developed

·       You will be presented with a business issue facing a company.

·       You will use appropriate problem solving methods to identify the key issues and to propose a realistic solution to the problem.

·       The problem will be one that is complex and will require understanding and resolution from many business perspectives.

·       You should (where appropriate) draw on your learning from different business perspectives (studied in previous and current units).

·       The problem (which may be a positive issue and not merely negative) will be one that has been given to you by one of our business partners and is thus a real issue. This may develop over the course of the semester and may require a flexible approach

·       During the class sessions we will work on specific areas of the project in order to build up a set of appendices and solutions. Failure to attend and engage is likely to have a very severe impact on your grade.

·       You will be presented with the problem in the first week of semester 2 of the unit where you will work in class to fully understand what are the terms of the problem and the expectations of the business partner.

·       The emphasis of this project will be on using the skills developed in assignment 1 and on understanding the problem from multiple perspectives and producing a solution that may integrate a variety of business approaches and disciplines.

Threshold standards for this assignment:

Demonstrate an ability to structure a complex project in which you use academically derived concepts to produce realistic solutions

·       You must understand what the scope of the problem is and the expectations of the business partner.

·       The emphasis of this project will be on developing and demonstrating your ability to manage the project and produce a realistic solution.

·       Skills developed in this assignment will help in the successful delivery of assignment 2.

Guidelines and Additional Information

·       You may form your own study group to discuss the topic. However, each student is required to submit an individual report, comprising their own understanding, review, critical analysis and recommendations regarding the issue that you will be given

·       Your report will be well presented and logically organized.

·       Good clear presentation using an appropriate structure demonstrating effort to communicate effectively will result in higher grades.

·       You are expected to use quality sources of evidence

·       Use of the Harvard referencing style for citing references – see http://lrweb.beds.ac.uk/guides/a-guide-to-referencing/referencing. This not only applies to the bibliography but also to in-text references. 

Submission deadline:

Last teaching week of semester 2 (TBC)

Submission deadline is 1000 a m.   The report must be submitted electronically via BREO.

Please note that no other form of submission will be accepted and failure to meet the deadline may be regarded as a non-submission

Unit Learning Outcomes assessed:

Knowledge and understanding:

 Demonstrate understanding of business issues and decision making through the use of academic theories and concepts from a variety of disciplines to derive potential solutions

Skills and abilities

Analyse and evaluate business issues across a variety of real business issues in order develop appropriate proposals for their resolution

Word Limit

2,500 words

Format

Word document

Resources/Support Available

Weekly 2 hour workshops

Lecture material, case study, recommended texts, library resources

Assessment Criteria

Please refer to the Assessment Criteria on the Excel  Spreadsheet

Peer / Self Assessment Required

NO

Details of how feedback will be provided

BREO