Managing Strategy – Assessment Brief & Guidance
Assessment Brief
This document details what you need to do for the module assessment.
Introduction
For this module you need to apply strategic management theory, concepts and thinking to real organisational contexts and reflect on how strategy does and/or should occur.
You will need to evaluate the current strategic position for an organisation, generate and evaluate its available strategic options and recommend actions for its future strategic development. This will include considering wider strategic perspectives.
Scope
The module is assessed solely through coursework. This covers 100% of the marks available.
Your work will focus on one organisation, and your critical self-reflection from your learning. For details on which organisation to use, see Blackboard > Assessment > Assessment Overview.
Format
You will submit an individual portfolio of 4,000 words (+/- 10%), in a professional report style format. Note that title pages, tables of contents and appendices are not included in the word count. Everything else is included.
The portfolio is split into 4 sections:
Section Overview Guideline Word Count
1 Current strategic position of the organisation in focus 1,500
2 Current strategic options available to the organisation 1,000
3 Contemporary strategic management thinking, issues 750
4 Critical self-reflection, progression from your learning 750
Total 4,000
The following sections outline what to include in each section and how they align to lecture topics. See Blackboard for any further details, as directed by your Module Lead or Tutor.
1 – Current Strategic Position
For your chose organisation, present and critically evaluate its current strategic position.
This involves critically evaluating the important internal and external factors that impact or influence its strategic development and its financial performance, and sustainability and ethical considerations.
Consider the organisation’s mission, vision, values, and culture, and use relevant, appropriate comparison and sector benchmark data to support your analysis as preferred.
For this section, use your learning from the following lecture and seminar topics:
1 External and Competitive Environments
2 Strategic Position – Strategic Capability
4 Finance and Financial Performance
5 Culture, Stakeholders, International Strategy
2 – Current Strategic Options
You need to complete the following three parts for this section:
1. Based on your current strategic position, use the TOWS matrix to identify current strategic options available to the organisation. Use the Ansoff matrix to filter your options down to three.
2. Critically evaluate each of the three strategic options using the SAF framework.
3. Select your preferred option for the organisation to pursue now and justify why.
For this section, use your learning from lecture/seminar 6, Strategic Choice – Generic & Competitive Strategies, Direction and Methods of Development.
3 – Contemporary Strategic Management Thinking
Identify two papers that discuss new perspectives and thinking on strategic management and use these and wider current strategic management thinking to critically evaluate their potential impact on your chosen organisation’s future strategy in an increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous environment.
Use the Library Gateway to find papers in the Organisation Studies Journal or Strategic Management Journal.
For this section, use your learning from lecture/seminar 3, Contemporary Issues in Strategic Management and Challenging the Paradigms.
4 – Critical Self-Reflection and Progression
Critically reflect on your own learning in this module, evaluating how strategic management theory, concepts and thinking discussed influences (or may influence in future) your role as a strategic leader and manager and how this might impact on your current or future organisation.
To do this, use a reflective model to help you reflect on the progress you have made in developing your strategic management attributes identified in the above sections. Give evidence of your progress and the impact on your organisation where appropriate. Consider any potential additional challenges and include the views/feedback from your mentor in the workplace where this adds value to your critical reflection.
For this section, use your learning from your wider studies and the assessment support sessions provided.
Further Guidance
This section gives some further guidance on how to structure your portfolio and what to include.
Structure
Below is a suggested structure for your assignment. You can structure your work differently, providing you meet the requirements and criteria detailed above and on Blackboard > Assessment > Assessment Overview.
Title and Contents Pages
Include a title page and table of contents page up front. On the title page, include your student ID, name, student ID, any Learning Contract information/requirements, and the word count.
(Not included in word count.)
Introduction and Executive Summary
Include a succinct overview of the organisation and the main findings and conclusions from the work that follows. As a guide, aim for a third to two thirds of a page.
(Included in the word count.)
Strategic Position
Likely the largest part of your work. Discuss the headline findings from your analysis of the internal and external environment and generic strategies etc. Look to explore the most important factors more deeply, analysing them and how they might interact with each other and influence the organisation into the future.
The aim is to synthesise the information from your analysis and draw insightful conclusions. You must include citations for any externally sourced information. You could include a SWOT analysis here, supported through your writing and findings from analysis of theory and models presented in the appendices (see below).
(Included in the word count.)
Options and Evaluation
Include a TOWS and/or Ansoff matrix here, developed from your SWOT analysis above, and support this with a discussion of the main points presented.
First, identify several possible future strategic directions that the organisation could consider, all closely linked to your analysis in the previous section. Include these in your TOWS matrix.
Second, use Ansoff matrix to reduce to what you believe are the three main strategic options today.
Use the SAF evaluation tool to contrast and compare these three options to determine the most appropriate option for the organisation to take, based on all your earlier analysis.
Clearly indicate and justify why you selected this option.
(Included in the word count.)
Contemporary Perspectives on Strategy
This section moves away from your earlier analysis. Investigate contemporary theory on how your organisation might formulate and implement strategy.
You will likely link to theory from academic sources and practice as evidenced in publicly available material. Explore and analyse these sources to give a valuable insight into how your chosen organisation might practice strategy. The aim is to integrate and analyse theory and practice.
(Included in the word count.)
Personal Reflection
This section is not a description of your journey through this module. Instead, you must analyse and critique how your learning occurred, what this might be, how and why this happened and what this may mean going forward (e.g., what lessons can you learn from this).
We expect you to apply a relevant reflective thinking tool/theory to support the various stages of your reflective practice and make this clear in your writing. This should be properly referenced.
(Included in the word count.)
References
All sources need to be from appropriate and credible sources and cited in your narrative and appendices where applied. You must also include an accompanying reference for every citation, listed here.
Include your citations and reference in line with SHU referencing standards and guidelines:
https://libguides.shu.ac.uk/pages/referencing
(Not included in word count.)
Appendices
Include a copy of the models, theories, tools etc utilised in your strategic review presented above. Include your analysis, not just a copy of the blank or generic item. This should be properly cited and referenced too.
This might include (but is not limited to):
• External environment – PESTEL and Porter’s 5 Forces
• Internal environment – Capabilities (resources, competences)
• Internal environment – Value Chain, VRIO evaluation
• Organisation – Models of culture, stakeholder analysis, Cultural Web
• Strategic Position – Extended SWOT analysis
• Strategic Choices – Extended TOWS analysis, Ansoff matrix
• Strategic Choices – Generic strategies, The Strategy Clock
• Strategic Choices – Extended SAF evaluation of options
• Financial analysis (highlight strengths and weaknesses)
Include any other background or additional material relevant if referred to in the main text. Use appendices to provide data/information as a reference point, not to present new material not previously discussed.
(Not included in word count.)