BUS1002 Fundamentals of Management
Assessment Details:
Assess the student’s understanding of the theoretical learning to practical, real world situations. This is a great opportunity for the students to demonstrate their ability to:
• contribute effectively to a group task;
• assess an organisational issue or problem as objectively as possible; • appreciate the potential of theory in managerial decision making and problem solving, and
• take managerial responsibility by designing a practical course of action (rather than merely making recommendations).
Instructions
Students will form groups of around three/four. Group should identify a problem situation (at least three problems) in an organisation they have access to (preferably an organisation where at least one group member works or has worked recently). Do not focus on a problem that has already been solved
This assignment is divided
The project report PART A should be covering the following points:
1. Provide a brief introduction of the organisation (it is acceptable to withhold the name of the organisation).
2. Describe the problem, as much as possible in terms of the observable or measurable symptoms it manifests, for example: increased customer complaints; specific quality concerns; high staff turnover; contracts lost; decreased market share; loss of funding or loss of profit etc.,
3. The issue/problem should then be considered and analysed in terms of material drawn from any two topics studied as part of this subject. To give some examples, your group may choose to apply a model of leadership to examine your problem or use models or concepts of motivation and organisational culture, or ethics and organisational design. Try to choose the topic models/concepts that seem to offer the most useful insights into the problem. Do not try to deal with many models or concepts. For example, two models, well applied and showing a good understanding of associated concepts would likely to give optimum results. Topics outside course coverage should not be selected.
The project report PART B should be covering the following points:
4. Explain the classical functions of management for your organisation which include planning, organising, leading and controlling. While the relevance of these functions has been attributed to the success of many organisations in the past, there has been a doubt on the relevance of these classical functions of management in the contemporary organisations that are witnessing continual changes in their organisational environments.
5. In this Part B, students should write an group report to provide an analysis on both how the functions of managements are constraining to the ability of organisations to adapt with the changes in their environment, and how organisations could appropriately (i.e. which types, styles, or theories) plan, organise, lead and control in the contemporary workplace characterised by changing environments.
6. Design an intervention (a change program or set of activities and procedures) utilising some aspect or aspects of your analysis. The intervention should be intended to solve or improve the situation of the organisation. Please note you are not merely being asked for a list of recommendations
