Group Assignment

Group Assignment Guidelines and Specifications

Group Appendix Writing Guidelines and Specifications

This assignment aims to ensure that students have familiarised themselves with a general framework of at least one management-related topic. Students will be required to apply relevant theoretical concepts in a written research paper using practical examples in most cases.

Please choose one of the following topics from the list (see below).

Research on the broad topic is a group activity, and each student must contribute to that work. Each student in the group will then research an individual component drawn from the broad research topic in depth. There are two parts to the group assignment:

• Appendix Writing
• Research Report Writing

You should form a group of 4 students. Please use the self-enrolment tool in BB. Note that once you do so, your group members are fixed and cannot be changed. The group size should be four only. Every member must make a significant, valid academic contribution to the team result.

As you start to work on your group report, you are required to assimilate this Appendix, which will be submitted via a link on the UNIT blackboard site in week ten by Friday, 11:59 pm.

What should be included in the Appendix?

1. All the group member details: full name, student ID numbers, contact phone numbers
2. The chosen topic for your group assignment
3. Allocation of the tasks for each member of the group. You may utilise this format for the above:

1. Include a Gantt chart showing the working plan towards completing the group assignment. This chart must have every allocated task, deadlines and dates clearly stated.

[See Gantt chart example; feel free to choose your own style] GANTT CHART example:

1. All the correspondence towards working on the group assignments must be submitted as part of this assessment. This would include but is not limited to emails, WhatsApp messages, USB file exchanges, group discussions, text messages, etc.
2. Provide the details of a minimum of five group meetings held. Each meeting must be documented in the following format.

Meeting Number: ………………………………………… Date:                              …………………………………………

Time:                     …………………………………………

1. Our group expectations are:
2. We experienced the following challenges during this assignment:
3. At the completion of the assignment, we have the following insights:

You can't create folders in file exchange. With your group, decide how you want to name files so they are easier to locate in a long list.

Add a file to the file exchange. Group Tools > File Exchange > Add File

Add a name for the file you want to upload. Browse for the file and submit.

You can also delete any file if you wish. On the File Exchange page, select Delete in the file's menu. But it would be good to keep all the files for any future reference.

Group Blog

All the group members can discuss the assignment by using the Group Blog. Once you are allocated to a group, you can see this function.

Group > Group Tools > Group Blog > Create Blog Entry

Group Research Report Guidelines and Specifications

The written group research paper report – worth 40% of your final grade- must be submitted on Friday of Week 11 at 11:59 pm. The written report should begin with the broad research topic, followed by each component identified by the student who prepared it. (2500 ± 10% words)

• Your report is to be written as a business report. It must include:
• Executive summary
• Table of contents
• Section headings
• Paragraphing
• Page numbers
• 'Who did what' section (use the below table as a template)
• The reference list at the end of the report

To ensure that all students participate equitably in the group assignment and that students are responsible for the academic integrity of all components of the assignment. You need to complete the following table, which identifies which student/students are responsible for the various sections of the assignment.

This table needs to be completed and submitted with the assignment as it is a compulsory component required before any grading is undertaken.
 

List of Topics (Choose one):

TOPIC 1

Globalisation General Framework

In this topic, you have to research globalisation. The business press bombards us with ideas about 'The shrinking world', 'The flat world' and 'The borderless world' – all catchphrases to describe the impact of globalisation. But are the (trade) borders really collapsing, or are we seeing, post-GFC, a resurgence in them? What is behind the extreme demonstrations against globalisation at G7 and WTC conferences?

Individual Components

1. World 3.0: P Ghemawat's questioning of whether the world really is as 'global' as we are being told it is and his ideas about how it could be globalised more effectively.
2. Anthony Giddens' ideas on globalisation
3. The "End of Poverty" movement and the contrary assertion that "Trade NOT aid" is the way to a more globalised world that mitigates poverty

TOPIC 2

Management Decision Making: Social Model General Framework

There is little doubt that social influences significantly impact decision-making behaviour. Social pressures and influences may cause managers to make irrational decisions. Outline, in the general framework, a model of social influence on decision-making.

Individual Components

The individual components of this topic introduce some classic studies as illustrative of the impact of social influences on decision-making.

1. Solomon Asch's classic study into the impact of social conformity on decision-making
2. Stanley Milgram's classic study of the influence that obedience to an authority figure can have on decision-making
3. Fred Luthans' study on the influence of information presented in a computer printout in contrast to the same information presented from an ordinary typewriter
    

TOPIC 3

Organisational Structure General Framework

Outline six key elements commonly used to define the structure of an organisation, identifying the management theorist who identified each of these elements. Then, outline four factors (contingencies) that are commonly used to define the situation (the organisational environment).

Individual Components

Each individual should select an example organisation – a real example – and suggest what you believe to be the structure of that organisation in terms of the six key elements that are used to define organisational structure. For your example organisation, you should define their organisational environment in terms of the four contingency factors and comment on the organisation's match (or mismatch) to its organisational environment.

TOPIC 4

Performance Management General Framework

Discuss Performance Management in the context of identifying the relevant School of Management Theory. Identify positives and negatives in the approaches to performance management.

Individual Components

1. MBO, Review and Agree, 360-degree Feedback.
2. Compare and contrast the strengths and weaknesses of cohesive versus non-cohesive teams and their application to High-Performance Organisations.
3. Performance Management from a Control Theory Perspective
4. The Balanced Scorecard Approach.

TOPIC 5

Motivation: Process Theories General Framework

Provide a map of the various theories of work motivation and explain the map distinguishing the differences between content and process theories of work motivation.

Individual Components

1. Discuss McClelland's work and theories of work motivation.
    
2. Discuss Goal Setting and its role in work motivation: the 'Review & Agree' Process.
3. Discuss Equity Theory using examples.
4. Discuss the Expectancy Theory using examples.

Your final submission is due Friday of week 11 before midnight.

The following penalties will apply:

1. Late submissions -5% per day.
2. No cover sheet OR inaccuracies on the cover sheet -10%
3. No title page -10%
4. Inaccuracies in referencing OR incomplete referencing OR not in Holmes-adapted- Harvard style -10%
5. Appendix missing or incomplete or not in prescribed format -10%

Student Assessment Citation and Referencing Rules

Holmes has implemented a revised Harvard approach to referencing. The following rules apply:

1. Reference sources in assignments are limited to sources that provide full-text access to the source's content for lecturers and markers.
2. The reference list must be located on a separate page at the end of the essay and titled: "References".

3. The reference list must include the details of all the in-text citations, arranged A-Z alphabetically by author's surname with each reference numbered (1 to 10, etc.) and each reference MUST include a hyperlink to the full text of the cited reference source.

   For example:

   Hawking, P., McCarthy, B. & Stein, A. 2004. Second Wave ERP Education, Journal of

   Information Systems Education, Fall, http://jise.org/Volume15/n3/JISEv15n3p327.pdf

4. All assignments must include in-text citations to the listed references. These must include the surname of the author/s or name of the authoring body, year of publication, page

   number of the content, and paragraph where the content can be found. For example, "The company decided to implement an enterprise-wide data warehouse business intelligence strategy (Hawking et al., 2004, p3(4))."

Non-Adherence to Referencing Rules

Where students do not follow the above rules, penalties apply:

1. For students who submit assignments that do not comply with all aspects of the rules, a 10% penalty will

   be applied.

Students who do not comply with guidelines BUT their citations are 'fake' will be reported for academic miscondu