Assessment Brief

BUS020X628A Contemporary Issues in Management

Assignment Scenario

You have made it through to the final graduate selection event for a large organisation from ONE of the following industries or relevant subsectors:

• Hospitality including Travel & Tourism
• Manufacturing including Automotive
• Professional services eg Accounting, Law
• Government
• Banking and Finance including Insurance
• Media and Entertainment
• Technology eg Software, Hardware
• Construction and Infrastructure eg Buildings, Roads, Rail
• Energy eg Oil and Gas, Electricity, Renewable
• Fast Moving Consumer Goods eg Fashion, Beauty

For your interview you are required to prepare a report on your views of contemporary issues related to management within the industry. This employer is looking for evidence of knowledge of relevant issues in their industry and their management implications. In addition, your response needs to consider what this means to you and your own career`

Instructions for Summative Assessment

Your assessment for this module takes the form of a 3,500 words management report.

You are required to prepare a management report that applies horizon scanning techniques (trends, data analysis, sources and critical thinking) to examine an industry of your choice. You will need to identify the relevant contemporary issues that affect that industry. Use the following subheadings for your report.

Section 1 – Introduction (10%)

• Describe the industry and what is happening within it. For example, is the industry expanding or contracting, what are its biggest challenges, are there any new entrants etc.
• Draw on sources from your Horizon Scanning Tracker.

Section 2 - Technology enablers and innovations (25%)

• Identify which enabling technologies and innovations are making more impact on your industry. Why is this happening?
• Draw on thought leadership articles/ reports from companies like IBM, Deloitte, McKinsey and ensure they are included your Horizon Scanning Tracker as appendix.

Section 3 - Analyse the industry through three lenses discussed in class (40%)

• Future of consumption
• Future of enterprise
• Future of work
• In each section, draw on the research discussed in the module. Use concrete examples of relevant companies to explore how companies are reacting to issues.
• You must include your Horizon Scanning Tracker in your appendix to evidence sources. You should include an evaluation of those sources.

Section 4 - Your views (10%)

• What are your views about how changes within the industry will impact you and your career? Would you want to work in the industry? If so, why or why not?
• Given what you know, what is the contribution you could make to your chosen industry?

Presentation and referencing (15%) - Writing of this paper requires significant amounts of citations and referencing and so you must demonstrate this skill throughout the paper.

Overall, the focus of the report is an examination, in depth, of the relationships between issues within the industry and what companies and their management teams are doing about them.  Be specific by providing examples. Use a wide range of professional thought leadership sources. Provide a view about how it affects you and what you can contribute to an organisation in that industry given your knowledge.

You are advised to allocate your efforts according to the weighting of each section as listed above. For more details see the grading criteria grid (rubric).

Referencing

You MUST use the Harvard System.  The Harvard system is very easy to use once you become familiar with it. To check your Harvard referencing technique go to referencing guides, which can be accessed here: https://library.roehampton.ac.uk/roeonline/referencing

Assignment submissions

A digital version of all assignment submissions is required.  These must be submitted via Turnitin on the module’s Moodle site.  They must be submitted as a Word file (not as a pdf) and must not include scanned in text or text boxes.  They must be submitted by 2pm on the given date.  For further general details on assignment preparation please contact the ACE team or consult their dedicated Moodle page. Describe the industry and what is happening within it. For example, is the industry expanding or contracting, what are its biggest challenges, are there any new entrants etc.

Mitigating circumstances/what to do if you cannot submit a piece of work or attend your presentation

The University Mitigating Circumstances form can be found on the module page.

Marking and feedback process

Between you handing in your work and then receiving your feedback and marks within 20 days, there are a number of quality assurance processes that we go through to ensure that students receive marks which reflects their work. A brief summary is provided below.

• Step One – The module and marking team meet to agree standards, expectations and how feedback will be provided.
• Step Two – A subject expert will mark your work using the criteria provided in the assessment brief.
• Step Three – A moderation meeting takes place where all members of the teaching and marking team will review the marking of others to confirm whether they agree with the mark and feedback
• Step Four – Work at Levels 5 and 6 then goes to an external examiner who will review a sample of work to confirm that the marking between different staff is consistent and fair
• Stop Five – Your mark and feedback is processed by the Academic Office and made available to you