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BBA102 Principles of Management

Semester 1, 2012

GROUP REPORT

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GROUPS You will form into groups in the tutorial class of week 3. Each tutorial class will form into six groups. If you do not attend and join a group you will be unable to receive marks for the group components of this assessment. It may initially seem preferable to be in a group with friends. However, while it certainly may be more comfortable to work with friends, research indicates that groups made up of strangers can often perform better, so please do not be concerned if it is not possible to be in a group with your friends. As you will have to be in regular contact with your group it is strongly recommended that you get the contact details of all of the members in your group. A blank table is provided below for this purpose. Not being in contact with your group is not an excuse for having little input into the group work.

GROUP MEMBERS CONTACT DETAILS Name Phone Number(s) e-mail

To assist you in accomplishing these group tasks, the first and second tutorials will address aspects of working in groups. It should be noted that in the limited time available it is not possible to deal with this subject in great depth, and so you are commended to seek further information from the library. ULTIMATELY YOU AND YOUR FELLOW GROUP MEMBERS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR MAKING THE GROUP FUNCTION EFFECTIVELY. You are also responsible for getting yourself into a group. If you are not in a group by Week 5, it will be assumed that you are withdrawing from the unit. OVERVIEW The tutorial stream for BBA102 is comprised of a series of seminars that complement the lecture stream by introducing topics that are either extensions of the lectures, contemporary issues or useful skills. These issues may be still emerging and developing, and so not commonly included in management texts. The seminars will be in each of weeks 6, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13, as shown in the lecture schedule given in the unit outline. ALL GROUPS HAVE WORK TO SUBMIT FOR EACH SEMINAR. Each seminar is based around a given topic with a set article as the basis. This is expanded by the research carried out by one group (the Lead Group), discussed by the Other Groups and Summarised by the Listening Group (one of the Other Groups for that week). The format and approximate timing of the seminars will be, starting from the beginning of whatever hour your tute time is:

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time activity :05 the class arrives :05 to :10 All groups give their work to the tutor. Tutor appoint a Listening Group. :10 to :25 The Lead Group delivers the main points of the article and their research findings. Students can give a presentation if they wish or deliver their findings in another format, e.g. while seated in class. :25 to :30 The Lead group answers questions from the other groups, moderated by the tutor. :30 to :50 General discussion led by the tutor. :50 to :55 Listening Group delivers an overview of the topic and the discussion in class. SEMINAR TOPICS Seminar Topic

1

Week 6

The Managers Job - The focus of this topic is one view of what the various aspects of a manager's job are. Gosling, G., and Mintzberg, H., 2003. The five minds of a manager, Harvard Business Review, 81(11) pp. 54-63.

2

Week 9

A Manager's Skills - This article looks at eight management practices or skills that effective managers use. Drucker, P., 2004. What makes an effective executive, Harvard Business Review, 82(6) pp. 58-63.

3

Week 10

Identifying Strategic Opportunities - This article considers how to identify strategic opportunities. Christensen, C., Raynor, M. & Verlinden, M. (2001) “Skate to where the money will be”, Harvard Business Review, 79(10) pp. 73-81.

4

Week 11

Price v Attributes - This article looks at strategic aspects of the price v attributes curve. D'Aveni, 2007. Mapping your competitive position, Harvard Business Review, 85(11) pp. 110-120.

5

Week 12

Implementing Strategy - It is a fact that, for many organisations, strategies do not realize their potential. This article looks at strategy implementation issues. Mankins, M.C. and R. Steele, 2005. Turning great strategy into great performance. Harvard Business Review. 83(7/8) pp. 65-72.

6

Week 13

One View of Business and Sustainability - This article, which embraces economic growth, suggests that businesses consider the relationship between societal and economic growth. Porter, M.E. and Kramer, M.R., 2011, “Creating shared value”, Harvard Business Review, 89(1/2) January-February pp. 62-77.

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TASKS FOR GROUPS Each week there will be one Lead Group and five Other Groups. One of the Other Groups will be appointed to be the Listening Group for that week. OTHER GROUPS (1 mark per presentation) Prepare a summary of the set article consisting of: 1. a list of the points made in the article, in the order in which they are made (i.e. from start to finish) 2. a summary of the main points and an explanation of what they mean to a manager in terms of how they would do their job 3. a Cover Sheet/Peer Assessment sheet (given at the end of this report document) This is to be prepared by all groups, and submitted to the tutor at the beginning of class. LEAD GROUP TASKS (9 marks) The Lead Group is the group who have been assigned the topic for that seminar. They are required to research the general topic of your article. The Lead Group is to prepare the following: Work Submitted and Presented as a Group and Marked as a Group (1 marks) The Lead Group does two things as a group, they:

1. prepare a summary of the article, the same as the Other Groups (see above). This attracts one mark, the same as the Other Groups.

2. they deliver the main points of the article and their research findings to their class. Students can give a presentation if they wish or deliver their findings in another format, e.g. while seated in class. There are no marks directly attributed to the presentation, however it is an important opportunity to demonstrate to your tutor that you have understood the article.

Work Submitted Individually and Marked Individually (8 marks) Each group member is to identify three academic journal articles, using the library databases, that directly relate to the seminar topic. Journal articles must be at least six pages long and have a list of references that are cited in the article. Textbooks, web references and wikis will NOT be marked. Articles that cannot be found on the University's Library's databases will not be marked. For each of the three articles, the individual group member is to prepare a summary of the article consisting of: 1. a reference for the article in the correct format (see REFERENCING below and in the Week 1 lecture notes) and the group member who wrote the following parts 2, 3 and 4 for each article 2. a list of the points made in the article, in the order in which they are made (i.e. from start to finish) 3. a summary of the main points and an explanation of what they mean to a manager in terms of how they would do their job. 4. a paragraph explaining how the article you found is related to the topic and the article that is set for that topic. These summaries are to be submitted, with a cover sheet ( available at http://www.businessandeconomics.mq.edu.au/faculty_docs/student_support/Individual_cover_sheet_new.pdf ), to your tutor at the beginning of your tutorial class. Group members are required to coordinate with each other to ensure that no group members submit the same article(s). This is easily managed by emailing your group members the references for the articles that you are submitting. The earliest timed email will have priority, and will be used to determine which will be marked, and which will not be marked, if a group submits two articles the same.

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MARKING OF WORK COMPLETED IN GROUPS The group components of the Report will be given a single mark, however, the mark that each person receives will be adjusted, based on their individual efforts, as judged by you and your group members. This is done by each group member agreeing on the other members’ contributions to the report, and writing it (as a percentage) on the Group Report Cover Sheet. Signing the Group Report Cover Sheet indicates that you agree with the peer assessment written on the cover sheet. The cover sheet is to be completed and handed to your tutor. Please read the section in this outline titled, ‘Marking and Peer Assessment’ for guidance in peer assessment. You are each also required to hand in up to half a page describing what your contribution was (as a member of the group) toward the completion of the Lead Group part of the Report. LISTENING GROUP (1 mark) The Listening Group is one of the Other Groups with an additional responsibility for a particular week. In addition to the work listed above for all groups, Listening Groups will take notes during class and at the end of the class, present a summary of what has been discussed and the conclusions reached by the class. These are to be read to the class as the last part of the class. PLAGIARISM All submitted assessments must be the original work of the students submitting the assessment. Work that is plagiarised will receive a mark of zero. The University defines plagiarism as shown below. Students should at all times acknowledge the sources that they use. Plagiarism: Using the work or ideas of another person and presenting this as your own without clear acknowledgement of the source of the work or ideas. This includes, but is not limited to, any of the following acts: a) copying out part(s) of any document or audio-visual material or computer code or website content without indicating their origins b) using or extracting another person's concepts, experimental results, or conclusions c) summarising another person's work d) submitting substantially the same final version of any material as another student in an assignment where there was collaborative preparatory work e) use of others (paid or otherwise) to conceive, research or write material submitted for assessment f) submitting the same or substantially the same piece of work for two different tasks (self-plagiarism). The University's policy on plagiarism and academic honesty can be found at: http://www.mq.edu.au/policy/docs/academic_honesty/policy.html WORKLOAD It is difficult to give guidelines on how much work is involved. If you manage your group processes well the work will take less time than if the group is inefficient with its time. Also, if you can achieve a common understanding as to what standard of work is acceptable early on, this can save a lot of time later. In general, groups should meet regularly, with group members having tasks to complete between meetings. As the deadline draws nearer more frequent meetings may be appropriate. It is a common error to assume that because the output that is presented or handed in is quite small, that it will take only a short time to complete. A substantial effort will need to be made to achieve a

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high grade. The quality of the output is largely related to the time and effort that you put in as a group. HOW TO GET THE ARTICLES For each Seminar, all students are directed to a reading listed in the earlier table. They are all available from the Library's online databases. The simplest way to access them is to go to the library home page and enter the name of the journal that you want in the Journals (journal finder) section and click on "Search". Choose one of the available databases and click on the "electronic journal" link. This usually takes you to a list of years of publication from which you can find the article you seek. Using the library databases was covered in lecture 1. To find Harvard Business Review articles, use the Business Source Premier database. This does not provide a list by year, instead it provides a generic search page. In this database it is sufficient to enter the journal name, and each author name (as separate search terms) to find the article that you seek. General points to observe are: • All text is to be in font size 12. • While presentation is important, content is much more important. Please, in the interests of the

environment, do not purchase binders for this assignment. It is sufficient to hand in your work securely stapled in the top left-hand corner.

• Please use recyclable materials where possible. • It is the responsibility of the group to make and keep a photocopy of the Report. REFERENCING Proper referencing is required in your Report. The required format for your Report is citations in the text, e.g. (Smith 2008). The required referencing system is the Harvard system. Because there is not a single authority presiding over the Harvard system, the system described in the following Leeds University documents is the system that you are to use. I am specifying this system because it has a comprehensive set of referencing examples that include a range of electronic sources. Their guide is available at: http://library.leeds.ac.uk/downloads/tutorials/harvard-referencing/index.html MARKING AND PEER ASSESSMENT Working in groups is a valuable experience for students in that it reflects working life. However, it presents some difficulties for markers. In particular, the marker is not present at any of the group meetings, and so does not see the contributions of the individual members. The marker will mark the Report, but will rely on information from each group to generate individual marks for the group component of the report. To provide an assessment of each group member’s contribution to the group parts of the Report two things are to be handed in as part of your Report: 1. Each student is to write up to half a page outlining their own contribution to the group component of the Report and include it in as an appendix.

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2. The group members are to agree on the contribution made by each member and sign off on their decision. This information is to be included on the assignment cover sheet. An assignment cover sheet is provided at the end of this outline. If the group considers that all members have contributed equally, then each member will put 100% as their contribution and all members will be given the same grade as the marker gives the Report. If, for example, the group considers that one person has contributed significantly more than the others then that person will put down 100% as their contribution, and the others will put down something less than 100%. If everyone has contributed equally, everyone will get 100%. Another example would be where the group agrees that one member has done significantly less than the others. In this case that person would put down something less than 100% as their contribution. It is not acceptable to say that you did everything that you were asked to do and therefore should get 100% with the others if you did not do an equal share of the work. It is your responsibility to ensure that the group thinks that you are ‘pulling your weight’. The markers will give a mark for the group part of Report. This mark will then be multiplied by the contribution % for each member of the group to arrive at an individual mark for this part of the report for each student. So, if a student has a contribution of 100%, and a group component mark of 75, then the student will be given an individual mark of 75 (75*100%). If, however, a student has a contribution of 90%, and a group Report mark of 75, then the student will be given an individual mark of 67.5 (75*90%). When assessing each member’s contribution it is important to take a balanced view, recognising that there are various roles, skills and stages involved in the Report. The Report will involve information gathering, familiarisation with theory, synthesis of ideas, analysis of information, writing of the Report text and, finally, word processing the Report text. When working in groups it is usual for people to take on various roles (leader, scribe, idea generator, etc). While some roles are more visible than others, none is any more important than the others. Unless all are done well, the result will be flawed. It is up to the group to negotiate amongst itself how the work will be allocated in an equitable manner, making the best use of people’s strengths. There are three things that we would give weight to when assessing group members’ contributions. Firstly, their attendance at group meetings; secondly, their punctual delivery of the work that the group has assigned them; and thirdly, whether or not their contribution to discussions are based on theory and research. RESOURCES FOR PRESENTATION SKILLS, REPORT WRITING & GROUP/TEAM WORK. BOOKS Cielens, M., & Aquino, M. (1999) ‘The Business of Communicating’ 4th ed, McGraw-Hill, Sydney.

HF5718.C54 CHAPTERS 2, 7, 10, 14.

Lewis, James P. (1998) ‘Team-based project management’, American Management Association,

New York. HD69.P75.L494 (RESERVE)

Scott, K., & Walker, A. (1995) ‘Teams, Teamwork & Teambuilding’, Prentice Hall, Singapore.

HD66.S86 (RESERVE)

VIDEOS Team Building: A positive approach HF5549.T42

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Marking Sheet - Lead Group Individual Submissions

BBA102 – Group Report OVERALL GRADE _____/8 Group member Name: Member ID

Class Group ID _____ Lecturer/Tutor _________________Class Day & Time ________________ 0 .3 .6 1 1.2 1.5 2 Process Inadequate bibliographic

details. Poor citation technique; Inadequate formatting and presentation.

Academic writing. Well compiled and presented.

0 .2 .3 .5 .6 .75 1 Style Marked weaknesses in

style; spelling mistakes, poor syntax - sentence & paragraph construction.

A very pleasing and elegant style. Worth reading for its written expression alone.

0 .6 .9 1.5 1.8 2.25 3 Summaries and Descriptions of Articles

Points are unclear. Unable to see clear sequence of argument. Too much detail so that points are not evident. Insufficient detail so that points are not coherent.

A clear sequence of well-described points that reflect the article and provide the reader with understanding.

0 .3 .6 1 1.2 1.5 2 Research Content and Relationship to Topic

Much of the material was irrelevant to the topic. An inappropriate or poorly developed theme. Internal inconsistencies, absence of logical relationships in development of theme. Inappropriate sources.

Strong and correct theme that is clearly identified. High standard sustained when developing logical relationships and internal consistency.

Comments:

NOTE: THE OVERALL GRADE IS NOT A PRECISE CALCULATION FROM THE MARKING TABLE. IT SERVES AS A GUIDELINE ONLY

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Marking Sheet - Listening Group BBA102 – Group Report OVERALL GRADE _________/1 Group members: Member ID’s

0 .2 .3 .5 .6 .75 1 Summary of Class Discussion

Incomplete or poor description of class discussion.

A clear description of the points made, arguments about and conclusions from the class discussion.

Marking Sheet for Set Article - Lead Group and Other Groups BBA102 – Group Report OVERALL GRADE __________/1 Group members: Member ID’s

0 .2 .3 .5 .6 .75 1 Description and Summary of Articles

Unable to see clear sequence of argument. Too much detail so that points are not evident. Insufficient detail so that points are not coherent. Summary points are not clear.

A clear sequence of well-described points. Well-described points points that reflect the article and provide the reader with understanding.

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MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY

BBA102

PRINCIPLES OF MANAGEMENT

GROUP REPORT COVER SHEET for

GROUP SUBMISSIONS UNIT COORDINATOR: Gordon Brooks TUTOR: . TUTORIAL TIME : day time . Student Name ID number Participation % Signature