improving business
Summative Assessment.
Coursework 1 (assesses all learning outcomes) 100%
A 3,000 word (maximum) individual management report (50%) and project plan (50%) incorporating the formative feedback from the above discussions, giving detail to the project and further application of methods and theory.
5.0 Module Assessment
1 Choose an organisation that you work for, or are familiar with.
– Briefly introduce the organisation and the products and services it provides.
2 Investigate your chosen organisation to evaluate how it is currently performing, and identify three operational areas that require change.
– Start off by briefly introducing your chosen organisation and explaining what 3 changes you have identified and why you believe they should be made
3 From the changes that you have identified, select one change that you want to make.
– Review the literature on project / investment appraisal and identify what methods / criteria can be used to do this. At least 4 academic references are required to underpin this literature review.
– From the review, choose the project / Investment appraisal criteria and evaluation method(s) that are appropriate for your changes and organisation
– Evaluate all proposed 3 changes, using the same evaluation methods / criteria, and from your analysis choose the change that you will plan to implement
4 Decide upon the approach you will take to manage and implement the change by putting forward a case for using both Radical Change and Continuous Improvement as the means for delivering the required improvements for the organisation, identifying the benefits and disadvantages of using each method.
– Review the literature on Radical Change vs Continuous Improvement and identify what criteria you could use to identify which improvement method should be used. At least 4 academic references are required to underpin this literature review.
– From the review, choose the criteria that are relevant for your change and organisation
– Evaluate your chosen change using the evaluation criteria and…
– Recommend your choice of improvement method(s), giving reasons for your choice – Radical Change, Continuous Improvement, or both, and why?
5 Produce a draft Project Plan using MS Project, identifying all the tasks, timescales, dependencies, and resources that are required to implement the change.
– Outline the factors that you will consider when constructing your project plan, and apply them to create an initial draft project plan for your chosen change, using MS Project
– Explain the major phases of your draft project plan and provide details of the costs and timescales as calculated by MS Project. (full costing and resource capacity planning must be done using MS Project and this must be evidenced within your report)
6 Identify the potential risks to the successful implementation of your Project Plan, and what you would do to mitigate these risks.
– Review the literature on Risk Management within projects and identify what criteria you could use to identify barriers and risks, and what evaluation method(s) could be used. At least 4 academic references are required to underpin this literature review.
– From the review, choose the risk criteria that are relevant for your change and organisation, and an appropriate evaluation method.
– Critically evaluate your chosen change using the risk evaluation criteria and method to identify risks in your draft plan.
– Explain what alterations you have had to make to your draft project plan to mitigate the identified risks overcome them
7 Produce a final detailed Project Plan using MS Project, taking account of changes you have had to make as a result of your risk analysis, including an analysis of the impact of your proposed change on the organisation, identifying the costs, benefits and timescales as calculated by MS Project.
8 The full draft plan should be included in the appendices, and the full final plan as part of the main report.
Individual feedback will be provided in the form of comments, where appropriate, within the body of the assignment, and also in the Turnitin comments page
The recommended text book for advice on referencing is Cite Them Right – the Essential Referencing Guide, by Richard Pears and Graham Shields, ninth edition, published 2013 by Palgrave Macmillan, ISBN 978-1-137-27311-6
The assignment will be graded 50% for the report and 50% for the project plan.
The report should be 3,000 words +/- 10%.
The project plan is not included in the word count.
The report and project must be submitted as one file (Word or pdf) via Turnitin.
MS Project must be used to produce the project plan and to calculate the overall project timescales, resource usage, and project costs.
Tips on how to answer the assignment question.
1. Briefly introduce your chosen organisation
2. Explain what 3 changes to the operational performance are required, why they are needed, and the benefits that they would bring to the organisation, if implemented.
3. Critically review the literature on Project / Investment appraisal and identify a) the factors you are going to use, and b) the analysis method you are adopting
4. Evaluate all 3 changes using the factors and analysis method to choose the one change that you are going to provide a detailed plan for
5. Critically review the literature on Radical Change and Continuous Improvement to establish how you will evaluate which approach / approaches should be adopted for your change
6. Evaluate your change and establish whether a CI / RC or both approaches should be used
7. Construct a draft project plan using MS Project, showing the tasks, timescales, resources, and costs – full costing and resource capacity planning are to be done using MS Project
8. Critically review the literature on Project Risk and identify the risk factors and the analysis method that are appropriate to evaluate your project.
9. Evaluate your draft project for Risk using the chosen criteria and analysis method and identify the changes that need to be made.
10. Modify your draft plan to create your final plan showing the revised tasks, timescales, resources, and costs.
Notes
– Your draft and final project plan will need to contain a minimum of 50-55 tasks to achieve a good pass grade of 55% – 60%
– The draft project plan must be presented in full as appendix 1, but should be discussed and illustrated in summary form within the main body of the report
– The final plan must be presented in full within the main body of the report
The aim of the assignment is to produce a practical management report and needs to concentrate on what you are going to do, the timescales, the costs, and benefits to the organisation.
Good Luck!
