UWBS038g Assessment Briefing for Students

Assessment brief number 2

Module leader: Barry Whitehouse

email address: b.whitehouse@wlv.ac.uk

Academic Year: 2014/5

Semester 1
(Please delete as appropriate. If other please specify)

Module assessment detail (approved at validation as amended by module modification)

Module code & title

6BE003

Strategic Management

Module Learning outcomes:

Tick ()
if tested
here

LO1

Synthesize the strategic analysis of an organisation to craft appropriate

strategic recommendations.

LO2

Examine contemporary and strategic change issues in the strategy

process.

LO3

Determine creativity and enterprise skills in communicating strategic

issues

LO4
Weightings
(%)

Assessment types

50
Individual informal report

Assessment type, weighting and LOs tested by this assessment indicated in the shaded area above by a
Important requirements(Delete where appropriate, if other please provide detail)
Mode of Working:
Individual
Presentation Format:
report
Method of Submission:
Electronic submission through WLVglobal Topic
Mark requiredto pass this coursework: 40%
(Complete following detail)

th

Hand in date& time

28 January 2015 12 noon latest

Assessment should be marked for the attention of: Barry Whitehouse,
module leader BUT YOU MUST IDENTIFY YOUR MODULE TUTOR ON
THE FRONT SHEET.

Date & method by which you

will receive feedback

Feedback sheets will be available from the WLVglobal Topic 4

weeks following hand-in or emailed directly as advised by your
tutor

Re-sit/retrieval date
Assessment limits (in accordance

14 July 2015
No more than: 2,000 words, excluding appendices

th

with UWBS assessment tariff)

1|Page

Assessment Briefing for Students

Do clearly state your student number when submitting work but do not indicate your name.Always
keep a copy of your work.Always keep a file of working papers (containing, for instance, working
notes, copied journal article and early drafts of your work, etc.) that show the development of your
work and the sources you have used.You may need to show this to tutor at some point so notes
should be clear and written in English. This is an important requirement. There may be
circumstances where it is difficult to arrive at a mark for your work. If this is so you may be asked to
submit your file within 3 working days and possibly meet with your tutor to answer questions on your
submission.
Explanation of submission requirements and further guidance

Assessmentsare subject to a word limit to ensure consistency of approach across all

modules. Your work should not exceed the limit indicated (excluding references and
appendices). Do not feel that you have to achieve this word count in your work. What is
important is that the work satisfies the stated learning outcomes which are articulated through
the assessment criteria (see following page).
Care is taken to ensure that work has been marked correctly. Checks are conducted by both
a second lecturer and an independent expert from outside the University on batches of work.
Your work will not be returned to you but you will receive detailed feedback explaining how
your mark has been arrived at and how your work could have been improved upon.
Always use the Harvard style referencing system. The Universitys Learning Information
Services have produced a series of guides covering a range of topics to support your studies
and develop your academic skills including a guide to Harvard referencing
http://www.wlv.ac.uk/lib/skills_for_learning/study_guides.aspx
Expensive or elaborate bindings and covers for submissions are not required in most
instances. (Refer to guidelines however in the case of dissertations).
The Business School has a policy of anonymous marking of individual assessments which
applies to most modules. You should not identify yourself directly in the work you submit and
you may need to use phrases such as the author of this assignment .in the detail of your
submission.

Avoid academic misconduct

Warning: Collusion, plagiarism and cheating are very serious offences that can result in a
student being expelled from the University. The Business School has a policy of actively
identifying students who engage in academic misconduct of this nature and routinely applying
detection techniques including the use of sophisticated software packages.

Avoid Collusion. The Business School encourages group working, however to avoid
collusion always work on your own when completing individual assessments. Do not let
fellow students have access to your work at any stage and do not be tempted to access the
work of others. Refer to your module tutor if you do not understand or you need further
guidance.

Avoid Plagiarism. You must use available and relevant literature to demonstrate your
knowledge of a subject, however to avoid plagiarism you must take great care to
acknowledge it properly.Plagiarism is the act of stealing someone else's work and passing it
off as your own. This includes incorporating either unattributed direct quotation(s) or
substantial paraphrasing from the work of another/others. For this reason it is important that
you cite all the sources whose work you have drawn on and reference them fully in
accordance with the Harvard referencing standard. (This includes citing any work that you
may have submitted yourself previously). Extensive direct quotations in assessed work is ill
advised because it represents a poor writing style, and it could lead to omission errors and a
plagiarism offence could be committed accidentally.

Avoid the temptation to commission work or to cheat in other ways. There are
temptations on the internet for you to take short cuts. Do not be tempted to either
commission work to be completed on your behalf or search for completed past academic
work.

2|Page

Assessment Briefing for Students

When you submit your work you will be required to sign an important declaration that the
submission is your own work, any material you have used has been acknowledged and referenced,
you have not allowed another student to have access to your work, the work has not been submitted
previously, etc.

Assessment Brief/ Task

The detailed requirements for this task are as follows:
Overview: Your informal report should be for the company that you worked on for Assignment 1.
Use relevant strategic management tools and techniques to evaluate the current strategy of the
organisation based on what you know of their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats,
derived from your analysis in assignment 1.
Analyse why this strategy might be suitable, acceptable and feasible given how the organisation
competes (e.g. Differentiation/ Cost/ Focus).
Evaluate how the strategic direction relates to growth, innovation or international expansion.
Briefly identify and justify another potential strategic direction for the organisation.
Given the nature of this analysis there must be a contemporary and inventive flavour to much of the
relevant data.
There will be a formative assignment workshop an opportunity to discuss your progress with your
tutor in sessions 11 or 12.
An effective structure might present key trend data on how the organisation has been performing as
the starting point for evaluating the strategy. Re-evaluating how the organisation tries to compete, its
competitive advantage. The directions the organisations strategy is taking it in and how this matches
what you discovered in terms of its SWOT from assignment 1 and what this means in terms of its
growth, innovation or movement into international markets. An evaluation of the strategy through SAF
or another suitable model and a suggestion of how the strategy could be developed or augmented.

The following information is important when:

Preparing for your assessment

Checking your work before you submit it

Interpreting feedback on your work after marking.

Assessment Criteria
The module Learning Outcomes tested by this assessment task are indicated on page 1. The precise
criteria against which your work will be marked is as follows:
Strategic options: development and evaluation of strategic options, appropriateness and use of relevant
strategic theory and models, tools & techniques to achieve this.
Strategy recommendation: Consistency with strategic analysis (assignment 1) and strategic options developed.
Rationale of strategy recommendations.
Use of appendices and quality of referenced material, referencing

Performance descriptors
Performance descriptors indicate how marks will be arrived at against each of the above criteria. The
descriptors indicate the likely characteristics of work that is marked within the percentage bands indicated.

3|Page

Assessment Briefing for Students

Level 6 Criteria
90-100%

80-89%

70-79%

60-69%

50-59%

40-49%

30-39%

20-29%

10-19%

0-9%

Exceptional level of analysis, showing deep critical engagement with the models and
theories and drawing on contemporary and wide ranging research. Logical and rational
approach to the report which enhances the treatment of the assignment tasks. Deep
and wide ranging research, outstanding report structure with application, synthesis and
analysis. Fluent and discriminating use of contemporary data to underpin analysis and
strategic choices. Exceptional application of appropriate tools and models.
Excellent links between theories and practice, with excellent application of the
appropriate models and theories resulting in deep analysis of what are identified as the
key issues. The report is very well written, has an excellent structure and draws on wide
ranging research from up-to-date sources and excellent referencing. Excellent
application of appropriate tools and models.
Very good links between theory and practice and appropriate application of models.
Comprehensive coverage of the assignment task with clear understanding of the key
issues. The report is very well structured and applies the models to produce some
reasoned and well-argued analysis based on appropriate wide ranging current research.
Some superficial errors in grammar and referencing.
Clear link between theory and practice and some appropriate application of models.
Comprehensive coverage of the assignment task with clear understanding of the key
issues. The report is well structured and applies the models to produce some reasoned
analysis based on appropriate research Some superficial errors in grammar and
referencing. The research has currency but needs to be more discriminating.
Identifies key issues and relevant theory with coverage of the assignment tasks. Partial
application of the models. The report has a reasonably effective structure with some
detrimental errors in grammar and referencing and is based on a narrow research base,
which lacks some of the most up-to-date analysis or proportion.
The theory and models are described rather than applied, treatment of key issues is
basic and rather simplistic. The report has a relatively poor structure and lacks
coherence and appropriate sequencing, is based on very limited research and fails to
support points effectively through referencing. The report lacks up-to-date analysis and
proportion.
Some of the learning outcomes and assessment criteria are not met, poor
understanding of theory and models, inability to apply the models and analyse the
results. Inadequate research and referencing. The report is badly written with frequent
spelling and grammatical errors which damage the meaning being conveyed, poor
research and referencing.
The learning outcomes have not been met, lack of understanding of the theories and
models and no application. The report is badly written with little or no referencing and
evidence of research.
Lack of understanding and engagement with the assignment brief, inadequate
demonstration of knowledge and understanding, no realistic research and referencing,
the report is incoherent.
No realistic attempt to address the learning outcomes

To help you further:

Refer to the WOLF topic for contact details of your module leader/tutor, tutorial inputs,
recommended reading and other sources, etc. Re-sit details will also appear on WOLF.

4|Page

Assessment Briefing for Students

The Universitys Learning Information Services offer support and guidance to help you with
your studies and develop your academic skills
http://www.wlv.ac.uk/lib/skills_for_learning/study_guides.aspx

5|Page

Assessment Briefing for Students