Phase 3 Assignment Brief

Essay
This assignment is an extended individual essay which allows you to build your critical
thinking skills and enhance your understanding of how organisations work. Critical
thinking is fundamental to your success while at university and is a skill much valued by
employers.
You have written short pieces of academic work so far some case study analyses and
short essays. This more extended piece of work requires you to explore several aspects
of a question and to develop your own ideas on the foundation of some extensive
reading.
This essay makes up 30% of your grades in Phase 3 and is the largest individual
assignment on the Core Programme.

Learning Objectives
This task will help you:

To recognise the concept of the business organisation operating within the

parameters of a changing external environment.
To demonstrate an awareness of current issues, facts and events in the national
and international business world
To identify some key behavioural factors and explain their relevance to
understanding organisations and people working in them
To write an academic essay with appropriate referencing
To manage your time to meet deadlines and obligations including those to other
members of your group

The Task
You submit a 3,000 word essay on the topic:
Are scientific management and human relations approaches still applicable to
organisations of the 21st century?
Discuss using appropriate, referenced theory and real-world examples to support
your argument.

The Process
In the first two weeks of Phase 3 you have in-class activities to help you understand the
different approaches named in the essay question. These will include a case study, a
short video and support from instructors.
You also have lectures on the topics from Mr. Hoang Anh Duy, our organisational
behaviour specialist in the Pods. These are in Weeks 1 and 2.

You then have a different style of class in Week 3 or 4. Each group is allocated a 50
minute tutorial session in one of the pod sessions with one of your pod staff.
For this session you must prepare an outline of what you intend to say in your essay.
Your staff will choose two or three individuals to go through this outline with the group
This should take a maximum of five minutes for each one. The rest of the tutorial will be
spent discussing the topic. Everyone is expected to contribute to the discussion.
25% of your grade for the essay task will be made up of a grade for your
contribution in the tutorial.
Using the input from the tutorial discussion and the feedback from your tutor in that
session, you can adjust what you want to say and write the essay.
The final pod of the phase in Week 5 moves on to other things and you all submit by
5.00pm on Monday 9th March.

Reading List
University of Bedfordshire Level 1 Core Programme Textbook Volume 1, Week 2
Scientific Management and Human Resources chapter. This is Chapter 2 from Laurie J
Mullins Management and Organisational Behaviour Edn 8
Locke, E A The Ideas of Frederick W. Taylor: An Evaluation, Academy of Management
Review vol 7 no 1, January 1982 pp12-24
Pugh, D S, Hickson,,D J, and Hinings, C R, from Writers on Organizations Penguin Edn
2 1974 Extracts on Elton Mayo and F W Taylor provided for you.
Morgan, Gareth Images of Organization Sage Publications 2nd Ed,1996 Introduction and
Chapter 1 provided for you.
In addition, the LRC has a wide selection of HR textbooks. These cover similar territory
so we suggest you use one of the following in addition to our Core Programme textbook.
There will be various editions. Choose the most up to date you can find but any edition in
the LRC will be fine for this purpose. Use the relevant chapter.
Aamodt, Michael G, Human Relations in Business Wadsworth
Jones, Gareth R, George, Jennifer M, and Hill, Charles W L, Contemporary Management
McGraw-Hill
Rollinson, Derek, Broadfield, Aysen and Edwards, David J Organisational Behaviour and
Analysis Addison-Wesley
McKenna, Eugene Business Psychology & Organisational Behaviour A Students
Handbook LEA
Buelens, Marc, Kreitner, Robert and Kinicki, Angelo Organizational Behaviour McGrawHill
Bloisi, Wendy, Cook, Curtis W and Hunsaker, Phillip L Management and Organisational
Behaviour McGraw-Hill
Buchanan, David and Huczunski, Andrzej Organizational Behaviour An Introductory Text

George, Jennifer and Jones, Gareth Understanding and Managing Organizational

Behavior Pearson Prentice Hall

Gold and Silver Grades

You can choose how much you want to do and how much you want to achieve on this
task.
You can get a gold grade (up to A+) if you use good quality additional source material
which provides more theoretical input for your work. This may be books or additional
academic journals which are likely to come from Business Source Premier on the LRC
website. The input from LRC staff in Week 2 will provide help in finding additional
material.
You can gain a silver grade (up to B-) if your work relies wholly or almost entirely on the
reading list provided. This also applies if the additional material you use comes primarily
from internet sources such as company websites, Wikipedia and other education sites.
Note that the use of additional material does not guarantee a higher grade. If you use a
wider range of sources and still produce a weak or poorly referenced essay, you can still
get below a B- grade.
Gold and silver grades apply to the essay submission only and not to the tutorials. A full
range of grades is available to everyone for their tutorial contributions.

What are we looking for?

In the tutorials we are looking for students to be able to present a coherent and wellsupported argument for the point of view they are taking in their essay. We expect all
students to be able to contribute arguments and justifications for a point of view in the
course of the tutorial.
Do not worry if you are not asked to present your outline as staff will allow for this and
make sure you have other opportunities to contribute during the session.
For the essay itself there are four foundations for success:

A good understanding of scientific management and human relations management

The ability to relate the theory to appropriate examples
The ability to analyse the theories and present a well-supported point of view about
the different approaches to understanding organisations
Accurate referencing

Understanding the Theory

You need to absorb the various readings on the theories and be able to express them
clearly in your own words, logically and accurately.
Relating the Theory to Examples

The question asks you about the application of the theories to the modern world so
examples of how the two approaches relate to modern companies are important. This
also helps to show that you really understand the theory and can see the relevance to
modern business.
Analysis and a Well-Supported Point of View
This is the most important step to take to move from an OK grade to a good grade. The
first element of this is to have a point of view. What is your view of the two different
approaches? How do you think they apply in the modern world?
The second element is to support your view with evidence. The evidence comes from
your consideration of the theory you read about and the application of it to real examples.
Note that we are looking for evidence from your reading not from your personal
experience.
The third element comes from how you build this material in a logical way. Move step by
step building a coherent, logical path through the topic to build to a conclusion.
Accurate Referencing
As well as a required element in producing good academic work, referencing is a way of
showing the quality of your reading. Make sure you have a reference in your text for the
source of all your theory and your examples as well as a list of your references at the end.

Resources
As well as the initial reading list and the support in the Phase 3 process outlined above
the following are available to help you:

BREO Learning Units on each of the four elements highlighted as the foundations
for success. A range of material previously on BREO (eg on Referencing) brought
together for this phase as well as new material. Lecture notes will be posted here.
A copy of Alistair Bonnetts How to Argue is included in your textbook pack
specifically for this assignment. Careful use of this book will definitely increase
your grade.
Feedback on case studies, reflections and other essay-type assignments. Note
particularly any comments on being descriptive rather than analytical and look at
the Analysis learning unit if you want to improve this area.

Submission/ Deadline
Submit your essay (hard copy and soft copy) in Pod 1 of Week 5.