• This Assignment is worth 60% of the overall mark for this module.
• For this essay you need to answer the question set out below.
• Your essay should be 1500 words in length.
• The aim of this assignment is to test your ability to apply theory to the context of a specific business situation.
• The deadline for this piece of work is Monday the 18th of April 2016before 2pm.
• Essays must be formally submitted to student services before the deadline.
• Each piece of assessment submitted to student services must have a completed and signed submission form attached.
Essay Question:
Communication is central to understanding organisational behaviour as it affects organisational performance and individual career prospects.
Select three organisations of your choice and identify some of the barriers to communication in these organisations. Evaluate each organisation’s response to these barriers.
Guidelines:
Many possible points can be discussed, including the following:
Barriers to communication might include power difference, gender differences, cultural diversity, individual perceptions, filtering, physical and psychological ‘noise’, technology, etc.
Methods for improving communication might include commitment to this objective by chief executives, words backed by action, commitment to two-way communication, emphasis on face-to-face conversation, sharing information with subordinates, encouraging employees to share good and bad news, message to be targeted to the audience intended, etc.
Recommended Reading (to support your assignment): Refer to relevant chapters as indicated in your module guide.
Antony, F. And MacVicar, A. (2011), Contemporary Organisational Behaviour, McGraw Hill.
Huczynski, A. and Buchanan, D. (2010) Organisational Behaviour, 7th edition, FT. UK Prentice Hall, Harlow
Mullins, L.J. (2005) Management and Organisational Behaviour, FT. UK: Prentice Hall. Harlow
Jones, G. and George, J.(2007) Contemporary Manangement,McGraw-Hill
Wilson, F. (2010) Organisational Behaviour and Work: A Critical Introduction (3rd Edition) Oxford University Press
Journals:
Academy of Management Journal
British Journal of Management
European Management Journal
Harvard Business Review* (an excellent place to seek out topics)
Human Resource Management Journal
Journal of Management Studies
Journal of Organizational Behaviour
Hints and Tips
1. The most important thing you must do in completing this assignment is to make sure that you answer the task that has been set.
2. Ensure that you remain within the word limits given for the essay. The word limit is to test whether you can write concisely, thereby getting all the main points down without wandering ‘off-topic’.
3. You should think very carefully about the resources you use for this assessment. Make sure that all the research you do is from academic sources. Academic sources are things like textbooks, journals and e-journals. Everything you read in an academic source will have been peer-reviewed which means that experts in the field will have seen it and agree that the ideas are reasonable and accurate. Web sites such as wikipedia are not peer reviewed and therefore do not count as academic sources.
4. At the end of your assessment, you should list out all books to which you have referred in your work using the Harvard style. Your list should be alphabetical by author and list out the author(s)’s surname, first name, date of publication, title of book, publisher of book and the place of the book’s publication. Examples can be found in the referencing guide that has been uploaded on the VLE. If you have used internet sources, you should give the author(s)’s name, title of web page, the full internet address of the page(s) you have used and the date(s) that they were accessed. Poorly referenced work will be penalised as the quality of referencing is part of the marking scheme (criterion).
5. You should not copy text from a book, another person’s work or internet sites and imply that it is your own work. This is known as plagiarism and is an academic offence. Plagiarism is the word academics use for ‘copying’. If you want to quote directly from a book, you should indicate that it is a quote (by using quotation marks “…”) and the name of the author whose work you have cited in the main body of your assignment. You should avoid excessive use of quotes as the work you submit must be your own – not simply a collection of quotes!
6. Your essay must be word-processed, using 1.5 or double spacing and a 12 font size. Always leave a margin so that I have space to insert any comments I would like to make as I am reading your work.
7. When you hand in your work, please ensure that all the pages are stapled together in the correct order and that pages are numbered.
8. The marking scheme that we use in the UK may be different from that which you are familiar with in your home countries. The pass mark for this assignment is equivalent to 40%. This means that you have just succeeded in meeting the marking criteria posted on the VLE. An ‘average’ mark is equivalent to 50-55%. A good mark is equivalent to 60% and above, with marks equivalent to over 70% being deemed to be of excellent quality. Do not expect to get mark equivalent to 90-100% as a matter of course. Scores such as these would be for work of the most exceptionalquality.
Please be reminded that this must be written by you. If the level and sophistication of your language is considerably higher than other pieces of written work you have produced, it will be assumed that you were given unfair assistance and you will either be penalised for plagiarism or receive no credit for clarity of expression.
Please note that the following examples of collusion are considered as academic misconduct and, in the absence of hard evidence, you may be asked to attend a meeting to discuss your understanding of the work. If you do not attend such a meeting, tutors may use academic judgement to determine whether or not an offence has taken place.
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