The assignments are intended to test the student’s capabilities in the following key areas that are essential for effective performance as a manager or executive: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
The design, implementation and review of strategy – in – in an applied context. Integrative thinking and action – developing – developing alignment (bundling) between connected functional strategies. Situational analysis – analysis – identifying identifying the core issues, the opportunities and the threats. Investigative skills – skills – generating evidence‐based proposals. Information management – separating – separating facts from assumptions, beliefs from evidence. Problem‐solving and decision‐making – both analytical and creative. Influence and persuasion techniques – when – when defending or promoting recommendations. Presentation methods methods – – for reader‐friendly, business‐focused reports.
It is important to emphasise that the above capabilities are critical parts of the manager’s toolkit and have been included here not just because of their convenience for assessment purposes.
It follows that an acceptable assignment topic must fulfil a number of expectations, not least that it should permit or enable the student to demonstrate the above capabilities. Therefore, it must: 1. Be concerned with a ‘live’, authentic problem or opportunity. 2. Be linked directly with a specific organisation, business sector or economic environment. 3. Exhibit a comparative thrust, i.e. a comparison between organisations, between sectors or between nations. 4. Represent a theme for which there already exists available, preferably research‐based, literature. 5. Incorporate opportunities for integration between ‘theory’ and ‘practice’. 6. Have a strategic rather than a solely operational orientation. 7. Reflect the values of integration that underpin the whole assessment process, i.e. have resonance with all the principal dimensions of the relevant unit syllabus. An assignment topic will be acceptable if: 1. It is entirely ‘theoretical’ or ‘academic’ in nature and scope. 2. It is historical, i.e. simply recounts past events without drawing lessons for future business practice. 3. It has no grounding in the reality of organisations. 4. It presents no opportunity for learning, i.e. conclusions to be drawn, lessons to be learned, and solutions to be devised and advocated. 5. It only addresses one aspect of the syllabus for the relevant unit. Assignments that display any of the above five features are unlikely to receive a pass grade.
The format of the assignment (usually a report) will depend on the instructions for the individual unit and students should consult the individual unit guidance documents available on the Members Area of the ABE website. Assignments to be submitted must comply with the following permitted file types and sizes:
MS Word Portable Document Format WordPerfect PostScript HTML Rich Text Plain Text
(.doc or .docx)* (.pdf) (.wpd) (.eps) (.htm) (.rtf) (.txt)
20MB Files of larger size can be reduced in size by removal of non-text content. Text only files
exceed 2MB.
*recommended file type
Files be password protected, encrypted, hidden, system files or read-only files. Assignments be submitted as a scanned document. The assignment should include the following sections: All assignments should include: – use the template on the Members Area of the ABE website – each section should be itemised with numbers with the learner’s name, ABE membership number, unit title and page number that the assignment is an original piece of work – briefly outlining the assignment theme, reasons for selecting it, and the general background – It should include: - Facts, findings, discussion and analysis with suitable sections and headings - Methods of investigation used for research - References to literature cited in the body of the assignment - Conclusions, inferences and deductions from the facts and findings, and recommendations (no new facts or findings should appear at this stage - listing all texts consulted, even if not directly cited at the end of the assignment for any supporting material
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Assignment cover sheet. A template can be found on the Members Area of the ABE website. Contents page – each section itemised with page numbers. Declaration by the author – that the assignment is an original work (with signature). Introduction – brief outline of the assignment theme, reasons for selecting it, and the general background. The main body of the assignment, which should include: facts, findings, discussion and analysis with suitable sections and headings; methods of investigation used for research; references to literature cited in the body of the assignment; conclusions – inferences and deductions from the facts and findings, and the recommendations (no new facts or findings should appear at this stage). 6. Bibliography – texts/sources consulted but not cited. 7. Appendices – where required. 8. A self‐evaluation section – about the learning acquired by the student during the production of the assignment, i.e. the selection of a suitably manageable topic, the literature search, the other methodologies employed, etc. What has the student learned from this exercise that can be applied to their future education and career?
The word count for this assignment is 3,500 words. A tolerance of +/‐ 10% is allowed where no penalty is incurred. Where an assignment falls outside this tolerance the total mark awarded will be reduced. Assignments which are up to 10% under or above the word count tolerance will be subject to a deduction of 5 marks, with subsequent penalties of an extra 5 marks deducted for every further 10% as shown below:
Up to 10% Every further 10%
5 marks A further 5 marks
For clarification, the word count applies to the entire body of the text (i.e. including headings, citations, content of tables and diagrams) but does include the reference list or the appendices. Materials included in appendices should add to the reader’s understanding of the assignment. All appendices must be cited within the body of the assignment and must be clearly numbered. An accurate electronic word count must be noted on the front of all assignments. The penalty for not providing a word count, or for providing an inaccurate word count, will be a deduction of 3 marks.
Candidates who submit a further assignment if they have failed the plagiarism test, or who submit a further assignment if they have not obtained a pass grade must write the assignment on a different organisation or a different topic. In the case of Management of Financial Resources and Performance, this means that the new assignment needs to be on another decision in the same organisation (NOT recommended unless the student works for the organisation) OR on another organisation.
