MGT8033 Assessment

Task 1: Context and changes 

Identify the industry or sector that you are working in or that you are interested in. Provide a brief description of this industry or sector to establish the context of your analysis. Specify the main changes in this industry or sector in Australia over the past three to five years. Identify and reflect upon a major change/issue in this context that you will address in this assignment. (See page 6 below for an example of how you should complete this task.)

Task 2: Nature and drivers of change

Within the context of your chosen industry or sector, critically discuss the nature of organisational change (e.g., evolutionary – revolutionary), and the key drivers of change.

Note that a critical discussion is required; this means that you have to include research (journal articles, course materials etc.) to support your views and arguments. All ideas/information that you obtained from other sources must be cited in-text and included in a list of references. Only list those sources that you cited in your written work. Make sure that you follow the correct Harvard AGPS method of referencing.

Task 3: Models of planned change

Outline an appropriate model of planned change for the issue that you identified in your chosen industry or sector.  Critically discuss this model of planned change and compare and contrast the model to an alternative potentially appropriate model of planned change.

Note that a critical discussion is required; this means that you have to include research (journal articles, course materials etc.) to support your views and arguments.  All ideas that you obtained from other sources must be cited in-text and included in a list of references. Only list those sources that you cited in your written work. Make sure that you follow the correct Harvard AGPS method of referencing.

Task 4: Intervention style

Evaluate and critically reflect on your own preferred approach to facilitate change and how you can enhance your mode of intervention in taking on the role of the change agent.

Complete Exercise 6.1: The “Intervention Style Indicator” (Hayes 2018, pp. 100-105) to analyse and reflect on your own intervention style to identify your preferred approach to facilitating change. Attach a copy of your scoring card as an Appendix to your document. Consider the role or goals of a change agent (Chapter 6 of Hayes 2018), and your intervention style indicator (your preferred mode of intervention). Critically reflect on how you can make the most of your preferred mode of intervention in the role of a change agent. Include research (journal articles, course materials etc.) to support your views and arguments. 

Written Format

·       Neither the report format nor essay format is required.

·       Present your answers to the tasks on separate pages.

·       Submit your responses in one MS Word document.

·       Use page numbers.

·       Use basic page margins.

·       Use 12-point font size (Times New Roman or Calibri (Body)).

·       Use 1.5 line spacing.

·       Include a List of References at the end of your document.

·       Attach a copy of the Rubric at the end of your document.

Research: 

To ensure the depth and credibility of your work, you need to demonstrate that you have read widely on the topic by including the views of a wide range of theory sources in your critical discussions. Theory sources include scholarly journal articles researched through the USQ Library databases.

Please note that you must focus your research on the theory topics and not the context (your chosen industry).  For the ‘Context and Changes’ section, you will need to research the changes occurring in the industry that you chose but don’t go into great detail about this – please see the example attached.

For Tasks 2, 3 and 4 only focus on researching the theory topics. The prescribed text, as well as the course readings, can also be included as theory support. At postgraduate level, it is expected that for this assignment the research include about eight to ten journal articles (excluding the course readings and text).

List of References

Academic writing and copyright law require that you acknowledge the source when using the ideas of others. In this course, we use the Harvard AGPS Style that requires a list of references (not bibliographies) and in-text citations of sources.  Include page numbers in in-text citations for paraphrased material. All ideas/information that you used from your prescribed text and readings, and all other sources, must be cited in-text and included in the list of references. Only list those sources that you cited in your written work. Make sure that you follow the correct Harvard AGPS method of referencing. Please see the USQ Library website for help on how to use the Harvard AGPS method: https://www.unisq.edu.au/library/referencing/harvard-agps-referencing-guide .

The Communication Skills Handbook by Summers and Smith (any of the editions) is also a very valuable source of information for referencing and assessment writing in general.

 Using any person’s ideas or work without full and clear referencing and acknowledgement is viewed as Plagiarism, a form of Academic Misconduct for which you can be penalised. Details about Plagiarism and how to avoid it, can be accessed here.