Assignment Scenario 1 (for LO1 and LO2)
You have applied for a job as Graduate Trainee in a business organisation. The selection process is composed of three stages. In the first stage, you are required to demonstrate your understanding of the complexities of three different types of business structures and the interrelationships of different organisational functions. Select a public organisation (HSBC Bank or any other public organisation), private organisation (Lyreco UK Ltd. or any other private organisation) and a voluntary organisation (British Red Cross or any other voluntary organisation) that will be used for scenario
1. Prepare a briefing paper that addresses the following set of assessment criteria.
(Briefing Paper writing hint: Your briefing paper should include appropriate content that would include: A description of the topic and/ or issue, main body, proposed solution or a set of solutions, and a conclusion.)
P1
Explain different types, legal structure and purposes of the chosen Public, Private and Voluntary organisations.
P2
Explain the size and scope of the chosen three different types of organisations.
P3
Choose any one organisation (Public, Private or Voluntary) from scenario 1. Explain the relationship between different organisational functions viz. Human Resource, Marketing, Finance, IT and Customer Service. Explain how the functions link to the objectives and structure of your chosen organisation. Use the diagram below and expand in line with your explanation.
M1
Analyse how the structure, size and scope of the chosen organisations (used for P1) help in the attainment of the organisational objectives.
M2
Analyse the advantages and disadvantages of the interrelationships between organisational functions (human resource, marketing, finance, IT and Customer Service) and the impact that it can have upon the organisational structure in context of the organisation chosen for
P3. D1 Provide a critical analysis of the complexities of different types of business structures and the interrelationships of the different organisational functions. Use academic literature to support your opinions.
Scenario 2 (for LO3 and LO4)
You have successfully passed stage 1 of the selection process. Now in the second stage before, the final interview, you are required to demonstrate your ability to evaluate the impacts that both macro and micro factors have upon business objectives and decision-making. You can choose a business organisation for the scenario. Prepare a briefing paper that addresses the following set of assessment criteria. (Briefing Paper writing hint: Your briefing paper should include appropriate content that would include: A description of the topic and/ or issue, main body, proposed solution or a set of solutions, and a conclusion.)
P4
Identify the positive and negative impacts the macro environment has upon business operations, supported by specific examples.
P5
Conduct internal and external analysis of the chosen organisation in order to identify strengths and weaknesses.
P6
Explain how strengths and weaknesses identified in
P5 of the chosen organisation interrelate with external macro factors. M3 Conduct PESTLE analysis of the chosen organisation. You must apply the analysis appropriately to support a detailed analysis of the macro environment within the organisation.
M4 While conducting SWOT in P5, apply a detailed SWOT analysis and justify how the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats influence decision-making such as introducing a new product/ service or improving quality of the existing product or service.
D2
Critically evaluate the impacts that both macro and micro factors have upon business objectives and decision-making.
Scenario 1 (for LO1 and LO2)
P1
- Explain Public, Private and Voluntary organisations.
- Explain purposes of a Public, Private and Voluntary organisation.
- Explain legal structure of a Public, Private and Voluntary organisation.
P2
- Explain the size of Public, Private and Voluntary organisations. Use the organisations chosen in P1.
- Explain the scope of Public, Private and Voluntary organisations. Use the organisations chosen in P1.
P3
- Choose an organisation out of the three organisations from P1.
- Discuss Human Resource, Marketing, Finance, IT and Customer Service functions of the organisation. Explain how the various functions are related to each other.
- Identify the organisational objectives of the chosen organisation.
- Explain how the functions help in the attainment of the organisational objective. Explain how the functions are linked in the organisational structure.
M1
(The assessment verb is ‘Analyse’. In analysis, you are required to break the subject or complex situations into separate parts and examine each part in detail; identify the main issues and show how the main ideas are related to practice and why they are important; reference to current research or theory may support the analysis)
- Use organisations selected in P1.
- Identify and discuss the objectives, product and services offered by the chosen organisations.
- Identify and discuss the organisational structure of the chosen organisations.
- Discuss in detail how the structure, size and scope of the chosen organisations help in the attainment of organisational objectives.
M2
(The assessment verb is ‘Analyse’. In analysis, you are required to break the subject or complex situations into separate parts and examine each part in detail; identify the main issues and show how the main ideas are related to practice and why they are important; reference to current research or theory may support the analysis)
- Using the organisation chosen for P3, discuss in detail the advantages and disadvantages of interrelationships between organisational functions (human resource, marketing, finance, IT and Customer Service)
- Discuss in detail the impact that the organisational functions can have upon the organisational structure.
D1 (The assessment verb is ‘Critical analysis’. It is a development of ‘analyse’ which explores limitations as well as positive aspects of the main ideas in order to form a reasoned opinion.)
- Discuss in detail and express your opinion on the complexities of different types of business structures and the interrelationships of the different organisational functions.
- Use academic literature to support your opinions.
Scenario 2 ( for LO3 and LO4) P4
- Identify various macro environmental factors.
- Give examples of the positive and negative impacts of the environmental factors (PESTLE factors, competitive factors etc.) on business operations (human resources, advertisement, pricing products, provision of health and safety in workplace etc.)
P5
- Conduct SWOT analysis of the chosen business organisation.
- Identify strengths and weaknesses of the chosen organisation.
P6
How the identifies strengths and weaknesses of the chosen organisation gets affected by PESTLE factors and competitive factors. ? Give specific examples.
M3
Conduct a detailed PESTLE analysis of the chosen organisation. M4 ? While conducting SWOT in P5, you are expected to provide a detailed SWOT analysis.
Using examples from your chosen organisation justify how the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats influence decision-making such as \
- introducing a new product/ service
- improving quality of the existing product or service.
D2
(The assessment verb is ‘Critically evaluate’. It is a development of ‘evaluate’ where the candidate debates the validity of claims from the opposing views and produces a convincing argument to support the conclusion or judgement)
- Provide positive and negative impacts of macro (PESTLE forces) forces on business objectives of the chosen business organisations.
- Provide positive and negative impacts of micro (employees, finance, shareholders, suppliers etc.) forces on business objectives of the chosen business organisations.
- Provide positive and negative impacts of macro (PESTLE forces) forces on business decisionmaking of the chosen business organisations.
- Provide positive and negative impacts of micro (employees, finance, shareholders, suppliers etc.) forces on business decision-making of the chosen business organisations.
Assessment Verbs:
Explain: Apply reasoning to account for how something is or to show understanding of underpinning concepts; responses could include examples to support the reasons
Analyse: Break the subject or complex situations into separate parts and examine each part in detail; identify the main issues and show how the main ideas are related to practice and why they are important; reference to current research or theory may support the analysis
Critical Analysis: This is a development of ‘analyse’, which explores limitations as well as positive aspects of the main ideas in order to form a reasoned opinion
Identify: Provide brief information about a subject, specific process or activity
Apply: Explain how existing knowledge can be linked to new or different situations or in practice
Conduct: Carry out
Critically evaluate: This is a development of ‘evaluate’ where the candidate debates the validity of claims from the opposing views and produces a convincing argument to support the conclusion or judgement