MGMT 90111 – MANAGEMENT AND BUSINESS COMMUNICATION

Assignment 1 – Research Report – Worth 25% of the total mark for the subject

Due: Wednesday 11th April by 5pm

Submit through Turnitin Assignment Tool as one pdf document
Overall word length: 2400 words

Like Grandfather Like Granddaughter1

Clarence opened a farm supply store in Montana during the early 1900s. His
neighbours in the county were also his customers. Every person who walked into his
store felt comfortable. In fact, they would often sit, sip a cup of coffee or shell some
peanuts, and solve the world’s problems before loading up their purchases. Clarence
prided himself on knowing what his customers needed to be successful farmers, and
he freely gave them advice about which brand of flea dip would work best on their
cattle and which tonic would help a colicky horse. By the time he retired and his son
Seth took over, the company had expanded to three stores in three towns and had
14 full-time employees.

As a youth, Seth had attended the state college and earned a degree in agricultural
business. He eagerly applied what he had learned to the family business. He was
convinced that technology was the key to success, not personal relationships. Over
the years, he struggled to convert all his father’s old hand written records to
electronic files. Eventually he installed a completely computerized information
system that tracked inventory, personnel, and accounts. He sometimes boasted
about being an entrepreneur, but Clarence snorted at that term. “Just do what’s
right for your customers, and you’ll be doing what’s right for yourself,” he would
retort.

When Seth retired, his daughter Kathy took over the company that now has 23
stores with 228 employees in three states and one wholly owned subsidiary of 18
gas stations. Kathy’s vision involved offering a broader range of products than farm
supplies. She wanted to sell the image of the family farm. Her stores stocked
western clothing; boots, hats, and jewellery; home furnishings; and even CDs
featuring country and western music.

As the business expanded, Kathy found herself travelling extensively from the
corporate office to the various stores. Despite having a staff of 12 professionals
working with her in the corporate office, finding time to manage everything became
a problem. It was when Kathy was really struggling to keep abreast of her business
that she approached her friend Carl who was an IT consultant. Carl suggested that
she should overhaul the computer network of her business which was used primarily
for inventory management and asynchronous communication. He suggested that she
should invest in technology and social media - to not only communicate with her

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geographically-spread staff, but also with her customers. He recommended that she
could hold virtual meetings instead of travelling inter-state to hold meetings. He
advised this would not only cut down her travel costs but would also enable her to
stay in touch with staff more often. He was certain that this would also help improve
staff relationships across geographical boundaries as they would be able to
communicate frequently and could also enable cross-fertilisation and collaboration.
Kathy was soon convinced that this was the way to move forward. She made a
substantial investment to upgrade the company’s computer network and to set up
Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, Instant Messaging software and video
conferencing facilities.

It had been a year since the introduction of these information and communication
technologies, and the outcome was far from what was envisaged. There had been
several instances of misunderstandings, miscommunication, conflict between staff,
complaints of high stress levels and lowered rather than enhanced levels of
productivity and communication. Kathy was struggling to understand why the
technological advancement of the business had delivered more problems and very
limited efficiency. She decided that it was time to get some advice from
management consultants to understand why such issues had emerged. She wanted
to seek advice to inform the way forward for the communication operations of her
business. She has employed you as her consultant and has asked you to write a
report looking at media choice and implications (positive/negative) of ICTs. She
wants you to consider any three of the following issues that have emerged in her
company over the last year and help her understand how these may be linked to the
introduction of ICTs:

1. work stress and overload;

2. flexibility and work/life balance;
3. productivity;
4. workplace conflict;
5. employee privacy.

In answering this question:

• Show that you have an in-depth and critical understanding of relevant theories
and research on media choice and implications of ICTs.
• Discuss the communication media models and explain the implications of each
on media choice and draw insights for media choice in the given situation.
• Discuss the positive/negative implications related to your chosen issues and
any inter-relationships between issues.
• Provide examples to support your analysis and application of the
theory/research.
• Provide recommendations for what can be done to address the potential
issues you have identified and critically evaluate your recommendations.

The discussion, analysis, evaluation and recommendations need to be supported

with theory and research. You need to include a reference list.

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1(Adapted from Hynes, G. E. (2011). Case 1-2 ‘Like Grandfather Like Granddaughter’
(pp. 22-23), Managerial Communication: Strategies and Applications, 5th edition.
McGraw-Hill Irwin: New York.)

Please read the following to ensure that your work meets required standards.

STRUCTURE
The assignment is to be submitted in a REPORT FORMAT. The report should include
the following sections:

• Executive summary
• Table of contents
• Introduction
• Theoretical discussion
• Issue identification, analysis and evaluation
• Recommendations
• Conclusion
• References
• Appendices (if required)

It should be written in complete paragraphs (no dot point form) using double line
spacing and a 12 pt font size. Please leave at least one inch margins on all sides.

POINTS TO CONSIDER
Appropriate response to the assignment question. Full and relevant response to the
question.

Quality of ideas: Originality, creativity and completeness of ideas.

Quality and clarity of analysis: defining terms and concepts; evaluating concepts and
critical use of research drawing on different perspectives.

Use of principles/theories and research for arguments: Appropriate use of key

concepts, frameworks and research for developing arguments to support your
analysis and discussion.

Quality of research on the topic: Completeness, relevance and range of supporting

information provided; clear evidence of thorough research. Use of research to
provide scholarly arguments in your own words demonstrating an understanding of
research material.

Specificity, concreteness and credibility: Avoidance of generalizations and jargon;

use of specific examples to support points; ensuring that
conclusions/recommendations/implications are reasonable, realistic, specific and
well-supported.

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Organisation and writing: Overall clarity and logical organization of thoughts.
Correct referencing, citations using APA/Harvard referencing system. Following
report structure and using paragraphs. Please see more information on referencing
under the referencing section below.

See rubric for more specific information on marking criteria.

RESEARCH
Your discussion should draw mainly on academic theory and research, but you can
also include references to publicly available information on organisational practices
or current cases where relevant. You are required to use a minimum of twelve (12)
academic/scholarly references. Academic or scholarly references can be found in
peer-reviewed academic journals and some books. In the first instance, refer to the
readings outlined for weeks 2-3. Your reading list is comprised of academic/scholarly
references and you are encouraged to use relevant materials from this resource as
well as engaging in independent library research. You can, however, only use a
maximum of three (3) references from the key and further readings.

REFERENCING
All material used must be correctly cited and referenced, using the APA/Harvard
Referencing System which includes:
 in-text citations in the body of the essay.
 a reference list as the last page of your assignment (listing only the
references you have cited).

WORD COUNT
Word limit 2,400 - 10% either way is acceptable (penalties apply for exceeding the
word limit – refer to course outline).

PLEASE NOTE: In-text Citations and Reference list, the Executive Summary and Table
of Contents are NOT counted in the word count.

LATE SUBMISSION PENALTY

Assignments submitted after the due date will attract a marking penalty (refer to
subject guide) unless an extension of time has been approved by prior arrangement.
If you require an extension, please apply through the Graduate Student Centre.

EXTENSIONS AND SPECIAL CONSIDERATION

Please apply for any extensions and special consideration through the central
process using links available on LMS.

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ASSIGNMENT SUBMISSION
Before you submit your assignment, you MUST include an Assignment Cover
Template available on LMS as the first page of your assignment and fill in the
relevant details which include full name, student number, due date and assignment
name.

When you are submitting your assignment, you must acknowledge that the work you
are about to submit is not plagiarised and/or you have not colluded with other
students. You will be asked to acknowledge that you have read and understood the
declaration and must click on the “Acknowledge Plagiarism Declaration” link located
on the Assignment screen for the Individual Assignment.

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 Criteria H1 H2A H2B H3 P N
Excellent Very Good Good Satisfactory Pass Fail
Analysis of Issues Outstanding Very good Good identification and A satisfactory level of A basic level of Inadequate level of
30% identification and identification and analysis of issues through identification and identification and identification and
analysis of issues analysis of issues good research, discussion analysis of issues through analysis of issues analysis of issues
through in-depth through very good and analysis of relevant sound research, through sound research, through little or no
research, discussion research, discussion issues. discussion and analysis of discussion and analysis research, discussion
and analysis of relevant and analysis of relevant relevant issues. of relevant issues. and analysis of
issues. issues. relevant issues.
Analysis is supported Analysis is supported Analysis is supported
Analysis is effectively Analysis is supported with good, relevant and with solid, relevant and with sound, relevant and Analysis is not
supported with with very good, specific examples. specific examples. specific examples. supported with
excellent, relevant and relevant and specific relevant and specific
specific examples. examples. A good level of An average level of Low level of engagement examples.
engagement with engagement with with the assignment
Excellent engagement A very good level of assignment topic and a assignment topic and topic with many gaps in Does not engage
with assignment topic engagement with good response to the some gaps in responding responding to the with the assignment
by answering the assignment topic and a question but relying to the question in question and heavy topic and
question with unique very good response to often on direct quotes addition to reliance on reliance on direct quotes unsatisfactory
and original discussion the question using own and paraphrasing close to direct quotes and close and close paraphrasing. answer to
throughout. words most of the the original. paraphrasing. assignment
time. question.
Integration of Excellent integration of Very good integration Good integration of Solid integration of Superficial integration of
theory theory. Demonstrates of theory. theory. Demonstrates a theory. Demonstrates a theory. Demonstrates a No theory has been
25% an in-depth Demonstrates a very good understanding of satisfactory low understanding of integrated.
understanding of the good understanding of key theoretical concepts. understanding of key key theoretical concepts. Demonstrates no
theoretical concepts. key theoretical theoretical concepts. understanding of
concepts. Good level of critical Very basic level of key theoretical
Showing a high level of insight of the research Satisfactory level of critical insight of the concepts.
critical insight of the Very good level of that considers different critical insight of the research that considers
research. critical insight of the perspectives. research that considers very limited Does not consider
research that considers limited perspectives. perspectives. different
different perspectives. perspectives and no
critical insight
shown.

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 Criteria H1 H2A H2B H3 P N
Excellent Very Good Good Satisfactory Pass Fail
Recommendatio Excellent Very good Good recommendations Satisfactory Basic recommendations Poor or no
ns recommendations recommendations based on the analysis. recommendations based not clearly linked to the recommendations
20% based on the analysis. based on the analysis. on the analysis. analysis. provided.
Good level ability to show
Outstanding level Very good level ability how recommendations Limited ability to show Very limited ability to
ability to show how the to show how address some not all of the how recommendations show how
recommendations recommendations identified issues. address some not all of recommendations
address the identified address the identified the identified issues. address very few of the
problems. issues. Good recommendations identified issues.
provided and supported. Satisfactory
Excellent Very good recommendations Basic recommendations
recommendations very recommendations provided and supported. provided and supported.
clearly stated and well provided and
supported. supported.
Research and Outstanding research Very good research Good research that is just Satisfactory research that Basic level of research Poor quality
Referencing well beyond set that is beyond set beyond the set meets the set conducted; has not gone research.
15% requirements. requirements. requirements. requirements. beyond the set APA/Harvard
APA/Harvard APA/Harvard APA/Harvard referencing APA/Harvard referencing requirements. Consistent Referencing
referencing guidelines referencing guidelines guidelines followed with a with many errors. errors and inaccuracies in guidelines not
followed with high followed with minor few errors. following APA/Harvard followed.
accuracy. errors. referencing guidelines.
Structure and Clear and concise Very good written Good written expression, Satisfactory written Basic written expression, Poor written
Written written expression expression, grammar grammar and spelling with expression, grammar and grammar and spelling expression,
10% grammar and spelling. and spelling with some some errors. Good spelling requiring some impacting clarity and grammar and
Excellent articulation of minor errors. Very good articulation of arguments re-writing. Articulation of readability. Basic spelling. Poor
arguments and articulation of and discussion at times arguments and articulation of articulation of
discussion. arguments and needing elaboration. discussion need re- arguments, not always arguments.
discussion. working. clear and requiring
Report is structured to Report structure could be support for Poor quality
systematically respond Report structure improved to provide a Report structure that improvement. structure that has
to question. Headings, contributes to effective systematic and effective needs improvement for many gaps.
sub-headings and response to question. response to question. effective response to Report structure that Paragraph structure
paragraph structures Headings, sub-headings Headings, sub-headings question. Headings, sub- needs re-working. is very poor.
are of a very high and paragraph and paragraph structures headings and paragraph Arguments need to be
standard. structures of very good need improvement. structures need re- written out in paragraphs
standard. working. and not listed in bullet
points.