ASSESSMENT GUIDE

COMM1170

Organisational Resources

Term 2, 2024

Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs)

1. Identify different types of organisation resources and processes to lead organisational change. [PLO 1]

2. Examine suitability and efficacy of an organisation's approach to resource management. [PLO 1, 2]

3. Explain how technology assists in achieving organisational internal strategy. [PLO 1]

4. Explain how financial tools and techniques can be utilised to source, mobilise and manage organisational resources. [PLO 1, 2]

5. Develop novel solutions and assess their feasibility to address organisational problems. [PLO2, PLO7]

6. Reflect on organisational practices and processes to identify opportunities for leadership development. [PLO7]3

AssessmentDetails

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Due Date                      Weighting                      Format                Length/Duration              Submission

Tutorial attendance and the Reflective Learning Portfolios 1 and 2

Attendance in tutorials is essential for success in COMM1170. It's strongly recommended to select a tutorial time that fits your schedule without conflicts with other commitments like study or work. Tutorial attendance is directly linked to the completion of major assessments in this course - Reflective Learning Portfolios 1 and 2.

The process:

1. Attend and Participate: Attend ONLY your allocated tutorial and actively participate in the learning activities.

2. Register Attendance: Ensure your attendance is recorded by your tutor.

3. Draft Artefacts: During the tutorial, you will have time to draft the Artefact(s) (key activities completed under tutor supervision).

4. Submit Drafts: You will be given time to submit the draft Artefact(s) to the Turnitin Dropbox on Moodle for your allocated tutorial.

5. Submission Requirement: You are NOT permitted to submit an Artefact unless you have attended the corresponding tutorial.

6. IMPORTANT: Only Artefacts submitted to the Turnitin Dropbox for the tutorial you attended can be used in your Reflective Learning Portfolios 1 and 2.

Turnitin

Turnitin is an originality checking and plagiarism prevention tool that enables checking of submitted written work for improper citation or misappropriated content. Each Turnitin assignment is checked against other students' work, the Internet and key resources selected by your Course Coordinator.

If you are instructed to submit your assessment via Turnitin, you will find the link to the Turnitin submission in your Moodle course site. You can submit your assessment well before the deadline and use the Similarity Report to improve your academic writing skills before submitting your final version.

You can find out more information in the Turnitin information site for students.

Late Submissions

The parameters for late submissions are outlined in the UNSW Assessment Implementation Procedure. For COMM1170, if you submit your assessments after the due date, you will incur penalties for late submission unless you have Special Consideration (see below). Late submission is 5% per day (including weekends), calculated from the marks allocated to that assessment (not your grade). Assessments more than 5 days late will not be accepted for marking.

Extensions

You are expected to manage your time to meet assessment due dates. If you do require an extension to your assessment, please make a request as early as possible before the due date via the special consideration portal on myUNSW (My Student profile > Special Consideration). You can find more information on Special Consideration and the application process below. Lecturers and tutors do not have the ability to grant extensions.

Special Consideration

Special consideration is the process for assessing the impact of short-term events beyond your control (exceptional circumstances), on your performance in a specific assessment task.

What are circumstances beyond my control?

These are exceptional circumstances or situations that may:

• Prevent you from completing a course requirement,

• Keep you from attending an assessment,

• Stop you from submitting an assessment,

• Significantly affect your assessment performance.

Available here is a list of circumstances that may be beyond your control. This is only a list of examples, and your exact circumstances may not be listed.

You can find more detail and the application form. on the Special Consideration site.

Assessment Review of Results

Please read the specific feedback on your assessments in detail, alongside the general feedback provided by the Course Coordinator. Feedback is optimised if you revisit the assessment question, your completed work, the general feedback about the assessment provided on Moodle and the marking rubric. It is prudent to reflect on this information for a period (e.g., a day) as insightful analysis takes time to consolidate.

If you still have concerns about your grade, please use the specific criteria in the marking rubric, the assignment instructions, and the marker’s comments to complete the form. on the last page of this guide.

Please send the completed form. to [email protected] within 4 business days after the assessment has been returned. Please note that in a review of results, your mark may go up, remain the same or decrease.

General Instructions for Reflective Learning Portfolios (RLP) 1 and 2

Purpose

Research shows the habit of reflection can separate extraordinary professionals from mediocre ones.

(Bailey and Rehmen, 2022)

The Reflective Learning Portfolios (RLP) are designed to enhance your engagement, learning, and capacity for self-leadership through reflection. These assessments are not just collections of ‘evidence’ but opportunities to develop critical skills that will help you succeed in this course and in your future career. They will also aid in preparing you for your final assessment.

Overview

Both Reflective Learning Portfolios (RLP) 1 and 2 help you reflect on and consolidate your learning experiences throughout the course. These assessments enable you to critically analyse your participation and engagement in tutorials and document your learning journey.

Process

Each week you should:

• Complete Asynchronous Work and Attend Lectures: Engage with pre-lecture materials and attend lectures, taking detailed notes.

• Participate in Tutorials: Attend your tutorial and begin working on your draft Artefacts.

• Submit Draft Artefacts: Submit your draft Artefact in the weekly Turnitin Dropbox on Moodle at the end of each tutorial. Don’t worry about 100% completion or making it ‘perfect’, as it is for tracking progress and reflection, NOT for final grading.

• Revise and Refine: Continue updating and refining your Artefacts after tutorials to deepen your understanding. Your revised and refined Artefact will be marked in the final assessment.

o Tip: Be sure to note any new learnings or “aha!” moments – they’ll be useful in your reflection.

• Collate and Annotate:

o Collate your Artefacts into your Reflective Learning Portfolio. You might include photos, screenshots, text, or other relevant evidence from any part of the week’s learning activities. Highlight any specific areas of progress.

o Add 3 (min) – 5 (max) annotations (75 - 100 words each) per Artefact. Note: Annotations are personal commentary that should highlight key concepts, make connections, pose questions, or express thoughts, serving as a record of your understanding, insights, and reactions to the learning content.

• Reflective Commentary: Reflect on the Artefacts you have presented, focusing on what you knew before and what you know now. An in-depth guide on different ways to reflecting comprehensively on these areas is available in the Assessment Hub on Moodle.

Remember: The quality of your artefacts will affect your grade for this assessment, so it is strongly recommended that you stay up to date with the asynchronous and lecture materials to ensure your success.

Be sure to utilize the full marking rubric at the end of this document and the supporting resources available on Moodle to enhance your learning experience and achieve the best possible results in your Reflective Learning Portfolio.

Assessment-Specific Details

Assessment 1: Reflective Learning Portfolio (RLP) 1

Description of assessment task

You will develop a learning portfolio containing:

o Select and refine TWO Artefacts based on drafts submitted during Weeks 1 - 3 tutorials. Refer to the rubric for guidance.

o In these two Artefacts, apply concepts from asynchronous (pre-lecture) activities, lectures, additional readings, independent research, and tutorials.

o Make any relevant annotations on your artefact. 3 (Min) - 5 (Max) annotations (75-100 words each) per Artefact.

o Include a 500-word reflective commentary to demonstrate your development from the draft to the final Artefact, incorporating your understanding of the coursework. You might structure this in the following way:

• Describe the context (100 words)

• Experience and evidence-based problem solving (200 words)

• How and why, you changed the artefacts based on your post-tutorial reflections (200 words)

• References

Submission instructions

• Weekly Draft Submission: Starting in Week 1, work on the Artefacts during your tutorial and submit the initial draft to Moodle at the end of each tutorial.

- Note: Only artefacts submitted in Week 1 to 3 tutorials with registered attendance can be used in this Assessment.

• Final Submission in Week 4: Submit RLP1, which includes your two (2) best revised, refined, and annotated Artefacts from Weeks 1-3, along with a 500-word reflective commentary.

• Your 500-word reflective commentary should detail what you have learned, this is specific to you, throughout the entire process of working on the Artefacts and completing RLP 1.

• It is recommended to use PowerPoint, Canva or similar presentation applications to develop your Reflective Learning Portfolio.

• Your portfolio must show your artefacts, annotations, and reflective commentary clearly, as in the two examples below:

Assessment-Specific Details

Assessment 2: Reflective Learning Portfolio 2

Description of assessment task

You will develop a learning portfolio containing:

1) Select three (3) Artefacts from tutorial classes, drafted under tutor supervision and refined at home:

• One Artefact must be from an accounting topic (Week 4 or Week 5)

• One Artefact must be from a finance topic (Week 5 or Week 7)

• One additional Artefact from any tutorial in Weeks 4 - 8

2) Reflective commentary and annotations related to the artefacts and coursework, demonstrating your capacity for self-development:

o Make any relevant annotations on your artefact. 3 (Min) - 5 (Max) annotations (75-100 words each) per Artefact.

o Include a 500-word reflective commentary to demonstrate your development from the draft to the final Artefact, incorporating your understanding of the coursework. You might structure this in the following way:

• Describe the context (150 words)

• Experience and evidence-based problem solving (300 words)

• How and why, you changed the artefacts based on your post-tutorial reflections (300 words)

• References

Submission instructions

• Like RLP1, commencing Week 4, work on the Artefacts during your tutorial and submit the initial draft to Moodle at the end of each tutorial. Select three tutorial outputs from three unique weeks.

• Final Submission in Week 9: Submit RLP2, which includes your three (3) best revised, refined, and annotated Artefacts from Weeks 4 - 8, along with the 750-word reflective commentary.

• Your portfolio must show your artefacts, annotations, and commentary clearly, as in the RLP 1 examples supplied above.

Assessment 3: Business Case Video Presentation (BCV)

Description of assessment task

You will individually record a video pitch analysing an organisational issue and proposing a compelling solution. You will present to a managerial audience (including the CEO, CFO and CIO) of an organisation of your choice. Your proposed solution will be based on thorough analyses using the tools and strategies you learn throughout the term.

Approach to the assessment task

Week 2: Select an organisation you are interested in. The choice of organisation must meet the following criteria:

• The organisation is publicly listed on a major stock exchange, e.g., the NYSE/NASDAQ/FTSE/ASX, etc. This ensures that you can access publicly available financial information about your organisation.

• The information and evidence aboutthe organisation must be available in the English language.

• No more than two students in the same tutorial can choose the same organisation and the students choosing the same organisation must choose different issues to work on for the assessment task.

• The organisation must not be utilised in major class examples, i.e., Netflix.

Week 3: Identify an organisational issue that can be linked to a Human Resources (people)-related problem. For limited guidance there is a list of possible issues provided on Moodle. You must select and justify your choice of either:

• An organisational issue that can be linked to a Human Resources (people)-related problem that is occurring in real-time in the organisation you have chosen OR

• An organisational issue that can be linked to a Human Resources (people)-related problem that you believe is likely to occur within the next 12 months in your chosen organisation.

• The organisational issue that can be linked to a Human Resources (people)-related problem must be appropriate for analysis and addressed by considering both technology and capital resources, as well as any required changes to the organisation’s HR resources.

Your tutor can provide guidance on the suitability of your chosen organisation and associated issue throughout the term.

Weeks 4-8: During your COMM1170 tutorials, and as you build on your RLP 1 and 2, you will learn several useful frameworks, tools and processes that can be used to analyse organisational issues. You should choose the most relevant/informative one(s) to use for the analysis section of your presentation:

• Competitive Advantage: 3 strategic approaches (Week 1)

• Resource and Capability analysis (Week 1)

• SWOT analysis (Week 2)

• 5Ws Tool (Weeks 1 and 3)

• As Is–To Be’ Model (Week 3)

• 5 Components of IS analysis (Week 3)

• Budgeting (Week 5)

• Capital Considerations and Business Risk (Week 7)

• TOE feasibility analysis (Week 8)

Week 8-10: The Lectures in these weeks will cover specific examples of organisations at every stage of the organisational lifecycle and genuine issues faced by these organisations and how they have tackled them. This will provide you with knowledge and insights to support you in your own problem-solving process and in formulating recommendations for your chosen organisation. You should use these lectures to guide you and check for ideas or methods you have not yet considered in your own analytical and problem-solving process.

In Weeks 9-10, drop-in session times will be available with the COMM1170 teaching team to ensure you are on track with Assessment 3 and progressing towards delivering your video in Week 11.

Submission instructions

Upload instructions will be provided on Moodle under the Assessment Hub.

You will submit your Business Case Video Presentation by 5:00 PM Friday 9 August.

Supporting resources and links

• The full marking rubric can be found at the end of this document.

• Library research seminar recordings will be made available early in Term 2.