Fundamentals of Senior Management Essay Brief

Assignment Brief

Portfolio marking guide. 

• Students would be expected to complete all the portfolio activities. Structure is important so students should use the suggested template.
• Each portfolio activity indicates the topic area so students will be marked down for not focusing on the expected activity. There is a request for students to use a recent example, provide a web link, discuss and reflect in their discussion, and ideally indicate wider reading with references. The reference should show the date accessed.
• The submitted work should be proofed and the discussion should be logical and flow well. A word count is provided for each portfolio so students are expected to make best use of word count.
• Weaker students will choose poor examples, the discussion will be descriptive.
• Good students will choose recent examples, the discussion will link well to the topic theory and the example.
• Excellent students will choose recent examples, the discussion will include in text references and link to the topic and there will be clear reflection shown. 

Individual essay 

Essay question –

• Identify an organisation and critically analyse its performance. You should discuss the factors that have led to the organisation being a successful one or not
• The work should be well structured, proofread, with references. It is expected students will look at the organisational functions, link in examples and discuss organisational performance. The essay question allows a choice of sector for the students.

Learning outcomes

• Demonstrate a critical understanding of the key tools for analysis of the internal and external environmental context within which businesses operate in order to exhibit knowledge and analyse the impact of changing and challenging environments on businesses and business functions in different sectors. 
• Critically evaluate business functions and their contribution to organisational success across a range of business settings. 
• Synthesise the complexity and ambiguity of other factors which impinge on businesses and business functions including structure, culture, stakeholders and ethics. 
• Critically evaluate the various factors that impact upon the health of an organisation, using accepted forms of internal and external measurement. 
• Critically analyse the extent to which the health of an organisation may affect its ability to operate in a successful manner, in terms of objectively acknowledged criteria.