MBA005-6 MBA Applied Project Assignment 2 Brief 2026 | University of Bedfordshire

Assignment Brief | PG | AY25-26

What am I required to do in this assignment?

• All students on taught MBA participate in the Applied Project as the culmination of your programme to support your employability and transition into the professional work environment through the application of management education to management practice, integrating the best available scientific, organisational and experiential evidence in consideration of organisational values and stakeholders' concerns.
• Students are assigned to a specific live project or case with an academic lead for guidance to support you through the planning stages of the project.  Students at our international partners are encouraged to investigate the organisation where they are employed.  Your project must integrate your MBA toolkit and your specialist pathway.
• Adopting a data informed, Evidence-based Management approach you will integrate contemporary knowledge and research across different areas to enhance management and business practice through independent, work-based consultancy. The live project is expected to be either one which is assigned to you by the University of Bedfordshire, or the organisation you are employed by.  Exceptionally, if this is not possible, students might need to complete an alternative Applied Project, subject to approval by the University of Bedfordshire.
• Supported by feedback and guidance on your proposed project (Assignment 1) you are expected to develop the project and complete the investigation.  You will be provided with feedback and guidance, and you will reflect on these during your regular meetings with the academic lead / supervisor for your live consultancy project. Dates to be provided in Week 1.
• Assignment 2 is a work-based consultancy report including an in-depth critical analysis and evaluation of the business problem or opportunity, drawing on a wide range of academic sources and data including peer-reviewed material to demonstrate insightful outcomes from your research in the context of the organisation. The emphasis of the work is to address the business problem or opportunity through research and you are required to provide data-informed evidence for your conclusions leading to feasible recommendations for the organisation.
  Chapter 1: Introduction
  Chapter 2: Literature Review
  Chapter 3: Methods of data collection and analysis (Methodology)
  Chapter 4: Findings 
  Chapter 5: Recommendations
• You are required to complete mandatory staged submissions through the online journal on the Breo site as part of your research journal as follows:

Week 6: Introduction and Literature Review
Week 9: Methodology and Data Analysis (with raw data/other evidence as appropriate to the live project)
Week 11: Complete 6000-word report including your interpretation of the findings, conclusions and recommendations for the organisation

• All three staged submissions must be copied and pasted into Appendix A of Assignment 2

What do I need to do to pass? How do I achieve a good grade? 

"What do I need to do pass?”.

• Threshold expectations are the minimum you must achieve to pass the Unit and are reflected in the Learning Outcomes. The rubric (marking criteria) detailed in this assessment brief will set out what is expected for a pass and how higher grades can be achieved.  During the assessment introductory session, you should be given the opportunity to check your understanding of the threshold statements and what you need to do to surpass them.
• The assessment marking criteria listed below show how your work is assessed. The assessment criteria are informed by the unit’s learning outcomes and the assessment task. Carefully reading the assessment criteria should help you understand the aspects that will be used to judge your progress and achievement of the learning outcomes and offer guidance on 

“How do I achieve a good grade”.

• You are expected to engage in substantial independent reading to support contemporary knowledge on the conceptual underpinning
• You are also expected to engage in substantial independent reading to support your understanding of theories of business research methods
• Gather information (Evidence based management) in the context of the live project, informed by your MBA toolkit and pathway specialism to develop the conceptual framework appropriate to the identified problem, challenge, opportunity or other issue of concern
• Justify the appropriateness of the design of the methodology and data collection to address the aim and objectives of your research
• Collect  quality sources of evidence and data. This might include:
• Internal data provided by the organisation
• Publicly available data
• Peer reviewed published evidence
• Primary data (subject to ethical approval by the University of Bedfordshire)
• Data analysis
• Interpret the practical application of your research in the context of the live project 
• Develop clear conclusions
• Develop feasible and actionable recommendations 
• Curate the consultancy report using the structure in the Appendix
• You are permitted to use AI tools to help with your learning but not to create your assignment. Remember there might be hidden bias in AI output and responses might be false and inaccurate.  You must use your critical evaluation skills to check and review the output
• Do NOT copy and paste from AI for your written work as this is a serious academic issue treated as third party involvement
• You must use your own words throughout and acknowledge others’ ideas through comprehensive use of in-text citations.  It is your voice, your abilities to manage and interpret data, your literacy skills that you need to demonstrate in assignments and that employers want to see in your chosen graduate profession.
• You are required to declare any use of AI for information and to check the authenticity, integrity and ethics of information.  If you do use AI as a help tool, you will need to cite and reference it in your assignment as you would other sources
• Log in to Cite Them Right from the library Reference pages
• Log all use of AI tools, what tools, what purpose, what result
• AI evolves and if you repeat the question at another time the  response will be different
• Save a transcript or a screenshot of the prompt question you posed and the answer you got and include as an appendix
• Further details access the a-guide-to-using-ai-in-assignments-v2.pdf

How will my assignment be marked?

Your assignment will be marked according to the threshold expectations (see the Unit Information Form uploaded on BREO) and the specific marking criteria below (marking rubric). Please read carefully as they will help you prepare and evaluate your own work before you submit. They will also help you understand the grade and feedback received once marked.

Additional information

How does this assignment relate to ‘my learning in this unit and help me develop knowledge and skills that I will need for my future?

“How does this assignment relate to what we are doing in the scheduled sessions”

• All students on taught MBAs participate in the Applied Project as the culmination of your programme to support your employability and transition into the professional work environment through the application of management education to management practice, integrating the best available scientific, organisational and experiential evidence in consideration of organisational values and stakeholders' concerns.
• As the final project designed to support your transition to the professional work environment, the focus of this unit is on the integration of taught units in the complex context of contemporary work organisations. Your project must integrate your MBA toolkit and your specialist pathway
• Adopting a data informed, Evidence-based Management approach you will integrate contemporary knowledge and research across different areas to enhance management and business practice through independent, work-based consultancy.
• Scheduled classes in the first three weeks of the unit are designed to support students to Integrate, consolidate and extend research tools, techniques and methods developed in taught units to support your justification of appropriate methods of information gathering, data and evidence collection and analysis leading to research informed evidence and unique insight to support decision making, complex problem solving and exploration of opportunities.
• The academic lead / supervisor for your allocated live project will provide additional guidance to support your planning, development and completion of your consultancy project.
• Within the University of Bedfordshire, graduate competencies refer to the skills, knowledge, attributes, and abilities that individuals are expected to possess upon completing their education at the graduate level. Our graduate competencies are the fundamental building blocks in preparing you for the future world of work. They form the foundation for learning outcomes within and beyond your course.
• They are relevant for every subject, and you can work towards them in different ways, so that you can attain and benefit from them even if you have lots going on outside university. These competencies will be integrated across your course and units.  The table below indicates graduate competencies gained relevant to this assessment.

What should I be aware of when preparing my work? How and where should I submit my work?

• To submit assignments at the University of Bedfordshire, you will typically use the BREO (Bedfordshire Resources for Education Online) platform. Within BREO, locate the specific assessment you need to submit, and then follow the instructions provided to upload your work.
• The University has produced a guide that is designed to help you understand the processes we use to deliver and manage assessment-related processes, what support is available to you and how we agree and approve your results. It also provides you with an explanation of the codes we use when we issue results and transcripts.
• When submitting work for assessment, you must ensure that it is all your own work. Failure to do this could result in sanctions, including removal from your course. The Academic Integrity Resource (AIR) has been designed to introduce you to academic integrity and how to demonstrate this during your studies. Remember to use the self-help resources to support your skills in academic writing. You could also Improve your assignment grades by accessing free university support to develop a wide range of relevant and valuable academic skills.
• The University provides access to Studiosity that connects students with a team of writing specialists who are here to help you with writing and core skills - anytime, anywhere. Studiosity provides you with two online services: Writing Feedback and Connect Live.  Their Writing Feedback gives feedback on referencing, choice of language, structure and spelling/grammar within 24 hours. If you are not sure how to use the feedback to enhance your work before making a final submission, you can arrange to discuss this with a member of the Study Hub team. Connect Live also offers live support in areas such as basic English, maths and stats, science and generic study skills. Both services are available 24/7, 365 days of the year, and you can access them for FREE via BREO.
• Ethical use of generative AI might be used to help you to develop your ideas and understanding but copying and pasting to written work is treated as third party work, a serious academic issue.  See  this link, to a student site on BREO for more detailed information on AI.

MBA005-6 MBA APPLIED PROJECT

ASSIGNMENT 2: Work-based Consultancy Report

6000 words +/-10%