Assessment
Overview
The objective of the 1500‐word essay is for you to apply theories and concepts from the module to complete
a critical analysis of selected situations when you have worked with other people. The purpose is to reflect
on how you can learn from applying theories and concepts in order to develop the effectiveness of how you
work with other people.
Deadline ‐ Friday, 21st May 2021 12:00pm (noon)
A critical analysis involves applying academic source materials (theories and concepts) to explore a particular
situation when you have worked with other people to complete certain tasks or achieve particular outcomes
in the past twelve months (e.g. workshop or tutorial tasks, a group project/assignment, undertaken a
voluntary or paid role, participated in a sports team) in order to develop new insights and understanding. By
applying theories as an analytical lens you will be able to show your critical engagement by expressing the
benefits and limitations of the theories and concepts for making sense of your selected situation.
Key definitions for the assignment
Critical analysis – involves applying academic source materials (theories and concepts from peer‐reviewed
journal articles and books) to understand and examine a given case or situation by recognising the
underlying assumptions of the theories and concepts applied, and so appreciating how different theories
and concepts have benefits and limitations for making sense of particular contexts and situations.
Theory (also relates to ‘theoretical perspective’ and ‘theoretical framework’) – explains particular
organizational dynamics and relations e.g. Competing Values Framework. It is a perspective, model,
framework or lens that we can use to help us to understand and make sense of a given situation,
organization, group, manager etc. It is not understood to be an abstract and comprehensive representation
of reality or a prescriptive way to be or do things right.
Critique – relates to being critical in how you apply theory. In general, you can consider two types of related
critique. Firstly, ‘general critique’ that have previously been written by others about general limitations of a
theory e.g. that Maslow’s Hierarchy of Need is less applicable in collectivist cultures. Secondly, ‘specific or
contextual critique’ that is about your judgement about how the theory does or doesn’t relate to your
specific context of analysis, based on the particular individual, group and organisational dynamics involved in
your study.
Concept – is something that describes a particular organizational phenomenon e.g. social loafing.
Situation – relates to a particular occasion when something happened (e.g. when I was working with a group
of people on a specific task in a workshop or tutorial) or repeated engagement with the same people in the
same setting (e.g. at a job, volunteering, participating in a sports team, completing a group assignment).
Developing your analysis
In your essay you need to select one situation which you have been involved with in the past twelve
months. As above these can include:
A group workshop task which you have completed during MGT120
A group project or group assignment undertaken as part of your degree
Voluntary or paid work where you have worked closely with others
Involvement in particular events as part of a sports team, student society or community group
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You need to choose two topics from the module (each weekly lecture is a topic) to select theories from for
your analysis. Your chosen situation needs to be critically analysed through the application of two theories
per selected lecture topic. You may draw on literature beyond the module reading list where appropriate,
but you need to include at least three references from the module reading list – see ‘MyResource List’
accessible via the module Blackboard site.
Choosing a situation
In your essay you will need to give a brief but clear account of your chosen situation, so you need to have a
good record or memory of specifically what was said and done. A good situation to select would involve one
or more the following characteristics:
Something happened within the group that was unexpected and surprised you so that you were
unclear about how and why things happened in the way they did (e.g. somebody became
particularly angry without obvious explanation).
The group did not manage to successfully achieve the task or expected outcome, or the quality of
the output from the group was poor.
The group managed to successfully achieve the task or intended outcome far beyond your
expectations of what was possible.
There was a conflict or disagreement within the group which led to some members reducing or
ending their involvement in the group.
That a person or a couple of people were particularly dominant in the group.
Selecting two topics and associated theories
Once you have identified your situation to analyse you need to decide which topics and associated theories
can best support your critical analysis. It is your choice about which OB topics are more interesting and
relevant to apply. However, you need to make sure that from your account of the situation you have enough
material to relate to the particular elements of the theories that you have chosen. For example, if you did
not know the other group members very well then it might be hard to assess the different ‘bases of power’
(related to the ‘Power and politics’ topic) which they might each be understood to possess, but you may be
able to explore the different ‘types of conflict’ which emerged (related to the ‘Conflict at work’ topic).
Structuring your essay
Your essay needs to be clearly structured as below:
- Introduction – explain what your essay will cover and in what order, which will include introducing
the situation that you are going to analyse as well as mentioning which lecture topics and theories
you will apply in your analysis. (about 150 words) - Situation ‐ An account of the situation which includes information about: the background context of
the group work, the task being completed, the people involved, what happened, and why you chose
this situation. (about 250 words) - Analysis:
a. Topic 1 ‐ Application of theory/theories: explain briefly what theory or theories (maximum
two) you are applying to the situation that is/are associated with your first chosen topic,
explain what understanding you have developed about the situation by applying the theory.
(about 350 words)
b. Topic 2 ‐ Application of theory/theories: explain briefly what theory or theories (maximum
two) you are applying to the situation that is/are associated with your second chosen topic,
explain what understanding you have developed about the situation by applying the theory.
(about 350 words) - Findings and reflections – bring together the key understanding from your application of theory.
Explain what you think is the value of the theories for analysing your chosen situation of working
with others. What are the benefits and limitations of the theories applied for making sense of your
particular situation? From your analysis do you agree with assumptions about how people behave
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which underpin the theories applied? From what you have learnt from your analysis how will you
improve the ways you work with other people in the future? (about 400 words)
Please note that for all students to gain fully from any assessment enquiries, your questions about the
assessment should be posted on the module Blackboard discussion board and not emailed personally to
the lecturer or any tutors on the module. Additionally, there are the bi‐weekly ‘Drop‐in Q&A Sessions’ where
you can ask the module leader any questions about the module and assessment.
Some general advice on essay writing
Use the key references provided in the module reading list as your starting point for understanding
theories. You may well want to refer to other sources, but please make sure you focus on academic
quality references (for support please see ‐ https://sheffield.libguides.com/guidemanagement ) to
explain core theories (i.e. peer reviewed journal articles and books). Remember, as stated above,
you need to include at least three references from the module reading list in your essay. General
websites such as www.businessballs.com and www.businessdictionary.com must be avoided.
It will likely be easier to write your introduction if you have already completed your analysis and
have a plan about the key messages that you want to communicate in your essay.
You need to make sure that there is a coherent flow and connections made between the parts of the
essay so it is clear how it is a joined‐up piece of writing.
Your work should be presented with care and attention to detail and have a fluent and accurate
written style with appropriate referencing conventions (Harvard style see ‐
https://www.librarydevelopment.group.shef.ac.uk/referencing/harvard.html ). Where quotes and
statistics are used make sure you also include page numbers from the reference source. Where the
data or theory is more generally taken from a text you just cite the author and year.
Make sure you leave time to proof read to avoid poor grammar and unclear sentences.
Never purchase an essay/coursework. Purchasing a ready‐made essay, and submitting the same as
your work, is the highest level of academic misconduct and is likely to result in expulsion from the
university. We strongly advise that you should not entrust the fate of your degree to such
organizations and the services they offer.
Formatting
Essays must be typed in 11 or 12‐point font, and should be single or 1.5 line spaced.
Your essay needs to include a completed assignment coversheet which is available on the ‘MGT UG
Information Room’ Blackboard site in the section ‘Assessment Guidance and Support’.
The essays are marked anonymously so your name should not appear anywhere in the document
that you submit.
You can include a title for your essay such as ‘MGT120 Individual Assignment’, or it might be
something more specific to your chosen situation and analysis.
You may use section headings in your essay.
You do not need to include a title page, contents list, abstract or executive summary.
You need to follow the Harvard referencing approach, please see
https://librarydevelopment.group.shef.ac.uk/referencing/harvard.html .
The assignment word limits are fixed and anything over the word limit on either submission will be
penalised automatically as per the Management School guidelines. The reference list and
appendices are not included in the word count.
Submitting
You are required to submit a single electronic copy only for each essay (which should be submitted
on the module Blackboard site via the Management School’s plagiarism detection software,
Turnitin).
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Turnitin Check is available via the ‘MGT UG Information Room’ Blackboard site under ‘Originality
Check (Turnitin)’. You are allowed unlimited ‘Turnitin Checks’ per assignment. This allows you to
generate an originality report and can be used to help to improve your referencing and citation skills.
For the essay use ‘ MGT120‐1’ as the document’s file name, and also as the
Assignment Title in Turnitin.
It is your responsibility to check you have obtained a receipt for your submission containing the
paper ID. You will need to present this if a query around the submission arises. You should allow
sufficient time to upload your assignment in case of any technical difficulties. During busy periods it
can take in excess of five minutes for work to upload.
If you submit your assignment after the deadline late penalties will be applied as per the
Management School guidelines.
If you are not at the University at the time of the submission then it’s not a problem as submission is
completed electronically.
Extensions
It is possible to agree an extension to a coursework deadline in exceptional circumstances. Forms
and guidance should be downloaded from here http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/ssid/forms/circs . All
extenuating circumstances forms should be emailed to Syed Mehdi Reza at the SEO in the
Management School ‐ s.reza@sheffield.ac.uk .
Reassessment
You will be required to attempt a new essay of 1500 words by completing a critical analysis through the
application of different topics and associated theories to your first attempt.