Summative Assessment Point 1
Brief, Guidelines and Marking Criteria
For this assignment, you are required to produce a report on one international organization of your choice and address the following:
1. Provide a brief introduction of the organisation and sector it operates in, including its mission and vision statements, its core values, a summary of its financial performance and a general overview of the business’s operational activities.
2. From the relevant literature explain the Total Quality Management (TQM) processes the chosen organization follows and identify one quality challenge/issue that the organization faced or is currently facing.
3. Explain how the organization managed/or still managing the particular quality challenge/issue. Critically analyze whether the organization failed or succeeded in achieving and maintaining quality performance.
4. Provide a few critical recommendations for business managers in order to highlight the importance of
Total Quality Management (TQM) within an organization.
The structure of your report
The main features of a report are described below to provide a general guide.
Title Page
This should briefly but explicitly describe the purpose of the report.
Kindly remember to add your name and student number and which assessment it pertains to.
Abstract
The abstract should briefly describe the content of the report. It should cover the aims of the report, what was found and a brief review of the conclusions. Remember that the summary is the first thing that is read. It should provide the reader with a clear, helpful overview of the content of the report.
Table of Contents
The contents page should list the different chapters and/or headings together with the page numbers.
Your contents page should be presented in such a way that the reader can quickly scan the list of headings and locate a particular part of the report.
Introduction
The introduction sets the scene for the main body of the report. The aims and objectives of the report should be explained in detail. Here, you need to provide information about the chosen international organization (Question
1).
Discussion
The main body of the report is where you discuss your material (Questions 2 and 3). The literature and evidence you have gathered should be summarised, analysed and discussed with specific reference to the chosen quality challenge/issue.
If your discussion section is lengthy you might divide it into section headings. Your points should be grouped and arranged in an order that is logical and easy to follow.
Use headings and subheadings to create a clear structure for your material.
Use bullet points to present a series of points in an easy-to-follow list.
As with the whole report, all sources used should be acknowledged and correctly referenced (remember to use the most credible resources available).
Conclusion
In the conclusion, you should show the overall significance of what has been covered and provide a few critical recommendations for business managers in order to highlight the importance of Total Quality Management (TQM) within an organization (Question 4).
You may want to remind the reader of the most important points that have been made in the report or highlight what you consider to be the most central findings.
Appendices
Under this heading, you should include all the supporting information you have used.
List of References
A key feature of academic writing, the list of references should list – in alphabetical order by author – all published sources referred to in your report. APA referencing standards should be followed.
Revision and Proofreading
As in any other piece of academic writing, it’s essential to redraft, edit and proofread your report before you submit it.
Text Layout
• Font: Times New Roman
• Size: 12
• Line spacing: 1 ½
• Your report must have page numbers (bottom centre is recommended)
Word Limit
• The word limit of your essay is 3000 (±10%) words (not including tables, diagrams, appendices, and references).
Submission
• The submission of the essay is due by the end of Week 4, Sunday 11:59 pm (23:59 hours) VLE (UTC) time on the due date at the latest and it weighs 50% of the final grade.
• The essay will be submitted via Turnitin and it must be in PDF format.
Further Guidelines
• This is an individual assessment, not a group task.
• This assignment weighs 50% of your final grade.
• Your assignment should reflect scholarly writing and APA Referencing standard. Be sure to adhere to Academic Integrity Policy by avoiding plagiarism through text-citing and acknowledging other authors’ work.
• Academic Integrity Policy: Students are expected to demonstrate academic integrity by completing their own work, assignments, and other assessment exercises. Submission of work from another person, whether it is from printed sources or someone other than the student; previously graded papers; papers submitted without proper citations; or submitting the same paper to multiple courses without the knowledge of all instructors involved can result in a failing grade. Incidents involving academic dishonesty will be reported to university officials for appropriate sanctions. Furthermore, students must always submit work that represents their original words or ideas. If any words or ideas used in an assignment or assessment submission do not represent the student’s original words or ideas, all relevant sources must be cited along with the extent to which such sources were used. Words or ideas that require citation include, but are not limited to, all hard copy or electronic publications, whether copyrighted or not and all verbal or visual communication when the content of such communication originates from an identifiable source. Marking Criteria
Criterion Weight
Introduction 15%
Identification of key areas required by the summative brief 30%
Application of theory 20%
Conclusions 20%
Formating and Referencing 15%
Total 100%
Good luck!