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FIT5122 Professional Practice Assignment 4
Business Report
Individual Submission: Please submit your report to Moodle. Value: The assignment is worth 15% of the total marks for the unit. Due Date: Friday, Week 12 10pm to Moodle (grades returned in week 14) Aims • The assignment is designed to demonstrate your ability to: • Identify and address the relevant professional practice issues raised in a given situation • Critically evaluate how to plan and structure a more complex communication and produce an effective communication of professional quality. • Assess the needs of a specific audience and develop a communication which meets those needs. Background The final piece of assessment for FIT 5122 is a formal written business report reflecting on your Professional Practice learning (through the readings, activities and assessment items that you have completed). The assignment You will write a formal business report to a senior executive audience in your organization addressing the request from your Director below. Your task Your company are a market leading developer of video games. Senior management have become concerned that the team responsible for the company’s latest game has become dysfunctional and are unable to work together. Conflict is widespread within the team which consists of multidisciplinary IT experts from Australia, China, India and the US. Before a decision is made on whether to disband the team, senior management are keen to better understand the reasons for dysfunctional teams and how team conflict can be resolved or prevented. They have asked you to prepare a business report outlining: 1. Your insights into the differences between high performing and dysfunctional teams; 2. Potential challenges and causes of conflict in multidisciplinary and intercultural teams; and 3. Your practical recommendations for how the team could prevent or resolve conflicts and become a high performing team. Note: Your business report should be primarily based around the key concepts discussed in Professional Practice to demonstrate your understanding and ability to apply the knowledge learnt during the semester. You are welcome to make assumptions and add to the story line around the given scenario. Deliverables Your business report is to be submitted to Moodle by 10pm Friday week 12. Extensions and late submissions Please note, University policy stipulates that no assignments can have a due date during SWOTVAC or the weekend prior. As a result, extensions to the business report due date can only be granted IF exceptional circumstances apply. Please refer to the University’s policy on what constitutes special consideration and how to apply. A draft of material prepared up to that point should also be available for your tutor’s consideration if requested. Late assignments will be penalised 10% per day as per University policy. Marking guidelines: Mark allocation: • Structure: Out of 20 marks o Reads like a business report with a practical rather than theoretical focus. o The structure and formatting are appropriate for a business report - headings and bullet points are used to keep the report succinct o The report is appropriately pitched to a senior management audience o English expression and language is appropriate and professional • Executive summary: Out of 10 marks o The executive summary acts as a stand alone document o The reader can clearly understand the purpose of the report, key issues (and why they are important) and actionable recommendations from the summary • Introduction: Out of 10 marks o Purpose and objective of the report is clear • Content: Out of 60 marks o The report includes the relevant Professional Practice issues and points are well made, practical and insightful. There is a depth of refection in the content. o 10 Marks: Insights into dysfunctional versus high performing teams are explained concisely and support the reader’s understanding of the challenges and recommendations o 25 Marks: Challenges are explained so the reader can understand what the implications and problems would be for the team / company. o 25 Marks: Recommendations are succinct, useful and delivered in a way that senior management can readily implement. Marking guidelines: • FAIL: Inappropriate structure (for example essay format). Content is focused on theory rather than practical application. A number of obvious points are missing. Poor or no executive summary (does act as a stand alone document). The report does not cover the relevant topics discussed in Professional Practice. • PASS: Poor structure. Content demonstrates an understanding of the relevant topics discussed in Professional Practice. However, content is mostly focused on theory with minimal practical application but some good points. Poor executive summary (does not act as a stand alone document). • CREDIT: Reads like a business report. Good structure. Content is mostly focused on practical application rather than theory. Report demonstrates an understanding of the relevant topics discussed in Professional Practice. Challenges and recommendations are practical and useful. Executive summary mostly acts as a stand alone document. • DISTINCTION: Reads like a business report. Excellent concise structure. Points are well considered and show an in-depth understanding of the relevant topics discussed in Professional Practice. Challenges and recommendations are insightful as well as practical and useful. Executive summary acts as a stand alone document. • HIGH DISTINCTION: As for distinction but with unique insights about the challenges and recommendations. Expectation of content Hints for writing a business report versus an essay • Business reports and academic essay are very different. Their objectives, format and the expectation of the reader are different. • Business reports focus on the practical application of the theory - providing insights and recommendations rather than explaining the theory itself. They are concise, very practical, usually worded in the first person (I / we recommend… etc) and focused on identifying and solving a problem rather than discussing the theories behind the problem / recommendations. Hints for Structuring Your Report • Title page • Exec summary • Table of contents • Introduction and purpose of report • Insights and discussion • Recommendations • Conclusion Please note formal citations and references are not usual in business reports. However, we do expect that sources are acknowledged in the footnotes or in the report. For example: “The December 2021 edition of XYZ, reports that multicultural teams are x times more likely to fail than……….” For this business report, we would expect no more than 7 to 10 pages: • 3-4 pages (title page, exec. summary, contents, introduction and purpose) • 4-6 pages main body with conclusions and recommendations. Hints for Writing Your Report • Remember the audience and purpose of a business report. The report should be focused on the problem, insights and recommendations on how to address the problem. The reader should be able to walk away with practical and tangible actions they can implement. • The theories discussed in Professional Practice should be used to understand and develop the key issues and recommendations however the theories themselves should not be specifically raised or elaborated on in the business report. • The executive summary should act as a stand alone document that can be read separately from the report. A good executive summary assumes the reader will not read further and therefore includes a succinct summary of the key insights, challenges and recommendations. • The report should clearly include the purpose of the report (either in the introduction or in a separate section. • Don’t gloss over the recommendations. It should be clear to the reader why they are important and what tangible actions the reader should take to implement them. • Put recommendations in a separate section so they don’t get “lost” in the report. • Keep the business report very succinct, short and punchy. Use lots of bullet points and sub headings to link ideas. • Remember your audience: in this case, a senior executive in your company, not your Monash tutor. Ensure you keep this is mind when deciding the content and level of detail in your report: • What would a senior executive want to achieve from reading your report (insights into the challenges, potential problems and recommendations on how to address them, for example); • What is their existing knowledge of the topic (it’s their company); and • What is the appropriate level of detail given what they want to do with the report (high level insights with recommendations that are sufficiently explained so they can readily implement them rather than technical or extensive background details). Turnitin report, collusion and plagiarism An integrated turnitin report is required as part of the submission process and can be found in the business report submission link under Moodle / Assessments. Turnitin is a text-matching software that helps students demonstrate academic integrity in their work.