Deakin's Bachelor of Commerce and MBA are internationally EPAS accredited. Deakin Business School is accredited by AACSB. MMS716 Trimester 1, 2017 Critical Analysis of a Sport Organization ASSESSMENT 1 DUE DATE AND TIME: Week 8, FRIDAY MAY 5TH, 2017, 11.59 PM AEST PERCENTAGE OF FINAL GRADE: 40% HURDLE DETAILS: NA ASSESSMENT 2 DUE DATE AND TIME: Week 12, MONDAY MAY 29TH, 2017, 11.59 PM AEST PERCENTAGE OF FINAL GRADE: 60% HURDLE DETAILS: NA Learning Outcome Details Unit Learning Outcome (ULO) Graduate Learning Outcome (GLO) ULO 1: To critically examine the evolution of governance and management theory, and the application of traditional organisational theories to sport. GLO 1, 4, 5 ULO 2: To be able to demonstrate an understanding of management paradigms and theories as they relate to, and are applied to practical situations in the management of sport GLO 1, 2 ULO 3: To understand how sport organisations behave in a certain environment and how they might behave in a different set of circumstances and with different governance structures. GLO 1, 4, 5 ULO 3: To develop a framework to analyse the emergence, growth, conduct, and decline of sport organisations. GLO 1, 4, 5 Assessment Feedback: Students who submit their work by the due date will receive their marks and feedback on CloudDeakin within two weeks. Assessment Support: • Referencing should be in APA 6th. More information can be found here - http://www.deakin.edu.au/students/studying/study-support/referencing/apa-6 • You are to follow the conventions and structure of report writing. For more information please click here - http://www.deakin.edu.au/students/studying/study-support/academic-skills/report-writing • For tips and tricks on how to improve your oral presentations please click here - http://www.deakin.edu.au/students/studying/study-support/academic-skills/oral-presentations • For general academic support in a variety of areas please click here - http://www.deakin.edu.au/students/studying/study-support/academic-skills Page 2 of 7 Description / Requirements Assessment 1 & 2 Overview: The purpose of this assignment is to apply theories, paradigms, concepts and models presented within this unit and to assist you to critically analyze a sport organization. You are to select one case organization for the trimester from the list below. Your total assessment will consist of a 10,000-word report and 15-minute recorded presentation on this case study organization that will be divided between two assessments. Your assessments should be written from the perspective of an external consultant and positioned to provide advice to your case study organization’s senior management and board of directors. The five case study organizations available for you to select from are: • the Australian Olympic Committee; • the Australian Sports Commission; • the Australian Grand Prix Corporation; • YMCA Australia; and, • Nike Inc. Assessment 1: Situational Analysis of Case Organization and its Environment Overview: You are to assume the role of a consultant that is external to the organization. To successfully complete this assessment, you are to research your case organization (i.e. website, news articles, reports, strategic documents etc.) and apply critical thinking and analysis to your observations. Using approaches to sport organization theory, you are to support your observations with explanations that link to the unit’s content. There are four components to this task, each relating to the first four modules. This should form the basis of your report. Based on what you have learnt in your modules, use the following questions to construct your discussion, critically analyze your organization, and explain and justify your responses as appropriate. Module 1 - Organizational Theory and Research: 1. Is your organization a ‘sport organization’? Why/why not? 2. Using Smith and Stewart’s (2010) article, what is unique about the sport industry and how does this affect your organization? 3. Using examples from your organization, explain the distinction between organizational theory and organizational behavior. 4. What are the aspects of critical thinking? How may interdisciplinary approaches help you critically analyze a problem? Module 2 - Goals, Effectiveness and Structure: 5. Clearly define the goals of your organization. a. Why are these goals important to the organization? 6. Given scarce resources, how does the organization resolve competing goals? a. Discuss the differences in effectiveness and efficiency in your organization. Page 3 of 7 b. Outline three measures for each concept. How would you collect, analyze and check the quality of the data you collected? 7. Provide an analysis of the level of complexity in your organizations structure. a. What methods would you choose to manage this complexity? b. Critically explain the tradeoffs (i.e. costs and benefits) of your choices. c. What organizational design type best describes your organization? Why? Module 3: Strategy & Strategic Alliances 8. Briefly describe what level and type(s) of strategy your organization utilizes given its competitive environment? Why do you think you case organization has selected this approach? 9. Select either ‘Blue Ocean’ or ‘Platform’ strategic approaches. What new (or existing) product and service would you develop? How would this provide your organization a competitive advantage? 10. Select three potential strategic allies. a. List 5-10 considerations you would have to make as an organization before entering into an alliance with each organization. b. Evaluate your considerations and provide a rationale for selecting, or not selecting, whether to enter into a strategic alliance. Module 4: Sport Organizations and Change 11. In the context of your case organization, explain change and isomorphism using DiMaggio and Powell’s (1983) coercive, normative and mimetic processes. Provide examples. a. Critically reflect on the relationship between change and strategy in your organization. 12. Use an example to explain how organizational change has influenced the structure of the organization in the past decade? a. Describe the paradox of change and the influence this may have on the pace, sequence and linearity in which change occurs in the organization. b. Using an example from Q11, explain how your organization has strategically responded to an institutional pressure and the tactics it has used to do so. Due: Friday May 5th, 2017 11:59 PM AEST Word Count: 4000 words – a variance of 10% is acceptable, anything beyond that will incur a 3-point penalty from Presentation and Writing component of the rubric. References: Please note a minimum of 15 academic (i.e. journal articles) references need to be included in your reference list. Referencing should be in APA 6th. Page 4 of 7 Assessment 2: ‘Culture eats strategy for breakfast’: Political dynamics of implementing change Overview: As consultant to the board and executive management you have been tasked with providing recommendations on the future of the organization. Assessment 1 provided you with an overview of the structural components of the organizations design and environment based on organizational theories. This assessment focusses on the ‘practice’ or ‘doing’ of strategy and change with a focus on a) analyzing the people and culture within your case organization, b) considering ‘how’ and ‘why’ change is necessary and c) deciding how to communicate these messages appropriately to senior management and the board of directors. In particular, you are to assess the power, politics and leadership within the organization and analyze the influence these factors have on decision making and culture. The purpose of this assessment is to make practical recommendations based on the theoretical foundations you have learnt within this unit. Whilst the focus of this assessment is on modules five and six, you are expected to ‘join the dots’ to earlier modules and link theory to practical implications for the organization via clear recommendations supported by logical rationales. In addition to the content outlined below you are expected to update your executive summary, introduction and conclusion and to reflect the entire range of content for both assessments. Part 1 Module Content – 2000 words Module 5: Power, politics and conflict in sport 13. Critically analyze the sources of individual power (i.e. of a board member or CEO) and organizational power in your case organization. a. How is power legitimized or delegitimized within the organization? 14. How does your role as a consultant influence power and politics within the organization? 15. Analyze the political landscape of the organization. How does your case organization leverage political networks to produce organizational outcomes? 16. Identify cases of conflict in your organization. a. Choose one incident and explain the process in which conflict manifested itself in the organization? b. What were the sources of conflict? c. What strategies were used to manage conflict? Module 6: Organizational Culture and Decision Making: The leadership imperative 17. What is decision making? Explain the conditions under which decisions are made in your organization. a. Using an example from your organization, explain the differences between the rational model and the administrative model (bounded rationality) of individual decision making? 18. What is organizational culture? Explain how culture manifests itself in your organization. Provide examples. 19. Peter Drucker once stated ‘culture eats strategy for breakfast’ – do you agree with this statement, provide justifications for why or why not. 20. How is the organizations culture managed? Does the organizations culture need changing? If so, why and how? 21. Select a behavioral approach to leadership and use it to explain a prominent leader within your organizations senior management or board. a. How does this leadership facilitate and/or hinder the organization (e.g. culture, strategy, change, inclusion)? Page 5 of 7 Part 2 Recommendations, Rationale and Implications – 3000 Words Based on the situational and cultural analyses of your case organization select 3 key recommendations for the organization to guide them toward their organizational goals in the next 3 years. You are to provide the board of directors and senior management with a clear rationale(s) (i.e. a clear and logical set of reasons supported by evidence for the actions you suggested to the organization) for each recommendation. As an extension of this rationale you are to detail the anticipated implications, or outcomes, the organization can expect from implementing these recommendations. Throughout this section you should consider the pro’s and con’s of the implementation process as well as the outcomes. Each set of recommendation-rationale-implication should consist of approximately 1000 words and link theories, models and concepts to actionable outcomes for the organization. Part 3 Consultant Presentation to Your Case Organization – 12-15 minutes The final aspect of your assessment is a 12-15 minute recorded presentation. As a consultant, you will be required to clearly articulate your analysis and final recommendations as if you were presenting to the board and senior management. You will create and narrate a digital presentation that must run automatically for 12-15 minutes. The presentation format is entirely up to you and innovative/creative presentations are welcomed within the context of a professionally presented presentation. The final presentation format must be in either .ppt or .mp4 and submitted via the assessment dropbox. Assessment 2 Due: MAY 29th, 2017 11:59 PM AEST Word Count: Part 1 = 6000 words, Part 2 = 12-15 minute recorded presentation - a variance of 10% is acceptable, anything beyond that will incur a 3-point penalty from Presentation and Writing component of the rubric. (Note that the word count does not include references, tables, figures and appendices). Final Submission Format: The total final submission includes your responses from assessment 1 and should be 10,000 words in total. Please review the report structure on page one of this document prior to submitting. References: Please note a minimum of 25 academic (i.e. journal articles) references need to be included in your reference list for the final assessment. Referencing should be in APA 6th. Page 6 of 7 Submission Instructions Report Structure: • You are to select a sport organization to use as a case study/scenario for the entire trimester. This organization should be one that draws your interest and enthusiasm. • Do not re-write the assessment questions in the report. • Assessment 1 Structure (4000 words due 5/5/2017): Approx. 800 words per module (modules 1-4); 800 words for executive summary, introduction and conclusion • Assessment 2 Structure (6,000 words due 29/5/2017): Approx. 800 words per module (modules 5-6); 3000 words for substantive recommendations, implications and rationale; 1500 words for the combined executive summary, introduction and conclusions. • Both assignments are designed to add up to one substantive report. That is, within Assessment 2 you are required to resubmit modules 1-4 (without changes) AND update the executive summary, introduction and conclusion to represent one coherent final report. The module content from Assessment 1 will not be remarked within Assessment 2. • Both assessment details are outlined on the following pages • A variance of 10% is acceptable, anything beyond that will incur a penalty from Report Structure, Presentation and Writing component of the rubric. (Note that the word count does not include references, tables, figures and appendices). Key Dates & Assessment Structures: Assessment 1 Due Date: Friday May 5th, 2017 11:59 PM AEST Word Count: 4000 words Covered Content: Modules 1-4 Format: Report format File Type and Submission: Files must be submitted in .doc format to the assessment drop box by the due date Assessment 2 Due Date: Monday May 29th, 2017 11:59 PM AEST Word Count: Assessment 1 + 6000 words + 12-15 minute automated presentation Covered Content: Modules 1-6 Format: Report format File Type and Submission: Files must be submitted in .doc format to the assessment drop box by the due date. Videos must be submitted in .ppt or .mp4 formats. No other formats will be accepted. You must keep a backup copy of every assignment you submit, until the marked assignment has been returned to you. In the unlikely event that one of your assignments is misplaced, you will need to submit your backup copy. Any work you submit may be checked by electronic or other means for the purposes of detecting collusion and/or plagiarism. When you are required to submit an assignment through your CloudDeakin unit site, you will receive an email to your Deakin email address confirming that it has been submitted. You should check that you can see your assignment in the Submissions view of the Assignment dropbox folder after upload, and check for, and keep, the email receipt for the submission. Page 7 of 7 Notes • Penalties for late submission: The following marking penalties will apply if you submit an assessment task after the due date without an approved extension: 5% will be deducted from available marks for each day up to five days, and work that is submitted more than five days after the due date will not be marked. You will receive 0% for the task. 'Day' means working day for paper submissions and calendar day for electronic submissions. The Unit Chair may refuse to accept a late submission where it is unreasonable or impracticable to assess the task after the due date. • For more information about academic misconduct, special consideration, extensions, and assessment feedback, please refer to the document Your rights and responsibilities as a student in this Unit in the first folder next to the Unit Guide of the Resources area in the CloudDeakin unit site. • Building evidence of your experiences, skills and knowledge (Portfolio) - Building a portfolio that evidences your skills, knowledge and experience will provide you with a valuable tool to help you prepare for interviews and to showcase to potential employers. There are a number of tools that you can use to build a portfolio. You are provided with cloud space through OneDrive, or through the Portfolio tool in the Cloud Unit Site, but you can use any storage repository system that you like. Remember that a Portfolio is YOUR tool. You should be able to store your assessment work, reflections, achievements and artefacts in YOUR Portfolio. Once you have completed this assessment piece, add it to your personal Portfolio to use and showcase your learning later, when applying for jobs, or further studies. Curate your work by adding meaningful tags to your artefacts that describe what the artefact represents.