1. Management Yesterday and Today
General Framework
Outline a framework (a map) describing the developments in Western Management Theory over the last hundred years or more.
Individual Components
Shifts in any theory occur when a researcher identifies a question troubling him or her. Subsequent research is then directed at finding answers to the research question(s) and ultimately old theory is discarded and new theory adopted. For example: The Egyptians had a theory that the sun revolved around the earth. Modern theory is that the earth revolves around the sun. At some stage in between a question – a research question - arose which we would now describe as challenging whether observed motion is not absolute but relative to the position of the observer. Such questions trigger research effort to find evidence so that the questions can be resolved and ultimately old theories are discarded and new theories established.
Scientific Management School has given way to Quantitative Management (Management Science)
Scientific Management School has given way to the Human Relations School of Management
Human Relations School of Management has given way to Behavioural Science School of
Management
Each member of the team must choose one of these and identify the research questions and the reasons why and the evidence on which the shift in theory (the paradigm shift) occurred.
(ii) The Written Report
The written report should begin with the broad research topic which is followed by each individual component identified by the individual student who prepared it.
Organisation of the research report
A key ingredient to writing a successful report involves the planning or organising stage. Organising can help you to sort out your ideas and to present your report in the order that communicates best to your readers. Organisation is the procedure of constructing an outline that acts as a plan for your writing task. An outline forces you to think before you write.
Your essay is to be structured and written as a business report. It, therefore, must begin with a Management (or Executive) Summary within which you state in stark form (i.e. unsupported by argument) what you are asserting in this report and you must do that in less than two pages.
As already stated above, you begin the main body of the report with some general background on the broad research topic. This introduction should end with a brief paragraph outlining the plan of the rest of the essay.
What follows is the specific issues of each individual component which were considered. As for any good business report these components should be structured into sections and sub-sections and the heading for these should be in the Table of Contents. In these individual components the in-depth discussion of the relevant issues is elaborated based on the existing literature and/or data. You must provide in-text references to your sources.
The last section of the report contains a brief summary followed by a complete list of references that are cited in the text of the essay. Follow a standard referencing method consistently.
Suggested limits are as follows:
Management Summary: ideally one page but no more than two.
Sections 1: Introduction 400-600 words,
Section 2: Main body of the essay consisting of each of the individual components limit each component to approximately 1,000 words each,
Sections 3: Conclusions 100-300 words,
Summary and Complete List of References (5-15 references).
The Report which is worth 15 marks. It is here that we assess the academic quality of your work (including referencing) as well as your ability to correctly structure a business report.
The Management Summary 4 marks
Report Structure (TOC, Paragraphs, Sections and use of Diagrams) 3 marks
Academic Quality (incl. Referencing) 8 marks
MAXIMUM OF 10 PAGES ( 5000 WORDS)
• Inspire • Achieve
•Inspire • Achieve • EngaTRIMESTER 1, 2017
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