BM1202: Consider what you expect to be the most important characteristics of an effective manager in this function over the next ten years: Management Lab and Business Skills Coursework, UOL, UK

Instructions

Part A: Consider what you expect to be the most important characteristics of an effective manager in this function over the next ten years. You can identify personal characteristics, abilities, or skills that a manager should develop. This is your opportunity to find out more about the function and to summarise what it entails.

Part B: Choose one business or other organization with which you are familiar. The Quinn framework which is discussed in the Week 2 lecture, and represented in the diagram in appendix 1 of this document, is based on four possible models. Which of these models best describes the organization which you have chosen, and why? What particular requirements would a manager in your chosen function need to deal with in an organization based around this part of the Quinn framework?

Part C: Choose one instance where your chosen function has been pivotal in one of the Millcaster decisions. What were the key challenges facing the team member in this function and how could they be addressed?

Part D: Choose one of the contemporary or historic management thinkers listed below. Some of these were mentioned in the week 4 lecture and others have been referred to during this module and other parts of your course. How could this thinker’s ideas be relevant to your function? More background on the thinkers is in appendix 2.

Assessment Criteria

The criteria for this coursework mirror those explained in the module handbook, and it is marked according to the standard Bayes grade-related criteria which are shown in your assessment handbook. For CW3 we are looking for an indication in your coursework that

• You are able to apply concepts from your studies to practical business issues.
• You recognize complexity, for example by understanding that actions in one part of a business can have unintended consequences in another.
• You are able to supplement the course material with things that you find out yourself, including high-quality background reading, and are able to recognize when sources of information are authoritative and whether they could be biased.
• You have used the university library, or other specialized libraries or databases, and do not rely solely on information that can be found using a simple Google search.
• You follow detailed instructions where they are provided and use your initiative to determine what to do where something is not defined unambiguously.
• You recognize the specific properties and requirements of the function that you are basing your coursework on and do not purely write in a way that could refer to any generic type of manager.