Foundations of Business Management

Collaborative Activity and Individual Report

Learning outcome 1: Demonstrate the following knowledge and understanding
Recognise, understand and discuss the interaction between functional elements and understand the key drivers of operational management and understand the use of analysis, data and information in operational performance of organisations

Learning outcome 2: Demonstrate the following skills and abilities
Work with others to achieve shared goals and apply problem solving techniques appropriately and with an appreciation of how communication, information technology and numeracy skills can help in the world of business.

You will work in groups to develop a Knowledge Baseon how to better implement new products and better assess and forecast their market potential. This should be based upon the "Knowledge Base Template" document provided on the BREO shell under the Assessment and Feedback section.

This Knowledge Base should form the core of the information and key sources used to write your Individual Reports.

Write a formal report, with headings, using your reading, research, learning and journal content as a starting point. We suggest writing the report in two parts:

Part 1 (approx. 2,600 words) - written based on your research findings so in 3rd person

Your Individual Report should take the form of a consultancy report aimed at the management of Original Creations addressing how this company can better develop new products and better assess and forecast their market potential. The report should cover the various departments of the company Original Creations and what role they can play in developing new products, and improving the sales performance of newly released products.

It is important your report should NOT be generic, but applied to the Case Study. Your recommendation should be based on the articles in the Knowledge Base, on academic literature, theories, frameworks and concepts discussed during the sessions.

Your report needs to clear focused on the case study company given and not on a generic company. It should reflect the material covered in the sessions up to week 10 and use of the ‘Knowledge Base'.There should be clear evidence of reading about the topic beyond the areas discussed in class and include both academic sources to support your use of key models and concepts as well as credible non-academic sources to support your discussion and evaluation of recommendations to address the issues facing the Case Study company. You must reference your sources both in-text and in a Reference List using the Harvard-UoB style (please see referencing resources on the LRWeb for further guidance if needed).

Suggested Structure

Executive summary:Describe the key points from the report, including the most important findings and recommendations.

Introduction: Explain the purpose of your report and lay-out the structure of the rest of your report.

Reasons:Discuss and explore the specific business reasons for this consultancy report related to the business case.

Key Issues present at ORIGINAL CREATIONS:Highlight the key issues that are present at ORIGINAL CREATIONS as related to the need to develop better products and forecast their demand. Do not simply re-state the key issues as raised in the previous assignment and/or Case Study but discuss them in the wider context of the challenges faced by this organisation.

Recommendations:Give justified and supported recommendations for how ORIGINAL CREATIONS should make adjustments or changes to their organisation to better develop new products and better assess and forecast their market potential. These recommendations should address some or all of the key issues that you have identified in the Case Study and should be supported by credible sources, including sources from the academic literatureand articles, some of which have been pre-selected in the ‘Knowledge Base'.

Conclusion: This section should draw together the main points from your Report, no new information should be included in the conclusion.
Reference List: A properly formatted Reference List is required alongside in-text citations.

Part 2 (approx. 1,000 words) - written about yourself so 1st person

Your personal reflection is based on your learning experience documented by your journal entries in BREO which will form part of this assessment. Therefore, journal entries added on a regular basis in weeks 6-10 MUST BE SUMMARISED WITHIN THE ASSIGNMENT to evidence how you have developed and used key skills in the initial learning in the unit and in the analysis of the business case for this assignment.

This can be achieved by completing journal entries on your self-assessment analysis, VARK, Belbin and all personal development activities that link to key employability skills.

In the reflective report you may explore key skill development in all or any of the following areas:
- Communication (both verbal and written - evidenced by classroom discussion, presentations and report writing)
- Numeracy - (evidenced by examples of use of data and statistics in your seminar activities and this submission)
- ICT (evidenced using Microsoft Office programs during the unit)
- Problem Solving (evidenced by examples of analysis and information gathering, during the unit and in the submission of the assignment)
- Working with Others (evidenced by reflecting on your experience working in teams during the unit)

The reflective report should include continued evaluation of your experience working in class and your practice week by relating where possible to models and theories like Belbin, Tuckman and Kolb. You can also include reflection on learning from feedback offered in the seminars and from previous units such as Foundations of Business Communications as your development is continuous.

The reflective report should conclude with an action plan using the SMART framework. So, where you identify an improvement is needed, document how you intend to do that.