Task Overview:
This assessment item is worth 20% of your overall grade, and is designed for you to:
•    develop an awareness of and focus on evidence based management
•    describe a theory and apply it to an organisational behaviour in order to provide insightful recommendations
•    develop recommendations (hopefully empirically validated) on how the organisational situation/behaviour could be improved
You are required to write a case analysis that demonstrates your knowledge and understanding of a core theory from the unit. The theory you need to apply is Vroom’s Expectancy Theory of Motivation (see lecture 3 and the textbook pages 145-147).
You will need to analyse the “Not as easy as 1,2, 3” case study (page 238-239 of the textbook or in the assessment folder on blackboard) to explain how and why the theory has something to offer in terms of providing constructive advice for more effective organisational behaviour in the future. Remember, this assessment item is about demonstrating your understanding of the theory to inform professional practice.
Format:
This case analysis requires you to first review the designated theory (i.e. a literature review), apply the theory to gain insight into the case study (show how the theory explains what happened), and then provide recommendations based on the theory on how to improve the situation or experience described in the case study.
Structure:
Cover Page
•Include the title of your essay, your name, student number, unit code (MGB200), tutor’s name, tutorial time, and the final word count of your essay.
<word count starts here>
Literature Review
•In the first part of your case analysis you will need to define and describe the theory, and discuss why it is important (in general terms). This is best achieved by writing a short literature review. If you are unsure of what a literature review is, literature reviews are commonly used in journal articles to define and discuss the fit of specific theories to the context of what the journal article is all about. When doing your research for this task, take a look at how the authors of journal articles introduce, define and discuss the theories they are talking about in their articles.
Diagnosis
•Describe the case, being sure to use formal terminology (consistent with the textbook/literature) to indicate to your reader that you can identify the components/events of the situation or experience that could be explained or analysed by the theory.
•Apply the theory to the case, discussing which aspects of the case can be explained or defined by the theory, and analyse the situation or experience (with support from literature/journal articles) to determine what went well, and what could be improved from the organisational perspective.
Conclusion and Recommendations
• Generate recommendations that identify the sorts of things in organisations that need to be consolidated and improved upon, being sure to provide a clearly defined pathway (steps/goals) for improvement that highlights your understanding of your chosen theory.
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Reference List:
•Your reference list must be formatted in the current (6th edition) APA Style
•Use a hanging indent (paragraph formatting setting)
•Do not use Wikipedia, consultant websites or online essays
•Do not reference the lecture slides. Instead, look at the references in each slide or at the end of a set of slides to guide your research for supporting arguments.
•Do use (reference) journal articles and the textbook to support your arguments
Length/Word Count:
The word limit for the essay is 1000 words. This word count includes general text, headings, references, tables, footnotes, etc. However, the word limit does not include the cover page and reference list.
We suggest you assign your word count as follows:
1.    Literature review of organisational justice (˜400-500 words)
2.    Diagnosis (˜250-300 words)
3.    Recommendations (˜250-300 words)
The word limit is 1000 words. Anything beyond 1000 words will not be read or marked. If you go beyond the word limit you are likely to lose marks for your recommendations section.
Penalty for Late Submission of Assessment
Assessment submitted after the due date without an approved extension will not be marked and will receive a grade of 1 or 0%. If special circumstances prevent you from meeting the assessment due date, you can apply for an extension. If you don’t have an approved extension you should submit the work you have completed by the due date and it will be marked against the assessment criteria.