Master of Business Administration, Postgraduate Diploma and Postgraduate

Certificate in Business Administration

Module: Organisational Behaviour and Human Resource Management

[BAM040]

Coursework: April - Sept 2021 study session

Indicative response:

A good response should do the following:

1. Address the coursework requirements in full. This coursework has four parts (plus references
and appendices), and all should be addressed with equal attention and rigour.

2. In line with evidence-based management, students should support their arguments with the
following evidence:
- Organisational data (history/background, vision/organisational culture, company
structure, organisational facts, local labour market statistics or PESTLE analysis to offer
an informed analysis etc. and recommendations).
- Stakeholders’ values and views (the analysis/recommendations should cover the
perspectives of employees, managers, customers – ideally all three stakeholders should
be included but where this is not possible at least one group of stakeholders should be
included and students need to acknowledge this limitation).
- Scientific evidence (relevant theories, approaches and models should be used to critically
evaluate organisational structure, culture and flexible forms of work; equally,
recommendations should also be supported with relevant theory in the field. Students
should use academic journal papers as the main source of evidence. Coursework of this
type/length normally contains 12-15 references, and it is expected that the literature will
go beyond the readings covered in the module).
- Students’ personal voice should be visible by making use of their experience.

3. To provide an overview of their chosen organisation (section a – 10%, around 300 words),
students can select any company in their country or in another region for which they (can)
have access to in-depth information about its operations, circumstances and strategies.
Typically, a safe choice would be to select a publicly traded company listed on a stock
exchange either in your country or in another region. They should provide a brief short
history of the company and its origins, and organisational size; and, present the nature of the
company its products and services and industry and market that operates. They also need to
 include any other information they deem to be relevant to the report, like the company’s
mission, vision, strategic aim and objectives.

4. To analyse organisational structure (section b – 30%, around 700 words), students should
offer briefly own scenario of the existing structure and identify shortcomings or explain the
need to maintain existing structure in addressing the company’s long-term objectives.
Material presented in Topic 2 should be utilised. To start with, the purpose and importance
of structure should be discussed. Students should define current organisational structure and
analyse its effectiveness by considering the following factors: departmentalisation, chain of
command, span of control, centralisation vs decentralisation, work specialisation, degree of
formalisation. Also, students should discuss the consequences of badly designed structure
(e.g. Child (2005) points out the consequences of structure deficiencies such as low
motivation and morale, late and inappropriate decisions, conflict and lack of coordination,
generally poor response to new opportunities and external change, rising costs) and
recommend changes to meet the organisational long term objectives.

5. To analyse organisational culture (section c - 30%, around 700 words), students should offer
briefly own scenario of the existing culture and identify shortcomings or explain the need to
maintain existing culture in addressing the company’s long-term objectives. Material
presented in Topic 2 should be utilised. Students should start with a definition of culture and
make a link with organisational structure as two overlapping elements of an organisation
(e.g. as indicated by Watson (2006) ‘Many of the processes and practices we observe in an
organisation could as readily be said to be part of the structure of the organisation as part of
its culture.’). Students should aim to categorise the organisational culture using one of three
categorisations: Deal and Kennedy (1982), Harrison (1972) or Hofstede (1981).
Recommendations should be offered in terms of what HRM practices should be introduced
to influence organisational culture change, e.g. training and development initiatives,
communication and integration activities, payment/reward systems, performance
management, leadership and recruitment and selection – at this stage a link should be made
with the last section of the paper.

6. To make a business case for introducing or maintaining or enhancing flexible forms of work
that suit the company’s current needs and strategic plans (section d - 30%, around 700
words), students should offer briefly own scenario of the existing practices/processes or the
lack of them. Material presented in Topic 4 should be utilised. Students should define
flexibility and discuss its effectiveness with the aid of relevant theoretical frameworks (e.g.
Atkinson’s flexible firm model) if/where appropriate. The discussion should cover such
elements as forms of flexibility from the employer and the employee perspectives, and
feasibility of introducing or retaining flexible forms of work, including advantages and
challenges. Students should acknowledge that there is no one prescriptive solution, and they
should examine their chosen organisation, and if possible, their employees and their
customers, to construct a business case which supports their choices.