ARAB OPEN UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF BUSINESS STUDIES T205A – SYSTEMS’ THINKING THEORY & PRACTICE 2015/2016 SEMESTER II – Spring 2016 T205 A -TMA- Semester II - 2015 – 2016 _________________________

ARAB OPEN UNIVERSITY
FACULTY OF BUSINESS STUDIES T205A – SYSTEMS’ THINKING THEORY & PRACTICE
2015/2016 SEMESTER II – Spring 2016

T205 A -TMA- Semester II - 2015 – 2016
_____________________________________

Please read these instructions carefully, and contact your tutor if you require any further clarifications. You should submit your completed assignment to your tutor to arrive no later than the cut-off Date (May 05, 2016).

Please use standard A4 size paper for submitting the hard copy of your TMA. Your name, personal identifier, course and assignment numbers must appear at the top of each sheet. A soft copy of your TMA must be uploaded to the university moodle within the indicated cut-off date. The hard & soft copies must be identical. Please leave wide margins and space at the end of each sheet for tutor comments. It is better to use double spacing so that you can easily handwrite corrections to your drafts and tutors have space to include their feedback on the script. Start each question in the assignment on a new page. Any extended text should ideally be word-processed, but, diagrams and accompanying notes may be hand drawn and hand written and on an A4 paper.

Completing and sending your assignments
When you have completed your TMA, you must fill in the assignment form (PT3), taking care to fill all information correctly including your personal identifier, course code, section & tutor, and assignment numbers. Each TMA and its PT3 form should be uploaded on the AOU branch moodle within the cut-off date. Late submissions require approval from the branch course coordinator and will be subject to grade deductions. All assignments are treated in strict confidence.
If you feel that you are unable to meet the cut-off date of the TMA because of unusual circumstances, please contact your tutor as soon as possible to discuss a possible extension to the cut-off date.


Plagiarism
The Arab Open University Definitions of cheating and plagiarism
According to the Arab Open University By-laws, “The following acts represent cases of cheating and plagiarism:
• Verbatim copying of printed material and submitting them as part of TMAs without proper academic acknowledgement and documentation.
• Verbatim copying of material from the Internet, including tables and graphics.
• Copying other students’ notes or reports.
• Using paid or unpaid material prepared for the student by individuals or firms.
• Utilization of, or proceeding to utilize, contraband materials or devices in examinations.”

Penalty on plagiarism
The following is the standard plagiarism penalty applied across branches as per Article 11 of the university by-laws:
1) Awarding of zero for a TMA wherein more than 20% of the content is plagiarized.
2) Documentation of warning in student record.
3) Failure in the course to dismissal from the University.
All University programmes are required to apply penalties that are consistent with the University by laws.

Examples of Plagiarism

Copying from a single or multiple sources, this is where the student uses one or more of the following as the basis for the whole, or a good part, of the assignment:
1. Published or unpublished books, articles or reports
2. The Internet
3. The media (e.g.TV programmes, radio programmes or newspaper articles)
4. An essay from an essay bank
5. A piece of work previously submitted by another student
6. Copying from a text which is about to be submitted for the same assignment


Introduction
This TMA has one question with three sub sections. You should answer them all. The questions in this assignment are all about different aspects of the process of exploring a complex situation.

Question 1 (100% marks)
You are strongly advised to use the AOU e-library to locate additional relevant resources which can support your analysis and argument. This will earn you extra points.

(a) Read through the attached article “Building a better workplace through motivation-A Kellogg's case study”, as you read through the article, create one spray diagram to summarize the different ideas of the article respecting the conventions, and techniques. It is advised that students submit hand drawn diagrams as opposed to computer generated ones. Photocopies of diagrams should not be accepted. Reflect on your diagram in no more than 200 words (15 Marks).

(b) Based on what you learned in T205A (T552/Diagramming), and on the content of the article, and taking “the creation of a motivated workforce” as your system of interest, draw a system map diagram to show all the components of such a system paying attention to the grouping and the hierarchy. The system map diagram should include all the potential subsystems which are contributing to workforce motivation as shown in the case study. Reflect on your diagram in no more than 200 words (15 marks).

(c) Based on what you learned in T205A concept file 02, and T551 Linear Programming:

1- Describe what is meant by motivation, and why does it matter to have a motivated workforce; Word Count 350 words (10 % marks).

2- Analyze Kellogg’s Management practices and motivational policies. Assess which theories are applied by the organization and analyze their effectiveness using examples from the case; Word Count 650 words (20 % Marks).

3- Assess the role of power within organizations, communication, active listening and conflict management on employee performance and motivation; justify your work based on concepts covered in T205A concept file 02, and T551 linear programming, use examples from the case to support your argument; Word count 400 (15 % Marks).

4- Discuss the benefits of applying the systems approach to running an organization and assess the extent to which and how this approach is applied at Kellogg’s; Word Count 350 Words (15 % Marks).

5- Discuss the effects of an unmotivated workforce on a company. Assess whether they represent a mess or a difficulty for an organization. How does Kellogg’s benefit from ensuring that its workforce is motivated? Word Count 450 word (10% marks).

(2350 words) (70 marks) (Please see guidance below)

General Mark’s deductions of 20% as follows
• PT3 Form (failure to use the PT3 completely filled) (deduct up to 5% marks).
• TMA Presentation and Structure, and word count (untidy, work way below or above the word count, no display of word count) (deduct up to 5% marks).
• Referencing and in-text citation (poor referencing and in-text citation, without plagiarism, (deduct up to 10% marks).

TMA Guidance to students

(a) Note that you will need to have more than one attempt at drawing the spray diagram. Do not expect to submit your first draft. You should do your best to follow the conventions for the spray diagram as explained in T552. It is also important that the diagram communicates to your tutor, so make sure the writing is legible and not too small. You need to identify the main idea of the case study and include it within your central topic, and then identify the most important points and include them within the subtopics blobs then branch out as explained in T552 appendix (A1.1.)

(b) Here you are required to draw a system map diagram, which shows all the components of the articulated system of interest the “Creation of a motivated Workforce”. Your tutor’s feedback will be helpful in clarifying to you any misconceptions you might have about drawing the diagram and it will also help in assessing your diagramming skills.

(c) Here you are required to draw back on concepts learned in T551 and Concept file 02 in order to analyze the questions. Please remember that for each section you need to provide a clear theoretical discussion, and then explain how those concepts are related to the case on hand. Again you are strongly advised to use your own words to discuss the concepts as you understood them. Do not copy material from the books since it will have a negative impact on your grade, and very importantly do not get consumed in a purely theoretical analysis without assessing how these concepts are applied in the case study. Make sure to respect the word count as it is an indicator to you of the depth of analysis required. Please remember that failure to paraphrase, and to reference will also lead to failing the TMA.

There are different ways to tackle and structure your ideas. Please remember that your work should be structured in an essay format with a clear introduction, then possibly different subsections (as needed) to assess each idea and a conclusion.
The introduction should set out the topic of the discussion clearly. For each of the body paragraphs/sub-sections you need to provide a clear theoretical discussion which explains how the relevant course concepts are related to the article on hand. The conclusion should summarize your findings and reflect on your learning. You should not write in the first person (i.e. I think), the third person is more appropriate for college level writing (i.e. we can conclude), but in any case it is preferable to avoid both styles and to state your argument (i.e. instead of saying “this essay will tackle the motivation and the systems thinking approach”, you can start with a statement about motivation in organizations). Similarly in your conclusion you should not use “it could be concluded”, rather simply restate the main points and your findings.



End of TMA Questions