ARAB OPEN UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF BUSINESS STUDIES T205B – SYSTEMS’ THINKING THEORY & PRACTICE 2015/2016 SEMESTER II T205 B - TMA- Semester II - 2015– 2016 _____________________________________

ARAB OPEN UNIVERSITY
FACULTY OF BUSINESS STUDIES T205B – SYSTEMS’ THINKING THEORY & PRACTICE
2015/2016 SEMESTER II

T205 B - 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 06, 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
There is special attention given to the issue of plagiarism (that is, copying any source without putting quotation marks round the words or citing the reference) because it is something which students are worried about. Some students find it difficult to distinguish plagiarism from using evidence or arguments that they have read in the book of others. If you want to use ideas from the course texts, feel free to do so, but make sure that you rework the wording. However, if you simply copy materials then this may suggest to the tutor that you have not fully achieved these objectives. The best way to use materials and ideas is by using them in your own work and in your own words.

In addition, some students find it difficult to distinguish plagiarism from using evidence or arguments that they have read in the work of others. Insecurity about finding their own words may tempt students to 'lift' chunks word for word from other people's texts. Be careful not to do this to excess, and always credit the work of others by giving a reference or putting the words in quotation marks. Plagiarism will lead to a loss of marks and extensive plagiarism could mean that you fail a TMA.

Introduction

This TMA has one question with three parts. You should answer them all. The questions in this assignment are all about different aspects of the process of exploring a complex situation: drawing different kinds of maps of it, recognizing how complex it is, identifying the different perspectives it can be viewed from, and stepping back to reflect on this whole process of exploration to see the strengths and weaknesses of the approach you have adopted, and how you might do it better.

Question 01 (100 % marks)

(a) Read the attached Case study “Changing The Culture at Jaguar-A Jaguar Case Study”. As you read the article, create one spray diagram to summarize the case content 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 T205B concept file 04 section II “Control”, and based on the content of the article, and taking “Transforming Corporate Culture at Jaguar” as your goal draw one closed loop control model diagram to show the various inputs, and the transformation process, that can lead to reaching this goal. You need to show all the components of the control model diagram, the inputs’, processes, control (actuator, comparator, sensor), that can lead to goal achievement . Reflect on your diagram (15% marks)

(c) Using an essay format of no more than 2500 words, and based on what you learned in T205B concept file 04 section I “Organizations are They Rational”, readings 01 and 07, section III “Structure”, section IV development, section V culture and climate, and section VI “Decision Making” and based on the ideas put forth in the attached case study:

1- Describe what is meant by organizational culture and the functions of organizational culture; word Count 350 words (7.5 % marks).

2- Discuss what is meant by organizational structure and the different forms of structure; word Count 350 words (7.5 % marks).

3- Analyze the role of organizational culture and structure in shaping organizational effectiveness and performance, looking at how adopting the wrong culture and or structure can lead to failure. Assess the role of Jaguar’s organizational culture and structure on performance. Justify your work based on concepts covered in T205B concept file 04, section III structure, section IV Development, and section V Culture and Climate, word count 700 (30 % Marks).

4- Discuss the meaning of the “Organizational Development” and “Organizational Learning” concepts and assess their importance to an organization’s performance. Assess the organizational development capability of Jaguar, and analyze whether it is a learning organization, looking at how this has affected its performance. Word Count 350 word. (10% marks).

5- Assess how change can be implemented in an organization, and how resistance to change can be dealt with; word Count 350 Words. (15% Marks).


(2200 – 2500 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).

Guidance to Question 01

For this question, you need to read the assigned article carefully and to reflect back on concept file 04 for the theoretical assessment.

(a) At this stage of the course you are expected to have developed good understanding of the purpose of drawing diagrams as part of applying the SUDA process for solving a messy situation. A spray diagram is the first type of diagram drawn in the understanding phase of the SUDA process of mess analysis, in order to summarize a situation or an event. Please pay attention to the conventions and make sure that the identified main topic and subtopics are relevant, and do make sense to the reader. Go back to T552 (Diagramming) the appendix to refresh your memory about the conventions.

(b) This is your first attempt at drawing control model diagram. The task should not be challenging though. Refer to Concept file 04 section II “Control”. You need to draw a control model diagram to show how the selected inputs can reach the stated goal. You also need to illustrate clear, relevant, and non-overlapping inputs, clear and accurate transformation process and an output which is consistent with the goal. You also need to specify which organizational entity is in charge of assuming the role of each of the elements/components of the control model (i.e. actuator, sensor, and comparator). The parties in charge of performing each task within the control mechanism should be clearly identified. It is very important that your diagram is specific rather than generic.

(c) Here you need to practice your analytical skills to assess what is required. Remember to start with a good introduction in which you define the assessed topic before moving on to explaining your plan for working on the TMA. In the body you should move on to develop each section of the essay by relying on both theoretical principles and practical examples from the case. You should assess the impact of the organization’s culture, structure, climate, development, and resistance to change, on its performance. You also need to evaluate whether Jaguar is a learning organization by relying on both theoretical principles and practical examples, and on the ideas presented in the assigned article.

























Harvard Style - References / bibliography
How -to guide

Please review the attached document and refer to it when working on your TMA, failure to do so can lead to failing the course.

Note: It is a requirement that all students include a header/footer of the following information on every single page of the TMA: Name, ID, Course Code, TMA #, Tutor name, section, and semester.

• You have to use the Times New Roman Font Size 12 (except for the cover page).
• Line spacing should be 1.5
• All pages should be numbered
• Keep wide margins for your instructors' comments
• Align your text to the left. Don’t justify leaving spaces between words

Harvard Style Referencing:

• There are various ways of setting out references / bibliographies for an assignment.

• “Harvard Style” is a generic term for any referencing style which uses in-text references such as (Smith, 1999), and a reference list at the end of the document organized by author name and year of publication.

In this guide, we are using a “Harvard Style” which is based on the author-date system for books, articles and “non-books”.

NOTE: When you write your list of references/bibliography, please keep in mind the following points:

• Your bibliography should identify an item (e.g. book, journal article, cassette tape, film, or internet site) in sufficient detail so that others may identify it and consult it.
• Your bibliography should appear at the end of your TMA with entries listed alphabetically.
• If you have used sources from the Internet, these should be listed in your bibliography.

FOR A BOOK

The details required in order are:

1. name/s of author/s, editor/s, compiler/s or the institution responsible
2. year of publication
3. title of publication and subtitle if any (all titles must be underlined or italicized)
4. series title and individual volume if any
5. edition, if other than first
6. publisher
7. place of publication
8. page number(s) if applicable


• One author

Berkman, RI 1994, Find it fast: how to uncover expert information on any subject, Harper Perennial, New York.



• Two or more authors:

Cengel, YA & Boles, MA 1994, Thermodynamics: an engineering approach, 2nd edn, McGraw Hill, London.

Cheek, J, Doskatsch, I, Hill, P & Walsh, L 1995, Finding out: information literacy for the 21st century, MacMillan Education Australia, South Melbourne.

• Editor(s)
Pike, ER & Sarkar, S (eds) 1986, Frontiers in quantum optics, Adam Hilger, Bristol. Jackson, JA (ed.) 1997, Glossary of geology, 4th edn, American Geological Institute, Alexandria, Va.

• Sponsored by institution, corporation or other organization

Institution of Engineers, Australia 1994, Code of ethics, Institution of Engineers, Australia, Barton, A.C.T

• Series
Bhattacharjee, M 1998, Notes of infinite permutation groups, Lecture notes in mathematics no.1698, Springer, New York.

• Edition
Zumdahl, SS 1997, Chemistry, 4th edn, Houghton Mifflin, Boston.

• Chapter or part of a book to which a number of authors have contributed
Bernstein, D 1995, ‘Transportation planning’, in WF Chen (ed.), The civil engineering handbook, CRC Press, Boca Raton.

• No author or editor
Kempe's engineer's year-book 1992, Morgan-Grampian, London.

FOR AN ARTICLE

The details required, in order, are:
1. name/s of author/s of the article
2. year of publication
3. title of article, in single quotation marks
4. title of periodical (underlined or italicised)
5. volume number
6. issue (or part) number
7. page number(s)

• Journal article

Huffman, LM 1996, ‘Processing whey protein for use as a food ingredient’, Food Technology, vol. 50, no. 2, pp. 49-52



• Newspaper article
Simpson, L 1997, ‘Tasmania’s railway goes private‘, Australian Financial Review, 13 October, p. 10

FOR A NON- BOOK
NON-BOOK
The details required are the same as for a book, with the form of the item (eg video recording, tape, computer file, etc.) indicated after the year.

Get the facts (and get them organized) 1990, video recording, Appleseed Productions, Williamstown, Vic

FORM OF ITEM
Dr Brain thinking games 1998, CD-ROM, Knowledge Adventure Inc., Torrance, California

FOR WEB SITES AND OTHER ELECTRONIC SOURCES