T205A – SYSTEMS’ THINKING THEORY & PRACTICE

ARAB OPEN UNIVERSITY
FACULTY OF BUSINESS STUDIES T205A – SYSTEMS’ THINKING THEORY & PRACTICE
2016/2017 SEMESTER I – Fall 2016

T205 A – TMA -2016-2017 - Semester I
_____________________________________

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 (December 11, 2016; unless otherwise indicated by the deanship).

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 case study “The importance of employee motivation - A J.D Wetherspoon”. As you read through 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 with no more than 150 words (15% marks).

b) Based on what you learned in T205A - T552 Diagraming, and based on the case content and taking “Employee motivation” as your system of interest, create one system map diagram showing all the components of such system. Pay special attention to the groupings and the hierarchy of the different components showing up to three levels of hierarchy. Reflect on your diagram with no more than 150 words (15% marks).
c) Using a One essay format of no more than 2200 words, (with an introduction, body and conclusion), and based on what you learned in T205A- T551 linear programing, and in concept files 02 and 03 and based on the content of the case study, tackle the following questions: Start with a brief introduction to set out the topic, and end with a brief conclusion (Introduction: 100 words, 02 Marks; Conclusion: 100 words, 02 Marks).

1- Based on what you learned in T551 linear programming, assess whether the lack of employee motivation represents a mess or a difficulty, justifying your work based on theoretical concepts and with evidence from the case. (Word count 250; 15 Marks).

2- Based on what you learned in T551 linear programming, describe the principles of systems’ thinking and analyze the effectiveness of the systems thinking approach for management at Strata 05 (300 words; 15 Marks).

3- Taking evidence from the case to justify your answers, and based on theoretical principles covered in concept files 02 and 03, assess the suitability of the approach used by J.D Wetherspoon, in regards to the following dimensions of organizational life:
• Motivation, team building employee training & development and employee retention (550 words; 14Marks)
(Assess how J.D Wetherspoon is motivating its employees and using teamwork, explaining the concepts and analyzing their importance and impact on performance and retention; also assess how applying the systems approach to management can aid in this regards; justify your argument with evidence from the case).

• Communication and active listening (400 words; 10 Marks)
(Assess J.D Wetherspoon is performing in regards to communication and active listening by discussing the concepts and analyzing their importance and impact, also assessing how the systems thinking approach can affect active listening).

• Conflict (400 words; 12 Marks)
(Assess J.D Wetherspoon is well structured to deal with conflict by explaining its nature and sources, and assessing its impact, and ways for resolving it; with a focus on whether applying the systems approach can have any bearing on conflict resolution; justify your answer).

4- Conclusion and reflection: 100 words, 02 Marks


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).