HRL6004

Managing Change

Module Team Contact Details

(Module leader) Office: Email: Office hours:
Dr James (Jim) CKY203 james.smith@plymouth.ac.uk Tuesdays
Smith 11:30am to
1:30pm and
Fridays 4:15pm to
5pm

Contents

1. Introduction to the Module

2. Module Aims
3. Objectives & Learning Outcomes
4. Teaching & Learning Strategy
5. Teaching Schedule
6. The Module DLE Site & Learning Support
7. Recommended Reading
8. Attendance
9. Assessment Schedule
10. Assessment Tasks and Criteria
11. Referred assessment information
12. Referencing
13. Assessment Submission
14. Extenuating Circumstances
15. Feedback
16. Academic Offences

1
 1. Introduction to the Module
This module considers the importance of change management and how it can be achieved and
sustained. You will examine how change affects organisations and the individuals who work within
them. You will go on to evaluate the means by which change can be analysed and implemented,
considering the interactions between strategy, policy, human resources, and the organisational
environment.

2. Module Aims
This module aims to:

- Equip students with practical experiences that enhance their tolerance for organisational
change and their ability to understand and actively participate in organisational change
processes or activities;
- Provide students with an understanding of the management of organisational change
through the exploration of organisational change and associated human resource theory
and frameworks;
- Enable students to critically evaluate theory and practice in relation to the management
of organisational change.

3. Objectives/Learning Outcomes
At the end of the module the learner will be expected to be able to:

- Critically assess the varied nature of organisational change and why the management of
change is important for organisations and the individuals working within them;
- Apply theory to evaluate, analyse and/or resolve practical change situations or scenarios;
- Critically evaluate theory and concepts involved in the management of change.

4. Teaching & Learning Strategy

This module is led and delivered by James Smith. The mode of learning is lecture led with
supported student activities delivered via seminars. If you have questions about any of the
assessments or other aspects of the module at any time, please contact the module leader or tutor
straight away.

2
 5. Teaching Schedule (Provisional) –

Semester 1 2023/4 – (For rooms please see your university timetable)

Lectures:
Week Day Time Topic Staff
Introduction to module and diagnosis
Mon 11am Jim Smith
(part 1)
9
Tuesd
9am Diagnosis (part 2) Jim Smith
ay
10 No lecture this week
Tuesd
11 9am Diagnosis (part 3) Jim Smith
ay
Tuesd Planning and developing a strategy for
12 9am Jim Smith
ay implementing change
Tuesd Actions and interventions for
13 9am Jim Smith
ay implementing change
Tuesd Resistance to change (part 1 and guest
14 9am Jim Smith
ay speaker
15 Reading Week
Tuesd Resistance to change (part 2) and guest
16 9am Jim Smith
ay speaker
Tuesd
17 9am Leadership, politics and change Jim Smith
ay
Tuesd
18 9am Culture, structure and change Jim Smith
ay
Tuesd Evaluating and sustaining change and
19 9am Jim Smith
ay student voice/feedback
Tuesd
20 9am Assessment drop-in surgery Jim Smith
ay
Christmas Vacation weeks 21-23
24 Assessment week 1
25 Assessment week 2

Seminars: For seminar times/rooms and to find out which seminar group/class to attend
please see seminar group spreadsheet on the module DLE page and your university
timetable.
Week Topic
9 Introduction, formative assessment and applied diagnosis 1
10 No seminar this week
11 Applied diagnosis 2
12 Applied diagnosis 3
13 Developing the implementation plan 1 and student voice/feedback
14 Formative support: Feedback discussion on diagnosis plan
15 Reading Week
16 Developing the implementation plan 2
17 Developing the implementation plan 3
3
 First seminar – Developing implementation 4 or formative one to ones
18
Second seminar - Formative support: Feedback discussion on implementation plan
19 Formative pre-bookable one to ones
20 Formative pre-bookable one to ones
Christmas Vacation weeks 21-23
24 Assessment week 1
25 Assessment week 2
This schedule may change. Check your timetable, e-mail, Moodle Announcements for the latest
information.

6. The Module DLE Site & Learning Support

Information about the DLE or Moodle website is available from this link. Many of the materials
used in the module (videos, PowerPoints, lecture notes, lecture recordings, reading lists etc.) will
be available online through the Module DLE site. This website will be used for announcements,
changes to the teaching schedule or assessments, and supplementary teaching information.

You are strongly encouraged to make use of the resources available for learning support within
the University, such as the Study Guides, the Writing for Assignments E-library and the Writing
Café. Click here. You also have access to the extensive online library at Plymouth University. Click
here.

English language support: If English is not your first language, the English Language Centre can
help you achieve your full potential. They offer a range of activities including one to one tutorials,
English language classes and academic skills workshops. Their DLE site also contains a range of
self-study resources including commercial language courses in pronunciation and grammar and
an interactive resource to develop specific aspects of academic English. They also offer
opportunities for students to practise their conversational skills and make new friends through the
Hello Project and the Languages Café. To access these activities and resources and self-enrol on
their DLE site, please click here.

If you have any further questions or queries about how you can be supported as a student, you
can
contact pbs.support@plymouth.ac.uk and/or your Personal Tutor.

4
 7. Recommended Reading
There is an electronic reading list available from the module DLE site, which links you directly to
the reading materials for the module. It appears on the right-hand side of the page.

8. Attendance

Plymouth University expects all students to attend scheduled classes, field trips and other events
that are part of their programme of study. All teaching is developed to give you relevant, necessary
experience. We know that students who do not attend perform less well. A record of your
attendance will be logged via S4.

If you are ill or unable to attend, you should send apologies to your tutor and ensure that you catch
up with the work.

Programme leaders work very hard to make sure that teaching and assignments are well
designed, and that they support your learning. Where minimum attendance is required before an
assessment can be undertaken, this will be clarified in the module handbook.

If you are an International student or on a programme that leads to professional body qualifications
please be aware that lack of attendance may lead to exclusion, or not obtaining the qualification
that you are seeking.

For this module you are expected to engage in a minimum of 156 hours independent learning
which will include reading prior to class, preparatory work, revision of class content and working on
your assignments. Whilst helping you to prepare for your assessments, this level of independent
study will similarly enhance your time-management skills and subject knowledge.

5
 9. Assessment Schedule

Assessment type & weighting Set Date/Hand-in Date: Return Date /

Feedback release:
1.
Coursework (LO1, LO2 and LO3) Issued w/c 25th September 30th January 2024
3,400 words (+/- 10%) 2023 Within 20 working
days of submission
% Weighting: 100% Due: Thursday 14th December
2023/15:00.
(online submission)

10. Assessment Tasks and Criteria

Coursework (Individual)

Important: please note that the below organisations and individuals are entirely fictitious and
do not represent any real organisations or individuals but should be treated as if they do exist in
the real world.

GoStudy case information

GoStudy Ltd is a social media company that was founded in 2010 in London by Jessica Garland,
who had previously been a professor at Harvard University. Jessica remains the Chief Executive
and, whilst she is now only a minority shareholder as she has sold equity to investors, she still has
a strong influence on the organisation with her vision to create a social media platform focused
supporting academic study and research.

GoStudy Ltd employs 350 people across offices in London, San Francisco and Dublin with 80% of
employees being male and between the ages of 20 and 35. The organisation has four
departments, each lead by a director who sits on the senior management team with the chief
executive. The first department is operations which employs everyone involved in creating and
maintaining the hardware and software needed to run the GoStudy social media platform (around
180 employees). Most of the employees in this department are the most highly skilled in the
organisation, such as software engineers and programmers, they have postgraduate qualifications
and knowledge and skills that are in short supply globally. Within the operations department there
is a small team who are responsible for moderating the content users post to the platform, to
ensure it is relevant and appropriate. The manager of this team recently requested permission to
increase the size of the team as they only had capacity to review about 30% of user content, but
their request was refused due to the Director of Operation’s being concerned about the extra cost
involved.

The second department is finance, which employs 12 people ranging from fully qualified
accountants and 3 accounts apprentices, who are mostly engaged in maintaining management
accounts and processing payroll information. Two accountants are specialists in tax who provide
6
expertise to help the organisation minimise its international tax liabilities. Whilst the Director of
Finance has spent their entire career as an accountant, they are also responsible for HR and yet
they are not CIPD qualified and have only previously held roles focused on finance and accounts.

The third department is Sales and Marketing which employs around 20 university educated and
professionally qualified marketing specialists in the marketing team, and 20 sales people
responsible for generating advertising income from other organisations in the sales team.

The fourth department is User Support which employs around 110 people, most of whom are
school leavers without university level qualifications. They work as call centre operatives dealing
with routine/basic problems that customers have, such as forgotten passwords or questions about
how to use different features on the social media platform. They are also responsible for removing
inactive user accounts.

The chief executive sets each department targets for the year, for example, the operations
department have targets related to the functioning of the GoStudy platform and the sales and
marketing department has targets relating to the value of the sales it makes and number of new
users that sign up.

The strategic vision of the organisation is to be the most innovative social media network aimed at
connecting students across the globe to promote academic collaboration, share knowledge, and
foster a sense of community. However, despite its promising start, the company is currently facing
significant underperformance and struggling to maintain relevance in the competitive social media
landscape.

Over the past three years, GoStudy has witnessed a steady decline in user engagement in its
existing markets of the UK, USA and EU. Many users have become inactive, leading to a
diminished sense of community and low interaction between users. GoStudy has also failed to
attract new users or retain existing ones effectively. Whilst there is no similar platform in countries
such as China and India, GoStudy have not yet been able to enter those markets due in part to a
lack of knowledge of local culture and legal requirements. In their existing markets, competing
social media platforms with broader and more appealing features have overshadowed GoStudy’s
unique academic focus. The user interface and overall design of GoStudy have not kept up with
modern trends and standards. Users report that the mobile app has not been updated for some
time and so lacks some of the newer features of the main platform and often crashes. However,
even the main platform lacks a range of features that other social media platforms have introduced
over recent years and this lack of innovation has made it less appealing to students. In particular,
it lacks integration with other academic tools, collaborative functionalities, and gamification
elements that can keep users engaged. On internet forums there are increasing numbers of posts
from users complaining about bugs in the GoStudy platform being reported to the user support
team but remaining unresolved for months, therefore users experience the same errors happening
time and time again. Users have also complained about increasing volumes of inappropriate or
offensive material on the platform, which makes it increasingly difficult to find the content they are
interested in. Whilst a small number of users have complained about the content guidelines for
the site being so unclear that they were suspended from using the platform for a week but could
not understand why. Some female users have complained about there being a clear gender bias
in the content and features on the platform and that sexist comments or content has not been
removed when reported.

The marketing team have always focused on targeting new users by attending university events
such as summer balls, induction events and open days. However, in each of the last five years
the budget of the marketing department has been reduced and as a result in 2021 thirty
employees were made compulsorily redundant despite managers making a promise to all

7
employees in 2020 that there would be no compulsory redundancies. In 2022 the Director of
Marketing announced that the ‘users panel’, which involved six different sets of both active and
inactive users from different countries meeting with the marketing team for two days once every 3
months to discuss their experiences, would be stopped. Members of the operations department
have since been heard saying that the users panel was a source of frustration, as information from
it was only passed on by the Director of Sales and Marketing to the Director of Operations before
being passed back down via middle managers to the platform development teams. This meant it
often took weeks between the information being gathered by members of the marketing team and
it being communicated to the platform development teams responsible for developing new
features and tools.

When new users join the platform they have to go through a lengthy sign up process where they
have to enter their name, address, and other personal details, then manually enter credit card
details even if they only want to use the free elements rather than upgrade to premium
membership, which gives access to a number of unique features in return for a small monthly
subscription. Then they have to enter a range of details about their interests and finally they have
to wait 48 hours for their membership to be validated, which involves someone from the user
support team reviewing their details and manually approving the creation of their account.

The organisation has noticed that an increasing number of employees in the operations
department have been leaving each year, as some competitors have increased their pay rates. At
times this has meant that some staff members have had to be flown to other offices, sometimes
for a matter of days, to cover for roles that have become vacant in those offices due to someone
leaving. Yet some employees in the user support team have gained the necessary qualifications
to perform some of these more specialised vacant roles by funding their own university studies in
their spare time. However, the Director of User Support has refused to support their applications
for such roles. Since the organisation was founded, all employees of GoStudy have been required
to work from one of the organisation’s offices 5 days per week. Over the last 2 years there have
been an increasing number of posts on internet forums from software engineers and programmers
currently working at GoStudy who have complained that they no longer feel valued and that the
approach to managing people is rigid and outdated. Some state they don’t understand what the
current goals of the organisation are, as the chief executive sends out emails telling them that the
main priority of the organisation is something different every other month. Some state that
managers don’t find the time to conduct annual performance appraisals and even when they do
there is little support for their personal development as managers are worried about the impact of
them taking time away from their main duties during office hours or the cost. Others have
expressed frustration over the failure of the organisation to update its hardware (such as servers
and semiconductors/microchips) to enable them to deploy cutting edge software solutions, saying
that there are too few servers resulting in the platform having to be taken offline for longer and that
the semiconductors/microchips being used are too old and so slowing development of the
platform. On the rare occasions that the purchase of a new microchip has been approved, the
delivery has often been delayed by months beyond what the supplier had initially agreed.

Communications between all employees occur either face to face, over the phone, or via email.
There are no formal processes for managing system or procedural improvements within the
organisation and if an employee has an idea, the only way for that idea to be considered is for
them to communicate it to their line manager. Often employees in the operations department
report that they have suggested ideas for improvements or solutions only to be told by their
manager that they should focus on doing what they have been told and let the managers come up
with the ideas. When one employee took matters into their own hands and put in place a solution
they had thought of, even though it worked, when their manager found out they gave them a
formal warning for not consulting them first. In a recent staff survey, many employees reported
that they tend to keep new ideas to themselves or only share them with other non-managerial

8
employees, others suggested that they would only share information with those in their own
department unless their director expressly instructed them to share it with other departments. In
the same survey it was noted that employees in the user support department consistently reported
much higher satisfaction and happiness levels than those in other departments.

Last month a key customer ZenCo who spent millions of pounds per month advertising on
GoStudy decided to terminate their contract. This occurred after a sales person committed to
providing them with a new bespoke advertising tool from the beginning of June, even though the
operations department were not planning to launch it until September, in part due to a backlog of
new features awaiting implementation. ZenCo said that this was the last straw and that combined
with falling user numbers they felt that there were more attractive options. This was one of a
number of factors that led to the CEO of GoStudy issuing a statement to shareholders that whilst
the company retained sufficient funds to operate until the end of March 2024, something would
have to be done to return the company to making profit by then otherwise it may cease to exist.

Task instructions

It is 2023, the majority shareholders of GoStudy Ltd have approached you, an experienced
change management consultant, to ask for your help to improve the performance of the
organisation. Applying academic theory and drawing on your knowledge of current industry
conditions (e.g. competitors, legislation, technology etc), the majority shareholders of GoStudy Ltd
(see case information above) would like you to:

 Apply and critically evaluate appropriate theory/models to identify/diagnose where and

why change is needed in GoStudy Ltd in order to improve performance, and
consequently discuss the nature/type of change situation facing GoStudy Ltd. As part of
this you should describe and evaluate academic theory/findings to explain/justify why
you have chosen the theoretical frameworks you have used to undertake your
diagnosis. Whilst the case organisation is not real you should treat it as if it exists in the
real world. As a minimum you must use at least 3 of the following models: 5 whys/why-
why, fishbone, lean, process mapping, McKinsey 7S, Kotter’s model of organisational
dynamics, or Lewin’s Forcefield analysis. However, to achieve the highest marks you
will need to mention or use more, including those not listed here but also covered on the
module and those that you might identify from your own reading.
 Linked to the issues identified in your diagnosis and using appropriate academic
theory/literature, provide recommendations that analyse and critically evaluate what
could be done to implement change as part of a cohesive, fully justified, and sustainable
change plan. Any proposed changes must be specific to the situation that GoStudy Ltd
are in and realistic, taking into account any financial, legal or other considerations.
Where appropriate you should consider the effects that any changes might have on the
shareholders, managers, employees, customers of the organisation, or any other
relevant stakeholders.
 Format/structure - Present your work in report format that includes an introduction and
conclusion and numbered headings (but you do not need to include an executive
summary or abstract). If needed you may include up to two sides of A4 (1 sheet of
paper) for appendices, these should only be used for diagrams. Appendices must not
be used for additional narrative explanation of your proposals, any text in diagrams
should be limited to brief bullet points. The report must be 3,400 words +/- 10% (e.g.
between 3,060 and 3,740 words in length), including any cover, contents page or in-text
citations but not including your reference list or appendices. Any content that is over the
wordcount will not be read or included in the marking of your report. You must state the
9
 wordcount at the end of your report before your reference list. Please use Times New
Roman, Arial or Calibri fonts in size 11 or 12 for your work. Your reference list must be
in Harvard format and you must provide in-text citations to show where you have used
the sources on your reference list, citations should also be in Harvard format.
 Submission - This is an individual piece of coursework and must be your work and
yours alone. Please do not include your name or student number in your work as the
DLE will link your work to you anonymously. Your work must be in Word format (.doc or
.docx) and submitted as one file electronically using the Summative assessment
submission link on the HRL6004 Managing Change moodle/DLE page before 3pm on
14th December 2023.

Marks and feedback will be provided by 30th January 2024 and will be released through the
Moodle/DLE page.

Marking criteria (Please see next page)

10
Assessment marking criteria/rubric

Criteria Fail: 0% to 39% 3rd class: 40% to 2.2: 50% to 59% 2.1: 60% to 69% First class: 70% to First class: 85% to
49% 84% 100%
Content (30 As a whole, work As a whole, work As a whole, work As a whole, work As a whole, work As a whole, work
marks): Demonstrat demonstrates little or demonstrates demonstrates sound demonstrates very demonstrates demonstrates
es a range of insight no understanding or narrow, but inconsistent good levels of excellent levels of outstanding
into the subject awareness of the basic/limited levels of understanding of understanding of understanding of
which incorporates relevant theory understanding of understanding of most of the relevant most of the relevant the relevant theory
appropriate covered in the some relevant relevant theory theory covered in theory covered in covered in the
theoretical ideas module. Likely clear theory covered in covered in the the module and the module and module and
and concepts and evidence of the module, module. perhaps beyond. perhaps beyond. beyond.
definitions. This confusion in several perhaps showing
should include an places. occasional signs of Uses more than 10 Uses a range of Uses a wide range Comprehensive
ability to identify confusion. appropriate sources including of credible sources use of credible
themes, Uses less than 10 academic sources more than 10 including more than sources, including
connections and appropriate Uses 10 appropriate to support work in appropriate 15 appropriate more than 20
gain insight on the academic sources academic sources places but in places academic sources academic sources appropriate
whole issue and its (eg textbooks, to support work in relies on sources to regularly support to support work academic sources
wider implications journal articles, places, but often that lack credibility work but throughout. to support work
government reports, reliant on poor or relevance or occasionally relies throughout.
CIPD articles) to quality sources or does not support on sources that Excellent
support work in regularly does not work with sources. lack credibility or conclusions go Outstanding,
places, work may be support work with relevance. beyond providing comprehensive
largely or entirely sources. Sound conclusions an effective conclusions go
unsupported by that clearly attempt Very good summary of key beyond providing
sources, where Basic or limited to summarise most conclusions clearly issues. Clearly an effective
sources are used conclusions that of the key points. provide an effective shows some summary of key
these are often poor may provide a No logical attempt summary of all key learning by issues,
quality or not of an cursory, procedural to identify themes, issues. No logical recognising logical demonstrates
appropriate and not entirely relationships or attempt to identify themes, insightful learning
academic nature complete summary learning/developme themes, relationships or by recognising
(e.g. blogs or of key issues. No nt of thought. relationships or learning/developme logical themes or
websites). logical attempt to learning/ nt of thought. relationships.
identify themes, development of
Incomplete, no or relationships or thought.
extremely learning.
limited/superficial
conclusions making
11
 little or no effort to
logically summarise
key issues, and no
logical attempt to
identify themes,
relationships or
show learning or
development of
thought.
Critical analysis Incomplete. Entirely Basic. Almost Sound but Very good sources Excellent, a largely Outstanding, an
(30 descriptive. entirely descriptive. inconsistent, in or theories often well integrated entirely well
marks): Demonstrat Throughout sources Mostly sources or places sources or integrated into a discussion is integrated
es an ability to or theories are theories may be theories may be cohesive presented in which discussion that
present different described in turn described in turn described in turn discussion, different weaves together
perspectives in the rather than rather than being rather than being occasionally sources/theories information relating
literature, incorporat integrated into a integrated into a integrated into a sources or theories are weaved to different
ing relevant cohesive discussion. cohesive cohesive may be described together. sources/theories.
academic No logical or discussion. Few discussion. In in turn. Often Consistently Comprehensively
journals, presenting appropriate attempts at places provides provides logical, provides logical, provides effective
contrasting view comparisons of comparison of logical, appropriate appropriate appropriate comparison of
points and drawing theory, findings, theory, findings, comparison of comparison of comparison of academic theory,
conclusions. perspectives or perspectives or theory, findings, theory/findings, academic findings,
Students should practices/interventio practices/interventio perspectives, or perspectives or theory/findings, perspectives or
assess the quality ns, does not ns, that may not be practices/interventio practices/interventi perspectives or practices/interventi
and relevance of consider entirely logical or ns, but only ons that may practices/interventi ons that mostly or
evidence available, strengths/advantage appropriate, only considers strengths consider both ons that regularly always considers
by identifying s or considers strengths or limitations. strengths and considers both both strengths and
sources of bias and limitations/weakness or limitations. limitations. strengths and limitations.
using evidence- es. No critical limitations.
based questioning No critical consideration of the Isolated explicit Regular explicit
models No critical consideration of the quality or credibility example of logical Few explicit examples of logical
consideration of the quality or credibility of sources or their critical examples of logical critical
quality or credibility of sources or their content. consideration of the critical consideration of the
of sources or their content. quality or credibility consideration of the quality or credibility
content. of sources or their quality or credibility of sources or their
content, only of sources or their content, at times
considers positives content, only considers positives
or negatives. considers positives and negatives.
or negatives.
12
Application (25 Incomplete Basic diagnosis. Sound but Very good Excellent Outstanding
marks): Identifying diagnosis. Identifies Identifies few inconsistent diagnosis. diagnosis. diagnosis.
how theory informs few or no relevant relevant issues or diagnosis. Identifies Identifies a range of Identifies a wide Identifies a
practice or vice issues or examples examples related to some relevant relevant issues or range of relevant comprehensive
versa where related to practice practice within issues or examples examples related to issues or examples range of relevant
appropriate, within organisations organisations or the related to practice practice within related to issues or examples
specifically or the case. case. within organisations organisations or the management related to
integrating or the case. case. practice within management
academic concepts Links between Links between organisations or the practice within
in developing both theory and practice theory and practice Links between Links between case. organisations or the
management and are not made or lack are limited, often theory and practice theory and practice case.
professional logic/relevance unclear or lack are clear and are often made to Links between
practice. Students throughout. logic/relevance. logical/relevant in enhance the work, theory and practice Insightfully uses
should demonstrate places but not in mostly clear, logical are made theory to be critical
a disciplined and Incomplete Basic others. and relevant. throughout, critical or practice and vice
open-minded Recommendations recommendations at times, almost versa throughout,
approach to are not provided or are narrow in scope Sound Very good, entirely clear, entirely clear,
understanding and very limited in and often lacking recommendations reasonably broad logical and logical, relevant.
defining scope/detail/logic, logic and remain somewhat recommendations relevant.
organisational any justification is justification. Does limited in scope, in are mostly logical, Outstanding,
issues and their root isolated, superficial, not consider places logical and at regularly justified Excellent, broad comprehensive
causes and/or illogical. alternatives. least partially but extent of recommendations, recommendations
through relevant Does not consider justified. May be justification is entirely logical, are entirely logical,
examples and alternatives. isolated, superficial inconsistent. In often justified, often always justified with
cases cited consideration of places considers considers consideration of
alternatives. alternatives. alternatives. alternatives.
Written Throughout writing Basic. Highly Sound but Very good. For the Excellent. Work is Outstanding
Communication, contains numerous inconsistent. Writing inconsistent. In most part well very well presented presentation.
Structure (15 errors in punctuation regularly contains places writing presented. throughout. Very Isolated or no
marks): Uses a and/or grammar, errors in contains errors in Occasionally occasionally writing issues with
suitable academic often severely lacks punctuation and/or punctuation and/or writing contains may contain minor punctuation and/or
style, appropriate clarity/flow. grammar, and often grammar, and lacks minor errors in errors in grammar, clarity or
structure and lacks clarity/flow. some clarity/flow in punctuation and/or punctuation and/or flow.
formatting which is Document largely or places. grammar, or may grammar, but
systematic and entirely does not Document conforms lack a little clarity and flow Document
clear with consistent conform to guidance to wordcount, all Document conforms clarity/flow. throughout. conforms to all
use of the Harvard regarding key sections appear to wordcount, all guidance regarding
13
Referencing wordcount, structure to be present in key sections clearly Document Document wordcount,
System. and/or formatting, some form but identified, but some conforms to most conforms to all structure and
may be missing one regular inconsistencies in guidance, guidance regarding formatting to a very
or more sections. errors/inconsistenci formatting. occasional minor wordcount, high level.
es in structure errors in formatting. structure and
Introduction missing, and/or formatting. Sound introduction format, perhaps Outstanding
superficial or partially outlines Very good isolated minor introduction
implied, gives no Basic introduction aims and structure introduction error. comprehensively
indication of value of partially outlines of the work, or does outlines aims and outlines aims,
work or context of aims or structure of one structure of the Excellent structure, context
case. the work. No comprehensively. work well. introduction and value of the
indication of value No indication of Provides either outlines aims and work in a logical
Incomplete, of work or context of context or value. limited context or structure of the and insightful way.
reference list and case. limited indication of work well and gives
citations often or Reference list and value. some logical Reference list and
entirely missing, Reference list and citations complete. context and citations complete
where present citations present but Regularly contain Reference list and indication of value. with extremely
almost entirely fail to not entirely minor citations complete. isolated or no minor
conform to Harvard complete, omissions inconsistencies or Mostly follow Reference list and errors with respect
format. are evident. Highly errors with respect Harvard format but citations complete to Harvard format.
inconsistent, often to Harvard format. in places contain but occasionally
do not conform minor minor
entirely to Harvard inconsistencies or inconsistencies or
format. errors. errors with respect
to Harvard format.
How to improve your marks next time:

14
11. Referred Assessment Information

If you are unsuccessful in a semester one /two module, after the exam boards in March (for
students starting in January) or July, you will be notified by PBS Support about the referral
process. In the case of referred coursework, you will be directed to a shared site where you will
have access to the papers that correspond to the module you have not yet passed. Submission
will be via the DLE as per normal circumstances. If you did not pass an examination or an in-
class test, you will be informed by PBS Support about whether you will be required to re sit the
examination/in-class test or complete coursework in lieu.

12. Referencing

There is an excellent resource to help you reference accurately using the Harvard system. This
is available in the library (shelf mark 808.027 PEA) and online (you can access the online
version for free by logging in as a University of Plymouth student). Guidance on referencing
(including the above resource) and plagiarism is also available here

13. Assessment Submission

You are required to submit your assessment(s) before the deadline, electronically through
Moodle/DLE. See here for information about online submissions (log-in required).

Please make sure that if you complete your assignment using Pages software on a Mac or
Apple device that you always convert this to a Word or PDF document before submitting it to
Moodle (please check the individual assignment details for the file format you need to submit).
If you do not convert your document from the Pages format then tutors will not be able to open
or mark your submission on their University laptops.

In addition, after submission please try to open your submitted document on a University PC
(wherever possible) or a non-Mac/Apple device. This will enable you to check whether your
work can be opened on a machine or device that is not reliant on specialist software that is
only installed on your computer.

Please note you can download Office 365 to install on 5 devices from the University to ensure
you have an up to date version of Office software that you can use during your time at the
University.

If you have any questions re submission of work by deadlines, please contact the lecturer who
set the assessment, in the first instance. You can also seek help from the Student Support
Office:

Faculty Student Support Office

Contact details:
Roland Levinsky Building Room 109.
Phone: 01752 585020
Email: AHBAdmin@plymouth.ac.uk
Opening hours:
15
 Monday – Friday 9:00–16:00.

You can also get in touch online using WaitWhile and/or use this service to book an in-
person appointment.

Please note that all submissions are due by 15:00 on their given deadline. Work submitted up
to 24hrs after the deadline will be capped at 40%, and work submitted after this period will be
awarded 0%.

14. Extenuating Circumstances

Module staff are unable to give you extensions to deadlines. If you have a valid reason for late
submission, you must complete an extenuating circumstances form.

The University operates a ‘fit-to-sit’ policy. If you think that your ability to attend or complete an
assessment is being affected by extenuating circumstances, you must not sit or complete a time-
specific assessment and must submit a valid Extenuating Circumstances form. If you attempt a
time-specific assessment, then this is normally taken as your declaration that you consider
yourself fit to do so.

Extenuating circumstances are circumstances which:

 have a significant impact on your ability to attend or complete assessment(s), and
 are exceptional, and
 are outside your control, and
 occurred during or shortly before the assessment in question.

If you have a long-term health condition, you are advised to complete a ‘long-term health
condition notification’ form and submit it with evidence to AHBAdmin@plymouth.ac.uk
You should also consider contacting Disability Services who may be able to provide further
support for your learning.

If you wish to claim for extenuating circumstances or to find out more on our policies in this
area, then please consult this site where you will find a downloadable form, together with
information on circumstances that might be considered valid and requirements for the submission
of corroborating evidence.

In the case of assessed coursework, or equivalent, your extenuating circumstances claim should
be submitted as soon as possible, and normally no later than ten working days after the
deadline for the submission of your work.

Group assessment: there may be instances where a member of your group whose ability to fulfil
their role is affected by their own extenuating circumstances. We expect you to have contingency
plans for your group to manage members’ absence, but sometimes the impact makes it impossible
for the group to attend or complete the group assessment task. In this case, the member of the
group affected by the circumstance should submit an extenuating circumstances form. Other
members of the group may also each submit a claim, citing the absence of their group member
due to extenuating circumstances as their reason for submitting their own claim. You should also
discuss with the module leader or appropriate member of teaching staff whether the group may be
able to carry on in this situation, to avoid unnecessary reassessment.

16
If you submit a claim for an extension to your coursework deadline for a taught module you
should not wait for a decision on your claim before submitting your work. You should submit
the final version of your work within:
 five working days of the original published deadline for self-certified claims, or
 ten working days of the original published deadline for all other claims

Where extenuating circumstances are deemed invalid, any coursework which is percentage
marked and submitted after the deadline date and time will be capped at the minimum pass mark
within the first 24 hours of the deadline or will be awarded a mark of zero if submitted more than
24 hours late.

If you are unable to sit an in-class test you should submit an extenuating circumstances claim for
non-attendance no later than 10 working days after the date the in-class test was originally
due to be taken.

If you have extenuating circumstances claims with respect to any of your formal examinations,
you need to submit them no later than 10 working days after the date the examination was
originally due to be taken.

15. Feedback

Feedback is a process, not an ultimate resolution to your work. You will of course receive formal
written comments on your assessed work when it is returned with your mark. However, feedback
will also come to you via class discussions, practical activities, exchanges with your lecturer and
peers and comments on your ideas. This type of on-going feedback plays an important role in
developing your thinking, reasoning and analytical skills.

16. Academic Offences

Academic offences, including plagiarism, are treated very seriously in the Faculty of Arts,
Humanities and Business. A student who is proven to have committed an academic offence may
be placing his or her degree in jeopardy. It is your responsibility as a student to make sure that
you understand what constitutes an academic offence.

Your work must be your own and your chosen sources must be acknowledged both in your text
and in your bibliography / reference list. To copy another person’s work is viewed as plagiarism
and will result in you receiving a zero for your assignment and possibly expulsion from the
university altogether. If you are unsure about what constitutes plagiarism, please click here

You can self-review coursework prior to submission using the University’s Turnitin software. This
tool assesses the originality of pieces of academic writing and detects potential academic offences
such as plagiarism. The use of Turnitin is becoming standard practice at most UK universities as a
way of ensuring academic standards. If you have any concerns about use of Turnitin please
contact your Programme Manager and/or personal tutor. Further information can be found here
(log-in required).

17
Group work: please note that in the case of group work, it is the collective responsibility of the
group to leave sufficient time to check and agree that all parts of the submission adhere to the
above guidelines.

17. The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Artificial Intelligence is constantly evolving and is already an integral feature of the websites and
software that we use. AI tools such as ChatGPT can usefully support learning and play a role in
some of the pedagogical activities introduced on your programme. However, AI has limitations,
and we urge that you use it with caution, particularly in relation to assessment. Some assessed
tasks may be designed to incorporate AI tools as part of the evaluation. In this case the brief will
clearly explain how they should be used and what is permissible. Where this is not stated,
although you can call upon AI to assist in planning, providing basic information, generating ideas
or key themes … it should not be used to produce text, or partial text since this constitutes a form
of contract cheating – in other words, you are instructing a third party to complete the work for you.
In addition, words and ideas generated by a chatbot/AI tool may use other authors' ideas without
referencing them, which constitutes plagiarism. Any information generated by AI must be
acknowledged in your assessment. Should academic malpractice be suspected, we may request
that you attend a viva voce to discuss your work and/or take action in line with the University’s
academic misconduct policy.

Disclaimer: All the information in this Handbook is correct at the time of publication. Courses are
regularly reviewed and updated so details may change. Information about changes will be posted
on the module website so please ensure that you regularly visit the DLE.

18
19