S3 2021

MGT5000 Managing
Organisational Behaviour

Guidelines for Assignment 1

Written assignment

The assignment is based on theoretical & conceptual

contents of Modules 2, 3, 4 & 5 (if necessary).
Due date: 4 January 2022
Weighting: 50%
Topic: Critical analysis of a personal experience
of an organisational behaviour problem
related to attitudes and perceptions,
motivation & team dynamics
Length: 1,800 words (with ±10% variation)
Format: Mixture of essay & report

© 2021 by Dr Peng Zhou 1

Task 1 of assignment
 A 500-word story about an incident/event/problem from
your personal experience
 The incident/event/problem must be relevant to
concepts of attitudes and perceptions, motivation, and
team dynamics
 Be sure to include titles of key people & descriptions of
relevant situational variables (who? what? where? why?
how?)
 Present your scenario in well-constructed sentences &
paragraphs
 Information you present in the scenario is for
assessment purposes only (no need to include sensitive
information or use real names of people)

© 2021 by Dr Peng Zhou 2

Guidelines to write the scenario
 Commence your scenario with an opening statement
that sets the scene
 Try to limit the number of people/players in your
scenario
 Your scenario must describe an event/problem that can
be analysed from attitudes and perceptions, motivation
and team dynamics perspectives
 The scenario should be concrete (real people, actions
and events), familiar to a work setting & believable to
those who read it
 Your scenario should be interesting (involve a setting, a
build-up & a crisis, problem or climax)

© 2021 by Dr Peng Zhou 3

Task 2 of assignment
 A 1,800 words analysis of attitudes and perceptions,
motivation & team dynamics issues reflected in your
scenario
 Task 2.1: 600 words to critically discuss attitudes and
perceptions (Module 2) related issues in the scenario &
their likely impact
 Task 2.2: 600 words to critically discuss motivation (Module
3) related issues in the scenario & their likely impact
 Task 2.3: 600 words to critically discuss team dynamics
(Module 4) related issues in the scenario & their likely impact
 You may also discuss communication (see Module 5) as
a relevant topic but this is not required

© 2021 by Dr Peng Zhou 4

Task 3 of assignment
 Draw a maximum 2 pages table to recommend practical
actions for management to resolve problems reflected in
the scenario
 One recommendation for actions to manage attitudes
and perceptions related problem in the scenario
 One recommendation for actions to manage motivation
related problem in the scenario
 One recommendation for actions to manage team
dynamics related problem in the scenario
 You need to include a rationale for each
recommendation that draws on theories you discussed
in Task 2

© 2021 by Dr Peng Zhou 5

Research & referencing
 You need to include at least 10 references including the
textbook and the Study Guides to support your
arguments/opinions
 Theoretical concepts used need to be referred to either
the prescribed textbook or the Study Book of this course
 Of the 10 references, at least 6 must be peer reviewed
academic journal articles published after 2005
 Private web pages such as pages of study notes from
other university courses are not acceptable
 Harvard AGPS referencing conventions should be
followed to compile your in-text citations and List of
References

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Presentation
 You must use the provided template to complete your
assignment
 Please do not remove the marking criteria sheet at the
beginning of the template
 Please do not change settings of the template, but you
need to remove those instruction words when using the
template to prepare your assignment
 Remember to insert your name & student number in the
header section of the provided template
 Tables & diagrams presented in Task 2 should be labelled
& referenced, and must be explained in the body of your
answer

© 2021 by Dr Peng Zhou 7

Example of list of references
List of references

Gringart, E, Helmes, E & Speelman, CP 2005, ‘Exploring attitudes towards

older workers among Australian employers: an empirical study’,
Journal of Ageing and Social Policy, vol. 17, no. 3, pp. 85-103.

Song, L, Wang, Y & Wei, J 2007, ‘Revisiting motivation preference within

the Chinese context: an empirical study’, Chinese Management
Studies, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 25-41.

Wiesner, R 2019, MGT5000 Study Guide Module 2, USQ, Toowoomba,

Australia.

Wood, J, Zeffane, R, Fromholtz, M, Wiesner, R, Morrison, R, Factor, A &

McKeown, TR 2019, Morganisational behavior: core concepts and
applications, 5th Australasian edition, John Wiley & Sons, Milton,
Queensland.

© 2021 by Dr Peng Zhou 8

Key to success
 Focus on conducting theory-based discussion/analysis in
your assignment
 Your writing needs to demonstrate your understanding
of relevant concepts/theories & can apply them to
analyse practical management problems
 Use refereed journal articles as references to support
your arguments so to demonstrate you have done
required research
 Observe the prescribed word limit & do not go over it
 Use the provided examples to guide you develop your
scenario & recommendation table
 Check the online discussion forum for answers to
frequently asked questions

© 2021 by Dr Peng Zhou 9

Submission requirements
 Name your completed assignment in this format:
MGT5000_Surname_Initial(Capital)_last five digits only of
your student number. Eg, your assignment should be
named as: MGT5000_Smith_J_94238 if your name is John
Smith.
 Submit the assignment as one WORD document
 Students are to submit their written assignment
electronically using Moodle written assignment dropbox on
the MGT5000 StudyDesk by 23.59 hours (USQ time)on
assignment due date
 Your submitted assignment will be subject to a turn-it-in
plagiarism & collusion check

© 2021 by Dr Peng Zhou 10

Late assignments

If there is some extenuating reason

why you cannot meet the
prescribed date for submission of
your assignment, it is important to
discuss your circumstances with
the Course Examiner before the
due date of the assignment.
Up to 5% per day penalties will be
applied to unapproved late
submissions.

© 2021 by Dr Peng Zhou 11

Further questions

If you have any further questions about the

assignment, please post them to the online
assignment discussion forum so that other
students can share the information

© 2021 by Dr Peng Zhou 12