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Group Presentation Brief

Group Presentation Tasks

Presentation Task – Marketing

Following your Marketing seminar, you should have identified a number of KPIs that DFS could use to evaluate business performance. From here, you are required to work in your groups to construct a Brand Scorecard. Please refer to the Marketing Lecture Slides (Week 4) & use your KPIs to develop a Brand Scorecard that you can discuss within your assessed presentation. For more info, please refer to the Group Presentation Marking Scheme.

Presentation Task – Logistics & SCM

Prepare a presentation that discusses the following for DFS’s supply chain:

1. Critically evaluate the KPIs and justify which one could be the most critical indicator for DFS SC within the next few years.
2. Critically evaluate minimising one waste measure through lean techniques.
3. How can DFS use information management in order to make their supply chain more lean and agile.
4. Critically evaluate the possibility of lean six sigma application in an effort to improve DFS’s supply chain performance.

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Presentation Task – HRM

Prepare a presentation that addresses each of the following issues for DFS:

1. A logical plan that achieves a 10% reduction in the paybill. You should explain the reasons behind the actions that you aim to implement.
2. The key points that you have taken into account in developing a performance management system for DFS.
3. A new reward system for the business that ensures that any future increase in the paybill is performance related. This will include details of performance measures, the relationship between the achievement of objectives and rewards and your rationale in having two separate schemes for directors & managers and supervisors & operatives.
4. A brief review of any issues or potential problems that will have to be addressed in introducing the changes to paybill and performance and reward measures.

Presentation Task – Accounting

DFS operates a traditional budgetary control system. Prepare a PowerPoint presentation that addresses each of the items below:

1. How the work of Hopwood (1974) should be reflected in the evaluation of budgetary performance at DFS.
2. How the work of Hofstede (1968) should be reflected in setting budget targets within DFS.
3. How budget methods such as ZBB may be used to reduce costs rather than simply record them at DFS.

Presentation Task – Balanced Scorecard

A Balanced Scorecard is a strategic-based performance management system that translates an organization’s vision and strategy into operational objectives and enables strategy implementation.

After analysing the DFS Company you should suggest a business strategy that is best suited for DFS and explain your answer. Design a Balanced Scorecard which identifies 3 measures under each of the four perspectives (Customer, Internal Growth, Business Processes and Financial) in order to help DFS to implement the proposed strategy.

Your focus should be on how the various key business areas can be integrated rather than working in isolation.

Group Presentation Guidelines

 You can find the actual marking scheme that your Tutors will be using to assess your final Group Presentations on the NX0201 Blackboard site under Assessed Components. Please refer to the document as this will give all of you a sufficiently detailed guideline to work with.

In addition, please make sure that you comply with the following guidelines:

1. The total time allocated for each Group is 20 minutes. We expect your group presentation to last no longer than 17 minutes – absolute maximum. This will allow Tutors to ask questions right after. Tutors will stop your presentation if/when you reach the 17^th minute and all content that is not covered within that timeframe will NOT be assessed.
2. Your group presentation must have no more than 9 PowerPoint slides (this limit is NOT inclusive of (i) the Title Page and (ii) slides listing references used at the end of your presentation).
3. You must submit a copy of your group’s presentation slides to your Tutors after the 20-minute session (please print it in “Hand-out” format – 6 slides to a page). Failure to submit a hard copy of your presentation will result in penalties to your final mark.

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Time limits and penalties for presentations

The time allocated for the presentation must be adhered to.  At the end of this time, the presentation will be stopped and will be marked based on what has been delivered within the time limit.

Presentation time and place

The presentations will take place in the last block of your teaching. Make sure you check your timetable in order to establish when your presentation will take place. If for any reason you cannot find this information on your timetable you need to inform the module tutor as soon as possible.

Peer Evaluation

Each member of each group will submit a confidential peer evaluation form with an assessment of the quantity/quality of participation by each group member. This should be using the following Scale: 0 [made absolutely no contribution] or 6 to 10 [depending on how crucial, frequent and helpful their contributions were.] Please evaluate yourself as well as all your group members on the same scale.

Your evaluation form (found on Blackboard) must be submitted by email to your tutor before or on the presentation date. Failing to submit this form will be understood as if you give yourself a self-evaluation mark of 0.

The simple average of these evaluations will be used to create a weight, expressed as a proportion (a whole number ranging from 0 to 1). If the average of the evaluations given to you is 8/10, then, your weight becomes .8 and we apply this weight to the group mark to derive your final mark for the group part. If the group mark is 100/100, for example, and your weight is .8 then you will receive 80/100 for the group part of the assignment. Thus, it is important to contribute to the team and failure to do so will mean that you might not get the same mark as the rest of your group members.

Group Problems

Unfortunately for a variety of reason things do not always go smoothly with team work. We encourage you to try to solve any problems within your team by yourselves first – this is part of the learning process. However, if you reach a situation that you cannot manage then you should contact the module tutor who will try to help you to reach an amicable solution. We are here to help but you need to let us know if you have a serious problem.

Listed below are a selection of issues that have been faced in the past and a suggestion as to how they are likely to be dealt with:

Students who, for whatever reason, are late in joining a team

At times students, for quite legitimate reasons are late in joining a group. Team members are asked to try to accommodate the new member and embrace their contributions. If part of the summative assessment has already been completed, latecomers work can be marked out of the remaining marks and their grade adjusted upwards accordingly. If the summative work has not yet started then the newcomer needs to accelerate their contribution, really pull their weight and try to makeup for lost time. Assessing how well the group is working and peer evaluation should be able to deal with any issues arising out of this.

Students who none of the class want to have on their team.

This is team work – in your career you will be expected to work with whoever joins your team. Final peer evaluation will enable you to influence the final mark if necessary.

Students who do not attend team meetings or pull their weight

See above. However, if the problem continues then you should contact your module tutor and IF an alternate group can be created, then this might be the final solution. However, make sure that you do not leave this too late. Refrain from doing all the work yourself and giving your group member ready material to present. Solution = See the Module Tutor!!!

Students who are legitimately absent during the semester

Short absences can happen to anyone and should be tolerated. The absent student would be expected to ‘make good’ on their return. If the absence is too extensive, then the student might be removed from the group and marked separately. Alternatively it ‘may’ be possible to offer a ‘group extension’. Speak to your module tutor and an Academic Facilitator. Solution = See the Module Tutor!!!

Students who withdraw during the semester, leaving their team one member down

It may be possible to redistribute team members or merge groups if appropriate. If the team would prefer to carry on as they are then your module tutor may need to offer a little extra support to the smaller team. Solution = See the Module Tutor!!!

Students who feel left out of their group

Students should contact their module tutor if this is a problem. Other members of the team may not be aware that this is how you feel. The module tutor will arrange to meet you, the team or possibly both to help you to resolve the situation.  Solution = See the Module Tutor!!!

Teams which irretrievably break down

For some modules it may be possible to split groups; however the module tutor will try to help you to work diplomatically and try to reach an amicable solution. Solution = See the Module Tutor!!!

Remember if you have a genuine serious problem in your group let us know as soon as possible in order to try and help you. If you leave it too late then it might be difficult to find a solution.

Referencing your work

 The APA method of referencing uses the author’s name and the date of the publication. In-text citations give brief details of the work you are referring to in your presentation. References are listed at the end of the presentation in alphabetical order by the author’s name.  The general format of an electronic journal reference in the APA style is shown below:

Coutu, D. (2009). Why Teams Don’t Work. Harvard Business Review, 87(5), 98-105. Retrieved 29^th April 2012 from EBSCO http://searchebscohost.com

Author/s name and initials are listed first, followed by year of publication in brackets.  Then there is the title of article and the journal where the article appears, which is in italics.  Then state the volume and issue number (in brackets) along with the pages where article can be located. Finally add the date the article was retrieved and then the name of the database, followed by the web address. Wherever possible use the homepage URL rather than the full and extended web address.

For further information on why it is important to reference accurately go to the Referencing and Plagiarism topic in Skills Plus available from the Library website:

www.northumbria.ac.uk/skillsplus

You will find other useful help guides on Skills Plus to help you with the skills involved in writing your assessments and preparing for exams.

For further information on the APA style of referencing see the Concise Rules of the APA Style and the APA website http://www.apastyle.org/

Plagiarism and Cheating

Your attention is drawn to the University’s stated position on plagiarism. THE WORK OF OTHERS, WHICH IS INCLUDED IN THE PRESENTATION MUST BE ATTRIBUTED TO ITS SOURCE (a full list of references must be submitted as prescribed in the GROUP PRESENTATION brief).

Students are referred to the University regulations on plagiarism and other forms of academic irregularity.  Groups must not copy or collude with one another or present any information that they themselves have not generated.

We might ask groups to provide their working papers in order to be reviewed by the assessment panel if we suspect any academic irregularities. Thus, make sure you keep all your notes, meeting minutes etc. until you receive your final mark in June.

 (Some basic instruction if required here) 

For further information on Plagiarism, see the Referencing and Plagiarism topic on Skills Plus.

www.northumbria.ac.uk/skillsplus

 (Some basic instruction if required here)

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Mapping to Programme Goals and Objectives:

 This assessment will contribute directly to the following Undergraduate programme goals and objectives. 

1. Knowledgeable about the theory and practice of international business and management

Objectives:

Students will be able to:

X	1.	Acquire knowledge of functional areas of business and management.
X	2.	Acquire knowledge of specialist areas of business.
X	3.	Apply their knowledge to business and management contexts.
X	4.	Conduct contemporary research into business and management.

 

2. Skilful in the use of professional and managerial techniques and processes

Objectives:

Students will be able to:

X	1.	Provide evidence of self reflection as a means of informing personal development planning.
X	2.	Demonstrate effective interpersonal communication skills and the ability to work in a team.
X	3.	Demonstrate critical thinking skills .
X	4.	Demonstrate problem solving skills.

 

3. Aware of ethical issues impacting on business and professional practice

Objectives:

Students will be able to:

X	1.	Identify an ethical dilemma in a business situation
X	2.	Suggest ethical solutions to this dilemma

 

4. Employable as graduates

Objectives:

Students will be able to:

X

1.

In the context of securing graduate employment demonstrate the skills of self presentation.