Management and the Technology Professional – B302
B302 coursework assignment
Academic year
2008/9
| Coursework Title: | Analysis of case study scenarios |
| Coursework Due Date: | February 20, 2009 and 5pm March 7, 2009 |
| Lecturer: | C Nguyen |
COURSEWORK DESCRIPTION
Analyze each case study scenario for
ethical, financial or management issues. There are
2 case study scenarios, write a response for each case study to
support and explain a specific behaviour or action. Each answer will receive
0–10 marks. The coursework mark is the
sum of marks received for both responses. This coursework contributes
40% to the B302 unit mark.
Each written response should inform the reader in a way that is easy to understand and reflects your own personal style. The emphasis is on
quality of reflection and analysis –
not quantity of words. Typical answers should be
250 to 500 words. Students are
not required to use a referencing or citation format.
Plagiarism will result in a zero for the entire coursework mark.
COURSEWORK SUBMISSION
Students are required to submit their coursework online using the
Mosaic website.
CASE STUDY 1 – Response was due February 20
- SCENARIO
You are a junior engineer working in the safety testing group at a company that manufactures USB flash memory drives. On Monday, you review the report of 200 tests from last week and notice that 3 tests of the power consumption failed with the potential to be a fire hazard. The batch from last week was a large order and it has already been delivered to an important client over the weekend. You report the problem to your supervisor who manages the safety testing group. The manager tells you to ignore the problem because 3 failed tests are a small percentage when compared to a total of 200 tests.
- QUESTION
Will you ignore the problem? If you decide not to ignore the problem, what course of action would you take? Consider the potential financial and legal consequences to the customer, the employer and you when describing and explaining your decision.
- ADDITIONAL RESOURCE
An example of a product recall caused by potential safety problems.
CASE STUDY 2 – Response was due 5pm March 7
- SCENARIO
You are the network system administrator for a small accounting practice of 40 accountants who mostly provide tax accounting services. Due to the loss of income caused by some former clients who have now gone out of business, the partnership is looking for options to reduce the total information technology expenses. The senior partner asks you to make a recommendation about the possibility of switching the business to using Skype voice over IP software, which would require installing the software on 30 computers at the office and another 40 computers at the homes of the accountants.
- QUESTION
Would you recommend switching to Skype or not? What are the advantages and disadvantages of your recommendation? Provide the decision tree and expected value calculations used to support your risk analysis of the scenario.
- ADDITIONAL RESOURCE
An article describing potential risks associated with using Skype voice over IP software.
ASSESSMENT CRITERIA
Each case study answer will be marked according to the following criteria:
| Marks | Criteria |
| 8–10 |
- Provides a compelling and creative position or course of action.
- Contains thoughtful personal reflection, comprehensive and creative analysis, and highly relevant sources and facts.
|
| 7 |
- Provides a convincing position or course of action.
- Contains thoughtful personal reflection and comprehensive analysis using relevant sources and facts.
|
| 6 |
- Provides a well defined position or course of action.
- Contains thoughtful personal reflection and effective analysis using relevant sources and facts.
|
| 5 |
- Provides a specific position or course of action.
- Contains some personal reflection and analysis using relevant sources and facts.
|
| 4 |
- Provides a general position or course of action.
- At a threshold level, the response demonstrates a basic comprehension of the scope and consequences of the main issues.
|
| 0–3 |
- Provides a vague position or course of action.
- Demonstrates minimal comprehension of the scope and consequences of the main issues.
- Contains an unacceptable number of factual errors.
- Contains unrelated statements that tend to wander or ramble.
|
