Management and the Technology Professional – B302
B302 coursework assignment
Academic year
2011/12
COURSEWORK DUE DATES
Response to case study question 1 was due February 19, 2012.
Response to case study question 2 was due February 29, 2012.
Coursework may be submitted up until
midnight of the due date. The timestamp on the coursework submission page is final.
COURSEWORK DESCRIPTION
Analyze each case study question for
ethical, financial and management issues. There are
2 case study questions, write a response for each case study to
support and explain a specific behaviour or action. Each response will receive
0–10 marks, according to the criteria described at the bottom of this page. The coursework mark is the
sum of marks received for both responses.
Each response should inform the reader in a way that is easy to understand and reflects your own personal style. Students are encouraged to write in the first person perspective. The emphasis is on
quality of reflection and analysis –
not quantity of words. Each response must have a word count of
250 to 500 words. Students are
not required to use a reference list.
Plagiarism will result in a zero for the entire coursework mark.
This coursework contributes
40% to the B302 unit mark.
COURSEWORK SUBMISSION
Coursework must be submitted online using the Mosaic website. Students are
not permitted to write their coursework using Microsoft Word, Adobe Acrobat or similar programs. The coursework content (text and images)
must be written directly within the Mosaic coursework submission page for each student.
CASE STUDY QUESTION 1
- Describe your action after a suspicious encounter in which a colleague at work may have made a copy of software owned by the company.
- Indicate your decision and explain the factors that affected your analysis and decision process.
- Case study source
For the past 3 months, you have been working as a new software developer at a local law firm in Havant. At work, you sit next to Adam, who has been a software developer at the company for 2 years.
The Software Manager keeps a collection of software in a bookshelf next to her desk. The software are in their original boxes with the CDs and license numbers. It is a plain bookshelf without any doors or locks.
One day, you came back early from lunch to find the office empty, probably because everyone on the software development team were still on lunch break. Walking to your desk, you saw 3 CDs on Adam's desk. The CD labels had "Adobe Creative Suite 5" and serial numbers written with markers. The original Adobe Create Suite software box was also on his desk and the front of the box was clearly marked that it is a 10-users license pack. You estimated that it would cost approximately £1,800 to buy one license of this software directly from Adobe.
You decided to think about it a bit more and went to the kitchen to wash your hands. But, when you came back from the kitchen, the copied CDs were nowhere to be seen, Adam was sitting at his desk and the original Adobe Create Suite software box was back in the bookshelf next to the Software Manager's desk.
CASE STUDY QUESTION 2
- Would you recommend that your brother purchase a high speed digital printer?
- Indicate your decision and explain the factors that affected your analysis and decision process.
- Display the decision tree and present value calculations used in your analysis.
- Case study source
You work at a small copy and print shop owned by your older brother. In January, he is considering the purchase of a high speed digital printer.
Your brother estimates that sales revenue could reach £210,000 for the current year.
The addition of a high speed digital printer could increase capacity and expand the range of print jobs that the business can perform for customers. Through research and market analysis, your brother estimates that these improvements could increase revenue to £245,000 for the current year.
If there is competition from a new copy shop, then your brother estimates that sales revenue would be reduced by 10% for both scenarios, with and without an additional printer. Your brother estimates that there is a 30% probability of a new copy shop opening nearby.
The purchase price is £40,000 for a new Xerox DocuPrint 135MX high speed digital printer. Your brother could buy a used printer from the website Ebay.co.uk. The price is £30,000 for the same printer model, but, the maintenance records shows that it is 4 years old.
Based on his past experience, your brother estimates that the used printer has a 20% probability of having a fault within a year. If a fault occurs, he estimates it would cause £15,000 of expenses for repairs and lost business.
Your brother uses an annual discount rate of 7.4% for financial analysis.
ASSESSMENT CRITERIA
Each case study response will be marked according to the following criteria:
| Marks | Criteria |
| 7–10 |
The response demonstrates:
- a compelling and creative position or course of action
- an ability to avoid the obvious and show insights that are individual and often unexpected
- a capacity to develop ideas flexibly and fluently, yet with control and purpose
- an awareness of different perspectives and competing motivations in relation to the case study question
- an ability to relate personal experiences, current events, facts and opinions to issues in the case study question
- effective use of quantitative information and techniques to support the response
- an ability to use grammar for clarity and effect, as well as following conventional writing guidelines
|
| 6 |
The response demonstrates:
- a well defined position or course of action
- a capacity to develop ideas with a clear sense of order and purpose
- an ability to relate personal experiences, current events, facts and opinions to issues in the case study question
- effective use of quantitative information and techniques to support the response
- an ability to use grammar to express personal viewpoints, as well as following conventional writing requirements
|
| 5 |
The response demonstrates:
- a specific position or course of action
- an ability to relate personal experiences, facts and opinions to issues in the case study question
- appropriate use of quantitative information and techniques to support the response
- an ability to follow conventional writing requirements, but with minimal awareness of choices that affect clarity and style
|
| 4 |
The response demonstrates:
- a general position or course of action
- a basic comprehension of the scope and consequences of the main issues
- an attempt to use quantitative information in support of the response
- an awareness of facts and opinions, but, often with lack of context and purpose
- an attempt to follow conventional writing requirements, but with a number of avoidable mistakes
|
| 0–3 |
The response demonstrates:
- a vague position or course of action
- minimal comprehension of the scope and consequences of the main issues
- minimal effort to use quantitative information
- an unacceptable number of factual errors or unrelated statements
- minimal effort to follow conventional writing requirements
|
