Draft project proposal

Draft project proposal

Research an organisation and develop 4-6 research questions relating to operations. Refer to attachment.

729PROJ Project Subject Overview ©Australian Institute of Business. V1Jul15 – SLT:2012 1 Master of Business Administration LEARNING MATERIALS PROJECT 729PROJ Project Subject Overview ©Australian Institute of Business. V1Jul15 – SLT:2012 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS Synopsis………………………………………………………………………………………2 Project Purpose…………………………………………………………………………….2 Learning Outcomes………………………………………………………………………..3 Content……………………………………………………………………………………….3 Resources…………………………………………………………………………………….4 Assessment………………………………………………………………………………….5 Academic Integrity: Avoiding Plagiarism, Collusion and Other Issues……..7 Online Library User Guide……………………………………………………………….7 729PROJ Project Subject Overview ©Australian Institute of Business. V1Jul15 – SLT:2012 2 Synopsis Subject Code: 729PROJ Subject Credit Points: 10 AQF Level: 9 Associated higher education awards: – Master of Business Administration Pre- and co-requisites: Before beginning the Project, you must have undertaken at least 8 MBA subjects (normally including the core subjects). This subject focuses on designing, conducting and reporting findings from a business research project. The objective of this subject is to undertake a project related to the chosen specialisation. Students will identify an appropriate workplace-based research problem, conduct a small literature review, engage in data collection in the workplace setting, analyse the data and present findings in a formal business research report. Project Purpose For this subject, you are required to undertake a research Project which addresses an issue of strategic or functional importance to your organisation (or to another organisation of your choice or to a newly forming organisation). You will use knowledge of a research method to investigate a problem issue and to identify potential solutions or improvements for the organisation. The purpose of your Project is explanatory: you provide an account of the issue, of what occurred in terms of a sequence of the events, of the factors contributing to the problem issue, of the roles of key players, and of the impact of past decisions. In order to capture multiple viewpoints and a range of information, you will probably interview relevant individuals in a process of reflection and analysis. The outcome of your analysis should help you identify recommendations to solve or improve the problem issue. One of the core challenges for you is to find the right balance between description and analysis. It is very important to note that description without analysis is not sufficient for this project. Therefore, a business plan, marketing plan or anything similar is not appropriate for your Project as it will not easily lend itself to the required analysis. 729PROJ Project Subject Overview ©Australian Institute of Business. V1Jul15 – SLT:2012 3 Learning Outcomes This table lists the learning outcomes for this subject. Each of the learning outcomes is assessed in the Project Report. AQF’s subject LO categories On completion of this subject participants should be able to: Knowledge LOs Describe and appraise a variety of practical research methods relevant to business research. Identify a problem, core issue orobjective relevant to the professional workplace as a research topic. Skills LOs Source relevant literature and other information for the research project. Identify relevant stakeholders and source relevant information. Develop a project proposal and present and justify the planned project to key stakeholders. Application LOs Design and undertake research using appropriate methodology. Develop and write a substantial research project report. Content There are four distinct phases in the Project: Phase 1. Orientation and selection of topic  Identify a suitable topic for the Project. For some inspiration you may want to have a look at some of the topics that have been used by other MBA students for previous Projects (see Appendix A in the MBA Project learning materials). Please note that if you want to graduate with an MBA specialisation, you are required to complete the Project in the area of your specialisation as the Project is an intrinsic part of the specialisation.  Undertake directed reading on case study research or action research relevant to the Project. Phase 2. Development of Project Proposal  Develop a Project Proposal and communicate with your Project Adviser to fine tune the Project Proposal to an acceptable standard. Submit the Project Proposal to AIB and obtaining AIB’s approval before starting work on your Project. 729PROJ Project Subject Overview ©Australian Institute of Business. V1Jul15 – SLT:2012 4 Phase 3. Data collection and analysis  Collect data for the project in a systematic and ethical manner  Analyse the data to identify themes and findings. Phase 4. Development of Project Report  Write the draft Project Report  Submit the draft Project Report for comment and feedback  Re-work and improve the Project Report  Submit the Project Report to AIB. Resources Prescribed text book Saunders, M, Lewis, P & Thornhill, A 2012, Research methods for business students, 6 th edn, Prentice Hall, London. (Please use the most recent edition of the textbook available.) The Saunders textbook covers topics such as:  Formulating and clarifying the research topic (including how to write a research proposal)  Critically reviewing the literature  Deciding on the research approach and choosing the research strategy (this covers a wide range of possible methodologies like experiments, survey, case study, ethnography, action research, cross-sectional and longitudinal studies)  Negotiating access and research ethics  Using secondary data (especially useful for students doing a finance Project)  Collecting primary data using semi-structured and in-depth interviews  Collecting primary data using questionnaires (for survey research)  Analysing quantitative data (e.g. survey research data, financial reports etc.)  Analysing qualitative data (like the interview data in case study research)  Writing and presenting your Project. The textbook has numerous examples of Project research and writing. Recommended readings You are encouraged to use resources from the list below. Note that Carson et al. (2001) has an excellent treatment of case study, interview and focus group research that can be used in any business field. You are strongly encouraged to use AIB Online Library resources to help identify readings relevant to the problem issue of your Project. Bouma, G & Ling, R 2004, The research process, 5th edn, Oxford University Press. 729PROJ Project Subject Overview ©Australian Institute of Business. V1Jul15 – SLT:2012 5 Carson, D, Gilmore, A, Gronhaug, K & Perry, C 2001, Qualitative research in marketing, Sage, London. Coghlan, D & Brannick, T 2004, Doing action research in your own organization, 2nd edn, Sage Publications. Hart, C 2001, Doing a literature search, Sage Publications. Workman, B 2010, ‘Work-based projects: what they are and how to do them’, Chapter 5 in Helyer, R, The work-based learning student handbook, Palgrave McMillan, pp. 127–154. Yin, R 2014, Case study research: design and methods, 5th edn, Sage Publications. Zikmund, W, Babin, B, Carr, J & Griffin, M 2013, Business research methods, 9th edn, Cengage Learning. All students have access to electronic database(s) with full-text journal articles through AIB’s Online Library. Assessment In this subject there are three assessment items. All assessment items are reviewed and given feedback; only the final assessment item is formally assessed with a mark. The assessment items are as follows: # Assessment item Mark 1 Project Proposal Feedback only 2 Draft Project Report Feedback only 3 Project Report 100% of grade The first two items are considered formative assessment; these two items enable you to obtain constructive academic feedback to help you improve your Project Report. The final item (the Project Report) is summative assessment and is awarded a mark (out of 100). The mark for the Project Report constitutes the overall grade for the subject. Individual assessment items: 1) Project Proposal The Project Proposal should be 1,500 words in length (plus or minus 10%). The structure of the Project Proposal is set out in the section ‘How to Structure the Project Proposal’ and an example of a Project Proposal is available as an Appendix in the MBA Project learning materials. 729PROJ Project Subject Overview ©Australian Institute of Business. V1Jul15 – SLT:2012 6 You will have your Project approved (and Ethics approved) and will receive feedback on your Proposal. You can’t start work on the Project Report until you have received both approvals. You are strongly advised to use any feedback to improve your Project Report. 2) Draft Project Report The Project Report should be 5,500 words in length (plus or minus 10%) (excluding your cover page, the executive summary, table of contents, list of references and appendices). The structure of the Project Report is outlined in the section entitled ‘How to Structure the Project Report’ and an example of a Project Report is available as an Appendix in the MBA Project learning materials. You will receive feedback on your Draft Project Report. You are strongly advised to use the feedback to improve your Project Report. 3) Project Report The Draft Project Report with the feedback will enable you to strengthen and improve your Project Report. Make sure to adhere to the required word length 5,500 words (plus or minus 10%) and that the report clearly meets the assessment criteria. The Project Report is assessed according to AIB project report assessment criteria and will be awarded a mark (out of 100). Please note that the Project Report should: o provide a clear description of the problem issue(s) confronting the organisation o demonstrate knowledge of recent relevant literature in the discipline area of the project, outlining relevant principles and theories o describe and justify the use of a relevant research methodology to collect data about the problem issue o analyse the data (applying principles and theory) and evaluate findings relevant to the problem issue (using evidence to support the argument) o summarise conclusions and provide recommendations (or implications). In addition, you need to: o ensure ethical issues of informed consent are observed o acknowledge sources and facts appropriately o adhere to Harvard Style referencing conventions o use a logical structure and

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