ASSESSMENT GUIDE

COMM1170
Organisational Resources

Term 3, 2024
Assessment Summary
Assessment Task Weighting Due Date* Learning Outcomes
Assessment 1: Reflective Learning Portfolio 1 20% Week 4 – 11:59 AM Monday 30 September CLO1, C L O 2, C L O 3,
A collection of artefacts and reflective commentary from weeks 1-3 CLO4, CLO6

Assessment 2: Reflective Learning Portfolio 2 40% Week 9 – 11: 59 AM Monday 4 November CLO1, C L O 2, C L O 3,
A collection of artefacts and reflective commentary from weeks 4-8 CLO4, CLO6

Assessment 3: Business Case Video Presentation 40% Week 11 – 4:00 PM Thursday 21 November CLO1, C L O 2, C L O 3,
An individual video presenting a business case for your chosen CLO4, CLO5
company, synthesising skills, and frameworks from the course

* Due dates are set at Australian Eastern Standard/Daylight Time (AEST/AEDT). If you are in a different time-zone, you can use the time and date converter.

Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs)

1. Identify different types of organisation resources and processes to lead organisational change. [PLO 1]
2. Examine suitability and efficacy of an organisation's approach to resource management. [PLO 1, 2]
3. Explain how technology assists in achieving organisational internal strategy. [PLO 1]
4. Explain how financial tools and techniques can be utilised to source, mobilise and manage organisational resources. [PLO 1, 2]
5. Develop novel solutions and assess their feasibility to address organisational problems. [PLO2, PLO7]
6. Reflect on organisational practices and processes to identify opportunities for leadership development. [PLO7]

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Assessment Details
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Due Date Weighting Format Length/Duration Submission

Tutorial attendance and the Reflective Learning Portfolios 1 and 2

Attendance in tutorials is essential for success in COMM1170. It's strongly recommended to select
a tutorial time that fits your schedule without conflicts with other commitments like study or work.
Tutorial attendance is directly linked to the completion of major assessments in this course -
Reflective Learning Portfolios 1 and 2.

The process:
1. Attend and Participate: Attend ONLY your allocated tutorial and actively participate in the
learning activities.
2. Register Attendance: Ensure your attendance is recorded by your tutor.
3. Draft Artefacts: During the tutorial, you will have time to draft the Artefact(s) - (key activities
completed under tutor supervision).
4. Submit Drafts: You will be given time to submit the draft Artefact(s) to the Turnitin Dropbox
on Moodle for your allocated tutorial.
5. Submission Requirement: You are NOT permitted to submit an Artefact unless you have
attended the corresponding tutorial.
6. IMPORTANT: Only Artefacts submitted to the Turnitin Dropbox for the tutorial you attended
can be used in your Reflective Learning Portfolios 1 and 2.

Turnitin
Turnitin is an originality checking and plagiarism prevention tool that enables checking of submitted
written work for improper citation or misappropriated content. Each Turnitin assignment is checked
against other students' work, the Internet and key resources selected by your Course Coordinator.
If you are instructed to submit your assessment via Turnitin, you will find the link to the Turnitin
submission in your Moodle course site. You can submit your assessment well before the deadline and
use the Similarity Report to improve your academic writing skills before submitting your final version.
You can find more information on the Turnitin information site for students.

Late Submissions
The parameters for late submissions are outlined in the UNSW Assessment Implementation
Procedure. For COMM1170, if you submit your assessments after the due date, you will incur
penalties for late submission unless you have Special Consideration. Late submission is 5% per day
(inc. weekends), calculated from the total available marks allocated to that assessment, e.g., a 5-
mark penalty (out of 100 total marks) for one (1) day late. Assessments over 5 days late are not
accepted for marking.

Extensions
You are expected to manage your time to meet assessment due dates. If you do require an extension
to your assessment, please make a request as early as possible before the due date via the special
consideration portal on myUNSW (My Student profile > Special Consideration). You can find more
information on Special Consideration and the application process below. Lecturers and tutors do
not have the ability to grant extensions.

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Special Consideration
Special consideration is the process for assessing the impact of short-term events beyond your
control (exceptional circumstances), on your performance in a specific assessment task.

What are circumstances beyond my control?

These are exceptional circumstances or situations that may:
• Prevent you from completing a course requirement,
• Keep you from attending an assessment,
• Stop you from submitting an assessment,
• Significantly affect your assessment performance.

Available here is a list of circumstances that may be beyond your control. This is only a list of examples,
and your exact circumstances may not be listed.
You can find more detail and the application form on the Special Consideration site.

Assessment Review of Results

Please read the specific feedback on your assessments in detail, alongside the general feedback
provided by the Course Coordinator. Feedback is optimised if you revisit the assessment question,
your completed work, the general feedback about the assessment provided on Moodle and the
marking rubric. It is prudent to reflect on this information for a period (e.g., a day) as insightful
analysis takes time to consolidate.
If you still have concerns about your grade, please use the specific criteria in the marking rubric, the
assignment instructions, and the marker’s comments to complete the form on the last page of this
guide. Note that you must complete the “justification linked to the rubric criteria” column with sound
reason(s), otherwise your review request will not be considered.

Please send the completed form to comm1170@unsw.edu.au within 4 business days after the
assessment has been returned. Finally, please note that in a review of the results, your mark may go
up, remain the same or decrease.

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General Instructions for Reflective Learning Portfolios (RLP)
1 and 2

Purpose
Research shows the habit of reflection can separate extraordinary professionals from mediocre ones.
(Bailey and Rehmen, 2022)

The Reflective Learning Portfolios (RLP) are designed to enhance your engagement, learning, and
capacity for self-leadership through reflection. These assessments are not just collections of
‘evidence’ but opportunities to develop critical skills that will help you succeed in this course and in
your future career. They will also aid in preparing you for your final assessment.

Overview
Both Reflective Learning Portfolios (RLP) 1 and 2 help you reflect on and consolidate your learning
experiences throughout the course. These assessments enable you to critically analyse your
participation and engagement in tutorials, and document your learning journey.

Process

Each week you should:

• Complete Asynchronous Work and Attend Lectures: Engage with pre-lecture materials and
attend lectures, taking detailed notes.
• Participate in Tutorials: Attend your tutorial and begin working on your draft Artefacts.
• Submit Draft Artefacts: Submit your draft Artefact in the weekly Turnitin Dropbox on Moodle at
the end of each tutorial. Don’t worry about 100% completion or making the artefact ‘perfect’, as
submitting the draft is for tracking progress and reflection, NOT for final grading.
• Revise and Refine: Continue updating and refining your Artefacts after tutorials to deepen your
understanding. Your revised and refined Artefact will be marked in the final assessment.
• Tip: Be sure to note any new learnings or “aha!” moments – they’ll be useful in your reflection.
• Collate and Annotate:
o Collate your Artefacts into your Reflective Learning Portfolio. You might include photos,
screenshots, text, or other relevant evidence from any part of the week’s learning activities.
Highlight any specific areas of progress.
o Add 3 (min) – 5 (max) annotations (25 - 75 words each) per Artefact. Note: Annotations are
personal commentary that should highlight key concepts, make connections, pose
questions, or express thoughts, serving as a record of your understanding, insights, and
reactions to the learning content.

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Remember: The quality of your artefacts will affect your grade for this assessment, so it is strongly
recommended that you stay up to date with the asynchronous and lecture materials to ensure your
success.

Be sure to utilize the full marking rubric at the end of this document and the supporting resources
available on Moodle to enhance your learning experience and achieve the best possible results in
your Reflective Learning Portfolio.

Item Reflective Learning Portfolio 1 Reflective Learning Portfolio 2

(RLP1) (RLP2)
Number of 2 3
Artefacts

Artefact Drafted in Week 1-3 tutorials, Drafted in Week 4-8 tutorials, revised
Requirements revised and refined and refined:
One Artefact from each week One Artefact from each week
• Two artefacts in total (from Week’s • One Accounting Artefact
1, 2 or 3) (Weeks 4 or 5)
• One Finance Artefact (Weeks 5
or 7
• One additional Artefact from any
week (Weeks 4-8)

Annotations 3-5 annotations (25-75 words each) 3-5 annotations (25-75 words each)
per Artefact per artefact
Reflective Not applicable 800 words
Commentary

Submission of Weekly, at the end of each tutorial, via Turnitin Dropbox on Moodle
Drafts

Final Week 4 Week 9

Submission

Recommended PowerPoint, Canva, or similar presentation applications

Tools

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Assessment 3: Business Case (Video) Presentation (BCP)
Week 11 – 4:00 PM Thursday 21 November 2024

40%

Video – Individual Presentation

8-9 minutes

Via Moodle

Description of assessment task

You will individually record a video pitch analysing an organisational issue and proposing a
compelling solution. You will present to a managerial audience (including the CEO, CFO and CIO) of
an organisation of your choice. Your proposed solution will be based on thorough analyses using
the tools and strategies you learn throughout the term.

Approach to the assessment task

Week 2: Select an organisation you are interested in. The choice of organisation must meet the
following criteria:

• The organisation is publicly listed on a major stock exchange, e.g., the

NYSE/NASDAQ/FTSE/ASX, etc. This ensures that you can access publicly available
financial information about your organisation.
• The information and evidence about the organisation must be available in the English language.
• No more than two students in the same tutorial can choose the same organisation
and the students choosing the same organisation must choose different issues to
work on for the assessment task.
• The organisation must not be utilised in major class examples, ., Netflix.

Week 3: Identify an organisational issue that can be linked to a Human Resources (people)-related
problem. For limited guidance there is a list of possible issues provided on Moodle. You must select and
justify your choice of either:
• An organisational issue that can be linked to a Human Resources (people)-related problem
that is occurring in real-time in the organisation you have chosen OR
• An organisational issue that can be linked to a Human Resources (people)-related problem
that you believe is likely to occur within the next 12 months in your chosen organisation.
• The organisational issue that can be linked to a Human Resources (people)-related problem
must be appropriate for analysis and addressed by considering both technology and capital
resources, as well as any required changes to the organisation’s HR resources.
Your tutor can provide guidance on the suitability of your chosen organisation and associated issue
throughout the term.

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Weeks 4-8: During your COMM1170 tutorials, and as you build on your RLP 1 and 2, you will learn
several useful frameworks, tools and processes that can be used to analyse organisational issues.
You should choose the most relevant/informative one(s) to use for the analysis section of your
presentation:
• Competitive Advantage: 3 strategic approaches (Week 1)
• Resource and Capability analysis (Week 1)
• SWOT analysis (Week 2)
• 5Ws Tool (Weeks 1 and 3)
• ‘As Is–To Be’ Model (Week 3)
• 5 Components of IS analysis (Week 3)
• Budgeting (Week 5)
• Capital Considerations and Business Risk (Week 7)
• TOE feasibility analysis (Week 8)

Week 8-10: The Lectures in these weeks will cover specific examples of organisations at every
stage of the organisational lifecycle and genuine issues faced by these organisations and how
they have tackled them. This will provide you with knowledge and insights to support you in your
own problem-solving process and in formulating recommendations for your chosen organisation.
You should use these lectures to guide you and check for ideas or methods you have not yet
considered in your own analytical and problem-solving process.
In Weeks 9-10, drop-in session times will be available with the COMM1170 teaching team to
ensure you are on track with Assessment 3 and progressing towards delivering your video in
Week 11.

Submission instructions
Upload instructions will be provided on Moodle under the Assessment Hub.

You will submit your Business Case Video Presentation by 4:00 PM Thursday 21 November.

Supporting resources and links

• The full marking rubric can be found at the end of this document.
• Library research seminar recordings will be made available early in Term 3.

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Business Case (Video) Presentation (40%)

Criteria % Fail Pass Credit Distinction High Distinction Improvement

Suggestions
Choice and 35% Issue may not be HR- Relevant HR issue selected Selects a relevant Relevant HR issue selected Highly relevant HR Consult your tutor about
analysis of related and is too broad; but only identified in organisational issue that is
and identified superficially - issue selected and your organisational issue
organisational doesn’t meet assessment superficial way. Focuses linked to HR. Identifies anfurther scrutiny required. accurately targeted. and follow the guidelines
issue brief. No understanding more on issue at a superficial level.
Includes Illustrates causes, to ensure relevance.
shown. symptoms/outcomes. Includes the symptoms symptoms/outcomes but factors, and Investigate the root
Minimal to no evidence or Some evidence from the and/or outcomes. needs deeper analysis of symptoms/outcomes. causes of the issue, not
examples from the organisation. Deeper analysis of causes. Integrates real-world just the symptoms, e.g., a
organisation. underlying causes and/or Some evidence from the evidence from the headache can be relieved
Partially relates to course
contributing factors organisation. organisation. with Panadol but the root
Insufficient relation to content.
course content. required. Embeds and synthesises cause of the headache
Embeds sufficient
Applies some evidence from knowledge gained from course knowledge. remains.
the chosen organisation. course content. Use the course
Demonstrates sufficient frameworks and teachers
knowledge of the course examples to understand
content. what makes them relevant
and interesting.

Feasibility and 30% Solution is irrelevant or Adequate solution with Detailed, evidence-backed Detailed, evidence-backed Highly detailed, evidence- Ensure your solution
effectiveness of unsupported. May ignore minimal evidence. May not solution. Considers People, solution. Justifies relevance backed solution. addresses the root
solution People, Tech, Capital, and be the best choice. Tech, Capital, and of People, Tech, Capital, and Justifies relevance of cause(s).
Accounting resources. Considers People, Tech, Accounting resources. Accounting resources. People, Tech, Capital,
Outlines their relevance. and Accounting Research similar issues
Poor or no feasibility Capital, and Accounting Structured feasibility resources. for inspiration.
analysis using the TOE resources. Outlines their Uses TOE framework. analysis using TOE
relevance. Review weekly lecture and
framework. framework. Comprehensive
Identifies superficial gaps or tutorial content to see
Solution is not useful or Uses TOE framework but feasibility analysis using
limitations in the solution. Identifies potential gaps or how EACH resource
compelling. may be inaccurate or TOE framework.
limitations in the solution. applies to your solution.
irrelevant.
Identifies potential gaps Justify any resources you
May identify limited gaps in or limitations in the find irrelevant.
the solution. solution. Critique your own
Provides brief solution using TOE – the
contingency plans for best solutions aren’t
these limitations. about being perfect, but
about being realistic and
mitigating possible
weaknesses.

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Structure and 20% Inconsistent formatting Inconsistent text and Consistent text and Engaging, professional text Engaging, professional Use impactful, not
visual distracts from main visuals. visuals. Some and visuals. Minimal text and visuals with complex, formatting.
presentation messages. Many errors, Noticeable formatting and formatting and spelling inconsistencies. excellent use of design Use more white space and
making content hard to spelling errors. inconsistencies. elements. clear fonts, rather than
understand. Clear, logical structure.
Busy slides, hard to follow. Generally clear structure. Narrative easy to follow. Excellent attention to cluttered slides.
Overly busy slides, difficult Narrative mostly easy to detail.
Slightly disjointed narrative Include relevant images
to follow. follow. only.
or hard to follow at times. Clear, logical structure
No structure; disjointed with seamless narrative Provide a clear outline with
content. flow. readable headings.
Ensure consistent and
readable font types, sizes,
and color schemes across
all slides

Communication 15% No audience engagement. Minimal audience Communicates ideas Communicates complex Communicates complex Practice your
skills and Reads from a script with engagement. Relies heavily clearly but sometimes ideas clearly but ideas succinctly and presentation, ideally by
delivery no tone variety. on notes, reads without wordy. sometimes wordy. enjoyably for the videoing yourself.
Information is expression. Maintains reasonable Good volume and audience. Add extra energy and
uninteresting. Makes errors and has long volume and pacing, uses pacing, minimal notes. Excellent volume and expression for video
Speaks too fast or pauses. some notes. Some slight Engaging delivery flow. pacing, unscripted. Very presentations.
hesitantly, reducing hesitation. engaging delivery flow. Speak naturally rather
Some eye contact but comes Confident and professional
confidence. Mostly professional but not Very confident and than reading from a
across as mechanical. delivery.
always engaging. professional delivery. script.
Unprofessional delivery
and inappropriate body .
language.

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