The Impact of Teamwork on Productivity: A Case Study of BP PLC (Essay Sample)

Main Objective of the assessment
To write a report of a piece of research. This involves being able to use the literature in order to identify a suitable research problem/issue or
opportunity to explore, to design/implement a study using suitable and appropriately justified research methods, to present the findings and
finally to provide conclusions. You will also have demonstrated that the requirements of responsible ethical behaviour in research were taken
into account. All of this encourages you towards becoming an ‘independent’ researcher. Being independent means (amongst other things) being
capable of: (a) formulating good questions; (b) developing and presenting well-informed and well-supported arguments; and (c) defending your
arguments in open discussion. Learning to deal with complex, open-ended problems and limited, often ambiguous, information is an extremely
valuable preparation for future challenges.
MG3119 Issues and Controversies in Management
Coursework Brief for 2021/22
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Description of the assessment
In this, you will have shown how you have “draw[n] on the literature in the field, analyse[d] and interpret[ed] research evidence of a disciplinespecific phenomenon in order to identify a suitable research problem/issue or opportunity to explore”, that you have “identified a suitable
research problem/issue or opportunity, design[ed] and implement[ed] a research investigation/study, use[d] suitable research methods,
appropriately justified, and report[ed] efficiently and effectively on the findings, conclusions and (where appropriate) proposals for appropriate
action thereof”. You will also have demonstrated “that the requirements of responsible ethical behaviour in research [were] suitably taken into
account”. You need to provide evidence that you have understood and met “the requirements of responsible ethical behaviour in research”.
These quotes come from the learning outcomes published in the module block outline.
The Project Report should consist of a carefully-crafted account of your Project. It is important to remember that this Report is the only evidence
that the markers are able to use when assessing your work. These guidelines are designed to help you to prepare the best document/Report
possible, so that you do full justice to the research you have undertaken. Please read in conjunction with the marking scheme.
Format
• Project reports must contain no more than 8,000 words, as measured by the standard word count available on Microsoft Word. This
includes all the text starting from Chapter 1 (anything before the first word of chapter 1 does not count) but excluding the list of References
list and the Appendices (if any).
• Reports should have appropriate spacing (either single-line spaced or 1.5 line spaced), with a 3.5cm left-hand margin (to allow for binding)
and 2.5cm top and bottom margins.
• The recommended fonts are: Arial (or any other standard, modern font) or Times New Roman (should you prefer a more ‘traditional’
font). Text should be in 11 or 12 point. Chapter headings should be larger, that is, in either 12, 14 or 16 point.
• Insert a page number at the bottom of the report (in Word, click ‘insert page number’).
• Chapters, sections and sub-sections should be numbered using standard report formats (for example, ‘Chapter 1: Introduction’; ‘1.1 The
research problem’).
• The title page should include: Project title, your student ID number. All title page text should be centred and presented in 18 point Arial
font.
• The Abstract should be no more than 250 words, summarising the whole Project and highlighting your key findings.
• It is essential to provide references for ALL source material that you use in your Project, using the Harvard format (for example, books,
articles, reports, newspapers, webpages). This includes citing sources in the text and providing full references in the list of References.
Additional guidance on how to cite/reference can be obtained from the Library.
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Structure
The precise structure and presentation of your Project will depend in part on the research and the approach that you have adopted. The following
structure is typical (‘typical’ does not mean ‘required’):
• Cover sheet. However, if you forget to do this, you will not lose any marks, so there is no need to ‘take back’ any version and upload a
new one if you forget. As long as we have your student ID number on the front, this is sufficient in order for us to identify your work (this
is the point of the coversheet).
• Title page
• Abstract (the equivalent term in business reports is ‘Executive Summary’).
• Acknowledgements
• Table of contents page
• List of figures page
• List of tables page
• Chapter 1: Introduction. This chapter is likely to include: background to the research area, problem definition/research gap, and Project
outline.
• Chapter 2: Literature review (you may insert a more meaningful title, based on the research area). It is unlikely that you will need two
chapters for this, but if you do, then you are free to do so. This guidance, in this document, assumes that you will not (because, normally,
you do not).
• Chapter 3: Research methods. Here you present and justify your research approach, method used, and the rest, that is, what data was
gathered, and when, how).
• Chapter 4: Results/Findings. Here you present your analysis and the results/findings from the data that you gathered).
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• Chapter 5: Discussion (or, ‘discussion and conclusion’, or ‘conclusion’ or some other wording which tells the reader ‘this is the final
chapter’). Here you summarise the whole piece of research, highlight what you have found/what contribution your study has made, state
the limitations, set out the future work and, if there are any, state the practical or other implications to research and/or practice.
• References (Harvard referencing style).
• Appendices (this may include, say, the questionnaire or other instrument used, the letter from the Research Ethics Committee).
There is no fixed allocation of words for particular sections/chapters; it is a matter of judgement (your judgement, not ours), within the overall
word limit. When initially allocating a word length to your chapters (and also when editing chapters at a later stage), you should take into account
the kind of research you have undertaken (for example, some research questions may justify slightly longer literature reviews; largely quantitative
research studies may require fewer words in the Results/Findings chapter, as findings can be summarised using graphs).
Appendices should be used for relevant material that cannot be inserted in the main text without disturbing the logical flow (this is normally
related to evidence of the data that you collected) that are cross-referenced in the Report. Transcripts of interviews should be included in the
Appendices; however, if they are very extensive, they can be presented in font 10 or 9; single spaced or on double sided pages. If you use
Appendices incorrectly (for example, if they contain parts of your main argument that you could not ‘fit’ into the main Report, or large amounts
of raw evidence, such as printouts), you risk losing marks.
Other sources of advice
We recommend that you read several research methods textbooks, focusing on relevant chapters, and use these sources to support your
arguments in the Report. You can also learn a lot about research – including theory, concepts, evidence, methods, and presentation – by reading
examples of published academic research (for example, journal articles, dissertations, theses and reports). Just one warning: remember that
other researchers may follow different sets of guidelines (for example, for report structure and referencing), to those specified for this Project.
Any questions?
If you have a question, in the first instance try to resolve it yourself by looking at these guidelines, the marking scheme and the study guide and
by discussing them with colleagues in your seminar group. If you are still unsure, speak to your seminar leader.
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Marking scheme
UG mark bands, degree equivalent and grade point bands [Senate Regulation 2] are:
Indicative Mark Band Degree class equivalent Grade Grade Point
90 and above 1 A* 17
80-89 1 A+ 16
73-79 1 A 15
70-72 1 A- 14
68-69 2.1 B+ 13
63-67 2.1 B 12
60-62 2.1 B- 11
58-59 2.2 C+ 10
53-57 2.2 C 9
50-52 2.2 C- 8
48-49 3 D+ 7
43-47 3 D 6
40-42 3 D- 5
38-39 Fail E+ 4
33-37 Fail E 3
30-32 Fail E- 2
29 and below Fail F 1
Submission Instructions
Coursework must be submitted electronically via the University’s WISEflow system. The required file format for this report is Adobe PDF. Your
student ID number must be used as the file name (e.g. 0123456.pdf). You must ensure that you upload your file in the correct format and use
the College’s electronic coursework coversheet. Please note that submissions of ‘.pages / .docx etc’ documents will not be accepted and must
be converted to approved format.
The electronic coursework coversheet must be completed and included at the beginning of all coursework submissions prior to submitting on
WISEflow.
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This document provides you with detailed criteria that will be/was used in marking the Project. This marking scheme, like all marking schemes,
draws on the University’s grade descriptors to inform its design. Marking is evidence-based. As markers, we make our ‘judgement of the
academic standard’, as it is called in Senate Regulations. A ‘judgement of the academic standard’ is more usually shortened to/called our
‘academic judgement’. We use the evidence in front of us to award the mark/grade that the work merits, in our academic judgement. The
marking scheme and the University’s grade descriptors are used to assist us in making that academic judgement when marking any work,
including this Final Year Project Report.
Below is the marking scheme and it provides an illustration of each assessment criterion achieved at each of the grade descriptors for this level: