Role of the Manager Custom Essay

Module code and title: BHRM401 Role of the Manager
ASSESSMENT 1 BRIEFING
1st PIECE OF ASSESSMENT – COURSEWORK – WEIGHTED 50%:
For the first assignment you are asked to:
• Examine the extent to which the concept of the Managerial Escalator (Rees & Porter, 2008) fits with the experience of two managers of your choice.
• Identify could either of the two Managers be categorised as a hybrid manager.
• Identify to what extent is it possible to identify a Managerial Gap with either Manager.
• Identify the strategies which the employing organisation has utilised in order to support these Managers.
• Interview both managers and write a report on your findings.
In order to do this you are asked to summarise the content of Chapter One in the book Skills of Management (Rees & Porter) and make sure that you understand and can explain the concept of the Managerial Escalator, the Hybrid Manager and the Managerial Gap.
You need to pick out the main points of chapter one from the Skills of Management for the following reasons:
• For this assignment in effect you are going to be testing the model of the Managerial Escalator so you need to start by explaining the model in your own words.
• You are required to interview two people of your choice with managerial responsibilities and establish the extent to which their progression into management and current managerial activity fits with the concept of the Managerial Escalator (Rees & Porter, Skills of Management, Chapter 1, Cengage Learning, 2008).
• Work out what information you need to discover and devise some questions [approximately 10-15 questions] to put to your interviewees, which you feel would elicit this information.
• You need to compare your findings with the model of the Managerial Escalator and also with what Rees & Porter (2008) have written in Chapter One about how people get into management, what problems managers and the organisation face, whether the problems of managers have anything to do with the way they progressed into their managerial position and what could be done about this.
• Write a report on your findings, bearing in mind the advice given in the Lecture Week 2, and the reading on Blackboard.
Please remember that your report is an academic piece of work and that an academic will be reading it. We are interested in how well you understand the concepts identified in the question and their application to two managers of your choice.
In the discussion part of you report, please remember that you are comparing only two cases of managerial experience with the concept of the Managerial Escalator.
In the conclusions to your report, please explain the extent to which what you have found out matches with what you have read about the concept of the Managerial Escalator. When doing this, please make reference to the reading that you have done. Please remember that generalisations should be avoided in the conclusion. Your conclusion should give a summary answer to the questions posed above.
You will need to submit the work electronically via Turnitin link on Blackboard. You will receive electronic or written feedback on your work. Additionally some tutors may ask for an additional hard copy to be handed to them in the seminar.
Supporting Documents for the Interview
• Please attach a list of the questions (questionnaire schedule) you asked as an Appendix to the report.
• You are asked to submit the names and contact details of the two managers you have interviewed. We reserve the right to contact the managers in the event of suspected plagiarism.
Please also include a list (Bibliography) of all reading references that you have used.
There will be a seminar discussion in Week 2. You will find it helpful if you can identify before the seminar the two managers you can interview about their jobs and how they got into management. Read Chapter One in Rees & Porter (2008) and have a think in advance as well. In this way you will get the maximum benefit from the seminar discussion.
WORD COUNT – 2000 words maximum including appendices.

The final date & time for handing in the assessment via Turnitin is: Monday 24th February, 2014 @ 1 pm [13:00].
IMPORTANT: Coursework assessment marking criteria
The mark you receive will be influenced by the following:
• Whether or not you have carried out the tasks described in the briefing note;
• Quality of the discussion: is the argument coherent and does it follow a logical structure;
• Use of correct spelling, punctuation and grammar;
• References to the reading: if you make direct quotes from the text you will need to put the exact page number as well as the authors names and date of publication.
• Use of evidence to underpin any points that are being made;
• Questionnaire Schedule;
• Bibliography in Harvard Style.
The target date for handing back the coursework is week-beginning 18th March, 2014 in normal seminar time. Please ensure that you attend the seminar to which you have been allocated otherwise there may be a delay in getting your work marked.
19th January, 2014