ACADEMIC WRITING TO REPLACE FINAL EXAM (30%)

Dear all,
This assignment is a replacement to the written final exam. In another words, this is an
individual assignment.
The CLO measured will be CLO1 for Knowledge domain.
You are asked to select a topic from the list provided in Appendix A.
Based on the selected topic, kindly perform online search for relevant information. You are highly
recommended to base your writing on published online articles (e.g. newspapers, magazine,
reports, books) or journal papers. There are ample of online resources available on UMS Library
website (https://login.ezproxy.ums.edu.my/login) and Google Scholar, please take your time to
search for it. You may also source for published Euromonitor data via UMS Library portal (log in
using UMS Library proxy and click Database, then Passport).
Review a range of 5-10 articles on the chosen topic. You may discuss the whole topic (e.g.,
motivation issues for salespeople) or just choose a particular part of the topic (e.g. plateauing
issue among salespeople) and write a report on it. You may also focus on an industry (e.g.
motivation issues for salespeople among grocery retail industry) or just have a general discussion
which covers any industry (e.g. motivation issues for salespeople in general). Kindly remember
that the text book that we used can only be a supplementary source to your report writing.
The report should be using the following format:
1) Cover page: should include important details such as your name, matric numbers, the title
and code of the course, semester, the lecturer name, the name of the assignment (in this
case, Academic Writing Report: XXX), as well as date of submission.
2) The report should be divided into different basic parts. For examples, Introduction, Issues,
Discussion and Conclusion. Your papers must present your original point of view. Make
sure there is a nice flow of discussion from one part to the other part. Followings are some
guideline on the part: -
- Introduction: Brief introduction of the background of your writing. (E.g. What is
motivation and what are the motivational theories? Explain the development of
motivation theory etc)
- Issues: This is the focal point of your writing and the main message you are trying to
deliver. (E.g. What is the significance of studying and applying motivational theories
in sales? What are the issues and problem faced by salespeople related to motivation?
etc.)
- Discussion: This is most important part of your report. This part details the key points
or statements that you will use to support your arguments. Summarise and compare
the key findings for the articles reviewed. (E.g. What are the latest studies on
motivation related to sales or sales management? What are the key findings? Are
these findings differ and consistent? Etc.)
- Conclusion: Summarise what you have reported and connect it to the real-life
situation. Try to recommend to the industry on how these issues could be addressed.
3) Don’t forget to choose a nice title for your report based on the topic and issue that you
report (e.g. Academic Writing Report: Motivational issues among Retail Salespeople)
4) The length of the report is 1500 words. The calculation of wordings excludes title, tables,
figures, appendix and references.
 5) Attached all the articles referred with the report.
6) You are given two weeks (14 days) to complete this report. Submit your report via email
(e.g. email to [email protected]).
7) The division of topic will be done within the group. For example, shall there be 8 members
in your groups, then all members will take one topic from the list of 1-8. The division of
the topic will follow alphabetical order of your name. E.g. Ahmad will take topic 1, Beatrice
will take topic B, Chai will take topic 3 etc. Please discuss among yourself.
Again, as a gentle reminder, this is a take home, individual project. To address plagiarism issue,
all reports will be submitted to Turnitin for similarity checking. I hence would like to remind you
to work with integrity and honesty.

Appendix A
Suggested topic: (please choose one)
1. Performance issues among salespeople (e.g. sales performance; sales roles and conflicts;
satisfaction; ambiguity etc)
2. Motivation issues among salespeople (e.g. motivational theories; various types of
motivational factors etc)
3. Personality issue among salespeople (e.g. individual factors which determinant the sales
people performance etc)
4. Recruitment and selection of salespeople (e.g. recruitment criteria and issues; selection
criteria and issues; selection procedures and issues etc)
5. Training issues among salespeople (e.g. development of training, topics, methods,
measurement of training etc)
6. Compensation for salespeople (e.g. types of compensations; importance of
compensation; measuring the effectiveness of compensation etc)
7. Other topics (e.g. measuring salespeople performance; sales quota etc)
8. Other topics (e.g. sales territory; time management for salespeople etc)