Managing Processes

and Systems
Assignment
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© Henley Business School, April 2020

Item code: MPS-AQ-8A

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 MPS-AQ-8A

Introduction
The assessment of the Managing Processes and Systems (MPS) module is by a
combination of assignment and examination. The assignment comprises an individual
written report providing you with the opportunity to investigate, report and reflect on
the application of the concepts and techniques studied in this module to a practical
organisational problem, challenge or opportunity.
The assignment is designed so that you can bring together theory and practice to
produce a practical report that can be applied where you work, either at
departmental/functional or organisational level.
Your assignment is to be based on a current problem, challenge or opportunity of your
choice affecting goods and/or service delivery within your organisation. The operating
system you choose should provide goods and/or services to internal and/or external
customers. Typically, it will be associated with the department or function where you
are currently working but it may cross functional or organisational boundaries where
appropriate.
In some situations, it may not be possible to find a suitable topic within your own
organisation. In such cases, you should choose a topic in an organisation that is known
to you and to which you have appropriate levels of access to gather data. Note that in
the introduction to the assignment you are asked to describe your relationship with
the organisation you have chosen.

Purpose of the assignment

The assignment is designed to allow you to demonstrate your ability to:
• critically evaluate the applicability of module concepts to specific organisational
contexts
• describe, analyse and evaluate the design and performance of operating
systems and processes using appropriate theories, models and frameworks
from the module
• demonstrate your critical understanding of the module through the selection
and application of appropriate theories, models and frameworks to the chosen
problem, challenge or opportunity
• identify opportunities to improve delivery performance and design appropriate
strategies for achieving that improvement
• recommend appropriate management techniques to realise benefits from
process change in a complex environment

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Managing Processes and Systems: Assignment

Additionally, you are required to reflect on how the theories and concepts presented
in the module have informed your thinking on management thinking and practice,
especially understanding in the context of your journey through the programme to
date.

Assignment brief
Identify a current problem, challenge or opportunity related to delivery of goods
and/or services within your organisation, make recommendations likely to deliver
business performance improvements, and develop the implementation plan.
Note that the assignment should deal with a current issue and not an historical (i.e.
past) one.
The report should consist of a cover page (see ‘Word count’, below) and six elements:
1. Title
2. Introduction (approximately 10% of word count)
3. Part 1: Analysis of a current process-related problem, challenge or opportunity
within your organisation leading to recommendations to address the problem,
challenge or opportunity that will deliver performance improvements
(approximately 50% of word count)
4. Part 2: Presentation of the implementation plan including risk management
(approximately 30% of word count)
5. Reflection (approximately 10% of word count)
6. Reference list
Appendices, if used, should be placed after the reference list. The required elements of
the report are described in detail below.

Title (not included in word count)

The title should indicate the topic and focus of the report to the reader. Your title
should not normally exceed 25 words.

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Introduction (approximately 10% of word count)

In this section of your assignment you should:
• Clearly state the problem, challenge or opportunity that is the focus of your
assignment.
• Briefly describe the context, including:
• an overview of the organisation, department or function in which the issue
is located
• an overview of the relevant contextual factors relating to the issue that you
intend to analyse
• your relationship to the organisation/issue to be discussed

Part 1: Analysis of current issue (approximately 50% of word

count)
In Part 1 you should critically analyse your chosen problem, challenge or opportunity
using selected theories, models and frameworks from the module course material,
correctly referenced and supported by appropriate evidential data.
You should explain the structure and scope of the system being analysed and provide
evidence-based evaluation of current and required future performance as appropriate
to establish the need for change and/or improvement.
Your analysis should clearly identify the relevant factors causing and/or influencing the
chosen problem, challenge or opportunity, and lead to actionable recommendations
that will address the factors that you have identified and deliver performance
improvement as a result. Your recommendations must be clearly grounded in your
analysis.
Data to support your analysis may be drawn from secondary sources (e.g. process
performance data, customer surveys, etc) and/or simple fieldwork, such as interviews
or focus groups with key stakeholders. Data may be quantitative and/or qualitative.
You should give a brief description of your data sources and clearly link evidence to the
arguments being made in your analysis.

Part 2: Implementation of recommendations (approximately

30% of word count)
Develop and present an implementation plan for the recommendations proposed in
Part 1. Your plan should take into account relevant contextual factors that will need to
be managed as part of the implementation and address, as appropriate, scope of work,
overall implementation strategy, implementation schedule and resourcing.

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Managing Processes and Systems: Assignment

You should include an assessment of risks that could affect successful implementation
and a plan for how those risks will be managed.
You should make use of appropriate models and frameworks from the module course
material, supported by suitable evidential data, in developing and presenting your
implementation plan. A budget is not required or expected.

Reflection (approximately 10% of word count)

To demonstrate your broader understanding and learning from studying the MPS
module, you are required to include a reflective component to your assignment. For
example: What are the strengths and weaknesses of the process and system
approach? How has study of the MPS module influenced your thinking about and your
approach to management? How will you use your learning from MPS in the future?

Reference list (not included in word count)

The reference list is a full list of all the sources you have cited in your text. It must be in
the Harvard referencing style.

Assignment marking
The individual report forms 100% of the mark for the assignment component of the
MPS module. The assessment criteria are shown at Appendix 1.

Assignment preparation guidance

Suggested approach
Do not wait until you have finished working through the whole module before starting
to think about your assignment. The suggested approach is to identify a potential topic
(or a selection of potential topics) towards the start of your study and to refine your
thinking as you progress. You will find a number of practice applications in each
module session; these invite you to apply your learning to practical situations as you
study. You can use them to build up your understanding of core concepts and also to
contribute directly to your assignment. Study the outline assignment structure as you
work and think about what each activity is asking you to do in the context of the
overall assignment task. Questions and discussion points can be raised with the online
tutor in the Module Q&A area for MPS in Canvas.

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General guidance
Do not simply write a descriptive or narrative account. Instead, your assignment must
show your critical understanding of what you have studied in the module. You will be
expected to demonstrate this through the selection and application of appropriate
module concepts, models and analysis techniques to a ‘real-world’ issue, supported by
appropriate sources of evidence.
Remember that a model or framework is not an island; it should not simply be
reproduced or included in your assignment without critical discussion of its relevance
and contribution to your analysis. Be selective: a smaller number of well-chosen
models, supported by appropriate evidence, will carry more weight than using lots of
models with little relevance to the situation.
Ensure you develop a coherent, logical overall argument through your report, with
clear linkages between components. Remember also that you are working to a word
limit. The outline structure given in this assignment brief provides a clear, step-by-step
approach to structuring the assignment and indicative word-count allocation. You
should follow this overall structure when planning and writing your assignment.
Make appropriate use of tables and graphics to support your analysis. All tables and
graphics should be captioned, including any relevant source citation, and referred to in
the main body of the text. Referencing should use the Harvard (author–date)
referencing system.

Submitting your assignment

When you are ready to submit your assignment, please do so via the Submissions
button on the module home page. Detailed guidance on how to do so can be found in
the ‘Exams and Assignments’ area of the Flexible Executive MBA, in Canvas.

Submission date
Please refer either to the study schedule for your cohort or to the Calendar in Canvas
for the assignment submission deadline for this module. If you have an assignment
deadline and you are concerned that you will not be ready to submit, you may request
to extend your assignment submission date. The circumstances under which it is
permissible to request an extension, as well as penalties for late submission, are
detailed in the ‘Key Policies’ section, under ‘Exams and Assignments’, in the
programme area.

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Managing Processes and Systems: Assignment

Word count
Your assignment should be 3,000 words in length.
Word count will comprise all text including:
• executive summary (if required)
• footnotes/endnotes
• all text in tables, diagrams etc
The word count should not include:
• the text on the cover page (the cover page should include your name, student
ID number, the title of the report, the title of the module and word-count
statement)
• table of contents (if required)
• reference list and any appendices
Assignments may not exceed the specified word count by more than 20% or fall short
of it by more than 10%. A student should not benefit from submitting a piece of work
that greatly exceeds the specified length (over 20% of the specified limit). A marker is
not obliged to read beyond the word limit, and a mark based on the work up to the
word limit will be awarded. Assignments that fall short of the specified word count by
more than 10% will be marked as submitted, sustaining any potential limitations due
to shorter content.

Use of appendices
You are advised to be cautious when including appendices in assignments. There are
no specific criteria for marking or mark allocation available for appendices, so the
assessment process focuses on the appropriate use of appendices.
When deciding whether or not to include appendices, consider the following points:
• Appendices should add value or detail to the discussion and analysis
undertaken in the main body of the assignment.
• They offer programme members the opportunity to give greater relevant and
appropriate detail to support the main analysis and discussion.
• Models, theory and discussion that demonstrate critical evaluation and analysis
of issues related to the module being assessed should always be presented
within the main body of the text. This discussion should make sense without
referring to the appendices. Using a bullet point summary in the text (which
does not constitute analysis) and putting the detailed analysis in the
appendices is not acceptable practice and could result in failure.

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• The inclusion of appendices should not be viewed as an opportunity to include

anything that cannot fit in the word count.
• Assignments that make excessive use of appendices suggest inappropriate use.
As a guide, we would not normally expect appendices to exceed one third of
the length of the assignment.
• Appendices should always be referenced at the appropriate point within the
discussion in the main body of the text.

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Managing Processes and Systems: Assignment

Appendix 1 Assessment criteria

Please refer to your Programme Handbook for further information on the marking categories shown in the table.
Well above expected Above expected Meets expected Below expected
standard standard standard standard

1. Defining an appropriate Topic exceptionally well Topic well chosen and Suitable topic, Weak or unsuitable
topic for the subject matter chosen and defined clearly defined adequately defined topic and/or poorly
defined

2. Demonstrating knowledge Shows excellent Shows good knowledge Shows an adequate Shows insufficient
and understanding of the knowledge and depth of and understanding of level of knowledge and knowledge and
module content understanding of module tools and understanding of key understanding of
module tools and concepts module tools and module tools and
concepts concepts concepts

3. Displaying understanding of Strongly demonstrates Demonstrates how core Partially demonstrates Poor or no
how core concepts and how core concepts and concepts and models / how core concepts and demonstration of how
frameworks are interlinked, models / frameworks frameworks are related models / frameworks core concepts and
where applicable are related and logically and logically integrated are related and models / frameworks
integrated integrated are related and/or
integrated

4. Selecting and correctly Excellent Good demonstration of Fair demonstration of Poor or no

applying appropriate concepts, demonstration of in- understanding of ability to apply module demonstration of
models and frameworks (to a depth and critical module materials materials through understanding of
real-world context, where understanding of through application to application to practice module materials
applicable), effectively module materials practice and/or failure to
Content

integrating theory and practice through application to demonstrate ability to

practice relate them to practice

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Well above expected Above expected Meets expected Below expected

standard standard standard standard

5. Using evidence to conduct a Excellent use of Good use of evidence to Adequate use of Limited or
rigorous, selective, in-depth, evidence to support support analysis and evidence to support inappropriate use of
critical analysis analysis and discussion discussion analysis and discussion evidence to support
analysis and discussion

6. Drawing substantive insights Draws insightful Draws appropriate Draws conclusions that Fails to draw
from analysis leading to well- conclusions thoroughly conclusions well- are reasonably conclusions and/or
founded conclusions and, grounded in in- depth grounded in analysis of grounded in analysis of draws conclusions not
where applicable, analysis of practical practical situation practical situation grounded in analysis
recommendations situation

7. Evidence of personal Excellent personal Good and appropriate Reasonable personal Limited or no personal
reflection to demonstrate reflection personal reflection reflection that could be reflection or of little
greater insight and demonstrating greater demonstrating insight developed in greater relevance to the
understanding insight and and understanding depth and/or in more development of further
understanding appropriate areas insight and
understanding

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Managing Processes and Systems: Assignment

8. Clear, coherent structure Excellent linkages Good overall Adequate overall Incoherent or illogical
and logical flow of between components organisation and organisation and overall organisation and
Structure

argumentation giving a strong and structure with good structure with linkages structure with poor or
logical flow to the linkages between between components no linkages between
overall argument components giving a giving a reasonable flow components, thus
clear flow to the overall to the overall argument lacking flow in the
argument overall argument

9. Clarity of writing and Excellent presentation Effective presentation Fair presentation with Limited / ineffective
presentation (including with high level of clarity with good clarity of reasonable clarity of presentation with poor
graphics, tables and of writing and writing and well edited. writing and adequate clarity of writing and
appendices) to professional thoroughly edited. Clear and appropriate editing. Reasonable use significant weaknesses
standard Strong and creative use use of graphical and of graphical and tabular in editing. Weak and/or
of graphical and tabular tabular presentation. All presentation. All figures inappropriate use of
presentation to support figures and tables and tables reasonably graphical and tabular
the analysis. All figures appropriately captioned captioned / annotated presentation. Limited
and tables clearly / annotated and and mostly discussed in and/or incorrect
Presentation

captioned / annotated discussed in text. text. captioning / annotation

and discussed in text. of figures and tables
and lacking in-text
discussion.

10. Accurate and complete Excellent referencing Good and appropriate Reasonable referencing Limited or no
referencing using Harvard using the Harvard referencing using the mostly following the referencing, or no
referencing system referencing system Harvard referencing Harvard referencing attempt to follow the
system system Harvard referencing
system, or showing
failure to understand
the concept of
referencing

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