Assignment Guide
Introduction for Students
During the course of their studies, students will be asked to submit assignments, which may be in a variety of different formats. These include reports, short-answer questions, case studies and presentations. The required format will be indicated in the assignment document and can be clarified with the course tutor.
Different types of assignment are chosen to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge of a wide range of skills and to provide evidence of effective ability to communicate in a different ways.
Assignments should be challenging but students are able to seek support from their tutors to reach the required standard. They should be reminded that there is often no single correct response and that they will benefit from thinking creatively about the content of their assignment. It is important for students to organise a brief schedule for the completion of their work and allocate appropriate time. They will also need to find out the following information:
Students should be encouraged to pay attention to the following areas with which they often have problems:
Tips on Writing Assignments
Submission Format
Word Process, if possible.
ATHE expects that, unless previously agreed, students will submit assignments in typewritten or word-processed format
Identify it
All pages must have the learner name, ID number and page number clearly shown.
Space it
ATHTE advises that students submit word-processed work at least one-and-a-half spaced, with wide margins. Similarly, hand-written material must be well spaced: often writing on every other line greatly helps clarity.
Assignment Guidelines
Academic Honesty (plagiarism)
Plagiarism refers to students who cheat in examinations or present someone else’s material as if it where their own
Very few students commit such offences, but we believe that it is important that all students understand why academic honesty is a matter of such concern and why such severe penalties are imposed.
What Constitutes Plagiarism?
Some examples of plagiarism are:
There are degrees of plagiarism, particularly where published work is concerned. Minor instances of plagiarism are at the discretion of the Assessor, for example;
Where an instance of plagiarism has been treated as minor, a warning will be issued about future conduct. The assignment may receive a lower mark than might otherwise have been awarded. More serious infringements, which cannot be treated as minor, will result in a report to the Programme Manager and a record placed on the students’ file. Students who are found to have presented plagiarised work for assessment will be penalised.
Writing in your own words
To produce a good assignment, students will need to construct a strong argument with logical progression and providing supporting evidence, such as quotations from other sources, paraphrased sections of others’ works, or references to published works. Using such evidence sources demonstrates that the response is rigorous and that relevant books and articles have been used to develop an argument. It is essential to ensure that all evidence used is balanced, and not just a those facts or comments that support an argument, whilst failing to acknowledge competing material. Students must demonstrate an understanding of the differences between fact and conjecture. This is a requirement in all academic disciplines. Whilst using a variety of sources, students must avoid any form of plagiarism. They must not use exactly the same wording or vocabulary as used by another author but they may use certain essential words or phrases. Instead, they should use their own words to develop an appropriate structure for their argument; change the structure of existing sentences to reflect their own ideas; and always choose only sections of an original argument that are relevant to their response needs.
Guide to Referencing
When you write your assignment, you will refer to statements and ideas of Authors you have read. As such, you need to show the marker whose ideas they are. There are a number of reasons why you need to reference:
The most commonly used referencing system is the Harvard system.
Referencing is a two-stage process: you need to reference in the text of the report or assignment and at the end in a reference list.
Submission of Assignments
Students will be required to submit assignments electronically to the college. To safeguard against academic malpractice, learners will be required to submit their assignments with a Top Sheet that contains a signed declaration that it is the student’s own work. This will be counter-signed by a Mentor, who is known to the student and preferably from their place of work.
All received assignments will be dated upon receipt and will be subject checks for plagiarism. Any breaches of academic malpractice will be subject to the conditions and procedures relating to the Malpractice Policy.
Assignment Grading
Unit assignments are assessed as Pass or Fail. A Pass grade is achieved by:
1. Learners must continue to achieve all learning outcomes at the standards specified by the assessment criteria. Learners will need to achieve the appropriate level for the qualification they are studying. They will need to deliver the requirements of the command verbs stated in the assessment criteria and to support their achievement learners should complete the ATHE assignments. This position is unchanged.
2. However in order to achieve the learning outcomes learners do not need to meet the standards for each assessment criteria listed for a particular learning outcome. So if a learner does not meet the standards in one criterion specified for a particular learning outcome that learning outcome can still be achieved. Where there are a list of criteria for a learning outcome more than one criterion may be marginal. This is a modification to the present process.
3. This means that the assessor is still judging whether the evidence provided by the learner shows that he/she has demonstrated understanding or is able to do what the learning outcome asks. In order to be assured of achievement the level of the work must be the same but there is no need to mechanistically check that each assessment criterion has been met.
Marking of Assignments
Assignments will be first marked by Study Centre staff and the feedback and grades recorded. They will then be Internally Verified (IV) by a member of the college staff in line with. Assessment decision will then be ratified by the Exam Board. External Verification (EV) will be undertaken by ATHE in accordance with their Policies and Procedures.
Sample assignment
Unit 7.1 Organisational Behaviour
Scenario
You have seen a recruitment advertisement for the position of ‘Organisational Development Officer’ at a large organisation in the City. Following your application, you have been shortlisted for interview and have been asked to complete a number of tasks to demonstrate
Activity 1
As part of the selection process, you have been asked to prepare a report to submit at your interview. In this report you must demonstrate your understanding of effective leadership behaviour theory and leadership practice.
Your report must cover the following topics:
Assessment Criteria 1.1/1.2/1.3/1.4
Activity 2
You have been asked to give a presentation for the interview panel to demonstrate your understanding of the impact of organisational structures and cultures on the effectiveness of the organisation.
Your presentation must cover the following topics:
You will need to produce your notes for the presentation and have appropriate hand-outs for the panel detailing the topics covered.
To support your presentation, the panel have requested an information booklet, which must cover the following topics:
Assessment Criteria 2.1/2.2/3.1/3.2/3.3/3.4
Activity 3
Following your interview, the panel have found it difficult to select one applicant and have asked you to complete a final selection task applied to a specific organisation of your choice. You must create an information pack which demonstrates your understanding of how the organisation can improve employee effectiveness to respond to business opportunities.
Your information pack must include:
Assessment Criteria 2.3
Activity 4
Congratulations - you have been selected as the new Organisational Development Officer. One of your first tasks is to evaluate the effectiveness of organisational decision making. Your line manager has asked you for a report.
Your report must include:
Following your preparatory work, your manager would like you to apply your understanding by including in your report:
Your report should be informative and well presented.
Assessment Criteria 4.1/4.2/4.3
Global Business Strategy
Introduction
Global Business strategy refers to the business approach planned by businesses, companies, or organisations, which operate in the international purview of the market and serve the clients throughout the world (Peng, 2016). These strategies are closely linked to the organisation's short-term goals and long-term goals. The increase in global markets demands the companies to frame a procedure by which they can operate smoothly and competitively in the market.
Hilton hotel is one of the largest brands in the hotel industry. These hotels offer both leisure and business visit facility to travellers at various locations in the world. The headquarters of Hilton hotel is located at Tyson Corner, Virginia. It has approximately 5500 properties in 109 countries and territories. Hilton Hotels holds 15 different brands under it with different names. The organisation has an expected turnover of roughly $9.14 billion (Chang et al., 2017). In this study, the various factors, which are affecting the Hilton hotel group at this time will be reviewed and asserted. All the threats of globalisation and opportunities have been analysed in this study.
LO1
Reviewing and asserting suitable techniques to analyse the business environment
There are absolute numbers of technologies, which can be used to study and affirm the business environment of Hilton Hotels. The best method, which can be used here, is the environmental analysis method. This method focuses on both the internal and external processes of the business.
The environmental analysis is the best-proven method to conduct an analytical and diagnostic evaluation of the Hilton Hotel group. This method is best suited as it helps in earlier identification of the threats that can turn it into an opportunity. This also provides the means to be in close contact with the things happening in the market. The environmental business analysis provides a way to anticipate the plans of the future in regards to an organisation that can act in the benefit of an organisation. The limitations of this method is that it does not provide assurance in the effectiveness as the people might place a faith on the data, without much analysis. This approach also lacks the cautiousness that is required for making a strategic approach. The internal or the micro factors, which affect the Hilton Hotel, can be examined by stakeholder examination and the organisational audit of the business. The stakeholder analysis has been considered as the best option for conducting an investigation. It helps in deciding the requirements of the stakeholders of the organisation and the organisation responsibilities, which the stakeholders have towards the business (Cooper, 2017). The relative significance of each of the stakeholder, the collective powers, and interests of each of the stakeholder can be quickly concluded. By using this analysis technique, the Hilton Hotel can promptly increase its market affiliation with the international and national businesses. As a whole, stakeholder analysis has been regarded as a significant method for analysing the internal factors of the Hilton Hotel.
In the case of weighting the external factors that affect the Hilton hotel, the PESTEL analysis tool is used. PESTEL analysis is a tool, which is used by the organisations to determine the external factors that are affecting the business. The result of this analysis gives the weakness and threats to the organisation in case of external factors (Cuppen, 2016).
Analysing the microenvironment of the Hilton Hotel
The stakeholder analysis method is used to examine the microenvironment of the Holton Hotel. This is an effective method to analyse the internal factors, which pose a threat to the hotel business. The investigation has proved that the major stakeholders in the Hilton Hotel are the customers, dealers, employees and the government.
Stakeholder’s analysis
(Source: Created by the learner)
Analysing the macro environment of the Hilton Hotel
The PESTEL analysis is used to weight the external factors that affect the Hilton Hotel.
| Political | In the UK, the Hilton hotel is expected to face a significant loss due to the Brexit issue as the business is going to suffer a decline. This will lead to fewer business travels, as the companies will decrease in the UK. This will reduce the profits of the business. In the US and other developing nations, the terrorism rates are increasing. This has led many people not to travel towards the prone countries due to the safety measures. This also is impacting the hospitality industry. The people are terrified of any terrorist activities happening in the states like America, and they avoid these places, which has led to less number of tourists (Talias, 2016). |
| Economic | The national and international fluctuation of the currencies in the financial market also affects the hospitality industry. A decrease in the pound value after the Brexit has led to a decline in the expenditure of the people, as they are not spending at the same rate. An instance was the recession in 2008, and there was a considerable loss to the Hilton hotel as the people insisted on budget hotels in place of the luxury hotels. Hilton hotel needs to strategise the global strategy considering the currency fluctuations expected and other issues such as Brexit. The demonetization in the UK in 2015 also led to a significant loss to Hilton as the people had to think a lot before spending and controlled their expenses significantly for useful purposes (Ortega, 2016). |
| Social | Hilton Hotel has been famous among the people who love travelling. Several social factors like the population rate, economic strength, demographics and current trends affect the Hilton hotel. In China, where the population rate is high, the Hilton hotels have been seen to make huge profits in a short time. In some nations like Brazil and Ethiopia, the Hilton Hotel has been running on a small advantage considering the low economic strength of the country. The Hilton Hotel should try to make some budget accommodations available in its hotel according to the places it is in, so that it gets the same amount of customer base in the lesser economic regions too. |
| Technological | The progression of technology has an impact on the hospitality industry. The technical advancement in the catering department helps to reduce the energy required for a particular task and on the other hand increases the cost of the servings (Chan et al., 2018). Hilton Hotel has been trying to develop many self-centred methods for the smooth check-in and checkout of the customers. As it is a leading organisation in hospitality. The use of technological factors will help the hotel to increase its customer base. The government has also been helping the Hilton Hotel in technical advancements and it should try to implement more technological advancements to ease the customer's accommodation. |
| Environmental | The hospitality industry has been affected positively and negatively by ecological factors. The construction of hotels leads to environmental degradation. Several natural disasters in some places also affect the hotel, as the customers do not prefer to travel to the locations where the intensity of these is high. The environmental strict rules and regulations have to be followed by the hotel in every nation. This makes it a bit difficult for its operation as the rules keep on changing. In the coming days, there will be more emphasis on stricter environmental regulations, which will make the hotels change their disposal and waste management criteria (Yang and Cai, 2016). Hilton Hotel should try to implement more organic ways to dispose the garbage generated by it. It should try to incorporate new waste disposal methods that will help it to be more sustainable. |
| Legal | Several legal issues affect the hotel industry. The hotel industry should precisely follow the regulations stated by the nation it is working on. The law agreement should be indicated clearly. The license and permits, which regulate the hotel to perform any transactions, should be correctly done in the state of law. All the legal laws and regulations should be revised by the legal team of Hilton Hotel in every country carefully to make sure it does not cause any risk of interest in any country. |
Table 1: PESTEL Analysis of Hilton Hotel
(Source: Created by the learner)
Impact of international business environment on Hilton Hotel
International business is very dynamic, complicated, and fast changing. This has both positive and negative effects on the hospitality industry. There are several principal factors, which affects the Hilton hotel. These are cultural differences of the nation, the CSR guiding principle, and the political issues. The Hilton Hotel is highly affected by the competitions, which it faces in several countries due to unanalyzed economic power of the people. The international competitors are providing budget accommodations to the people unlike Hilton Hotel that has not started any plan for the implementation of the budget accommodation of the people. Many of its competitors have focused on providing regular working hours for people in different nations. Hilton Hotel should also try to adopt the regular working hours for its employees so that they are satisfied with the hotel. The Hilton hotel should strive to find a way between maintaining its social strategy and corporate responsibility without affecting the cultural differences. The technological differences in every nation provide competition to the Hilton hotel in the countries that are technically sounder. Many hotels are using the e-business strategies to promote and attract the customers towards them. Hilton hotel is not using this type of marketing, so the customers and scope of the hotel are seen to be reduced in the international market (Xu et al., 2018).
LO2
Impact of globalisation on Hilton hotel
Trade: Hilton Hotel is currently operating in 109 countries and territories with 5500 properties approximately. As it is hospitalisation industry, it is unable to import/export its finished products and goods to the other countries as it will not be feasible. Hilton can use the trade regulations wisely and try to transport its raw materials to its different properties. This will help the organisation to reduce the cost of its raw materials and keep a centralised track of the expenditure.
Technical development: Hilton Hotel is trying its very best to make changes in its technological structure. The hotel is adapting the technological features and progressions of every nation it is in to suit the needs of the tourists and the customers. This gives a cutting edge to the Hilton Hotel, but it also increases the cost of the technical installations and programming in the budget of the hotel (Rao, 2018).
Benefits, opportunities, and challenges of globalisation on Hilton hotel
Globalisation poses both the benefits and the challenges to the growth of the Hilton hotel industry. Globalisation has allowed free trade, the labour movement, and removal of communication barriers but on the other hand, it also poses several restrictions to the growth of the organisation.
Benefits: The increase in free trade between the countries has led to a lowering down of the prices of services and products for the customers of the Hilton hotel. Hilton hotel has a significant profit in sales and finance due to this factor. As there is a substantial movement of the labour in the international market, this, in turn, reduces the labour issues and cost for the workers in every destination. The purchasing and spending power of the customers and clients is increased due to globalisation. This increases the profits of the Hilton (Root, 2016).
Opportunities: Globalization helps increase the market for Hilton as the organisation can build new customers and relationships in different nations. This will increase the number of customers of the hotel. The extension of its business in different countries is also considered as a vast opportunity for Hilton.
Challenges: The cost involved in globalising the hotel is the major issue faced by the Hilton. The value of building, land, taxes, and others are increased. Understanding the requirements of the people in different cultures is also a difficulty for the organisation (Yang and Buschman, 2017). Alongside, the cost of the technical developments and managing competition is also a defying factor to the Hilton.
There are various structures followed by each organisation in the global market. These structures are:
Critical evaluation of the international operations of Hilton Hotel
Hilton Hotel provides luxurious accommodation facilities with conference rooms, express malls, printers, children's menu, fitness rooms, business phone service, audio/visual equipment rental. These facilities are provided by the hotels that are too much liked by the customers. The hotel provides several of these amenities for the business people that are really appreciated by the customers. It has also received severalk recognitions for its sightseeing services. The hotel lacks in providing budget hotels, which hampers the customer base of the hotel in several weak economies of the world. Hilton hotel needs to carry out several international activities for performing its international business. These are the services of export and import of the raw materials of the organisation. The export of the made goods is possible for the Hilton Hotel as it is a hospitality industry and the export of finished products would increase its revenue, but on the other hand, the taxes and excise duty will result in the increase in the price. This will be a loss to the hotel. The hotel should try to concentrate more on low cost products (Kruesi et al., 2017). This will increase the net profitability of Hilton. On the other hand, the import of the goods is also beneficial for the industry as it helps them to serve a variety of cuisines to the customers, but in contradiction, the import duty is high from different countries, which has to be managed astutely by the Hilton hotel to increase the profitability.
LO3-PPT
Conclusion
The stakeholder analysis has shown that the organisation needs to focus on its customers the most as the government analysis is in its favour. There is a disappointment in the employees that should be addressed by the organisation at the fastest. Some external factors have also been seen that are affecting the business of the Hilton hotel. These are the currency fluctuation and the political issues surrounding the nations. Hilton should strategise plans for these situations. There are several challenges, opportunities, and threats to the organisation in terms of globalisation. Hilton hotel should focus on cultural diversity challenges to improve its customer base. There are also several restrictions on the export and import of the products that have been critically evaluated. Hilton should try to follow the prescribed methods to increase its overall profits.
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