Your Task
The first assessment requires you to think about, reflect and report on a decision involving you in your work place. Where possible, select a decision that you need to make in the next 5 to 6 weeks and use a diary to document your thoughts, approaches and techniques as the decision process unfolds. The most useful diaries will not just be chronologies of events but will include your personal reactions, hopes, achievements, frustrations or regrets. The earlier you commence your personal diary, the more useful it will be in completing the assignment. You should include your diary as an Attachment in your report. It will not be included in the word count.
You may choose a recommendation rather than a decision, depending on your role in your organisation. Usually, the main difference between a recommendation and a decision is the level of authority or responsibility and not the processes or level of ownership in the decision process.
If you cannot identify a work-based decision that fits the criteria described above, it is acceptable to select a major personal decision (such as purchasing a home, making a career change, moving to another region, etc) or a decision from your recent past. An advantage of selecting a past decision is that you can put the whole process in context. Some significant disadvantages are the risk of post-event rationalisation and fading memories about each of the critical stages of the decision making process. Where possible, a current work decision will be more useful. A current decision also provides an opportunity to consider and try some of the decision-making tools and techniques described in the subject material.
I encourage you to reflect and report on the initiation or pro-active phase of the decision making process. In other words, why did you or your organisation decide to invest time, energy and resources in exploring this issue for decision? Was it forced by external circumstances, was it part of a planning or positioning strategy or were there other factors at play? Consider the costs or risks of not going down this track and the opportunity costs of not investing in alternative approaches.
You should also report on the models and tools that you apply in the decision process, the impact of intuition, human factors or behavioural economics and any data analysis that may be relevant. It is important to have a conclusion in which you summarise what you’ve learned about your decision-making processes as a result of this reflection and the implications for your future decision-making.
When you are ready, it would be useful to post a brief summary on the Assessment Discussion Forum of the decision that you have selected for your assignment. Also, if you are uncertain about what to choose, please post or email your questions and I will respond as soon as possible.
Reflective Writing – First Person
For this assessment, it is appropriate and important to write in the first person (for example: “I presented my analysis to the committee…” or “I was personally frustrated at the delay…”). All other principles of academic writing apply. A brief guide to Reflective Writing is available at http://ift.tt/2GR1rvV (accessed 25.02.2018).
Theory and Frameworks
It is important that you link your personal reflections to the models, tools, frameworks and theories of decision-making to help explain and interpret your experiences and reflections.
Referencing
You need to include a list of specific references that you have actually used in your submission. For this assessment, I expect a minimum of eight journal articles, academic papers or textbooks. Web links, Wikipedia references or other secondary sources can be used but will not count in the eight academic references.
Torrens prefers the APA (American Psychological Association) referencing system. I will also accept the Harvard or other credible systems, provided that I can locate your sources. Guidelines on the APA system are available on the Torrens Library website and there are web services that will put your references into the APA format.
Marking Rubric
Your reports will be marked against the rubric which is show in the Assessment 1 Brief, under the “Assessment” tab on the home screen. Please ensure that your submission addresses all four of the Assessment Attributes in the rubric.
I will schedule a live, Collaborate session next week to address any other questions or issues in relation to Assessment 1 and the first module.
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- Assignment status: Resolved by our Writing Team
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