THE COURSEWORK TASK As specified in the module outline, provide an opportunity for you to demonstrate your ability to apply one of the ideas or theories that you have been working with during the course, and thereby to consider its value for better understanding the ‘human factor’ in management and organisation. The photo essay will include a commentary on three interrelated photographs you have taken, reflecting some aspect of your own life experience. What is being looked for is not only a demonstration of your understanding, but also your ability to apply one or other of the key ideas or theories we have been exploring during the module, to show how the idea has enabled you to see to an aspect of your lived experience – and the wider social relations in which you participate – differently from the way you saw them before. The text of the essay should include the following three things, ideally in this order and likely in their separate sections: 1) An introduction to, and explanation of the key idea, theory or reading from the module that you wish to focus on in your essay – with demonstration of reading / further reading to help contextualise your chosen focus. 2) The application of your chosen idea to some aspect of your lived experience, as developed through a commentary on the three interrelated photographs, and with details of your experiences of coming to see things differently through your relationship to this idea (image 1, image 2, image 3). 3) A discussion of the insights gained, including in particular with regard to their value for better understanding human relations in management and organisation, as per the connections we have been making week-to-week. 3 The aspect of your lived experience that you choose may be some aspect of your personal or family life, or it could derive from your participation in education, leisure time or paid employment. The example you choose to focus on will ideally be an insight that has naturally occurred to you during the term and so the coursework task will be to illustrate and develop this in close relation to the readings. It is likely that you will already have lots of good material for this in the learning diaries that you have been keeping week to week. The module outline should be your principle guide to relevant ideas and materials. You are strongly discouraged from using off-module resources unless they are of a strictly supplementary nature. You will have plenty of material to work with in the key readings we have been working week to week and in the extended reading lists (located in the later pages of the module outline). You will therefore be assessed on four things: (1) Your ability to explain and contextualise your chosen idea(s) using appropriate supporting material. To do this well requires a close scholarly relationship to a particular text or texts, complete with appropriate referencing. Signs of further reading will certainly be expected for higher marks (i.e. 2:1; 1st class). (2) Your ability to apply your chosen idea(s) to a specific example and to draw out the connections in proper detail and demonstrating the insights that were gained and sharing your own experience of coming to see something differently from how you saw it before. (3) Your ability to link the above experience back to questions concerning the ‘human factor’ in management and organisation. Stronger answers should also be able to demonstrate a feel for wider module themes, while keeping a focus on your chosen idea or topic. 4 (4) Adhering to the guidelines for presentation, formatting and referencing is also important – as detailed in the next section. Part of the challenge of this task is choosing a focus for your essay (or allowing a focus to choose you): with regard the ideas from the module that have led you to see something in a different way than you have done before. It is also up to you to do the necessary background reading and private study to be able to write in an informed way, and to explain and develop your ideas properly.