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MBA ：Consulting/Research Project Course Outline
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MBA 522 Consulting/Research Project
The Consulting/Research Project is the principal focus of the UCW MBA. It is a substantive
英国MBA硕士论文定制effort of synthesis and application of the material covered during your course work. You will be
expected to produce a document that details the work done in this research or consulting
project including description of the project, conclusions or recommendations, and a literature
review. This is a directed study project where you will complete a great deal of work
independently under the supervision of a Supervisor who will serve as:
1. your mentor during the project period;
2. your instructor providing direction as to the requirements that you have to fulfill during
the completion of the project; and,
3. the person who will evaluate your work and assign a grade for the course.
This project will result in a significant document, contributing not only to your learning at UCW,
http://www.ukassignment.org/ but also to your sponsor organization, whether that is your own workplace or another
organization if you are doing a consultation, and to the body of knowledge related to your topic
of interest.
The finished product will be a substantial demonstration of your practical research that is fully
documented and open for scrutiny by both the university and the sponsor organization. The
document will be retained in the UCW electronic library and available for examination by other
students, our faculty and members of the public.
You will:
1. Propose a consulting project supported by action research or a primary research project
on a topic of your own choosing, subject to the approval of the Dean;
2. Perform a comprehensive consultation or research project:
a. A full consultation which will include an organizational analysis, a comprehensive
literature search on the issues identified in the analysis, conduct primary or
secondary data collection related to the issues, make an intervention which could
involve either problem solving facilitation as a process consultant, or a series of
conclusions and recommendations for actions that you propose should be taken
by the client; or,
b. A research study to answer a specific question or test a specific hypothesis,
supported by a comprehensive literature search to discover the existing body of
knowledge in the topic area, collection of primary data (or approval to analyse
secondary data), analysis of the data, formulation of conclusions and
recommendations that further the body of knowledge.
3. Present your results, and
4. Submit a final written report of between 75-120 double spaced 250 word pages plus#p#分页标题#e#
appendices and bibliography.
Expectations for Your Work On This Project
The expectations for what has to be accomplished during the MBA 522 project include:
• Self directed work, using your supervisor as a mentor, whereby you conduct a
comprehensive search of the literature in the area of your topic, submit the required
MBA 522 – Consulting/Research Project Course Outline
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deliverables in a timely fashion, utilize the feedback given by the supervisor to improve
your work, arrive at a consulting agreement with a client that you have found on your
own initiative if this is to be a consulting project, working with the UCW English
Language Writing coach to improve your written work, conduct your data collection after
approval by the Research Ethics Committee, utilize basic statistical processes to
analyze any data that you have collected, and derive conclusions and
recommendations.
• Approximately 320 to 360 hours of work on a major project, which can either be a
consultation based project or a primary research based project.
• A comprehensive examination of the literature relating to the topic area. You are
expected to build a reference library, containing at least 20 academic papers plus at
least 10 industry reference articles addressing the subject at hand. You are expected to
perform a critical analysis of your references.
• Submission of a written project proposal along with a completed Ethics Research
Proposal to the Ethics Research Committee containing a preliminary literature review, a
formulated question to be answered or hypothesis to be tested, and a clear description
of the methodology to be used in the study (how data will be collected for the research
component and how the consultation will be done if a client is involved).
• An effective literature review of the body of knowledge covering approximately 30 pages
or one third of the final paper, included as an early chapter in the finished report.
• Collection of data (either primary or secondary sources) to be used to answer the posed
question or to test the research hypothesis. Use a variety of research methods in the
process of collecting supporting information for this project.
• Production of several draft versions of the final paper, in the following stages, for review
by the supervisor:
o Proposal
o After Comprehensive Literature Review
o After Analysis of data
o Final report containing conclusions and recommendations.
• The final paper is expected to be approximately 18,000 to 30,000 words in the body of
the paper (approximately 75 to 120 double spaced pages containing five hundred (250
words), plus an appendix containing supporting documents, and a bibliography.
• The work in the final paper should ideally add to the body of knowledge in the topic area#p#分页标题#e#
in some way.
• The final paper should meet an academic standard for formatting of references and
bibliography such as APA.
• The English language writing in the final version of the project paper must be
acceptable for publication in the UCW eLibrary
o Work with a writing coach to improve your written work during the project period
(this person will not edit your papers but will teach you how to write more
effectively)
o Have the English language writing in the final report, after the final grade has
been assigned, upgraded by a copy editor at your expense, if required by your
supervisor.
We encourage you to become involved in implementing your project recommendations
wherever possible.
MBA 522 – Consulting/Research Project Course Outline
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Course Instructor:
You should first identify the topic area on which you will be focused during your MBA 522
project, and then identify which of the faculty you think has the expertise and interest in that
topic. Before you contact the faculty member, discuss with the Dean, or Associate Dean, your
wish to work with that faculty member, with an explanation as to why that particular faculty
member. If the Dean, or Associate Dean approves of the choice, you can then contact that
faculty member to seek their agreement to work with you on the project.
Once you have agreement, you must notify the Dean, or Associate Dean, that you have an
agreement. A contract for your supervisor will be prepared and once accepted by the faculty
member, you can work with that individual on your project.
References:
• Charles J. Fombrun, Mark D. Nevins, The Advice Business: Essential Tools and Models
for Management Consulting, Prentice Hall (2004).
• John W. Creswell, Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative and Mixed Methods
Approaches, 2nd edition, Sage Publications (2003)
• Philip A Wickham, Management Consulting: Delivering an Effective Project. Second
Edition, Prentice Hall, (2004) ISBN 0-273-68347-0 (Same as the one used in MBA506)
• 英国MBA硕士论文定制Michael I. Harrison, Diagnosing Organizations: Methods, Models, and Processes. Third
Edition, Sage Publications (2005) (Useful collection of business diagnosis methods.)
• Deborah Rumsey, Statistics for Dummies. Wiley Publishing Inc. (2003)
• R. Paul and L. Elder, The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking Concepts and Tools, The
Foundation for Critical Thinking, P.O. Box 220, Dillon Beach, CA 94929;
www.criticalthinking.org
Course Deliverables
The course deliverables include:
1. The written proposal describing:
a. Introduction pointing to topic, question or problem to be investigated either as a
research study or a consulting intervention#p#分页标题#e#
b. Review of literature related to topic to be investigated
c. Clear statement of hypothesis to be tested or question to be answered or
problem to be solved
d. Description of proposed methodology (sample sizes, data collection processes,
data collection tools, how the data will be analyzed)
e. Bibliography for materials used to prepare proposal
2. The Research Ethics Proposal on the prescribed form
3. Literature Review - the chapter for the final report which is the comprehensive literature
review. This chapter is summarizing the state of the body of knowledge before you
conduct your study and should point to the hypothesis, question or problem that you are
going to address.
4. Final report for grading containing:
a. Introduction pointing to topic, question or problem to be investigated either as a
research study or a consulting intervention
b. Review of literature related to topic to be investigated
MBA 522 – Consulting/Research Project Course Outline
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c. Clear statement of hypothesis to be tested or question to be answered or
problem to be solved
d. Description of proposed methodology (sample sizes, data collection processes,
data collection tools, how the data will be analyzed)
e. Summaries of data collected in graphic and tabular form, with statistical analysis
f. Conclusions
g. Recommendations
h. Bibliography
i. Appendices
5. Submission of a library copy – generally acceptable in electronic form as a pdf file (may
be submitted to Dean as a MS Word file to be converted without change to a pdf file.)*
“In cases where the project is a consultation involving a client where students are to been given
access to critical, confidential or sensitive information by a company, the client may request that
the work is not made available for public view at any time. A non-disclosure agreement between
the student, University Canada West and the client would restrict access to this information to
these limited parties and their representatives. In such cases, the finished paper would be
submitted to the Supervisor, graded and then submitted marked with ND in the file title to the
Dean and retained in confidence.”
Grading rubrics for each of the three elements of grading in the course have been posted in
MyUCW in the course attachments. Please acquaint yourself with them prior to doing the work.
This is an individual project. It is highly desirable that there is no personal relationship
between a client and a learner, or an instructor and a learner. The overall time contribution is
planned to be from 6 to 9 months depending on the learner’s major area of interest. It is
expected that the learner will dedicate an average of an average of 320-360 hours on the
project.
At the discretion of the instructor and/or the Dean, the student might be asked to work with a#p#分页标题#e#
professional English language copy editor (at the student’s expense) if the quality of English
language writing is not deemed to be at a satisfactory level for public access in our electronic
library.
Learning Goals:
For a business oriented consulting project:
A management consulting business oriented project focuses on solving/addressing a
specific business problem, using mainly primary research methodologies. The consultation can
involve a process facilitation where the client is helped to solve their own problems, or an
expert consultation intervention where the consultant conducts his or her analysis and
recommends to the client what the client should do. The end result of this activity is expected
to produce:
• A Current situation assessment and problem identification.
• A comprehensive literature review.
• Identification of Potential Solutions/Options.
• Analysis of solutions and options.
• Conclusions and/or Recommendations.
MBA 522 – Consulting/Research Project Course Outline
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The learners are expected to identify their specific area(s) of expertise and approach
businesses that may require that expertise. They will then offer their services in the form of an
applied management consulting project.
In such a project, the student is expected to follow and comply with the UCW Research Ethics
policy, submitting the required proposal to the Ethics Committee and obtaining approval before
any consulting intervention is to occur.
For a research oriented consulting project:
A business oriented research project tends to explore topics of interest (like trends, expertise,
knowledge bases, etc.), to businesses or other entities. The research project will involve use of
primary research methodologies (with secondary research methods acceptable in some
situations) to answer a specified question or to test a specific hypothesis. The end result of this
activity is expected to produce:
• A research topic of interest to the chosen stakeholders.
• A comprehensive literature review.
• An identification and choice of research options and their potential sources
(heuristic, empiric, applied).
• The compilation of research data (primary and/or secondary as required).
• The application of appropriate data analysis and/or statistical methods.
• A report and presentation outlining the research results.
In such a project, the student is expected to follow and comply with the UCW Research Ethics
policy, submitting the required proposal to the Ethics Committee and obtaining approval before
any research involving subjects is to occur or a client organization is asked to provide
confidential information.
By the end of the course the learners should be able to:
- Develop the skills to think critically about the business consulting and research#p#分页标题#e#
processes;
- Apply a range of management consulting and research theories and techniques;
- Customize, create and lead a process for their consulting/research project’s specific
needs; and
- Become discerning, highly knowledgeable and effective in management
consulting/research.
Grading
Grades will be assigned for course work as follows:
Requirement Percentage contribution
to final mark
Project Proposal and Ethics Research Committee submission 15%
Comprehensive Literature Review 20%
Final Report 65%
Total Mark 100%
MBA 522 – Consulting/Research Project Course Outline
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The grading system for this graduate course (MBA Program) will be as follows:
GRADES AND GRADE POINTS
Descriptor Percentage Letter
Grade
Numeric
Value
90% - 100% A+ 4.33
85% - 89% A 4.00
Excellent
80% - 84% A- 3.67
75% - 79% B+ 3.33
70% - 74% B 3.00
Good to
Satisfactory
65% - 69% B- 2.75
60% - 64% C+ 2.33
55% - 59% C 2.00
50% - 54% D 1.00
Failure
0% - 49% F 0.00
N* 0
IP** 0
* Did not complete course requirements - Equivalent to F
** In Progress
Late Assignment policy and “In Progress” status
The project is to be completed within nine (9) months of the project initiation date. The initiation
date is the date on which the student registered in MBA 522. Failing to complete the full
project within the nine month course period without proper justification (medical or other
英国MBA硕士论文定制emergency), results in an “In Progress” designation and the requirement that the student
obtain an additional extension of three months at an additional fee specified by UCW. A
student may purchase a reasonable number of extensions until the course is finished.
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