As part of the formal assessment for the module Becoming an Effective Leader, you are required to submit the assessment that is described in this assessment brief.
Learning Outcomes:
After completing the module, you should be able to:
1. Explain a suitable business idea and outline the preferred business structure.
2. Select and justify appropriate leadership and management techniques, supported by relevant theories.
3. Demonstrate an understanding of marketing and pricing strategies, applying these to a business idea.
4. Graduate Attribute 2 Contextually Innovative. Develop a structured business plan to assess the feasibility of their proposed idea.
All learning outcomes must be met to pass the module.
Guidance
Your assignment should include: a title page containing your student number, the module name, the submission deadline and the exact word count of your submitted document; the appendices if relevant; and a reference list in (see referencing section for more information). You should address all the elements of the assignment task listed below. Please note that tutors will use the assessment criteria set out below in assessing your work.
You must not include your name in your submission because Arden University operates anonymous marking, which means that markers should not be aware of the identity of the student. However, please do not forget to include your STU number.
Maximum word count: 2000 words
Please refer to the full word count policy which can be found in the Student Policies section here: Arden University | Regulatory Framework
The word count includes everything in the main body of the assessment (including in text citations and references). The word count excludes numerical data in tables, figures, diagrams, footnotes, reference list and appendices. All other printed words ARE included in the word count.
Students who exceed the wordcount up to a 10% margin will not be penalised. Students should note that no marks will be assigned to work exceeding the specified limit once the maximum assessment size limit has been reached.
Assignment Task
In this module assessment, you will show your understanding of what is needed to effectively lead and manage a new start up business.
You are an entrepreneur looking to start a new business, and you come across a competition where entrepreneurs can pitch a new business idea to investors who want to invest in business startups. They are looking for future business leaders.
The investors are interested in business ideas that help make everyday life easier.
Entrepreneurs are encouraged to be creative within this theme, but the business idea must relate to it in some way or form.
To enter the competition, you need to write a 2000-word business plan. The plan will pitch your idea. It must persuade the investors that you have a good understanding of what is needed to effectively lead and manage a new start up business.
Below is the template for your business plan that you need to fill in to enter the competition. A Microsoft Word template is available on iLearn for you to write up your plan.
Your plan should showcase your business idea, so your plan needs to give as much detail as possible about your specific business idea.
Description of your business idea (350 words) LO1 & LO4
• Describe your business idea (150 words)
• Explain how your business will make everyday life easier? (100 words)
• How do you know your business idea will work? (100 words)
Unique selling point (USP) (100 words) LO1
•Summarise your business’s unique selling point.
Business structure (250 words) LO1
Select one of the following for your business:
• Sole trader
• Partnership
• Ltd
• Community Interest Company
• Describe how your business will be structured and explain why this is the best structure for your business.
Your leadership skills (700 words) LO2
The investors want to know what you are like as a leader.
• Complete the leadership audit you will find on iLearn lesson 3 within the face-to-face materials. Discuss the results.
(100 words)
• Which of the following leadership styles would you adopt (choose one)? Explain why this would be the best choice for both you and your business. (300 words)
1. Autocratic
2. Democratic
3. Laissez-Faire
4. Transactional
• Which motivational theory would you use for your employees and why? (300 words)
1. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
2. Mayo’s theory of motivation
3. Herzberg’s two factor theory
Marketing plan (600 words) LO3
The investors want you to prepare a short talk for your marketing plan. Write the text for your talk – write in full sentences. Your talk should include the following:
• A description of who your customers are.
• A description of who your competitors are (you will need to research real life competitors and discuss them here)
• Briefly discuss what you would plan to do to market your idea for each of the 4Ps. Give reasons for your approach.
1. Product: The product element refers to the products or services the
business sells. A business should conduct market research.
to find out the needs and wants of its target market.
2. Promotion: Promotion is the methods a business uses to create interest in its products and services among its customers and potential customers. The main aim of promotion is to either persuade customers to purchase or inform about products.
Types of promotion includes: TV adverts use of billboards social media activity
3. Price: Price is the amount a business charges its customers for its product or service. Prices are set according to how much a customer is willing and able to pay. Customers want value for money, and this may mean a business needs to set low prices to generate high levels of sales.
4. Place: Place refers to where the customer can purchase the product or service from such as online, retail store and directly from the manufacturer. Place can also include the channel of distribution used to get the product from the manufacturer to the final customer. Types of distribution include:
manufacturer → customer manufacturer → wholesaler
→ customer
manufacturer → wholesaler → retailer
→ customer
References
Final portfolio submission
Assessments submitted late will not be accepted.
Please submit your assignment as a Word document to the ‘Assignment’ submission portal available under the ‘My Assessment’ tab on iLearn. A template is provided on the module iLearn site.
(Please ensure you DO NOT submit your final assessment to a ‘formative (draft)’ portal).
You must ensure that the submitted assessment is all your own work and that all sources used are correctly attributed. Penalties apply to assessments that show evidence of unfair academic practice. (See the Student Handbook which is available on the A-Z key information on iLearn.)
If submitting multiple files, you must name each document as the question/part you are answering along with your student number, i.e. Task A STUXXXX. If you wish to overwrite your submission or one of your submissions, you must ensure that your new submission has exactly the same file name as the previous one for the system to overwrite it.
Assessment Support
We strongly encourage you to engage with our assessment support options as you work through your assessment task(s):
• View the week 10 iLearn lesson ‘General Assessment Advice and Guidance’ (for information about resits, extensions and extenuating circumstances)
• Book a tutorial with a Foundation Year lecturer
• Academic Skills Team – book an appointment with a tutor here
• Academic Skills Team – book a workshop
• Academic Skills Team – view resources
• For support with English language, visit the English Language Hub
Formative Feedback
You can submit a full/partial draft of your work for formative feedback in Week 7 (Blended Learning) or Week 6 (Distance Learning) to the correct formative assessment portal on iLearn. The formative assessment portal is located under the ‘My Assessment’ tab and is ‘red’ labelled ‘formative assignment’. Please DO NOT submit your final assignment to this portal.
Formative tasks give you the opportunity to check your understanding of key concepts, and therefore help you prepare for the final portfolio submission.
Your lecturer will provide verbal/written feedback to help you improve your assessment
Referencing Guidance
You MUST underpin your analysis and evaluation of the key issues with appropriate and wide-ranging academic research and ensure this is referenced using the AU Harvard system. Follow this link to find the referencing guides for your subject: Learning Success Hub
Using AI
Please refer to the referencing guides for guidance on how to reference any use of artificial intelligence in the writing of your assessments. You can access the referencing guides here:
Learning Success Hub
Assessment Criteria for FDY3005
Level 3 Level 3 prepares students to function effectively at Level 4. Criteria for assessment at Level 3 reflect the preparatory nature of these modules. Students are expected to demonstrate the acquisition of generic learning skills appropriate for self-managed learning in an HE context. Students are expected to demonstrate that they have acquired the underpinning discipline-specific skills, knowledge and understanding necessary to undertake a programme of higher education.
Outstanding 80+
(85 / 90 / 95 / 100) Excellent 70 – 79 (72 / 75 / 78) Very Good 60 – 69 (62 / 65 / 68) Good 50 – 59 (52 / 55 / 58) Satisfactory 40 – 49 (42 / 45 / 48) Marginal Fail 30 – 39
(Eligible for consideration for
compensation)
(32 / 35 / 38) Fail < 29 (0 / 5 / 15 / 20 / 25)
Module LO1: Explain a suitable business idea and outline the preferred business structure.
Outstanding, unique and suitable business idea, as expressed in the brief. A suitable business structure has been selected, explained, and proven with substantial academic evidence to be the best structure for the chosen business. Excellent and suitable business idea, as expressed in the brief. A suitable business structure has been selected, explained, and proven with excellent academic evidence to be the best structure for the chosen business. Very good and suitable business idea, as expressed in the brief.
A suitable business structure has been selected, explained,
and proven with very
good academic evidence to be the best structure for the chosen business. A good and suitable business idea, as
expressed in the brief. A suitable business structure has been selected, explained, and proven with good evidence to be the best structure for the chosen business. A satisfactory business idea, which may raise concerns about being realistic.
A suitable business structure has been selected and explained
but has not been fully proven to be the best idea with evidence.
An unsatisfactory business idea, which raises concerns about being realistic. A business structure has been selected and explained, but it is not a suitable structure for the business in question. A poor business idea, which is not realistic, or no actual business idea presented. No business structure selected, or a structure which is not suitable for the business has been selected and not explained.
Module LO2:
Select and justify appropriate leadership and management techniques, supported by relevant theories.
Outstanding level of understanding included, in all areas of leadership technique, including leadership styles and motivational theories, proven with substantial academic evidence. Excellent level of understanding included, in all areas of leadership technique, including leadership styles and motivational theories, proven with excellent academic evidence. Very good level of understanding included, in all areas of leadership technique, including leadership styles and motivational theories, proven with very good academic evidence. A good level of understanding included, in all areas of leadership technique, including, leadership
styles and motivational theories, proven with good evidence. A satisfactory level of understanding included, in at least 2 areas of leadership technique, such as leadership styles and motivational theories, but has not been fully proven with evidence of why it is the best technique for the selected business. An unsatisfactory level of understanding in at least 1 area of leadership technique, such as, leadership styles or motivational theories, but in a very brief form with no evidence.
A poor performance, where zero leadership techniques such as leadership styles and motivational theories have not been included. No evidence of understanding included.
Module LO3: Outstanding level of understanding included. All Excellent level of understanding included. Very good level of understanding A good level of understanding A satisfactory level of understanding included. An unsatisfactory level of understanding A poor performance where zero marketing and pricing
e social media groups),
use and distribution of
Demonstrate an understanding of marketing and pricing strategies, applying these to a business idea.
areas of marketing and pricing strategies covered and explained in depth with substantial academic evidence. All areas of marketing and pricing strategies covered and explained in depth with an excellent level of academic evidence. included. All areas of marketing and pricing strategies covered and explained in depth with very good academic evidence. included. All areas of marketing and pricing strategies covered and explained with good academic evidence. At least 2 areas of marketing and pricing strategies covered but has not have been fully evidenced. included. At least 1 area of marketing and pricing strategies covered, however are not evidenced. strategies have not been understood. No evidence of understanding included.
Module L04: Graduate
Attribute 2 Contextually Innovative. Develop a structured business plan to assess the feasibility of their proposed idea. Outstanding level of structure included.
Suggested format has been followed and is seamless. The business idea is highly feasible. Excellent level of structure included. Suggested format has been followed and is seamless. The business idea is very feasible. Very good level of structure included. Suggested format has been followed and is seamless. The business idea is feasible. A good level of structure included. Suggested format has been followed and is
easy to follow. The business idea is feasible. A satisfactory level of structure included. Suggested format has been followed, but not entirely. The business idea is somewhat feasible. An unsatisfactory level of structure included. Suggested format has not been followed. The business idea is unlikely to be feasible. The business idea is unlikely to be feasible. A poor performance where suggested format has not been followed. The business idea is not feasible.
Arden University Generic Assessment Criteria
Level 3 prepares students to function effectively at Level 4. Criteria for assessment at Level 3 reflect the preparatory nature of these modules. Students are expected to demonstrate the acquisition of generic learning skills appropriate for self-managed learning in an HE context. Students are expected to demonstrate that they have acquired the underpinning discipline-specific skills, knowledge and understanding necessary to undertake a programme of higher education.
Grade Mark Bands Generic Assessment Criteria
First
(1) 80%+ Outstanding performance which demonstrates an outstanding knowledge base, supported with wider reading and the ability to begin to analyse the subject area. The work draws widely on relevant theory and shows awareness of any relevant ethical considerations. The work shows an outstanding level of competence and confidence in managing appropriate sources and materials, initiative and excellent academic writing skills and professional skills (where appropriate). The work is accurately and consistently referenced throughout.