Problem Analysis

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Swinburne School of Business, Law and Entrepreneurship
Assessment Task 1
BUS30009
Industry Consulting Project
Semester 1 2022

Assessment Type	Problem Analysis Report
Associated Unit Learning Outcomes (ULO’s)	1. Apply business management principles, concepts and theories using problem-solving techniques together with Design Thinking tools to analyse a business problem. 2. Demonstrate the ability to formulate and justify innovative plans/recommendations for achieving client’s project goals.
Group or Individual task	Individual
Value (%)	25%
Due Date	11:59PM on Friday 25th March 2022
Submission details/form	1. Word count: Maximum 2000 words, excluding references (+/- 10% of the maximum word count is appropriate). 2. Submitted through Turnitin 3. Referencing style: Swinburne Harvard Style

Purpose of the assessment:
The objective of this assessment is to equip the students with needed skills to analyse a problem
deeply prior to embark on ideating solutions to a given problem. In this assignment students will
conduct a thorough problem analysis to uncover the nature and severity of the problem, affected
parties and their characteristics and the causes and effects of the problem. By so doing this assessment
develops a deeper level of empathy around the given problem and enables the students to take
another individual’s/organisation’s perspective. This is an essential skill and a professional capability
that is built on a thinking process with roots in open-mindedness and removing cognitive biases which
subsequently reduces the blind spots in decision making. Moreover, this assessment requires students
to develop an infographic to answer to first two questions. This provides students with an opportunity
to improve their technical literacy of digital literacies that Swinburne is aimed to cultivate in careerready graduates. Please see the next page for specific and detailed information on the assessment
task.
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Detailed assignment instructions:
You are required to conduct a problem analysis by answering to the following questions. To ensure
the rigor in this analysis, you are required to use relevant frameworks/models/tools discussed in
Weeks 1-4 of this unit, appropriately:
Questions to be answered:
(1) Develop an infographic to present your response to questions (a) and (b) below.
(a) What is the problem your client wants you to address? What is the severity of this problem?
You may want to cite evidence from internal (e.g. client’s organisational reports, customer
feedback and survey findings) and external sources (e.g. industry reports, newspapers,
journals and government publications) to explain that the problem is real.
(b) Who is affected by this problem and what are their characteristics? You may want to
categorise the affected parties if you see that there are multiple groups impacted by the
problem (e.g. directly and indirectly affected; small, medium and large organizations; male
and female).
(2) Prepare a short report with your response to questions (c), (d) and (e) below.
(c) What causes this problem? Analyse the drivers of the problem you explained above.
(d) What impacts does this problem create on client’s organisation/business or stakeholders in
the broader society? Identify and discuss these impacts in relation to the parties you identified
in above.
(e) Based on the above analysis, what additional information is needed to address this problem?
Identify specific information needs and briefly mention the purpose that information needs
serve.
Note: Simply reproducing the content in the project brief is not sufficient. Please also note that you
need to use the tools or frameworks (e.g. problem tree analysis, five why’s, stakeholder analysis)
discussed in the Unit appropriately when answering to above questions.
Suggested format
• Infographic format:
o Please present your response to (a) and (b) in an infographic.
o This infographic can be developed using any infographic making platform that you are
comfortable with (e.g. PowerPoint, Adobe Spark, and Canva).
o You may find some useful videos and additional materials on developing an infographic
are provided under ‘assessment support’ page on Unit’s Modules.
• Report format:
o Please present your response as a short report. This report is not a managerial report
and hence, does not need to include an Executive Summary, introduction and a
conclusion. The main purpose is to fully focus on a deeper level of ‘problem analysis’.
o Depending on the creativity, you are free to structure the report as you wish. You do not
necessarily need to follow the question order in your response. However, make sure
that you cover all the questions from (c) to (e) above.
o You may use diagrams, graphics and tables to present information concisely, creatively
and effectively.
o IMPORTANT: Include a photo/image of your completed infographic into the first page of
your short-report.
o Use 12 font size and 1.5 line spacing for formatting the document.
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• Research:
o Underpinning all your work is extensive research drawing on relevant sources. This
includes, but is not limited to, industry reports; academic publications (textbooks,
articles, working papers); government reports; news regalia and authoritative websites.
You must cite and support your claims.
o Please use Swinburne Harvard Referencing Style to cite and reference your work.
• Submission:
o Please convert your infographic into a PDF file and the short report either into a PDF or
Microsoft Word compatible format.
o Submit through Canvas as follows:
– Go to your ‘Assignment 1 – Problem Analysis Report’ page on Canvas
– Click on start/submission assignment
– Add PDF infographic file by clicking on ‘add file’ option
– Click on ‘add another file’ option and upload PDF/Microsoft Word compatible file of
the short report.
– Click ‘submit assignment’ button
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Rubric

CRITERIA	HIGHER DISTINCTION (100-80)	DISTINCTION (79-70)	CREDIT (69-60)	PASS (59-50)	FAIL (49-0)
Problem description (4 marks)	Infographic makes a clear, specific and convincing problem description, well supported by data.	Infographic makes a clear, specific and convincing problem description, well supported by data although minor ambiguities are noted.	Infographic makes a specific problem description supported by data but not clear all the time and justification is with some gaps.	Infographic presents a somewhat broader problem description with ambiguities. Justification lacks convincing data.	Infographic presents a broader problem description with little clarity and supported by general statements not by convincing data.
Identification of affected parties (4 marks)	The infographic presents a comprehensive analysis of affected parties with their characteristics backed up by empirical data from reliable information sources.	The infographic presents a wide analysis of affected parties with their characteristics backed up by empirical data from reliable information sources although some minor omissions were noted.	The infographic presents a good analysis of affected parties and their characteristics with some major omissions backed up by unreliable information sources.	The infographic presents an analysis of a few relevant affected parties and their characteristics with major omissions and lacks empirical data or largely uses data from unreliable information sources.	The infographic presents an analysis of a few indirectly affected parties and their characteristics with clear omissions of mainly affected parties and is void of empirical data or uses data from unreliable information sources.
Quality of the infographic – Visual composition and presentation of research data (3 marks)	Flow of images and text is organized exceptionally well with a readable narrativity. Comprehensive synthesis of research data into coherent visual narrative, is evident.	Flow of images and text is well organized with a readable narrativity with minor inconsistencies. Comprehensive synthesis of research data into coherent visual narrative is evident with minor inconsistencies.	Flow of images and text is organized with a readable narrativity but lacks consistency largely. Synthesis of research data into visual narrative is evident although not coherent all the time.	Flow of images and text is organized with a readable narrativity but not concise and consistent. Synthesis of research data into visual narrative is evident but lacks coherence and consistency.	Flow of images and text does not form a readable narrativity. Synthesis of research data into visual narrative is not evident. OR Presentation of research data and visual narratives is incoherent.

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Causes and effects of the problem (7 marks)	A thorough analysis using appropriate analytical tools or frameworks and a discussion of the causes and effects linked to the central problem given by the client is presented.	A good analysis using appropriate analytical tools or frameworks and a discussion of the causes and effects linked to the central problem given by the client is presented with rare omissions.	Most of the causes and effects linked to the central problem given by the client is analysed using appropriate analytical tools or frameworks and discussed with some minor omissions.	Some of the causes and effects linked to the central problem given by the client are analysed using appropriate analytical tools or frameworks and discussed with major omissions.	The analysis and the discussion of the causes and effects are general; is not based on appropriate analytical tools or frameworks and not applied in the context of client’s problem OR a mere list of relevant causes and effects linked to the problem given by the client is presented.
Information needs (4 marks)	Contains a comprehensive list of information needs with a clear identification of sources and a justification of relevance.	Contains a wide range of information needs with a clear identification of sources and a justification of relevance although some minor omissions were noted.	Contains a good range of information needs with sources but justification of relevance lacks clarity.	Contains a few relevant information needs with sources but a justification of relevance is not presented.	Contains a few relevant information needs without sources and a justification of relevance. OR An irrelevant list of information needs with sources is presented. OR No information needs, and sources are presented.
Writing style and research (3 marks) Visual appeal: font, headings, absence of white space, a) Structure: headings, tense, pronoun use, accurate spelling and grammar. b) References used are relevant to content	Meets all visual appeal & structure related criteria at an outstanding standard; well written and clearly organized using standard English, characterized by elements of a strong writing style and basically free from grammar, punctuation, usage, and spelling errors. Extensive use of relevant research, all referenced in	Meets all visual appeal & structure related criteria at a high standard; well written and clearly organized using standard English, characterized by elements of a strong writing style with minor errors in grammar, punctuation, usage, and spelling. Good use of relevant research, all referenced in correct format. Notable	Meets all visual appeal & structure related criteria at an acceptable standard or most criteria at a high standard with only a few lapses; above average writing style and logically organized using standard English with occasional errors in in grammar, punctuation, usage, and spelling.	Meets most visual appeal & structure related criteria at an acceptable standard, but below expectations in some; average and/or casual writing style that is sometimes unclear and/or with some errors in grammar, punctuation, usage, and spelling. No references or majority incorrectly formatted	Meets a few visual appeal & structure related criteria at an acceptable standard, but below expectations in most; poor writing style lacking in standard English, clarity, language used, and/or frequent errors in grammar, punctuation, usage, and spelling. Needs work.

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c) Citations follows Swinburne standard & matches references • Research effort demonstrated

correct format. Outstanding effort to explore literature beyond provided material.

effort to explore literature and supporting material.

Good use of relevant theory, with the occasional errors in formatting. Limited exploration of additional material or source beyond those provided in the class.

OR references are irrelevant to content

Correct referencing, but limited use of relevant content AND/OR References relevant but significant proportion incorrectly formatted with no additional exploration

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Submission Requirements
Assignments and other assessments must be submitted through Canvas assessment submission
system.
Please ensure you keep a copy of all assessments that are submitted.
Detailed submission instructions and associated rubrics can be found under the “suggested format”
and “rubrics” section on pages 2-4 of this document and in the Assessment section of Canvas.
Assessment declaration and statement of authorship
1. I have not impersonated or allowed myself to be impersonated by any person for the purposes of
this assessment.
2. This assessment is my/our original work and no part of it has been copied from any other source
except where due acknowledgement is made.
3. No part of this assessment has been written for me by any other person except where such
collaboration has been authorised by the lecturer/teacher concerned.
4. I have not previously submitted this work for this or any other course/unit.
5. I give permission for my assessment response to be reproduced, communicated, compared and
archived for plagiarism detection, benchmarking or educational purposes.
I understand that:
Plagiarism is the presentation of another person’s work as though it is your own. It is a form of cheating
and is a very serious academic offence that may lead to exclusion from the University. Plagiarised
material may be drawn from published and unpublished written documents, interpretations,
computer software, designs, music, sounds, images, photographs, and ideas or ideological
frameworks gained through working with another person or in a group. Plagiarised material can be
drawn from, and presented in written, graphic and visual form, including electronic data and oral
presentations. Plagiarism occurs when the origin of the material used is not appropriately cited.
I agree and acknowledge that:
1. I have read and understood the Declaration and Statement of Authorship above.
2. I accept that use of my Swinburne account to electronically submit this assessment constitutes my
agreement to the Declaration and Statement of Authorship
3. If I do not agree to the Declaration and Statement of Authorship in this context, the assessment
outcome may not be valid for assessment purposes and may not be included in my aggregate score
for this unit.
Further information relating to the penalties for plagiarism, which range from a formal caution to
expulsion from the University, is contained in the Student Academic Misconduct Regulations 2012
which is available on the Policies and Regulations website.
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Plagiarism
Plagiarism is the action or practice of taking and submitting or presenting the thoughts, writings or
other work of someone else as though it is your own work. Plagiarism includes any of the following,
without full and appropriate acknowledgment to the original source(s):
The use of the whole or part of a computer program written by another person;
• The use, in essays or other assessable work, of the whole or part of a written work from any
source including but not limited to a book, journal, newspaper article, set of lecture notes,
current or past student’s work, any other person’s work, a website or database;
• The paraphrasing of another’s work;
• The use of musical composition, audio, visual, graphic and photographic models,
• The use of realia that is objects, artefacts, costumes, models and the like.
Plagiarism also includes the preparation or production and submission or presentation of assignments
or other work in conjunction with another person or other people when that work should be your own
independent work. This remains plagiarism whether or not it is with the knowledge or consent of the
other person or people. It should be noted that Swinburne encourages its students to talk to staff,
fellow students and other people who may be able to contribute to a student’s academic work but
that where independent assignment is required, submitted or presented work must be the student’s
own.
Enabling plagiarism contributes to plagiarism and therefore will be treated as a form of plagiarism by
the University. Enabling plagiarism means allowing or otherwise assisting another student to copy or
otherwise plagiarise work by, for example, allowing access to a draft or completed assignment or other
work.
Swinburne University uses plagiarism detection software (such as Turnitin) for assignments submitted
electronically via Canvas. Your Convenor will provide further details.
The penalties for plagiarism can be severe ranging from a zero grade for an assessment task through
to expulsion from the unit and in the extreme, exclusion from Swinburne. Consequently you need to
avoid plagiarism by providing a reference whenever you include information from other sources in
your work.
Extensions and Late Submission
Late Submissions – Unless an extension has been approved, late submissions will result in a penalty.
You will be penalised 10% of the assessment’s worth for each calendar day the task is late, up to a
maximum of 5 calendar days. After 5 working days a zero result will be recorded.
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Referencing
To avoid plagiarism, you are required to provide a reference whenever you include information from
other sources in your work. Further details regarding plagiarism are available in Section C of this
document.
Referencing conventions required for this unit are: Swinburne Harvard Referencing System
Helpful information on referencing can be found at:
http://www.swinburne.edu.au/library/referencing/
Group Work Guidelines (Optional)
A group assignment is the collective responsibility of the entire group, and if one member is
temporarily unable to contribute, the group should be able to reallocate responsibilities to keep to
schedule. In the event of longer-term illness or other serious problems involving a member of group,
it is the responsibility of the other members to immediately notify the Unit Convenor or relevant tutor.
Group submissions must be submitted with an Assignment Cover Sheet, signed by all members of the
group.
All group members must be satisfied that the work has been correctly submitted. Any penalties for
late submission will generally apply to all group members, not just the person who submitted.
Student Study Support Services
You should talk to your Unit Convenor or tutor, for information on academic support services available
for Swinburne students. Alternatively see the Student Services and/or the Library Website for further
study support resources.