Description

 

Programme:	BA (Hons) Leadership and Management Skills for the Workplace
Module:	Developing workplace critical thinking
Module code:	BMSW 5101	Contribution         to Overall                      Module Assessment (%):	100%
Module Coordinator:	Md Kalam	Internal Verifier:	Dr Gregory Cowan
Assignment Title:	Individual Report  on- “How    do    organisational beliefs, attitudes, and value systems affect workplace behaviour? Also, how will tailoring                 workplace changes for the post- COVID mindset tackle the challenges we face now, and create more resilient businesses in the future?”	Word count for the report.	4500 (+ ) 10%
Submission deadline:	Please refer to the assessments                                       schedule published on Students’ Hall in Moodle	Return date of provisional marks & written feedback:
Submission method:	All written assessments, where practical and possible, must be submitted via Turnitin unless otherwise instructed by the Lecturer. (Please DO NOT put this assessment specification into Turnitin or it will match many similarities with other students’ submissions.) Alternative submission method (if applicable): Late submission of the assessment will result in a late penalty mark. Penalties for late submission: Up to one week late, maximum mark of 40%. Over one week late, 0%. Only the Extenuating Circumstances Panel may approve a change to submission dates.
Academic honesty / referencing:	Academic honesty is required. In the main body of your submission you must give credit to authors on whose research and ideas your work is based. Append to your submission a reference list that indicates the books, articles, etc. that you have used, cited or quoted in order to complete this assessment.

ASSESSMENT TASK-100%

Produce a 4,500 word (+/- 10%) academic report. Apply academic management models, methods, and theories to assess the impact of organisational beliefs, attitudes, and value systems on workplace behaviour.

Task Description/Scenario:

In less than seven months, COVID-19 has radically redefined how we relate to space and to each other. Compare today to March of this year: face masks are now an everyday accessory. We wait to enter grocery stores in six-foot-spaced queues without a second thought. And we cross the street to avoid people not as a snub, but to protect our health and others’. Sustained periods of hardship are known to change  human   psychology   and   behaviour,   sometimes  permanently. Pandemic mitigation itself requires mass, coordinated behavioural change to succeed. As people return to offices in the coming months, we should expect those who have adapted to social distance and working from home to bring a set of new concerns, expectations and even unconscious reactions to situations that previously seemed harmless and normal. The importance of business continuity through the pandemic makes it incumbent upon employers to reshape the workplace to make workers feel comfortable, supported and able to do their jobs effectively. The challenge is clear. Workplaces must adapt. Yet, how do we design a workplace that responds not just to fear and anxiety, or the invisible threat of germs, but the full range of learned behaviours and attitudes that have evolved through the COVID-19 crisis?

In the last decade, employers have increasingly prioritised employee wellness, including mental health, understanding that happiness and productivity go hand in hand. Many employers are initiating workplace assessments to identify where physical changes can help mitigate germs. If they go one step further to examine the problem holistically from the user perspective, taking into account COVID-19-related attitude and behavioural shifts, they will succeed in creating a powerful support tool for worker morale, public health and business continuity.

While there is no silver-bullet solution or perfect working environment, the current crisis offers opportunities to reshape the workplace and create spaces that are meaningfully centred on the human experience. Past pandemics have brought sea changes to design in many areas from how cities are planned to how bathrooms are finished. But perhaps never before have we seen such an urgency for the corporate office to adapt or fall behind. Tailoring workplace changes for the post- COVID mindset will tackle the challenges we face now and create more resiliency for businesses in the future.