Posted: September 13th, 2017

1. Individual Persuasive Essay;MANT250: Managing People Semester One: 2015

1.    Individual Persuasive Essay;MANT250: Managing People Semester One: 2015

This assessment requires you to choose one of the thesis statements below and write a persuasive essay that argues that thesis. The purpose of the essay is to exercise your skills at researching (finding information), applying that information, and communicating your ideas.
Specifically, this assignment asks you to:
1.    Research the topic. Find academic journals that have addressed the issue or parts of the
issue to inform your thought. You must cite that research to support your arguments. It is essential that you read and cite at least seven academic journal articles. These do not include books, the text, magazines (e.g., Newsweek), or newspapers.
2.    Argue the thesis. Choose one of the thesis statements below. This will typically appear as the final sentence of your first paragraph, after you have introduced the topic and hooked the reader. The remainder of the essay should be structured around paragraphs, each of which has a coherent and complete idea that supports the thesis. Your ideas should be supported with citations to the literature that you have researched, using APA citation style.
Length: 2,000 words excluding reference list (+/- 10%)
Marking Scheme: See Appendix One for a Copy of the Marking Scheme
Due Date: Friday 15 May @ 3pm. Both electronic version to SafeAssign and a hard copy to Reception, Management Department, Level 8, Commerce.
How to submit:
You will be required to submit a paper copy and an electronic copy of your essay.
a) Submittingyourpapercopy:
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MANT250: Managing People Semester One: 2015
Deliver a paper copy into the MANT250 assignment slot at the Management Department reception desk (8th floor of the Commerce building).
b) Submittingyourelectroniccopy:
The University of Otago reserves the right to use plagiarism detection tools. This essay will be put through SAFE ASSIGN, which identifies text that has been copied from the internet, publications or other student essays from your class and worldwide. Therefore, do not cut and paste any material into your essay without placing it in quotation marks and citing its source. Plagiarism of this sort will be handled in accordance with the University dishonest practice procedures. http://www.otago.ac.nz/administration/policies/otago003145.html
Choose the Essay Submission folder on Blackboard and follow the instructions:
•    If you want to submit one draft version to see the plagiarism analysis yourself before
submitting the final version, please select the Essay Submission DRAFT item;
•    to submit your final assignment, please select the Essay Submission: FINAL item and
follow the instructions.
Choose one of the three following thesis statements:
5.    Getting things done through other people requires more than being nice to them
6.    In employment relations, the reality may be either: “compromise to prevent failure” or “compromise and fail”. Discuss
7.    Employee performance management must encompass more than just the formal performance appraisal process.
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MANT250: Managing People Semester One: 2015
Presentation Requirement Checklist
8.    Title page containing paper code (MANT250), title, number of words, student name and ID
number.
9.    Evocative title that hints at the content and entices the reader.
10.    Double spaced throughout.
11.    12 point Times New Roman font. (You can use other traditional fonts with serif, but if you don’t know what “serif” means, then use Times New Roman.)
12.    APA style referencing and style. (See below)
13.    Proofread and run a spell-check and a grammar check. Spelling and grammatical errors make your work look unprofessional and will lose marks. You should have another person read your paper before you turn it in to the lecturers because another person will see mistakes that you do not see.
14.    Staple in the top left hand corner. Do not submit in plastic folders or similar devices.
To get a good mark, do the following:
15.    Provide an introductory paragraph that hooks the reader and explains why they should read on. The first sentence should be engaging and perfect. (It’s like a shop window that creates an impression of what the shop holds.) This paragraph should be interesting and lead naturally to its final sentence, the thesis statement (with which you have been provided).
16.    Create a logical argument: the single most important criterion for marking. A logical argument is a series of reasons for the thesis statement. They are statements that back up the thesis statement. For example, you are likely to have five to seven major reasons that support your thesis statement. Each of those reasons is likely to be one or two paragraphs. The first sentence of each paragraph should clearly support your thesis statement. For example, if you were writing an essay whose thesis was “emotional intelligence is essential for group functioning,” then the following are some reasons that support that thesis: (a) emotionally intelligent leaders sense discord and quell conflict before it escalates; (b) emotionally intelligent leaders are better equipped to inspire their followers with transformational techniques; and (c) emotional intelligence within a group creates a positive experience that relates to productivity.
17.    Write each sentence to logically follow from the previous sentence.
18.    Support your arguments with research-based facts. These “facts” come from academic literature. Academic journals are studies available online through the library. They are not “magazines”. The articles typically include collecting some data to support a point, such as through a survey or an experiment. (Meta-analyses are academic papers that analyse many other studies from many other papers, and they are therefore useful to support your points.)
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MANT250: Managing People Semester One: 2015
5.    Cite your research. You can cite the research by stating it as a fact. For example, you could write the following: Personality factors are related to individual emotional intelligence (Joseph & Mewman, 2010). Alternatively, you can note the authors in the sentence: Ballinger, Schoorman, and Lehman (2009) found that people trust new bosses more when they had a positive, trusting relationship with the previous boss. (Avoid too many sentences that begin with the authors’ names.)
6.    Integrate short quotations within paragraphs. For example, respectful leadership refers to “a person’s attitude towards other people, in whom he/she sees a reason that, in itself, justifies a degree of attention and a type of behaviour that in return engenders in the target a feeling of being appreciated in importance and worth as a person”(van Quaquebeke & Eckloff, 2010, p. 344). Quotations longer than about three lines should be indented (see APA handbook), but in reality should almost never be used in this assignment.
7.    Write complete paragraphs. Paragraphs should have three to five sentences that explain a single concept or idea. They should never be one sentence and they should never be more than seven lines of text. Also, do not begin a paragraph with “however”.
8.    Use section headings to make it easier to follow assignments.
9.    Only use pictures or diagrams if it helps the argument. (It almost never will help in this assignment).
10.    Write in clear sentences. Sentences should be about 15-20 words in length. Longer sentences may get convoluted. Write clearly and concisely.
11.    Use active voice. “The present thesis creates a paradox for managers” is an example of active voice using a strong verb. “There is a paradox for managers” is an example of passive voice using the weak “to be” (is) verb.
12.    Use a formal style because this is a formal assignment. “The boys just don’t care about emotional intelligence out in the wop-wops” is NOT formal, and, in fact, it is too informal.
13.    Cite appropriate research materials, which means academic research articles. You might also cite academic books or chapters from academic books, but you should primarily cite academic research articles. DO NOT cite the textbook. DO NOT cite the lecture.
14.    Use APA style correctly. You can easily find APA style on the library website or by searching the internet or by reading the APA Handbook. The style is extremely comprehensive and includes the following
1.    Double space throughout using Times New Roman 12 point font.
2.    Cite your research by including the citation at the end of the sentence within parentheses (van Quaquebeke & Eckloff, 2010). No first initials are used and the citation is part of the sentence and therefore the full stop goes after the final parenthesis.
3.    Use page numbers upper right hand corner. The title page starts with “1”.
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MANT250: Managing People Semester One: 2015
4.    Do not use footnotes or endnotes.
5.    Indent the first line of each paragraph half an inch (1.25cm).
6.    Avoid “this” at the beginning of a sentence. Instead, name the object you are referring to. This procedure will improve the clarity of your writing. (Note that the previous sentence says “this procedure” instead of “This will improve”. The second of these options would be less clear about what “this” refers to.)
7.    Get the references right. The following are examples of correctly formatted references. They appear at the end of your paper under the heading “References.” They are listed in alphabetical order. The title of the paper is NOT capitalised, but the name of the journal has the first letter of each word capitalised. The volume number follows the name of the journal and no issue number is required. (The “doi” is optional for this assignment and not shown in the examples.) List only references that have been cited in the body of the paper and assure that all citations in the body appear in the reference list.
References in APA Style
Ballinger, G. A., Schoorman, F. D., & Lehman, D. W. (2009). Will you trust your new boss? The role of affective reactions to leadership succession. The Leadership Quarterly, 20, 219-232.
Joseph, D. L., & Newman, D. A. (2010). Emotional intelligence: An integrative meta-analysis and cascading model. Journal of Applied Psychology, 95, 54-78.
van Quaquebeke, N., & Eckloff, T. (2010). Defining respectful leadership: What it is, how it can be measured, and another glimpse at what it is related to. Journal of Business Ethics, 91, 343- 358.