Posted: May 19th, 2015

Business Decision Making

Paper, Order, or Assignment Requirements

 

 

Please follow the guidelines provided.

General Guidelines

(Please read the instructions carefully)

 

1. Complete the title page with all necessary student details and ensure that the signature of the student is marked in the declaration form.
2. All assignments must be submitted as an electronic document in MS Word to the LMS (Use 12 Times New Roman script).
3. Assignment that is not submitted to the LMS by the prescribed deadline will be accepted ONLY under the REDO and RESIT submission policy of Westford.
4. The report should be grammatically correct and word processed. Pages should be numbered.
5. You will PASS the full assignment task only if you achieve “AC Met” in each of the Assessment Criteria.
6. While answering any assignment task, student must provide evidence that learning outcomes of the subject have been met.
7. The answers should include Table of Contents, followed by writing each AC and thereafter answering the questions in the given sequence.
8. The answers wherever applicable should specifically relate to the happenings in the case study and certain assumptions can be made while answering questions, when trying to relate the theoretical aspects with the actual case study happenings.
9. Strict adherence to Harvard Referencing System (in-text citation and references cited at the end of the document) is mandatory.
10. While answering the Questions, students are expected to ensure that the Questions and AC’s are the same as provided by the faculty and the format as laid down in the assignment.
11. While submitting a REDO, use a separate cover sheet and answer the REDO answer separately at the end of the document while retaining the existing comments of previous assessment.
12. The results are declared only if the student has met the mandatory attendance requirement of 75% and/or a minimum of 50% under extenuating circumstances approved and ratified by the Academic Director. The student has to repeat the module (with additional fees applicable) if the attendance is below 50%.
13. Submit the assignment in a MS Word document with the file name being:

First Name Last Name_ abbreviation of the subject

Business Decision Making

 

Assignment Task 1

 

 

Questions to be addressed in completing the Assignment Task 1:

(Figures in brackets after the question denote relation with the assessment criteria. If you achieve all the assessment criteria mentioned herein, you will have achieved a PASS grade).

[Grade Descriptors mentioned thereafter denote the evidence required in your answers to achieve MERIT and DITINCTION Grades. To achieve a MERIT, you must achieve all M1, M2, M3 grade descriptors mentioned against the respective questions and to achieve a DISTINCTION, you must achieve all D1, D2, D3 grade descriptors mentioned against the respective questions]. 

 

 

Be able to use a variety of sources for the collection of data, both primary and secondary

 

A survey is required to be performed to determine the following:

 

AcademicFacilities available at Westford School of Management for HND Course students, including gauging the students’ satisfaction level (the questionnaire can include quality, content, faculty, institute, facilities, administration, students engagement, satisfaction, etc.) at its Sharjah, UAE campus premises.

 

 

Questions to be addressed in completing the Assignment Task 1:

(Figures in brackets after the question denotes relation with the assessment criteria)

 

 

LO 1. Be able to use a variety of sources for the collection of data, both primary and secondary

 

1.1& 1.2 Create a plan for carrying out the survey of the requirement enumerated above, by presenting the survey methodology and the sampling frame you are going to use. Also bring out in your plan how are you going to collect primary and secondary data to carry out this survey? (Criteria 1.1: create a plan for the collection of primary and secondary data for a given business problem;    Criteria 1.2: present the survey methodology and sampling frame used)

 

• Design a questionnaire with at least 15 questions to carry out the survey for the requirement enumerated above.(Criteria 1.3: design a questionnaire for a given business problem)

 Assignment Task 2

 

Questions to be addressed in completing the Assignment Task 2:

(Figures in brackets after the question denote relation with the assessment criteria. If you achieve all the assessment criteria mentioned herein, you will have achieved a PASS grade).

[Grade Descriptors mentioned thereafter denote the evidence required in your answers to achieve MERIT and DITINCTION Grades. To achieve a MERIT, you must achieve all M1, M2, M3 grade descriptors mentioned against the respective questions and to achieve a DISTINCTION, you must achieve all D1, D2, D3 grade descriptors mentioned against the respective questions].

 

Analysis of Data

 

Attempt all questions

 

 

Question 1: From the data below calculate the median, the upper quartile and the lower quartile.

7, 48, 50, 16, 44, 42, 8, 40, 44, 42, 37

Explain the significance of using medians and quartiles in business context of decision making. (Criteria 2.1)

 

Question 2: If the mean of numbers 28, x, 42, 78 and 104 is 62, then what is the mean of 128, 255, 511, 1023 and x?

Explain the significance of mean and mode in business context of decision making. (Criteria 2.1)

 

Question 3: Calculate the mean, mode, median, variance and standard deviation of the following frequency distribution:                                                                                    From the answers derived for all the central tendencies including deviation, give out valid conclusions of what do these figures signify in context of hours worked by employees. (Criteria 2.2)

 

Hours of Work                                                                  No. of Employees

 

>0   &<=10                                                                                           5

>10 &<=20                                                                                          7

>20 &<=30                                                                                          11

>30 &<=40                                                                                          16

>40 &<=50                                                                                          13

>50 &<=60                                                                                          7

>60 &<=70                                                                                          4

>70 &<=80                                                                                          2

 

 

Question 4: Why does a standard deviation take the square root of the average of the sum of the squared differences between X and X mean instead of the average of the absolute value differences?(Criteria 2.3)

 

Question 5: In a company, the data below gives you the distribution of Number of Hours worked per day by company employees, with the Frequency of the number of employees working these hours per day. From the grouped data given below, find the variance and the standard deviation.                                                                                                     From the answers derived for variance and standard deviation, analyse and state what these figures signify in terms of measures of dispersion observed in the number of hours worked by all these employees. (Criteria 2.3)

 

Number of Hours	Frequency
3.5 – 4.5	9
4.5 – 5.5	14
5.5 – 6.5	22
6.5 – 7.5	11
7.5 – 8.5	17

 

Question 6: The cost of output at a factory is thought to depend on the number of manufacturing units produced. Data have been collected for the number of units produced each month in the last 6 months, and the associated costs, as follows:

 

Month                  Outputs                                                               Cost

                                ‘000s of Units                                                    $ ‘000

 

Jan                         3                                                                              7

Feb                        4                                                                              9

Mar                        2                                                                              5

Apr                         5                                                                              11

May                       3                                                                              8

Jun                         5                                                                              12

 

Assess whether there is any correlation between output and cost. What conclusion can you draw in context with the business manufacturing units produced and its output costs? (Criteria 2.4)

 

Question 7: Respondents to a survey were asked to judge the quality of a product on a four-point rating scale (excellent, good, fair, poor). They were also asked to judge the reputation of the company that made the product on a three-point scale (good, fair, poor

The first variable is the rating for the quality the product. Responses are coded as 4=excellent, 3=good, 2=fair, and 1=poor. The second variable is the perceived reputation of the company and is coded 3=good, 2=fair, and 1=poor.

Is there a significant relationship between respondents’ perceptions of the company and their perceptions of quality of the product?What conclusion can you draw in context with the respondents’ perceptions of the company vis-à-vis their perceptions of the quality of products produced by them? (Criteria 2.4)

 

Variable 1	Variable 2
4	3
2	2
1	2
3	3
4	3
1	1
2	1

 

Question 8: From the above questions’ calculations done by you, explain how quartiles, percentiles and the correlation coefficient are used to draw useful conclusions in a business context. (Criteria 2.4)

 

 

LO 2.   Understand a range of  techniques to analyse data effectively for business purposes

 

 

The following criteria will be addressed while answering the questions enumerated above.

(Figures in brackets after the question denotes relation with the assessment criteria)

Use of representative values, analysis of data using given situations, dispersion techniques analysis, use of quartiles, percentiles and correlation coefficient to draw useful conclusions.