bus communication

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ARAB OPEN UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF BUSINESS STUDIES

LB170 -Communication Skills for Business and Management

Fall 2021-2022

Lb170 -TMA QUESTIONS

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Completing and sending your assignments

Please read these instructions carefully and contact your tutor if you require any further clarification.

When you have completed your TMA, you must fill in the assignment form (PT3 form), taking care

to fill all sections correctly. A soft copy of your TMA with the PT3 form filled must be uploaded to

the university Moodle within the indicated cut-off date, via the turn-it-in upload link.

Plagiarism

The Arab Open University Definitions of cheating and plagiarism

According to the Arab Open University By-laws, “The following acts represent cases of cheating

and plagiarism:

 Verbatim copying of printed material and submitting them as part of TMAs without proper

academic acknowledgement and documentation.

 Verbatim copying of material from the Internet.

 Copying other students’ notes or reports.

 Using paid or unpaid material prepared for the student by individuals or firms.

 Utilization of, or proceeding to utilize, contraband materials or devices in examinations.”

Penalty on plagiarism

The following is the standard plagiarism penalty applied across branches as per Article 11 of the

university by-laws:

1) Awarding of zero for a TMA wherein more than 20% of the content is plagiarized.

2) Documentation of warning in student record.

3) Failure in the course to dismissal from the University.

All University programs are required to apply penalties that are consistent with the University

bylaws.

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Examples of Plagiarism

Copying from single or multiple sources, this is where the student uses one or more of the following

as the basis for the whole, or a good part, of the assignment:

1. Published or unpublished books, articles or reports

2. The Internet

3. The media (e.g.TV programs, radio programs or newspaper articles)

4. An essay from an essay bank

5. A piece of work previously submitted by another student

6. Copying from a text which is about to be submitted for the same assignment

Introduction

The value of TMA is 100 points.

The TMA aims to assess your understanding of the core concepts and frameworks covered in session

Sessions 1, 2,3,5,8 &9 of LB170.

You are advised to use the AOU e-library to locate additional relevant resources, which can support

your analysis and argument.

The TMA evaluates the following:

1- Your knowledge and understanding of the basic course concepts covered in session 1, 2,3,5,8 &9.

2- Your ability in applying SWOT and STEEPLE when analyzing a case study and problem identification.

3- Your ability to use these techniques in writing your own problem analysis.

4- Your ability to use relevant academic/course concepts in answering questions.

5- Your ability to communicate ideas clearly, and to follow good academic practice in citing sources of information properly.

General Mark’s deductions as follows

 PT3 Form: failure to complete the PT3 form correctly, (5 Marks).

 TMA Presentation and Structure, and word count: untidy presentation, work way below or

above the word count (deduct up to 5 Marks).

 Referencing and in-text citation: poor referencing/poor or lack of bibliographical list, and or

poor in-text citation without plagiarism, (deduct up to 2 Marks).

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1. Match the terms given below in the left column with the expression in the right column that is similar in meaning. (1mark each)

a. Close reading

b. Paraphrasing

c. Analyse

d. Referencing

___To include a detailed information about all the sources used

in a txt.

___Reading or listening to the information available and using

key concepts or frameworks to examine the situation.

___ Reading a text carefully looking at details. ___Restating the ideas in the original source in your own words.

2. Below are mixed STEEPLE factors examples of Asda Co. case study. Organise each

STEEPLE factors example according to the suitable category. (3marks each)

a. Legal ___fluctuation in global exchange rate.

b. Environmental ___impact of Brexit and prolonged uncertain

geopolitics

c. Political ___commitment to addressing the environmental

challenges.

d. Sociological ___stringent rules regard data privacy.

e. Ethical ___Digitalization in retail set to simplify the lives

of customers

f. Economical ___increasing popularity of mobile payments.

g. Technological

___Asda Co. operations are conducted in

accordance with integrity, transparency,

accountability and honesty.

PART I Short answer questions 50 Marks

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3. Read the extract carefully and apply the problem-solution pattern of analysis to it. Use numbers

only to refer to each answer. (5marks each)

a) The starting situation presented in sentence number -----------

b) The problem presented in sentence number---------

c) The underlying cause of the problem is presented in sentence number -----------

d) Solution has been proposed in sentence number ----------

e) Evaluation of the solution presented in sentence number -------

Colston & Colston

(1) Colston & Colston is an independent firm of chartered surveyors and commercial property

consultants with extensive contacts throughout the West Country and South Wales. (2) They had one

bookkeeper using Sage desktop accounting and an accountant dealing with year-end filing and tax

advice. (3) They had numerous files of paper in the office; sales invoices, purchase bills, expenses,

and bank statements to name but a few of what they had to handle. (4) Also the flow of information

was not satisfactory for they were receiving the compliance side of an accounting function but not any

management reporting and wanted to be in touch with their data to start tracking how various areas of

the business were performing. (5) Angela Ashworth of Purple Lime (a team of experienced and

practiced accountants) met with Alistair Colston and his fellow partners. (6) They reviewed how the

flow of information and paperwork could be improved upon. (7) Angela introduced the firm to the

world of Xero cloud accounting software and some of the associated apps which could be used to run

their business. (8) Angela set up Xero cloud based accounting initially and worked with the partners to

track the different areas of the business that they wished to monitor. (9) Live bank feeds were

integrated with Xero, following on from that Receipt Bank was integrated with Xero for all costs and

expenses to be captured and finally, Re-Leased was integrated at the front end which is a commercial

and residential property management system. (10) The business now has a tailored cloud based system

and the office is free of many files of paper; all documents are stored in the cloud.

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In about 300 words, write an essay analyzing the below case study using the SWOT

framework.

Johnson & Johnson Consumer Products, INC.

Johnson & Johnson is a household name in baby-care as well as medical products. Nearly every

family in the United States has in its house at least one product made by this company. Founded in

1885, Johnson & Johnson is currently an international enterprise, with 170 affiliated companies in

fifty-five countries. J&J enjoys a reputation for high-quality products and business integrity.

Consumers feel that they can trust J&J products. Trust is a big issue for a firm that makes

pharmaceuticals. Customers must believe that the products improve, not endanger, their health. J&J

makes a big thing of its credo statement, a four-paragraph guiding philosophy that outlines a

commitment to business integrity. According to its credo, the J&J company is required to place a

high priority on the needs of customers. Protecting customers is the company’s first concern.

All was well until J&J received news that its leading product, Tylenol capsules, had been

contaminated with lethal poison. In the United States, Tylenol and other mild pain relievers are sold

in the pharmacies and other stores over-the-counter, that is, without a doctor’s prescription. Mr.

David Clare, the president of J&J, said that someone had opened the capsules and poisoned them

with cyanide.

The fact that seven people in the Chicago area died when they took Extra-Strength Tylenol, a

common pain-relieving medicine made by J&J, shocked people all over the world. People all over

the world were horrified by the deaths of seven innocent people who took Tylenol capsules laced

with deadly cyanide. It seemed that anyone could have bought those deadly pills, and anyone could

have died from ingesting them. This element of randomness was particularly frightening.

After seven innocent people died from taking contaminated Tylenol, sales of the painkiller fell

dramatically. The non-aspirin drug’s share of the $1.2 billion painkiller market fell from 35 percent

to 7 percent. In a poll, a majority of Tylenol users said they probably would never return to the

capsule. But J&J responded to the frightening incident in a notable way. Its executives took a

decision that turned out to be not only ethical but profitable, too. Going against all odds, the

chairman of J&J decided to spend whatever millions it would cost to recall 31 million bottles of

Tylenol capsules from store shelves across the United States. The day after J&J learned that some of

its popular Tylenol capsules had been poisoned, the company started withdrawing 31 million bottles

of Tylenol from country. They were afraid that other bottles might have been tampered with. Official

at the Food and Drug Administration, the U.S. government agency that approves products for sale to

the public, feared that the recall would increase the panic already touched off by the poisoning

deaths of seven Chicago-area residents who had taken capsules that had been laced with cyanide.

The FBI argued that such an expensive action would demonstrate to potential terrorists that they

could bring a $5.9 billion corporation to its knees . But J&J chairman’s decision prevailed, and his

move proved to be decisive in a remarkable and unparalleled win back of public confidence in his

company’s product… Tylenol regained more than 80 percent of the market share it held before the

still unsolved poisoning.

As a result of the seven deaths in Chicago, Illinois, J&J was able to play a significant role in

affecting positive changes in the U.S. pharmaceutical industry and in government regulation of that

industry. The company began redesigning the package to restore public confidence. Within twenty-

four hours, J&J had contacted many of the companies that would be involved in the redesign. By

the end of the week, J&J had decided that the new Tylenol bottle would have three barriers to

PART II ESSAY QUESTIONS 50 Marks

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prevent tampering: a glued box, a ‘shrink’ neckband and an inner seal. To get Tylenol back on the

market, J&J spent $ 1 million on engravers to redesign 650 pieces of artwork for the product.

Cartons and sealing equipment cost more than $ 5 million during the first few weeks. By the fifth

week after the Chicago deaths, the first 500,000 units of the new tamper-resistant Tylenol package

were produced. While J&J led industry efforts to protect consumers, the Food and Drug

Administration began developing stronger packaging regulations. As a result, all capsules and liquid

drugs must now come in tamper-resistant packages. These guidelines do not only protect the

consumer but also the pharmaceutical companies such as J&J.

Four years after the first incident, another person died after taking poisoned Tylenol from so-called

tamper-resistant package. J&J is faced again with the problem of winning back the public trust. To

do this, it must get the media on its side.

Answer Notes:

 Students are required to identify 6 strengths, 3weaknesses, 1 opportunity, and 2 threats. Then to write an analytical text for the case study.

 Students are required to provide definitions for each SWOT factor by referring to different relevant external resources (use the AOU e-library).

 You may refer to session 5 for more information.

End of questions.