ASSESSMENT GUIDE
COMM1170
Organisational Resources
Term 1, 2022
UNSW Business School 1
Assessment Summary
Assessment task Weighting Due Date* Learning Outcomes
Assessment 1: Interview Skills Preparation

10%

Week 3: 12 noon Monday 28th February (AEDT) CLO1, CLO5, CLO6
Assessment 2: Interview Skills Video

30% Week 7: 12 noon Monday 28th March (AEDT)

CLO1, CLO2, CLO3,
CLO5, CLO6
Assessment 3: Exam

60% Exam period – you will be notified closer to the
exam period on the date and time of your exam
CLO1-CLO4

* AEDT is Australian Eastern Daylight Time (AEDT). If you are located in a different time-zone, you can use the time and date converter.
Course Learning Outcomes (CLO)
1. Identify different types of organisational resources and evaluate how an organisation manages its resources. [CLO1]
2. Apply tools and techniques that allow an organisation to source, deploy and manage its financial resources. [CLO2]  
3. Explain how technology is used to manage organisational resources. [CLO3]
4. Identify legal and organisational processes to lead people within changing organisations. [CLO4]
5. Develop and evaluate plausible, innovative solutions [PLO7, CLO5].
6. Demonstrate leadership skills to achieve desired results, including: self-leadership from reflection on experience, and leadership of others with influence
tactics. [PLO7, CLO6]

UNSW Business School 2
Assessment Details
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Due Date Weighting Format Length/Duration Submission

Late Submissions
The parameters for late submissions are outlined at UNSW Assessment Implementation Procedure. More specifically,
for COMM1170, if you submit your Interview Skills Preparation and Video after the due date, you will incur penalties
for late submission unless you have Special Consideration (see below). Late submission is 5% per day (including
weekends), calculated from the marks allocated to that assessment (not your grade).
Extensions & Special Consideration
You are expected to manage your time to meet assessment due dates. If you do require an extension to your
assessment, please make a request as early as possible before the due date via the special consideration portal on
myUNSW (My Student Profile > Special Consideration). The Course Coordinator and tutors are unable to provide an
extension. Special consideration is the process for assessing the impact of short-term events beyond your control
(exceptional circumstances), on your performance in a specific assessment task.
What are circumstances beyond my control?
Available here is a list of circumstances that may be beyond your control. These are exceptional circumstances or
situations that may:
• Prevent you from completing a course requirement,
• Keep you from attending an assessment,
• Stop you from submitting an assessment,
• Significantly affect your assessment performance.
You can find more detail and the application form on the Special Consideration site, or in the UNSW Special
Consideration Application and Assessment Information for Students.
Additional Assessment Feedback & Remarks
Please read the specific feedback on your assessments in detail, alongside the general feedback provided by the
Course Coordinator. Feedback is optimised if you revisit the assessment question, your completed work, the general
feedback about the assessment provided on Moodle and the marking rubric. It is prudent to reflect on this
information for a chunk of time (e.g., a day) before a discussing with your tutor; insightful analysis takes time to
consolidate. If the specific feedback on your assessment still raises questions, please contact your tutor directly.
Liaising with your tutor for additional feedback will need to be completed within 5 business days after the assessment
has been returned.
If your questions have not been resolved with the tutor, please apply for a remark via COMM1170@unsw.edu.au. In
your request, please use the marking rubric and learnings from the discussion with your tutor as to why you advocate
the assessment is worthy of a higher grade. This request for a remark also needs to be completed within 5 business
days after the assessment has been returned. Please note that in a remark, your mark may go up, though it may also
remain the same or decrease.
UNSW Business School 3
Assessment 1 & 2: Interview Skills

Assessment 1 - Preparation: Week 3 - 12 noon Monday 28th February (AEDT)
Assessment 2 - Video: Week 7 - 12 noon Monday 28th March (AEDT)

40% in total
Preparation (10%)
Video (30%)

Preparation: submit PowerPoint file
Video: Record via ‘Panopto’ (or a platform of your preference)

Preparation: 5 PowerPoint slides
Video: 15 mins

Preparation: Moodle Turnitin
Video: The Moodle Assignment Box

Purpose
The Interview Skills assessment is an opportunity to tailor the course to suit your learning. Building on the week 1
Moodle section ‘before the lecture’ and tutorial work, you will be finding an organisation that you are aspiring to work
for after graduation. Also refer to the Moodle tab ‘Assessment resources: Interview Skills’, as this has detailed
guidance under ‘Step 1: Resources for selecting an organisation and organisational issue’. The organisation you
choose does not need to be the ‘perfect fit’; finding out who you do not want to work for is an important part of this
journey too. In selecting your organisation, please ensure you can access information about their people and
technology resources; if this information cannot be found, you may need to reconsider using this organisation for your
assessment.

You are expected to utilise the same organisation in both assessments; this will save you time on background
research. It may be that as you progress the assessment, you learn you no longer aspire to work for that organisation;
this is important learning and does not mean you need to switch organisations. Utilise the opportunity to think about
how this refines your criteria for graduate positions.

Once the organisation is selected, you will be preparing for a graduate interview. Interviews for graduate positions
commonly cover three areas: (A) whether you understand and can contribute to that organisation; (B) your personal
skills (e.g., leadership, problem-solving, all the skills being developed in myBCom); and (C) aspects specific to your
profession (e.g., accountant, human resource professional). COMM1170 and this assessment will assist you with
points A and B. This is reflected in question A and B of both assessments. Note that these assessments are separate
submissions, yet build on one another, so that you receive early feedback.

Interview question A. The purpose is to demonstrate that you can identify issues that are hindering or helping an
organisation to achieve competitive advantage, then develop plausible, innovative solutions to enhance that
competitive advantage further.
• Assessment 1, Interview Skills Preparation focuses on selecting an organisation you would like to work for after
graduation, then engaging in problem-solving to identify an organisational issue important for their competitive
advantage and also identify organisational resources that help or hinder that issue. The organisational issue can
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either be a challenge that is inhibiting the organisation from achieving their competitive advantage, or an
opportunity that can be exploited by the organisation to gain a competitive advantage. The issue may be external
or internal to the organisation; however it MUST be able to be addressed using the organisational resources
studied in our course which provide the solution (see week 2 asynchronous material for illustrations for translating
external legal requirements into internal people and technology issues). Example issues may include, but are not
limited to, how the organisation facilitates remote working, upskills employees to have digital capacities, or builds
an inclusive workplace. These challenges may also be opportunities to change or transform the business.
• Assessment 2, the Interview Skills Video then focuses on mobilising a technology solution to the organisational
issue, then measuring the feasibility of the proposed solution. Note that solving such a problem is a common
interview question. When organisations select such solutions, there would be a dedicated team of employees who
work on this for a long time. At interview, organisations are seeking to find out if you know about and can
contribute to the organisation’s competitive advantage.
NB It is not necessary to include the Fishbone diagram in your ISP or ISV. However, if you feel it will assist you in
explaining your answer better, you may include it. Marks will not be awarded to the Fishbone.

Interview question B. The purpose is to demonstrate you have the skills to complete work. In particular, this question
focuses on leadership, self-leadership and leadership of others through informal influence. To answer this question,
draw on the week 1 material ‘The uses (and abuses) of influence’ as a source of inspiration for leadership skills and
show how you have applied one tactic in your COMM1170 tutorial break-out (BO) groups using the ‘STAR’ interview
technique.
• Assessment 1 asks you to identify a situation from tutorial break-out (BO) groups and apply the ‘STAR’ tool.
• Assessment 2, you can utilise that same situation to build your video response, or perhaps you have an improved
example from tutorials latter in the term.


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Interview Skills Preparation (ISP)

Submit five PowerPoint slides. These slides need text and visual images to provide the structure of your presentation
to cover the following key points.

Title page. Include: name, zID, tutorial day/time and tutor, and organisation selected including their website.

Question A.
• A1. What is the organisational issue? Select an issue that could be addressed with technology and has
implications for people. Explain the issue by utilising the 5W problem-solving tool. Demonstrate you have credible
evidence for the 5Ws from independent sources (e.g., news articles, industry articles, journal articles) and to
gather stakeholder interests (e.g., employee or customer reviews etc).
• A2. Why is the issue important for the competitive advantage of the organisation you have selected? Is it
for operational excellence, customer intimacy, or both.
• A3. Identify the organisational resources that help or hinder the organisational issue:
i.People, specifically employee performance, motivation or both?
ii.Technology, and where possible specifically link to: anywhere operations, hyper-automation and total
experience strategy).

Question B. In your COMM1170 break-out groups to date, identify one situation/task and write one sentence for each
of the following: (i) situation / task; (ii) your influencing action (link to Cialdini from week 1); (ii) result of that action?
Note that your result does not need to be ‘successful’; the purpose is to show evidence of self-reflection and ways to
growth.

Formatting and word limit
There is no formatting or word limit requirements for ISP. However, consider the following:
• Are your slides presented in a professional manner? That is, is there too much/too little text? Is the font easy to
read? Is the font size appropriate for a presentation?
• Are your slides presented in an engaging way? That is, are your slides interesting and will it capture your
audience’s attention?
• You are encouraged to attend/watch the COMM1170 Communication Workshop for more specific guidance on
formatting.


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Interview Skills Video (ISV)

Interview question A: What is your project proposal? Maximum 15 mins
i. Identify an issue faced by the organisation.  (approx. 1 min)
Briefly outline the organisational issue you identified in your Interview Skills Preparation, including why it was
important for competitive advantage. Assume the listener (i.e., your interviewer) does not remember anything
from ISP.
ii. Mobilise a solution to resolve the issue (approx. 4 mins).
• Identify two pieces of technology to solve the organisational issue. These software options need to link to
the Gartner trends focused on in COMM1170: anywhere operations, hyper-automation or total experience
strategy. If possible, select two pieces of software from different Gartner trends; no additional marks will
be added for selecting two trends, though it might make your TOE easier.
• Explain how the two pieces of technology will resolve the issue by drawing on the Information Systems
five component framework.
iii. Measure outcomes (approx. total 6 mins of which the O in TOE needs to be a minimum of 4 mins).   
• Apply the Technological – Organisational - Economic (TOE) Feasibility tool. Technological feasibility will
address compatibility and complexity. Organisational feasibility will address one of the following: training,
compensation, and/or work design (2 dimensions of SMART). Economic feasibility covers broad issues
explained in the technology lecture (you do not need to understand Capital yet).
• Based on your TOE analysis, choose one technology solution that will resolve the issue identified.

Interview question B: Implementing solutions in organisations requires the leadership skill of influencing
others. Select and explain one influencing skill you demonstrated at university. Maximum 3 mins.
Answer this using the STAR (situation, task, action, result) interview technique and the COMM1170 break out (BO)
group situation you have experienced. For the A in STAR, focus on one of Cialdini’s influencing tactics that you
implemented. The attempted actions do not need to be successful if you include what you have learned and reflected
on to be more effective next time learned to be more effective next time (employers want to see the skill of continuous
learning).

Supporting resources and links
See the Moodle website for supporting resources and links.

7
Assessment 3: Exam

Exam period

60%

Moodle Quiz

3.5 hours. This exam will have 2 sections. Section 1 will be 1.5. hours followed by break. Section 2 will be 1
hour. Sections 1 and 2 will take place on the same day.

Submit within the exam platform

Description of assessment task
Part 1: Capital and Accounting
Expected length: 1.5 hours.
This comprises of quantitative calculations and multiple-choice questions from the capital and accounting weeks 7 to
10. Some questions will test fundamental knowledge, other questions require application of key concepts and/or
computation.
The supporting resources and links for this section of the exam will come from the asynchronous material, lecture,
tutorial and allocated textbook reading. Additional practice problems will also be made available.

Part 2: Combining organisational resources
Expected length: 1 hour
There will be a couple of short answer questions that ask you to showcase your knowledge about combining
organisational resources. These questions are based on the qualitative tutorial questions in weeks 7 to 10 and weekly
‘Integration theme’ material. Each question is expected to have a response of between a paragraph and one page.
Submission instructions
More instructions will be provided during the final exam period on how to access and submit your exam.
UNSW Business School 8
Marking Rubrics
Assessment 1: Interview Skills Preparation
Note: Reflecting what occurs with job applications where communication is crucial, the materials will be read only once for marking.
Criteria % Fail
0% to 49%
Pass
50% to 64%
Credit
65% to 74%
Distinction
75% to 84%
High Distinction
85% to 100%
Question A answered with
COMM1170 knowledge


40% Does not choose an issue or it is
irrelevant, insignificant,
or unclear.

Chooses an internal issue, but
link to technology, people
and/or competitive advantage is
not clear.

Chooses an internal issue that is
linked to technology, people and
competitive advantage.

Chooses an internal issue that is
clearly linked to technology,
people and competitive
advantage.

Chooses an internal issue that is
clearly linked to technology,
people, competitive advantage
and global business trends.
Evidence based analysis


20% Very poor/no attempt to analyse
the issue; may omit or
misunderstand elements of the
5Ws or evidence missing.
Attempts to analyse the
issue but may miss
some components of the
5Ws or evidence.
Analysis of the issue using the
5Ws and evidence, though may
be lacking evidence to influence.

Clearly analyses the issue using
the 5Ws and reputable
evidence.

Clearly and
persuasively analyses the
issue using the 5Ws with
reputable and varied evidence
that considers multiple
stakeholders.

Communication
Clarity and balance of visual and
written communication for
influencing.
20% Unclear communication mainly
reliant on only visuals or text.

Incorrect spelling and/or poor
expression may frequently
hinder understanding of ideas
Unclear communication with
unbalanced approach to text
and visuals so unable to
understand the message.

Incorrect spelling and/or poor
expression at times.
Communication has a balance
of text and visuals.

Accurate spelling and
expression.
Communication has a balance
of text and visuals, is concise
and has some persuasion.

Accurate spelling and
expression.
Persuasive communication of
ideas with text and visuals.

Accurate spelling and
expression.
Question B answered

Engaged in self-reflection with
COMM1170 tutorial experience
and knowledge of the STAR tool
20% Does not describe a relevant
influencing action taken or
result achieved.



Vaguely describes an
influencing action taken and
reflects on results
but reflection may be limited or
underdeveloped.


Describes an influencing action
taken and a solid reflection on
results. ‘ST’ in STAR is over or
underdeveloped.



Describes a specific influencing
action taken and reflects on
results, demonstrating some
awareness of their role in group
dynamics and ways to grow. ST’
in STAR is appropriately
developed.



Clearly describes a specific
influencing action taken and
thoughtfully reflects on
results, demonstrating
awareness of their role in group
dynamics and ways to grow. ST’
in STAR is insightful and
succinct.







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Assessment 2: Interview Skills Video
Note: Reflecting what occurs with job applications where communication is crucial, the video will be watched only once for marking.
Criteria % Fail
0% to 49%
Pass
50% to 64%
Credit
65% to 74%
Distinction
75% to 84%
High Distinction
85% to 100%
Application
of Technology toolkit

30%

Does not apply the Technology
resources toolkit to the case, or
application is inaccurate. May not
include a solution or it is irrelevant,
unclear, or confusing.
Applies the Technology resources
toolkit to the case with a solution,
but may be generic, vague, or
somewhat confusing.
Accurately applies the Technology
resources toolkit to the case with a
clear solution, though may lack
specificity.
Accurately and insightfully applies
the Technology resources toolkit
to the case with a specific
solution.
Accurately and insightfully applies
the Technology resources toolkit
to the case with a specific solution,
demonstrating breadth and depth
of analysis.
Application of TOE
tool to assess
feasibility of
solution, with a
focus on the
People toolkit

30%

Does not apply the TOE feasibility
tool and People tools to their
specific solutions, or application is
inaccurate. Application may be
missing, or it is irrelevant, unclear,
or confusing.
Applies the TOE feasibility tool and
People tools to their specific
solutions but may be
generic, vague, or somewhat
confusing.

Accurately applies the TOE
feasibility tool and People tools to
their specific solutions, though
may lack specificity.
Accurately and insightfully applies
the TOE feasibility tool and People
tools to their specific solutions
Accurately and insightfully applies
the TOE feasibility tool and People
tools to the case to their specific
solutions, demonstrating breadth
and depth of analysis.
Communication 20% Unclear communication mainly
reliant on only visuals or text.



Incorrect spelling and/or poor
expression may frequently hinder
understanding of ideas.

Communication of spoken ideas
is confusing, and/or student may
be reading directly from the screen
throughout. No use of non-verbal
communication skills.
Unclear communication with
unbalanced approach to text and
visuals so unable to understand
the message.

Incorrect spelling and/or poor
expression at times.


Communication of spoken ideas m
ay be hesitant, lacking expression,
or evidently heavily reliant on a
script off-screen. Basic use of non-
verbal communication skills.
Communication has a balance of
text and visuals.



Accurate spelling and expression.

Mostly
professional communication
of spoken ideas though may lack
confidence or rely frequently on a
script. Some use of non-verbal
communication skills.
Communication has a balance of
text and visuals, is concise and
has some persuasion.


Accurate spelling and expression.

Generally
confident and professional commu
nication of spoken ideas. Any
script reading is not obvious. Good
use of non-verbal communication
skills.
Persuasive communication of
ideas with text and visuals.



Accurate spelling and expression.

Consistently confident,
convincing, and professional com
munication
of spoken ideas. Effective use of
non-verbal communication skills.
Question B answered

Engaged in self-
reflection with
COMM1170
knowledge
20%

May not provide clear evidence, fail
to use the STAR technique, or no
reference to Cialdini influencing
skills.

Response does not demonstrate
any application of lessons learned
in BO group.

Attempts to apply the STAR
technique to explain evidence of
influencing skills , but may be
vague, confusing, or not related to
a Cialdini influencing tactic.

Adequately applies the STAR
technique to explain evidence
of a Cialdini influencing tactic used
in learned in BO group, though
it may be somewhat unclear or
misinterpreted.
Accurately applies the STAR
technique to explain relevant
evidence of a Cialdini influencing
tactic used in BO groups.

Persuasively applies the STAR
technique to explain specific,
relevant evidence of a Cialdini
influencing tactic used in learned
in BO group. Assumptions
identified and mitigated.