Choose a relevant occupation(s) and critically analyse the key factors involved in how an occupant in your chosen occupation engages in interactive service work

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SUMMATIVE ASSIGNMENT

 

The assignment is a 4,000 word (maximum) individual piece of work. In this summative assessment you MUST base your analysis on primary or secondary data. This should follow from an appropriate engagement with relevant academic literature to develop a framework in which to analyse the data. Assignments that are based solely on academic literature will be deemed not to have met a central requirement of the assignment and will not achieve a pass mark.

There will be individual consultation available for anyone who wishes to discuss the appropriateness of the data they envisage using for the project. Anyone who decides to collect primary data will be required to complete relevant research ethics forms. You can use data collected for your dissertation if it is suitable for the assignment questions (if you do this then an ethics form will not need completing since you will already have submitted one).

 

Choose ONE of the questions below:

 

QUESTION 1: Choose a relevant occupation(s) and critically analyse the key factors involved in how an occupant in your chosen occupation engages in interactive service work. In particular you should address how they undertake emotional and/or aesthetic labour?

 

For this question examples of primary or secondary data could include the following: [1] primary data could be collected through interviews or observations of individuals who work in an interactive service role, i.e., those working in any customer/client facing role. Interviews would most likely be semi-structured so you would need to devise a set of appropriate questions that relate to the question’s focus. One or two interviews would be sufficient. If conducting observations, you need to think about how you keep a record of the observations.

[2] secondary data analysis could be based on accounts in the social media blogs from people working in interactive service roles. There are numerous such accounts from occupations such as nurses, doctors, airline cabin crew, hairdressers, personal trainers, call centre workers etc. These can be found in numerous blogs or newspaper articles so an internet search should allow you to find such sources. Secondary data could also consist of relevant movies, TV or documentary extracts that show the forms of labour in action.

Please note that due to the limited word count you do not need to provide a specific section on your research methodology. A paragraph describing your method and data will suffice.

 

QUESTION 2: For this question you are required to choose an appropriate piece of organisational rhetoric. In conducting your analysis, you must focus on the following:

(1) Provide an understanding of the rhetorical situation which influenced why the piece of text or talk was created (25 marks).

(2) Identify the key rhetorical strategies, tactics or devices contained within the chosen text or talk (75 marks).

 

For this question examples of primary or secondary data could include the following: [1] primary data could be collected through interviews or observations of individuals who work in an interactive service work role and for whom persuasion is typically identified as a key element of their work. As with question 1 examples could be individuals working in any customer/client facing role. Interviews would most likely be semi-structured so you would devise a set of appropriate questions that particularly relate to part 2 of the question.

[2] secondary data could be written communication and/or audio-visual presentations. These could be communications or presentations aimed at shareholders, workers or customers. Examples of written secondary data could be corporate apologies, mission statements, relevant parts of corporate reports or relevant organisational strategies and/or policies. Audio-visual presentations could also include corporate apologies, as well as TED talks that are focused on customer/client relations or manager-worker relations.

 

Please note that due to the limited word count you do not need to provide a specific section on your research methodology. A paragraph describing your method and data will suffice.

 

Overall word limit: 4,000 words

SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS

 

Your completed assignment must be uploaded to Ultra
no later than 12:00 midday on 25 April 2022.

 

A penalty will be applied for work uploaded after 12:00 midday as detailed in the Business School Students SharePoint Site.  You must leave sufficient time to fully complete the upload process before the deadline and check that you have received a receipt. At peak periods, it can take up to 30 minutes for a receipt to be generated.

 

 

Assignments should be typed, using 1.5 spacing and an easy-to-read 12-point font. Assignments and dissertations/business projects must not exceed the word count indicated in the module handbook/assessment brief.

 

The word count should:

  • Include all the text, including title, preface, introduction, in-text citations, quotations, footnotes and any other items not specifically excluded below.
  • Exclude diagrams, tables (including tables/lists of contents and figures), equations, executive summary/abstract, acknowledgements, declaration, bibliography/list of references and appendices. However, it is not appropriate to use diagrams or tables merely as a way of circumventing the word limit. If a student uses a table or figure as a means of presenting his/her own words, then this is included in the word count.

 

Examiners will stop reading once the word limit has been reached, and work beyond this point will not be assessed. Checks of word counts will be carried out on submitted work, including any assignments or dissertations/business projects that appear to be clearly over-length. Checks may take place manually and/or with the aid of the word count provided via an electronic submission. Where a student has intentionally misrepresented their word count, the School may treat this as an offence under Section IV of the General Regulations of the University. Extreme cases may be viewed as dishonest practice under Section IV, 5 (a) (x) of the General Regulations.

Very occasionally it may be appropriate to present, in an appendix, material which does not properly belong in the main body of the assessment but which some students wish to provide for the sake of completeness. Any appendices will not have a role in the assessment – examiners are under no obligation to read appendices and they do not form part of the word count. Material that students wish to be assessed should always be included in the main body of the text.

Guidance on referencing can be found on Durham University website and in the Business School Students SharePoint Site.

 

MARKING GUIDELINES

Performance in the summative assessment for this module is judged against the following criteria:

  • Relevance to question(s)
  • Organisation, structure and presentation
  • Depth of understanding
  • Analysis and discussion
  • Use of sources and referencing
  • Overall conclusions

 

PLAGIARISM AND COLLUSION

Students suspected of plagiarism, either of published work or the work of other students, or of collusion will be dealt with according to School and University guidelines.

 

END OF ASSESSMENT

 

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