Guidelines for the presentation

1. Guidelines for the presentation Drs Joan Harvey and George Erdos

2. The presentation • Provide the marker with a set of the slides, 6 to a page, in B & W • Provide the marker with a 1-page typed summary of the knowledge base that supports your analysis. You can use the lecture notes, the internet, textbooks to get this information • Please also submit on the presentation day to Oldrich Vylupek your personal peer evaluation sheets.

3. Your powerpoint slides • You do not address any questions already provided. You must do the following: • First slide must contain your names • Second slide must identify the contributions of the people in your group (who did what) • Then provide slides to outline the topic you are investigating • Now outline the main problemscovered in the case, those that you are addressing • Now outline your solution(s)to the problems • Show possible alternative solutions to these problems • Consider the implications of your solution and the other alternatives for the future

4. Slides (cont.) • Show what knowledge base supports your solution(s). You can use the notes, the internet, textbooks to get this information • Consider the possible consequences of your solutions, and possible consequences of the most viable alternative that you did not choose • You may also look to the future: • the identifiable companies have moved on since the cases were prepared • but you can all do some future-gazing for your topic

5. The 1 page support • 1 side of A4 • Provides justification and background for your analysis, using literature, other knowledge obtained, justifies your conclusion(s), etc. • Has to be handed in at same time as the presentation

6. Timing and attendance You and your 4 colleagues attend for only your own presentation (unless you want to attend others!) 30 minutes is allowed; maximum 20 minutes for your presentation, 5-7 minutes for discussion and questions, 3 minutes for the next presentation to get set up. You will be stopped after 20 minutes… even if in mid-sentence. You will be given a 3 and 1 minute warning. Being under 20 minutes is the target to aim at. Not completing in 20 minutes will cost marks Not everyone your group needs to present- it depends on how you apportion the roles for the presentation as a whole, including preparation. But you all need to attend! Timings are prompt. Being late is not an option. Room allocation details will be given on the day before.

7. Advice points Practice timing to exactly 20 minutes is likely to mean you will exceed 20 minutes in the real thing. (During your practice run aim for 15 minutes.) You need to look at the problems, attempt to provide solutions and show you have evaluated the solution, in light of the existing theory/knowledge. This is a presentation that concerns the OB/HRM aspects, i.e. about people… so that must be your emphasis, not business strategy or economic aspects per se [you will be penalized if you do].

8. Advice points (cont.) This presentation is intended to be as it would be in a real life situation. Where, for example, a management consultancy team are “pitching” for a contract, time limits would be strictly adhered to, and evaluative components would be credited. Do not use crib sheets or read out pre-written material; you will lose marks if you do.

9. Criteria for Assessment • Presentation • Timing • Clarity of presentation/slides • Description of problem • Analysis • Conclusion/Solution • Support document

10. Perfect is the enemy of good • The perfect is the enemy of the good is an aphorism or proverb meaning that insisting on perfection often results in no improvement at all. The phrase is commonly attributed to Voltaire whose moral poem, La Bégueule, starts • “Danssesécrits, un sage ItalienDitque le mieuxestl'ennemi du bien. (In his writings, a wise Italian says that the best is the enemy of the good)” • Aristotle, Confucius and other classical philosophers propounded the principle of the golden mean which counsels against extremism in general. For example, it commonly takes 20% of the full time to complete 80% of a task while to complete the last 20% of a task takes 80% of the effort. Achieving absolute perfection may be impossible and so, as increasing effort results in diminishing returns, further activity becomes increasingly inefficient. Watson-Watt, who developed early warning radar in Britain to counter the rapid growth of the Luftwaffe, propounded a "cult of the imperfect," which he stated as "Give them the third best to go on with; the second best comes too late, the best never comes.” • ( from Wikipedia)

11. Satisficing • Satisficingis a decision-making strategy or cognitive heuristic that entails searching through the available alternatives until an acceptability threshold is met. This is contrasted with optimal decision making, an approach that specifically attempts to find the best alternative available. The term satisficing, a portmanteau of satisfy and suffice, was introduced by Herbert A. Simon in 1956, although the concept "was first posited in Administrative Behavior, published in 1947." Simon used satisficing to explain the behavior of decision makers under circumstances in which an optimal solution cannot be determined. He pointed out that human beings lack the cognitive resources to optimize: We can rarely evaluate all outcomes with sufficient precision, usually do not know the relevant probabilities of outcomes, and possess only limited memory. • (from Wikipedia)

12. Thank you for your attention to this advice • Ignore it and lose marks! • Use it and gain marks! • Joan Harvey and George Erdos