Strategic decision-making lies at the very heart of strategy making.

Strategic decision-making lies at the very heart of strategy making. Yet, as important as the decision made are those which are not made- reminding us that power and rationality go hand in hand."
You will be assessed b a sed o n t h e following (the lecturer reserves the right to adjust the overall mark – if the sum does not fit the overall worth of the work):
Introduction (5)
- Overview of issues
- Statement of purpose of essay
- Identification of key argument(s)
Understanding of question and context (12)
- Critical reflection of essay question
- Identification of key authors and concepts
- Understanding of broader issues
Content and critical analysis (20)
- Range of appropriate theories, concepts and examples covered
- Quality of sources to support argument (i.e. academic journal articles)
- Use of evidence to support argument
- Synthesis of established theories/concepts where relevant
- Appropriate use of examples from movie or book (appropriate, concise, relevant, timely,
supportive of argument)
Professionalism and referencing (8)
- In-text referencing
- Structure and flow of argument
- Clarity of writing
- Spelling and grammar
- The focus of the essay is on critically discussing the statement.
- You need to do some reading on this topic (start with your text book, look up the foot notes,
use our lecture materials, read several articles from the list below).
- Based on your reading, you then need to critically discuss this statement. In forming your
argument/views, you may wish to reflect upon other concepts such as Cohen, March and Olsen’s ‘garbage can model’ of decision making, bounded rationality, satisficing and Lindbom’s idea of “muddling through” (NB: you don’t have to use these concepts, nor to you have to use all of these in one essay).
- The focus is on critically discussing strategy and this statement, referring to academic articles, and then using the movie/book to provide illustrations/examples.
- Avoid writing a movie/book review; focus on strategic decision making, and use examples from the movie/book to support your answer.
- This is an essay and not a report, therefore it is advised that you do not use sub-headings or bullet points (unless where a short list is required). Try to set up your argument in the
introduction, and also introduce how your essay will be structured. Use this to guide your
writing.
- Be sure to include a reference list at the end of your essay (i.e. a listing of all in-text
references that you have cited – and not a bibliography).
- Do not rely solely on your textbook. Higher grades will be achieved by doing original
research and incorporating insights and analysis from other high quality academic papers.