Faculty of Business Studies

Arab Open University

Managing Across Organizational & Cultural Boundaries B325

Tutor Monitoring Assignment - OB

Spring 2022

QUESTION

TMA introduction

Collaborating has always proven to be effective particularly in the incidence of crisis. Countries face real challenges at different levels being it economic, social, health, education, etc. Without joining efforts between different actors, such challenges cannot be diluted. We have seen lately the case of the child Ryan in Morocco trapped in a well. His rescue story although it had a sad ending was not possible without the collaboration of several agents from different sectors.

Covid-19 pandemic waved a new challenge that countries were not really ready to face particularly at the health level. There has been a need hence for a collaboration between local health authority and WHO in order to face such unprecedented pandemic in our era.

The attached article discusses the international collaboration and covid-19. You are to read the document carefully and answer to the below TMA question.

QUESTION

With reference to B325 relevant course material and the article, determine the bases for collaborative advantage, main goals of such collaboration and challenges faced particularly at the level of trust. Your answer needs to be supported with clear evidence from the article validating your response. Discuss afterwards national health cooperation with regard to the vaccine access and how it has promoted stakeholder trust in such process. Support your discussion with evidence (Word limit: 2500 words).

What you need to consider before you start your TMA:Before starting your TMA, make sure to do your own research and ensure that the information needed is available. This is very important since the TMA does not only rely on course material but as well on external resources related to the health sector and vaccine access in your country.

Hint: in your essay, you need to consider the following:

• B325 relevant course material: bases for collaborative advantage; superordinate goals and goal setting (SMART goals); trust cyclic process.
• Explain relevant course material in a comprehensive way; i.e. no listing making sure that explanation is an integrated part of the answer.
• Identify bases for collaborative advantage from the article; superordinate goal and how it was translated into SMRAT goal, and challenges faced with regard to trust relationship and impact on cooperation done and consequently on covid-19 prevention.
• It is not enough to identify each element but you need to provide a clear statement/sentence from the article validating your discussion. Such statement needs to be put between quotations.
• Provide a briefing about the health sector in your country and how it worked towards supporting vaccine access to people; what cooperation has been done in this regard and with whom; and what was the end result and trust of stakeholder in such system.
• You have a plus or minus 10% with regard to word count

PAY ATTENTION:

• Do not to copy information as is neither from the course material nor from the article or external resources you refer to. You are to provide a discussion and demonstrate understanding of various concepts and not just list and describe.
• YOU MUST REFER TO B325 COURSE MATERIAL, THE ARTICLE AND NATIONAL HEALTH SECTOR AND COLLABORATION DONE IN THIS REGARD (access to the vaccine) and additional readings if needed.
• Remember to cite your sources in the text and to prepare a table of references at the end.
• Referring to course material alone is not enough. Referring to article alone or external resources alone is not enough. You need to use the course material, the article and chosen external resources.

GUIDANCE:

• Your answer should be written in an essay format.
• In the introduction, you may reflect on an overview of the topic along with an outline of your answer.
• The body text may be divided into two parts; one part explaining relevant course material comprehensively from a theoretical point of view while discussing the article in line of these theories and providing supportive evidence from the article; the second part where you will provide a briefing on the national health sector and its contribution to collaboration with regard to access to the vaccine and how this has been promoted for various stakeholders and how much the system was based on trust. A comparison between the article and the national context is to be provided as well.
• The conclusion can summarize the discussion and open a discussion towards the importance of trust in collaborative ventures while opening a discussion on the "shared future" reference the article.

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR STUDENTS

1. Cut-off date: Specific date to be specified later by deanship.If you feel that you are unable to meet the cut-off date of the TMA because of unusual circumstances, please contact your tutor as soon as possible to discuss a possible extension to the cut-off date. The exact cut-off date will be assigned in due course.

TMA weight: 20% of total course grade.

1. Course material:
2. Chapters 1, and 2.
3. Format:Write your answers in essay format. Failing to do so could result in grade deduction from presentation marks up to 5 marks. You may, however, use bullet points, diagrams, tables, or any graphs to support your arguments.
4. Plagiarism:Write your answers using your own words. Plagiarism will be penalized depending on its severity and according to AOU plagiarism policy (Enclosed after these instructions you will find the Arab Open University Rules of Cheating and Plagiarism).
5. Word count: Answers are expected to be within +/- 10% of the word limit. Answers that fall below or above this range can lose up to 5 marks.
6. Referencing: Use Harvard referencing style for in-text citation and make a table of references at the end. Failing to do so could result grade deduction of referencing marks up to 5 marks.
7. Research: Use a minimum of two additional sources of information. It is strongly recommended that you use scholarly articles found in the E-library at LMS. You can lose up to 5 marks if you do not use at least two external sources. In addition, although text books assigned in the course may be used freely as references, you are required to use a minimum of 2 external sources. It is recommended that you use scholarly studies found in the E-library link at the LMS. Failing to do so could result in grade deduction of referencing marks up to 5 marks. If you do not find required additional information at the e-library, you can always refer to Google scholar.

The Arab Open University Rules about Plagiarism

The Arab Open University Definitions of cheating and plagiarism

According to the Arab Open University By-laws, "Thefollowing acts represent studies 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, including tables and graphics.
• 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."

Examples of Plagiarism

Copying from a 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, studies or reports
2. The Internet
3. The media (e.g.TV programmes, radio programmes or newspaper studies)
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