BUSINESS SKILLS

Order Description y need a report with bullet points new roman style size 12 1.5 spacing BUSINESS SKILLS (Module Code: MOD003325) Interim assignment SEPTEMBER 2015 COHORT Further Information: 1. Word Limit: 2,800 (see individual tasks for word limits) You must indicate the word count for your submission on the front page. Written assignments must not exceed the specified maximum number of words. All assignments which do so will be penalised. The penalty will be the deduction of marks at the Marker’s judgement. 2. Submission Date: 11th January 2016 This assignment must be received by no later than the date and time stated above. The front sheet of your submission must be marked with your student identification (SID) number(s). You should obtain and keep your Turnitin Assignment Receipt after submission. Work cannot be uploaded on Turnitin after the stated date and will receive a mark of zero (unless an extension has been approved in advance of the deadline). 3. Extensions Requests for short-term extensions will only be considered in the case of illness or other cause considered valid by the Student Adviser. These must normally be received and agreed by the Student Adviser in writing at least 24 hours prior to the deadline. Please refer to the Academic Regulations or your Student Handbook for full details. NOTE: YOU MUST SUBMIT YOUR ASSIGNMENT USING TURNITIN SOFTWARE AND OBTAIN A RECEIPT AS PROOF OF SUBMISSION. Module Title: Business Skills Module Code MOD003325 Academic Year: 2015/2016 Level: 4 Assessment Number: 1 (interim) Semester: 1 Module Leader: Ed McDonald Weighting: 40% Type of Assessments: Assignment Total Word Limit: 2,400-2,800 Assessed Learning Outcomes: 1 and 2 Additional Guidance: You must complete all tasks and submit your responses in a single document, marked with your student identification (SID) number(s) and indicating the word count. You must provide references where appropriate, following Harvard style, and include a bibliography. INTERIM ASSIGNMENT FORMAT: This coursework consists of 3 separate tasks that combine together to form a written project. The coursework is structured to enable you to complete a single stage at a time. Detailed descriptions of the tasks are given below. Please note that the deadline time is always 23:59 hours on the given date and all submission must be made electronically. Task Number Task description Word Length Completion Date 1 Write a comparison of the two styles of newspaper articles that are included with the assignment brief 700 Friday 20th November (week 8) 2 Create a professional looking C.V. and covering letter 800-1000 Friday 11th December (week 10) 3 Write a response to the article in Appendix 3 in essay format. 700 Monday 11th January 2016 ESSENTIAL SUBMISSION INFORMATION – PLEASE READ CAREFULLY! • You must complete each section of the work by the appropriate deadline date and submit it to the appropriate area on your MyARUL area. • Your tutor will look over the work that you submit and be able to advise you if it is of an acceptable standard. You will not receive any grades for these pieces of work at this time. Your tutor may offer you verbal feedback on how you can go about improving your work. • When submitting the final piece of work, it must include ALL of the tasks that you have completed as well as the final essay, contained within a single document file. • Your overall grade will be based on your achievement in all four of the tasks, not just the final essay. • Failure to complete any of the sections will result in receiving no marks for that section of the task. On the following page you will find a detailed breakdown of the requirements for each task contained within the Project. Task 1 Read the two newspaper articles, each of which adopts a different writing style: Article 1: Refugees welcome? How UK and Germany compare on migration (Appendix 1) Article 2: The human tide moving this way: Fury and fighting as rail station is closed to migrants (Appendix 2) Compare and contrast the two writing styles and write an essay that explains which is nearer to the style of writing that is found in academic literature. You should consider and comment on the following: • The target audience in each case; • The effect on the writing style as a result of targeting an audience; • The effect of use of quotations and images on the reader; • The relative usefulness of each article as a source of evidence in support of an essay on Mediterranean refugee crisis. (Approximately 700 words) (Total = 35 marks) Task 2 Conduct a job search for the positions which suit your profile. Choose one position for which you might apply and do the following: a) Prepare a CV in the relevant format. (Maximum 500 words) (10 marks) b) Write a suitable cover letter expressing your interest in the position. (400-500 words) (20 marks) (Total = 30 marks) Task 3 Read the article “Workers under 25 'don't deserve living wage because they're not as productive,' says Tory minister” which is included as part of this document in Appendix 3. Produce a response that explains whether you agree or disagree with Mr Hancock’s position. • You must write this task as an essay, following the structure laid out during Week 5. • You must take a position and argue for it. Neutrality is not desirable in this task. Your work should be focussed towards proving a point. • Your position must be based on a combination of sound reasoning and research • A Bibliography/Reference List containing 2-3 items that you have independently researched must be included. • Marks will be awarded or deducted based on the range of vocabulary and technical accuracy (e.g. spelling, grammar) used in the assignment. (Approximately 700 words) (Total =35 Marks) Appendix 1 Refugees welcome? How UK and Germany compare on migration Berlin has proposed a quota system, thousands of Germans have volunteered to help refugees, and press coverage has been more balanced – but there have also been more violent incidents in Germany Luke Harding, Philip Oltermann and Nicholas Watt Wednesday 2 September 2015 17.48 BST Last modified on Thursday 3 September 2015 09.45 BST The numbers More than 4 million refugees have fled Syria since the war there began in 2011. According to the UN’s refugee agency, almost 1.8 million have gone to Turkey, more than 600,000 to Jordan and 1 million to Lebanon – a country whose population is just 4 million. On Monday, Angela Merkel said Germany expected to take at least 800,000 asylum seekers this year. The figure is likely to go up, and could hit 1 million, Berlin says. In 2014 the European nation that accepted the largest number of refugees in proportion to its population was Sweden. Hungary, Malta, Switzerland and 13 other countries accepted more asylum applications than the UK, according to Eurostat. Between June 2014 and June 2015, the UK took 166 Syrian refugees. They were resettled from camps in Jordan and other neighbouring countries under a new government scheme. The “vulnerable persons” relocation initiative began in March 2014. Under it, the UK has taken 216 people. In June David Cameron said the scheme would be “modestly expanded”. The Home Office says that since 2011 almost 5,000 Syrians including family members have been given asylum under normal procedures. However, the figure includes many Syrians who were already living in the UK, and who were unable to return home because of war. Britain is the second biggest bilateral donor of humanitarian aid. It has pledged £900m, the Home Office says. Political conversation There has been relative silence from British ministers over the distressing scenes unfolding across Europe. In an article for the Sunday Times over the weekend, Theresa May, the home secretary, promised a tough new approach to immigration. May coolly referenced “the events of this summer” but didn’t once use the word refugee. Critics say the government is deliberately conflating two separate categories. In a speech this week on the crisis, in which she used the word refugee on 28 occasions, Yvette Cooper, the shadow home secretary, accused the Conservatives of “treating immigration and asylum as the same thing when they are completely different”. The government’s target of reducing net migration to the tens of thousands, which it has repeatedly failed to meet, includes asylum seekers. The government is highly unlikely to adopt a more open approach and is wary of following the example of Germany, where a clear distinction is made between immigration and asylum. The Tories face intense political pressure from Ukip over the large number of migrants from eastern Europe in the wake of the enlargement of the EU in 2004, and are in no mood to make the case for a more measured approach on asylum seekers. Nigel Farage, the Ukip leader, has tried to outmanoeuvre the prime minister by calling for a larger number of Syrian refugees to be accepted. The Refugee Council describes Downing Street’s current rhetoric on asylum as “inaccurate, dangerous and inflammatory”. Asked for examples, it cited David Cameron’s use in July of the phrase “swarm of people” to describe refugees camped out in grim conditions at Calais. On Wednesday the prime minister said taking more refugees wasn’t the answer and talked in vague terms of meeting “big challenges”. The council notes that the number of asylum applications to the UK has flatlined in recent years – there were 24,914 in 2014, a small figure given the world is in the grip of its worst refugee crisis since the second world war. The Refugee Council’s advocacy manager, Anna Musgrave, said: “We have a proud tradition of protecting refugees. We’re not living up to it. It’s extremely disappointing. What’s needed in this country is real leadership on this.” On Tuesday the former foreign secretary David Miliband said Britain should take its fair share of refugees, and complained that the government had misnamed what he said was a refugee crisis, not a migrant crisis. The political conversation in Germany has been markedly different. This week Merkel used the language of shared European ideals and said the continent as a whole had to deal with the problem. “If Europe fails on the question of refugees, its close connection with universal civil rights will be destroyed,” she warned. In July the German chancellor tried to comfort a teenage Palestinian asylum seeker who burst into tears in front of her during a televised debate. This month Merkel was widely criticised for acting too slowly in condemning anti-refugee riots in the Saxon villages of Freital and Heidenau. But after she spoke out, both centre-left and centre-right politicians have largely united around Merkel’s leadership on the issue. For the left, accepting refugees is about solidarity with those fleeing persecution and war. For conservatives there is a pragmatic impetus too: Germany is an ageing society with a shrinking population, and might benefit from an influx of young, highly motivated workers. Bavaria’s Christian Social Union, sister party to Merkel’s CDU, has been the only major party to sound a more critical note. Downing Street is refusing to take part in a new quota system proposed by Berlin, which would see refugees fairly distributed among all 28 EU states. This strategy may entail consequences. German officials have said Cameron has made various demands of fellow EU states before the UK’s referendum on EU membership. These are unlikely to be met if he won’t do more on refugees, they have hinted. Private engagement Thousands of ordinary Germans have volunteered to help the refugees now arriving daily. Some have filled up their cars with shopping, and distributed clothes, nappies, food and cuddly bears. Others have offered German lessons, translation and babysitting. Martin Patzelt, an MP from Merkel’s CDU party, has housed two refugees from Eritrea. They are now living with him temporarily at his home in Brandenburg. In particular, women have offered to help – 70% of those offering services to refugees are female, according to a recent survey. The response has sometimes been overwhelming. A Berlin-based group, Refugees Welcome, which matches refugees with people willing to give them a room, has been flooded with offers. More than 780 Germans have signed up. On Tuesday police at Munich station tweeted the public to stop bringing donations, saying that they had been inundated. In Britain, the refugee crisis has been less acute. There are signs here too, however, of ordinary citizens wanting to contribute. A pro-refugee rally in central London is planned for 12 September, just before the Brussels summit. The organisers said it is vital that May “takes with her the conviction that the British people that she represents are open to helping refugees.” They added: “We can’t continue to allow thousands to die trying to reach the EU and their legal right to claim asylum.” Groups such as City of Sanctuary and the Unity Centre in Glasgow have long offered support to asylum seekers. Media Two newspaper cuttings have highlighted the differences in tabloid attitudes between the UK and Germany. Writing in the Sun, Katie Hopkins likened refugees crossing the Mediterranean to cockroaches. By contrast Bild, Germany’s bestselling title, ran the front-page headline “We are helping” above a picture of two refugee children. Arguably, neither gives an accurate picture of media coverage. The German press may traditionally be more restrained when it comes to anti-immigration rhetoric, but Bild in particular has run articles implying that refugees get an “easy ride”. One said the Hamburg transport authorities waived fines for refugees caught without a ticket on the underground, for fear of provoking bad headlines – something the authorities deny. The true difference may lie in the fact that even right-leaning tabloid newspapers in Germany have balanced critical coverage of migration into Germany with sympathetic reportage on the plight of refugees crossing the Mediterranean. One of Bild’s chief correspondents, Julian Reichelt, has been as vocal in his support of Syrian refugees as he has was previously critical of the Greek government. In Britain, on the other hand, the tone of much tabloid coverage has been remorselessly negative. In May the Daily Mail ran the headline “How many more can Kos take?”, reporting that “thousands of boat people from Syria and Afghanistan” had set up a “migrant camp” on the Greek island – and that British holidaymakers found the situation “disgusting”. Last week the Mail illustrated a story about the rise in net migration to the UK with a photo of refugees crawling through razor wire on the Hungarian-Serbian border and the headline: “How many more can we take?” It said many of the “migrants” would now try to “sneak into Britain”. On Wednesday, meanwhile, Bild lambasted David Cameron over refugees, dubbing Britain “the slacker of Europe”. It said the UK had taken only 114 refugees for every million of population – a third of the EU average. Germany had taken 905 and Hungary a whopping 3,322, it reported. However there appeared to be a shift on Thursday with the Sun’s front page and editorial urging the prime minister to help those in situations “not of their own making” saying: “Mr Cameron, summer is over … Now deal with the biggest crisis facing Europe since WW2.” Football In recent months “Refugees Welcome” banners have appeared at the home grounds of German football teams with a traditionally leftwing fan base, such as Hamburg’s FC St Pauli. Remarkably, they have also popped up at clubs that in the past have had to distance themselves from neo-Nazi supporters, like Borussia Dortmund. Even in Dresden, which has seen high-profile anti-migration marches, the local club Dynamo Dresden has handed out free tickets to 300 refugees. Third-division Berlin club SV Babelsberg 03 has started a third team made up entirely of refugees, called Welcome United, while Schalke 04 have released a video of the team expressing solidarity with refugees, with the hashtag #StandUpIfYouAreHuman. Most of these initiatives have grown organically from local fan groups. There have been no records of similar fan-driven initiatives in the UK game – perhaps ironic, given that the slogan “Refugees Welcome” was first displayed on a Glasgow football ground. In 2007 Celtic’s left-leaning “Green Brigade” supporters unveiled a banner that read “Refugees Welcome – Created by Immigrants”. Attacks on refugees If Germany has accepted disproportionately more asylum seekers than Britain, it has also seen a much higher number of violent incidents directed at asylum seekers. By the end of last week, the German interior ministry had recorded 336 assaults on refugee shelters since the start of the year – over a 100 more than in the whole of 2014. The majority of these attacks had a rightwing motive. In Britain, the Home Office does not publish comparable statistics. The UK charity Refugee Action said it was anecdotally aware of isolated assaults on individuals, and no arson attacks. Unlike in Germany, where refugees have often been sheltered in schools, gyms or hotels, asylum seekers in Britain are usually housed in mixed accommodation, which is less easily identifiable. A large number of attacks in Germany have taken place in the former east: in 2014, 47% of racist assaults were recorded in the five regions that once made up the GDR, even though only 16% of asylum seekers have been allocated to the so-called Neue Länder. Merkel has refused to point the finger at specific regions, saying: “I don’t want to turn this into an east-west conflict.” The legal framework Germany’s proposed quota system will be discussed on 14 September at an emergency summit in Brussels. On Monday Merkel said it “wasn’t right” that some countries were refusing to share the burden. Asked whether David Cameron might do more, she joked: “I won’t get out my instruments of torture.” It was better to “talk to, rather than at” allies, she said diplomatically. Britain and east European countries including Hungary, Slovakia, Poland and the Czech Republic have fiercely resisted the plan. The Spanish are also not keen. The Home Office has indicated that Britain will not take part in any compulsory EU resettlement scheme or be bound by targets as part of a voluntary scheme. As Merkel noted this week, the UK’s obligations towards Syrian refugees fleeing war are compassionate rather than legal. The UK, Ireland – both outside the Schengen zone – plus Denmark have opt-outs from the EU’s common asylum policy, agreed in the Lisbon treaty. Britain insists that another piece of legislation should be upheld – the so-called Dublin regulation, under which displaced people should claim asylum in the first EU state they arrive in. Germany has unilaterally lifted the Dublin protocol. It says the regulation clearly isn’t working, as tens of thousands of refugees head north through the western Balkans towards Austria and Germany. Britain also believes that the convention is now effectively inoperable. If everyone who entered the EU through Italy or Hungary was sent back to those countries, they would be unable to cope. Reference: Harding, L., Oltermann, P. and Watt, N., 2015. Refugees welcome? How UK and Germany compare on migration. The Guardian, [online] 2 September. Available at: <http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/02/refugees-welcome-uk-germany-compare-migration> [Accessed 3 Sep 2015]. Appendix 2 The human tide moving this way: Fury and fighting as rail station is closed to migrants THE European migrant crisis spiralled out of control yesterday as chaotic scenes forced Hungary to shut its main train station. By Craig Saunders / Published 2nd September 2015 AFP/ GETTY - STRANDED: The migrants chanting protests at the main station in Budapest, Hungary Thousands of angry men, women and children erupted in protest in capital Budapest after officials banned them from getting on Austrian and German-bound trains. Desperate migrants got face-to-face with police before chanting “We want to leave” and “Germany, Germany” as the tense stand-off threatened to boil over. Among the frenzy were crying children and babies, with parents holding them in the air in a frantic bid to board trains. Others began fighting each other. Travellers from Syria, Eritrea and Afghanistan had camped on the platform of the Eastern Railway Terminus for days and had paid hundreds of pounds for tickets. Demonstrations flared up after an announcement was made saying services had been suspended and, later, only non-migrants were allowed in the terminal. GETTY - EXHAUSTED: Children sleep on the floor amids the chaos European chiefs are desperately trying to fudge together a solution as thousands of refugees and migrants continue to risk their lives on a daily basis. Last week the decomposing bodies of 71 migrants were found in a truck in Austria while at least 2,500 have died trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea this year. Hungary took the unprecedented step to close the station claiming it was trying to enforce EU law, which says people seeking asylum should make an application in the first “safe” country. Many migrants are abusing the system by not registering and trying to make it to richer nations such as Germany or the UK. Angry Syrian refugee Hussan, 47, who was among the chaos, said: “They took €125 (£92) for each ticket to Munich or Berlin, then they stopped and forced us from [the] station.” German Chancellor Angela Merkel has demanded other nations take their share of the migrants. Germany is expected to let in 800,000 this year – four times more than the previous 12 months. Mrs Merkel warned: “For those refugees who are being persecuted or have fled war, there should be a fair distribution in Europe based on the economic strength, productivity and size of each country.” EU leaders are due to get together for an emergency meeting on September 14. Meanwhile Labour leadership contender Yvette Cooper said Britain must open its doors to more refugees. The MP, vying for Ed Miliband’s old job, said Britain must “step up to the plate” and urged people to separate the asylum debate and migration issue. She said: “This has become a humanitarian crisis on a scale we have not seen on our continent since the Second World War. Yet we seem paralysed to respond. “It’s immoral, it’s cowardly and it’s not the British way.” Reference: Saunders, C., 2015. The human tide moving this way: Fury and fighting as rail station is closed to migrants. Daily Star, [online] 2 September. Available at: <http://dailystar.co.uk/news/latest-news/462536/human-tide-moving-this-way-Fury-fighting-rail-station-closed-migrants> [Accessed 3 September 2015]. Appendix 3 Workers under 25 'don't deserve living wage because they're not as productive,' says Tory minister Cabinet Office minister Matthew Hancock defends deicision not to include under-25s in the policy Workers under the age of 25 do not deserve the new living wage because they are “not as productive” as older workers, Cabinet Office minister Matthew Hancock has said. The new living wage was George Osborne’s major announcement in his summer budget, coming in at £7.20 an hour next April and rising to £9 by 2020. The rise will go some way to compensating the cut in working tax credits applied to all workers from next April but controversially the new living wage will not apply to workers under 25. The minimum wage for those under 25 will remain at £6.70 an hour, £5.30 for under 21-year-olds and £3.87 for under 18s. Mr Hancock, speaking at a fringe at the Conservative party conference, defended the decision not to apply the new living wage to all employees, saying: “This was an active policy choice. Youth unemployment, whilst falling quite sharply, is still a long way above the unemployment rate for the over 25s. “Anybody who has employed people knows that younger people, especially in their first jobs, are not as productive, on average. “Now there are some who are very productive under the age of 25 but you have to set policy for the average. It was an active choice not to cover the under 25s.” It comes after Health Secretary caused outrage on Monday after suggesting Britain’s low paid should work as hard as the Chinese to make up for the cuts to their tax credits. Also speaking at a fringe meeting at the Tory party conference in Manchester, Mr Hunt said: “My wife is Chinese and we want this to be one of the most successful countries in the world in 20, 30, 40 years’ time. "There's a pretty difficult question we have to answer, which is essentially, are we going to be a country which is prepared to work hard in the way that Asian economies are prepared to work hard, in the way that Americans are prepared to work hard? And that is about creating a culture where work is at the heart of our success.” Dathan, M. (2015, October 6th). Workers under 25 'don't deserve living wage because they're not as productive,' says Tory minister. Retrieved October 7th, 2015, from The Independent: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/workers-under-25-dont-deserve-living-wage-because-theyre-not-as-productive-says-tory-minister-a6683851.html