BUSM1100: To Complete this Assignment you Must Analyse and Deconstruct one of Three Articles/Media Clips: Organisational Analysis Assignment, RMIT, Singapore

To complete this assignment you must analyse and deconstruct one of three articles/media clips (details provided below), decide which paradigm discussed in the lectures the article/media clip best embodies, and explain why this is so.

To “deconstruct” something is to look beyond the surface of what is being said or written; it is to pull an argument apart and look for the assumptions and agenda that informs a person’s viewpoint and argumentation. Each article/media clip more or less clearly embodies a particular paradigm, although they are not perfect or “ideal” fits with the paradigms.

The challenge with this assessment is to demonstrate your knowledge and skills by explaining why your chosen article/media clip exemplifies a particular paradigm. Note that there is no functionalist article/media clip available to deconstruct for your assignment. Instead, we will workshop a functionalist article in class, to demonstrate how you might approach the assignment and analyse your chosen article/clip. Rest assured we will be workshopping ALL the articles/media clips in class.

The three articles/media clips for you to choose for your deconstruction are:

1)Interpretivist / social relativist exemplar: Gast, A., Probst, N., & Simpson, B. 2020. Purpose not platitudes: A personal challenge for top executives. McKinsey Quarterly, December 3, 2020. For access, see the Reading List, Assignment 1 readings.

2) Radical structuralist exemplar: McManus, S. 2019. On fairness. Melbourne Press Club event, posted on Facebook on 8th February 2019. For access, see the Reading List, Assignment 1 readings.

3)Radical humanist / neo-humanist exemplar: Crenshaw, K. The urgency of intersectionality. Ted Talk, Dec 8, 2016. For access, see the Reading List, Assignment 1 readings. Read/listen to the three articles/media clips, and choose one that you wish to deconstruct.

Review the following text, focusing particularly on your chosen paradigm: Burrell, G. & Morgan, G. 1979, Sociological paradigms and organisational analysis, Routledge, USA. (Part 1, Chapters 1–3, pp. 1–37). For access, see the Reading List (essential reading). Highlight passages that distil the characteristics of your chosen paradigm.

See the worksheet as an example. Highlight passages in your article/media clip (type out the relevant quote/feature of the clip) where you see these characteristics in operation. See the worksheet for an example. 5. In 1,000 words (+/- 10%, excluding references) build your case as to why your chosen article/media clip exemplifies its given paradigm. Questions to consider and respond to include:

1)What features of the paradigm can you see in operation in the article/media clip? What paradigm do these features best reflect and why?

2)What is the topic of interest to the authors? Are they challenging the way the existing political and economic system operates, or are they seeking to improve the performance of organisations within the existing system? What paradigm do these interests best reflect and why? (Consider the order & regulation / radical change & conflict axis of the typology of the four paradigms).

3)Who has written the article / who is constructing the argument in the media clip? Who are they affiliated with, and what are their interests/agenda? What paradigm do these interests best reflect and why?

4)What are the aims of the article/media clip? (Note: these may be undeclared) What does the author/speaker wish to achieve? What paradigm do these aims best reflect and why?

5)What issues or aspects of organisations and management do the article/media clip ignore, or not engage with? What are the implications of these blind spots, and why are these blind spots characteristic of the paradigm this article/media clip exemplifies? Use connected prose (no bullet points) to deconstruct your chosen article/clip.

You may use subheadings if you wish, based on the questions listed above. You must draw on the Burrell and Morgan text to help you construct your reasoning and argue your case. You must also draw on at least two other scholarly sources (excluding the Burrell and Morgan text, this means you will be drawing on three scholarly sources at a minimum) to help construct your case. See the

Reading List (Week 1: Organisational analysis – Introduction and framing) for a range of suggested resources. We expect your in-text citations to be perfect. This is a second-year course and you must now demonstrate a solid understanding of how to acknowledge other people’s ideas.

This means citing the surnames of the authors whose work you are drawing on, the year of the publication, and, if you are using direct quotations, you must also wrap the words that are not yours in “quotation marks” and provide the page number from where you have drawn the quotation.