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Assessment 3:
Type: Executive Reflection on
CapsimGlobal and Capsim Inbox and how you developed your practice as a business
leader
Weighting: 30%
Length: 4,000 words (+/- 10%)
Details
Drawing
upon the concepts covered throughout your study in the MBA (Leadership), this
reflective practice assignment requires you to engage in an executive
reflection, drawing on your experience from Assessment 2 (Capsim business
simulations), and also provides an opportunity to reflect on your entire MBA
(Leadership) experience. You will do this by preparing an Executive Reflection
culminating in a 4,000-word essay addressing the two parts outlined below. Your
reflection will be marked using the criteria outlined in this rubric.
Before
you commence this task, you should:
Complete the
relevant unit learning activities throughout the Master’s degree.
Include roughly 4
peer-reviewed journal references per 500 words from the CQU library (general websites are
not academic sources). HBR articles are a teaching tool and are not
peer-reviewed and should be used sparingly to support your argument. Your
references should refer to theories found in all units within the MBA
Leadership.
Complete the
compulsory CapsimGlobal and Capsim Inbox business simulations.
Familiarise
yourself with academic reflective writing by reviewing a) Reflective Practice:
Assessment and Learning Resource and b) Reflective Essay Examples and
c) More Examples
Ensure you have
been to one student session and
have a mentor.
Writing an Executive Reflection
Writing
an Executive Reflection requires you to synthesise information about the
companies, your performance in them, and the theory you have learned to achieve
success. Reflection requires both observation of the present state of your
companies’ performances as well as lessons you have learned from the
application of key theories and concepts. Being able to reflect on your
decisions, and learn from your mistakes/successes, is a key way to advance your
career and ensure growth in your division or functional area.
Part A
For the
first part of this assessment, you need to write about your performance in the
CapsimGlobal and Capsim Inbox business simulations, the decisions you made, and
the theories you have learned in this course. You are to use the theories
presented throughout this MBA to analyse the choices you made during
both business simulations. Find the theories in the coursework, but reference
these from the peer-reviewed journals found in the library. Once you have
critically reflected on your choices by drawing on relevant theories, you will
then develop an executive reflection. The executive reflection will be the
product of your research and synthesis with relevant theories from all units in
this course, communicating your knowledge, skills and ideas to specialist and
non-specialist audiences through a synthesis of relevant theories from all
units in this course.
Your
scholarly argument needs to be built on:  “Lessons learned from the
CapsimGlobal-Capsim Inbox business simulation and the implications
for leaders in the business community.”
Part A Structure (word counts are a guide
only)
Part A
of your executive reflection is based on the argument  “Lessons
learned from the CapsimGlobal-Capsim Inbox business simulation and
the implications for leaders in the business community.” You must
argue why these are the lessons to be learned (and why not other lessons). You
will build your scholarly argument on the theories learned in this course,
using the following structure:
Description (approx. 300 words)
What decisions did you make in each round of each simulation and what
were the outcomes? Summarise.
Feelings (approx. 200 words)
Describe your reactions when succeeding or failing to reach your goals and
expected outcomes.
Evaluation (approx. 300 words)
In Capsim Global, how successful was your company overall or specifically
(provide some examples) at the end of the 8 competitive rounds?
And in Capsim Inbox, how successfully did you make ethical decisions
relative to the areas examined: recognising issues, investigating facts,
identifying stakeholders, generating solutions, and evaluating
consequences? (Specifically mention theories found in BUSN20023,
BUSN20024, BUSN20027, BUSN20029).
Analysis (approx. 800 words)
When discussing Capsim Global, your analysis should be grouped by each of
the four functional areas of your company: 1) Research and Development
(R&D) (BUSN20022, BUSN20031), 2) Marketing (BUSN20025), 3) Production
(BUSN20030), and 4) Finance (BUSN20026, BUSN20028). For each functional
area you need to answer:
Which
decisions contributed to company successes and why?
Which
decisions contributed to company failures and why? 
What
was your greatest mistake and why?
What
was your greatest success and why?
When discussing Capsim
Inbox, discuss the different ethical sections in order: recognising issues,
investigating facts, identifying stakeholders, generating solutions, and
evaluating consequences.
Conclusions (approx. 200 words)
What was the biggest lesson you learned while leading your companies in
each simulation (one for each simulation)? What theories did you gain
insight into that will aid your running of a business in the future?
Action Plan (approx. 200 words)
What gaps in your knowledge and skills in business exist, arising from
your experiences of running your company, and how will you now address
these gaps?
You may
elect to use these stages as headings in your executive reflection.
Part B
In our
fast-moving and constantly changing world, business professionals must be agile
and resourceful. With innovative technologies, and practices constantly
emerging, business leaders need a skill set originating from different
disciplines.
For Part
B of the executive reflection, you need to reflect on your own experience in
the MBA(L) course and your workplace, by writing a 2,000-word reflection on how
your professional practice has developed. You need to consider how the MBA(L)
has developed and/or challenged your practice as a business leader. To do this,
you will need to demonstrate links to the competencies in the table below as
well as key theories and concepts covered in the units in the course.
Broadly,
you must address the following:
Critically
analyse and reflect on concepts and theories found in the MBA(L).
Research and
apply established theories in the MBA(L) to your work professional work
practice.
Critically
reflect on how the MBA(L) has changed your work practices, developing a
scholarly argument that convinces your audience of your insights and why
it is important for them to understand.
Specifically,
you must address three competencies:
The
table below lists various knowledge competencies and skills to guide your
reflection. Select one competency from each of the three columns, and
critically reflect on your MBA(L) student experience and skills learned in the
course. How did the competencies that you have selected improve your current
practice as a business leader? Reflect on how you have applied or will apply
these competencies in your workplace, with use of an example. Remember, you
should avoid just describing your experience and need to develop a scholarly
argument to convince your audience of your insights and why it is important for
them to understand.
You may
elect to use your three chosen competencies as headings in your essay.
Knowledge/Theory
Leadership Skills
Skills In
Practice/Applied Skills
Business models and
structures
Communication
Design thinking
Industry domain knowledge
Adaptability
Critical
thinking/analysis skills
CRM and customer
satisfaction
Coaching/mentoring
Data collecting and
assimilating
Awareness of markets
Conflict management
Performance management
Strategic planning and
analysis
Emotional intelligence
Risk management
Situational and
competitive analysis
Interpersonal or soft
skills
Scope management
Leadership perspectives
Teamwork
Time/Schedule management
Human resources/relations
theory
Negotiation
Budget and cost
estimation
Ethics in business
Problem-solving
Empathy
Influencing
Decision-making
Task Conditions
Submissions are
marked on how well the specific requirements are achieved in accordance
with the assessment criteria in the rubric.
Your reflection
must be submitted in a PDF format file (.pdf).
Your entire
submission must not exceed 4,000 words. Your word count does not include
references or any appendices you may choose to supply.
Submissions must
follow the APA 7th Edition referencing style as specified in the APA
Abridged Guide available from CQUniversity’s Referencing Guides
5. Completion of
your plans is achieved through actions that align with CQUniversity’s
academic integrity expectations.
The second part of the reflection is based
on this online test:
Assessment 2:
Type: Online test – Capsim
Simulations
Weighting: 30%
CapsimGlobal
(15%)
Capsim Inbox
(15%)
Details
Assessment
2.1: CapsimGlobal requires you to engage in 8 rounds (8 simulated years) operating your
company using the CapsimGlobal software. Your assignment marks will be
calculated based on the results of your balanced scorecard at the completion of
the 8 simulation rounds. CapsimGlobal delivers a score which is combined with
your score in the CapsimInbox simulation and contributes to your overall
Capstone performance. You are strongly advised to learn how to operate your
company in the practice simulation offered before commencing Assessment 2.1. If
you don’t do this, it will probably negatively affect your performance in the
simulation and thus your ability to provide a thorough executive reflection in
the final assessment. Please contact the MBA Leadership Team Preparations for the simulation
This is
a business simulation that looks at a business over an 8-year period. You are
given a product and your role is to manage where the product is produced and
how it is sold.
We recommend
getting a student mentor. Come to the Wednesday student session to find
one.
You need to do
the practice run. When you do the practice round there is a section called
‘training’. There are 3 levels of training:
1) beginner,
2) intermediate and
3) advanced.
This shows you how the software works. Note: round zero in the simulation
is not a practice round, it is part of the assessment. Make sure you read
the advice given. Once you have completed your practice run, you will need
to think about how you want to set your business up and who you want to
target. It is important to have a basic overall strategy. Should you have
some difficulties with the practice run you can email Capsim Support at
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Once you have
developed your basic overall business strategy you can start the actual
simulation. When doing the simulation, it looks the same as the practice
run. Round zero sets you up where everyone is equal. When you complete a
round, a report is generated, and you can reflect on the business and how
you are performing against your competitors. You take the information from
the completed round and adjust your forecasts accordingly. Should you
have some difficulties with the simulation you can email Capsim Support at
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The reports
produced initially look overwhelming. They are broken down into 4 parts.
The 4 parts are the same as your software modules:
a) research development;
b) marketing;
c) production;
d) finance.
There is a lot of
learning in the assessment and students are encouraged to slow down. You
can save your work and do it over a number of days.
Once the eight
rounds are completed you will need to download a certificate from the
CAPSIM simulation and save that.
Assessment Criteria
On
completion of the assessed simulation, CapsimGlobal will generate a Balanced
Scorecard (BSC) and a percentage score that outlines your performance in the
simulation in each of the four business departments, averaged across all eight
years of the simulation. An example Balanced Scorecard is shown below (you can
click on the image for a larger version). Further details on the BSC are
available on page 21 of the CapsimGlobal User Guide.
After
completing all assessment activities you will need to upload 12 documents
comprising of:
9 Annual reports
from 0 to 8 (from CapsimGlobal, on the left-hand side under the menu
‘Simulation report’)
1 Gradebook
report which is under “Simulation Report” navigation tab (from
CapsimGlobal)
1 Balanced
Scorecard report. This comprises of screen shots of the different Balanced
Scorecards (from CapsimGlobal under ‘alerts’ from your dashboard).
1 Feedback report
(from Capsim Inbox)
Please
merge these 12 documents into a single PDF for submission.
Note:
You may need to use the ‘print to PDF’ feature on your computer to generate the
PDFs.
Assessment
2.2: CapsimInbox – Ethical Decision-making Here you participate in
CapsimInbox, another compulsory, assessable business simulation. CapsimInbox is
a compelling way to engage and develop your specific and general career
relevant competencies. A sophisticated mode of email learning simulation is used
to measure and deliver critical career competencies. In the process of
acquiring and consolidating these new workplace skills, you will become
absorbed into contributing to a fictional company. This challenges you to
provide the most appropriate email responses to a variety of real-world
business circumstances. An important aspect of responding to the dilemmas posed
by the simulation concerns measuring the development of your business
leadership capabilities.
CapsimInbox
is designed to generate solutions suitable for measuring your capacity to
communicate, prioritise, and lead talent as well as manage situations. The
CapsimInbox module delivers a score which is combined with your score in the
CapsimGlobal simulation and contributes to your overall Capstone performance.
Preparations for simulation
This is
a business simulation where you have returned from holidays and are working
from your desktop. It is essentially based on sending emails and responding to
messages.
You need to do
prereading which includes your organisational chart, who the boss is etc.
Note: You still have access to this during the simulation but may not have
time to understand everything.
When you start,
you do a self-assessment by picking a point on a sliding scale in 5
different categories.
You click on the
email, and you click on a multiple choice for a response. This is the
heart of the assessment. Note: This is time based.
At the end you
get a report where it compares your responses to your self-assessed quiz
you did at the beginning. You can use this information in the Executive
reflection.