Overview
In this unit students will consider theories of communication within and between organisations. An emphasis will be placed on safety by organisations and its incorporation into the broader organisational culture. The factors which influence the quality and validity of decision making within all levels of organisations, such as, values, mindfulness, culture, adaptive systems, participation and leadership will be considered. Students will explore the characteristics of 'healthy' and 'resilient' organisations and evaluate the theories that underpin resilience in organisations such as resilience engineering, safety culture and high reliability organisations; and discuss the usefulness of the theories to practice. Students will also have the opportunity to evaluate the usefulness of the tools and methods available to measure and monitor factors that affect resilience in organisations such as safety culture.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
Pre-requisite:- AINV11002
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).
Offerings For Term 2 - 2017
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes – in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Class Timetable
Assessment Overview
Assessment Grading
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%). Consult the University’s Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades.
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure – Domestic Students
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure – International Students
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Student Feedback – Compliments and Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Feedback from Term 2 2016 Student Have Your Say feedback.
Student have suggested that the course can be further enhanced with some mini lectures as well as the weekly Collaborate engagement activities.
It is recommended that a week by week mini lecture and power point slides be made available to student to enhance the course content provided to students.
- Explore the characteristics of resilient organisations.
- Define a ‘healthy’ organisation.
- Evaluate the theories that underpin resilience in organisations such as resilience engineering, safety culture and high reliability organisations; and discuss the usefulness of the theories to practice.
- Discern those factors which influence the quality and validity of decision making within all levels of organisations, such as, values, mindfulness, culture, adaptive systems, participation and leadership.
- Compare controversial terms related to safety and culture and the ongoing debate underlying these precepts and relationships.
- Evaluate the usefulness of the tools and methods available to measure and monitor factors that affect resilience in organisations such as safety culture.
Nil at this time but congruent with the new Body of Knowledge released by the Australian OHS Education Board.
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| 1 - Online Quiz(zes) - 20% | ||||||
| 2 - Written Assessment - 40% | ||||||
| 3 - Portfolio - 40% | ||||||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| 1 - Communication | ||||||
| 2 - Problem Solving | ||||||
| 3 - Critical Thinking | ||||||
| 4 - Information Literacy | ||||||
| 5 - Team Work | ||||||
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | ||||||
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | ||||||
| 8 - Ethical practice | ||||||
| 9 - Social Innovation | ||||||
| 10 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | ||||||
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | |
| 1 - Online Quiz(zes) - 20% | ||||||||||
| 2 - Written Assessment - 40% | ||||||||||
| 3 - Portfolio - 40% | ||||||||||
Textbooks
Managing the Unexpected: Sustained Performance in a Complex World
Edition: Third (2015)
Authors: Karl E. Weick and Kathleen M. Sutcliffe
Wiley
USA
ISBN: 978-1-118-86241-4
Binding: Paperback
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing style: Harvard (author-date)
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
k.klockner@cqu.edu.au
Module/Topic
Introduction to the unit
Organisational Resilience and Resilience EngineeringChapter
Prescribed Book Chapter 1
Supplied Readings
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
High Reliability Organisations (HROs)
Chapter
Book Chapter 2
Supplied Readings
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
The Five Principles of Organisational Resilience
Chapter
Book Chapters 3 to 7
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Organisational Mindfulness and Mindful Organising
Chapter
Supplied Readings
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Supplied Readings & Surveys
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Chapters 8 and 9
Supplied Readings
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Supplied Readings
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Safety Culture and Safety Climate
Chapter
Supplied Readings
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Safety and Individual Mindfulness
Chapter
Supplied Readings
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Supplied Readings
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Unit Summary
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Students must complete all 3 assessment items to pass this course.
1 Online Quiz(zes)
You are required to complete an critical reading assessment to practice enhancing your critical reading skills.
This assessment item represents a reflective activity about your reading on the subject matter and will form part of the skills you will learn as an advancing practitioner this term.
You will be asked to reflect on the theories and research which make up the notions of both High Reliability Organisations (HROs) and Resilience Engineering as concepts which inform organisational practices of safety reliability and resilience.
Your online quiz post will be marked on the your ability to:-
(a) Convey reflection on the two topics being discussed (10%); and
(b) Deliver a view point or opinion which demonstrates critical thinking (10%)
1
Week 5 Friday (11 Aug 2017) 11:45 pm AEST
Week 7 Friday (1 Sept 2017)
Ability to critical read, evaluate and form an option of the subject matter under review and how it might be used for evidence informed practice.
A marking matrix will be provided in Moodle.
- Explore the characteristics of resilient organisations.
- Define a ‘healthy’ organisation.
- Evaluate the theories that underpin resilience in organisations such as resilience engineering, safety culture and high reliability organisations; and discuss the usefulness of the theories to practice.
- Discern those factors which influence the quality and validity of decision making within all levels of organisations, such as, values, mindfulness, culture, adaptive systems, participation and leadership.
- Compare controversial terms related to safety and culture and the ongoing debate underlying these precepts and relationships.
- Evaluate the usefulness of the tools and methods available to measure and monitor factors that affect resilience in organisations such as safety culture.
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
2 Written Assessment
This assessment enables students to gain experience in reviewing and assessing workplace survey tools used to measure organisational culture in this instance in relation to organisational mindfulness.
Two surveys which have been developed to measure aspects of organisational mindfulness are presented for review, analysis and assessment of appropriateness of application in real world practice.
You are required to:
(a) Recognise the purpose of the survey and its history/relevance to current theory (20%);
(b) Understand when and how the survey would be used in real world applications (20%);
(c) Evaluate how meaning of any results obtained by use of such surveys might inform strategic leadership decision making (20%);
(d) Discuss your own thinking (opinions, questions, decisions, thoughts) on the validity of the survey (how well it measures the concepts it is suppose to be measuring) (20%);
(e) Discuss you own final view point on the usefulness of the surveys based on what you have discovered in your readings this term (15%)
(f) Reference appropriate material to support (evidence) your written arguments (5%)
Week 9 Friday (15 Sept 2017) 11:45 pm AEST
Week 11 Friday (29 Sept 2017)
Students are to demonstrate both knowledge of the subject area and the ability to critically review the use of surveys from a safety science perspective.
A marking matrix will be provided in Moodle.
- Explore the characteristics of resilient organisations.
- Define a ‘healthy’ organisation.
- Evaluate the theories that underpin resilience in organisations such as resilience engineering, safety culture and high reliability organisations; and discuss the usefulness of the theories to practice.
- Discern those factors which influence the quality and validity of decision making within all levels of organisations, such as, values, mindfulness, culture, adaptive systems, participation and leadership.
- Compare controversial terms related to safety and culture and the ongoing debate underlying these precepts and relationships.
- Evaluate the usefulness of the tools and methods available to measure and monitor factors that affect resilience in organisations such as safety culture.
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
3 Portfolio
Objectives
In every good safety researcher’s tool box is the ability to review past and current research with a view to answering key questions. Evidence informed practice is undertaken by reviewing key research findings (evidence) which then informs decisions around safety practices.
In this assessment you will be introduced to the concept of how to carry out and write up a Literature Review which is a key skill in any safety portfolio.
A literature review is a critical look into current theories and research findings to enable the reader to make informed decisions and gain knowledge about current issues or gaps in current research.
This assessment item relates to the unit learning outcomes (1 to 6) as stated in this unit profile.
Details
You are required to prepare a literature review on one of the five topics listed below which requires further investigation, with a view to being able to propose an answer to the question asked, being:
· High Reliability Organisations (HRO’s) - Can any organisation strive to be a HRO?
· Resilience Engineering - The Reliability Gold Standard?
· Organisational and/or Collective Mindfulness - 5 Principles to Put Into Practice?
· Organisational Culture or Safety Culture - Measuring the Invisible?
· Strategic Safety Leadership for Managing the Unexpected - How Can It be Done?
You are required to search and find the latest information and research on your chosen subject (at least 10 journal articles as a minimum).
Then write a literature review which examines and evaluates the writings/research that you have found by discussing the findings and attempting to answer the question posed.
You are also required to incorporate in your writing how the answers you are proposing can translate into evidence based practice for you, the safety professional.
The literature review should include a minimum of 10 references and should be 3500 words.
If you have any doubt as to what is required for this assessment please ensure that you post your questions in the Q&A Section on the Moodle site, under Assessment 3 Questions for clarification.
Week 12 Friday (6 Oct 2017) 11:45 pm AEST
Exam Week Friday (20 Oct 2017)
The following guide is to be used for grading your submission:-
- Comprehension and discussion of the theory by examination of current writing and research on the subject. It would be expected that you will reference at least 10 Journal Articles on the subject, the more recent the better (30%)
- Evaluation of the review findings and how they relate to answering the major question under review (35%)
- Demonstrate the ability to write about the transfer of knowledge of the literature review findings/results into practice as evidence informed based practice (30%)
- Uses correct Harvard style referencing to support academic writing (5%)
A detailed marking matrix will be provided in Moodle.
- Explore the characteristics of resilient organisations.
- Define a ‘healthy’ organisation.
- Evaluate the theories that underpin resilience in organisations such as resilience engineering, safety culture and high reliability organisations; and discuss the usefulness of the theories to practice.
- Discern those factors which influence the quality and validity of decision making within all levels of organisations, such as, values, mindfulness, culture, adaptive systems, participation and leadership.
- Compare controversial terms related to safety and culture and the ongoing debate underlying these precepts and relationships.
- Evaluate the usefulness of the tools and methods available to measure and monitor factors that affect resilience in organisations such as safety culture.
- Critical Thinking
- Team Work
- Cross Cultural Competence
As a CQUniversity student you are expected to act honestly in all aspects of your academic work.
Any assessable work undertaken or submitted for review or assessment must be your own work. Assessable work is any type of work you do to meet the assessment requirements in the unit, including draft work submitted for review and feedback and final work to be assessed.
When you use the ideas, words or data of others in your assessment, you must thoroughly and clearly acknowledge the source of this information by using the correct referencing style for your unit. Using others’ work without proper acknowledgement may be considered a form of intellectual dishonesty.
Participating honestly, respectfully, responsibly, and fairly in your university study ensures the CQUniversity qualification you earn will be valued as a true indication of your individual academic achievement and will continue to receive the respect and recognition it deserves.
As a student, you are responsible for reading and following CQUniversity’s policies, including the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure. This policy sets out CQUniversity’s expectations of you to act with integrity, examples of academic integrity breaches to avoid, the processes used to address alleged breaches of academic integrity, and potential penalties.
What is a breach of academic integrity?
A breach of academic integrity includes but is not limited to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, and academic misconduct. The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure defines what these terms mean and gives examples.
Why is academic integrity important?
A breach of academic integrity may result in one or more penalties, including suspension or even expulsion from the University. It can also have negative implications for student visas and future enrolment at CQUniversity or elsewhere. Students who engage in contract cheating also risk being blackmailed by contract cheating services.
Where can I get assistance?
For academic advice and guidance, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) can support you in becoming confident in completing assessments with integrity and of high standard.
What can you do to act with integrity?
