University of Birmingham PG Cert Urban Railway Engineering (Singapore)

LMR 121- Railway Management (RM) I

Assignment: Identify a problem currently faced within your day-to-day role and identify a solu-
tion to this problem using a suitable problem-solving model.

The case study should:

1. Outline the problem and the problem-solving model selected.
2. Identify, justify & critically evaluate the model you have chosen for solving the problem.
3. Identify, and quantify as appropriate, the potential courses of action available to you.
4. Describe the process(es) used to identify & select the most appropriate course of action.
5. Demonstrate reflection within the case study to identify steps for future learning.
Please note:
1. The improvement discussed in your assignment must be something that has not been,
and is not in the process of being, implemented in SMRT.
2. The university regulations specify that at student may not use the same project on two
separate pieces of work, so please ensure you select a topic that you have not already
used in an earlier assessed piece of work.

Guidelines:
The assignment should comprise:
1. A planning section for the essay in the form of a mind map which must be submitted
with the assignment;
2. A report, in the form of an essay (1000 words with an allowable deviation of +/-
10%).
Both sections of the assignment will be considered when assigning marks. The word count in-
cludes the introduction and conclusion and all the text between; however, the executive sum-
mary, tables of contents, figures, references and appendices are excluded.

The assignment should be written in academic English (UK not US if using a spell checker), with
a clear structure comprising an executive summary, introduction, main body, conclusion and
references. If you are uncertain as to what should be included in each section, please consult
the assignment template where this is clearly explained.

You will need to read articles and papers related to the aspect you are researching in order to
answer the question. All sources used must be fully referenced and all references must be for-
matted using the Harvard Referencing Method; the Harvard Referencing Method is explained in
the ‘Guide to Harvard Referencing’ available on Canvas. The assignment must be submitted as
two pdf files (mind map + essay) via Canvas (canvas.bham.ac.uk) and must be uploaded by
2359hrs (UK time) on 10 May 2019. Access to Canvas is provided with student registration.

Please note:
1) There will be 5% reduction in marks for every 24 hours that an assignment is late;
2) Assignments that fall outside the allowable word limit (1000 words +/- 10%), will be sub-
jected to a 5% penalty;
3) Questions of clarification or amplification are to be directed to the UoB RM1 Module
Leader: Robert Hopkin (r.hopkin@bham.ac.uk)