Top 5 Challenges Students Face in MBA Assignments in the UK

Doing an MBA in the UK is a well- cared and high-ranking investment. MBA assignments and the process of academic life in general offers a challenge like no other and a combination of challenges can challenge even the most determined learners. Although they look forward to the workload, the challenges are usually characteristic and it is the nature of the challenge that most of the time surprises the students, which affects performance and general experience.

As a student in the UK, it is essential to learn these challenges since it plays a crucial role in strategic planning, whether they are an international student or a local one. In this blog post, the five various, but generalised issues common within MBA assignments, in the UK, will be explored beyond the custom suspects, in the effort to bring new perspectives or meaningful and applicable answers to the aforementioned issues to ensure academic success.

1. Managing the UK Academic Culture and Expectations

One big, though neglected hurdle that many people encounter is the difficulty of getting accustomed to the unique requirements of the UK in the academic style. The issue of critical analysis and summarisation over descriptive summary is a problem that most of the students particularly those who have an international background do not cope with the culture. The evaluative, critical, and often argumentative approach to knowing that is treasured in the UK university standards, where evaluation students have to critique models, and not describe them only.

This will create a disjunctive that makes a student provide a well-laid, structurally sound paper but scores lowly because of being too superficial and lacking critical thinking skills. The minor appendages of what is meant by critical analysis MBA within a British academia setting is not necessarily always taught.

Overcoming This Challenge:

• Excellent Samples: Get previous examples of the module leaders or university library to know what standard and style you are expected to do.
• Master Critical Language: Decisively use evaluative language in the writing. Begin by saying such things as; “A limitation of this framework is…” or “however, this theory does not explain…” or, “An alternative perspective suggests….”.
• Take Early Advice: Have a conversation with the tutor about the assignment plan or a draught introduction, and make sure the critical approach to it is on the correct path.

2. Procurement and UK-intensive Case Study and Data

MBA projects often come with the requirement of implementing theory on business situations. The tendency of students to overuse global or UK case studies (Apple or Google) is a false step that has been chosen by sufferers of the UK business world.

It may not be easy to find information related to certain UK business data, market trends, or regulatory environment in a quality and the relevant information. Moreover, it is possible to quickly incorporate this localised information into an argument to facilitate a strategic suggestion only in case of deep knowledge about the local context, which cannot be gained at once.

Overcoming This Challenge:

• Capitalise on UK-Specific Resources: Take Financial Times, The Economist, the BBC Business news and reports of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).
• Use University Databases: Use the subscription that your university has to databases, such as Mintel, IBISWorld and MarketLine, which provide comprehensive reports about sectors of the UK industry.
• Target FTSE Companies: Use FTSE or FTSE 100 or FTSE 250 companies as they have well-documented companies which are highly relevant to the UK economy.

3. Breaking the Language and Communication Barriers

It is even tougher among those in non-English speaking countries. The first one is the one that is obviously undertaken by being grammatically correct and having the correct words to use. The second and more complex matter is the academic or business communication in the UK Academic English. It is entailed by good rationale, tone of voice, which is academically formalistic, yet straightforward in the speech, and hedge words.

A colloquialism and idiomatic phrase that might disrupt the formality of the writing may creep in writing. The language barrier can be a possibility of lack of confidence, the student is cringe, first picking the argument simple, easy to read academic style and easy to read.

Overcoming This Challenge:

• Adopting Writing Tools: It can be challenging to find a complex writing tool to make sure that the writing is easy to follow, the point or argument cited is easy to read, and the writing is free from grammatical mistakes, so use a standard writing tool like Grammarly or Hemingway Editors.
• Use University/Academic Support Services: The majority of the universities in the UK possess academic skills experience in place and tend to submit their own support services in which one to one/support with advanced University academic writing explained to ESL students.

4. Creating Original Strengths and Evading Plagiarism

In the UK, at the MBA level, it is not enough just to copy the lecture notes or definitions made in the textbooks. The critical necessity to create an original argument or approach towards strategy is enormous. Students are more inclined to fall into the trap of re-phrase of the literature that is already in place without even trying to criticise it or offer something new.

This difficulty is directly associated with the threat of unintentional plagiarism. The rigid following of referencing formats, such as Harvard, APA, or OSCOLA, implies that in case of the incorrect use of paraphrasing or improper citation, students may suffer severe academic implications and prefer to be on the safe side and not make bold, original statements.

Overcoming This Challenge:

• Adopt a “So What?” Strategy: In defining each theory or data point, ask, “So what?” Get to the point as to why it matters, what the consequences are, and how it leads you to affect the creation of the overall argument.
• Synthesise in Assignments: As an example, whereas X can be argued by Porter (1980), Y can be argued by current analysis in the UK in line with Johnson et al. (2020), signifying a change in strategic thinking.
• Invest in Referencing Software: Use this tool such as EndNote, Mendeley or Zotero to organise the references and automatically create the necessary citations and bibliographies.