Assignment 4 Essay - Case study analysis

Assignment 4:  Essay - Case study analysis (30%) – 2000 words - Due week 7 –– choose one essay topic

Option one: Choose two mining projects (managed by different mining companies) and undertake a comparitive analysis of their work with host communities.

This analysis must be no more than 2000 words in length (excluding bibliography) and may consider the following:

• A brief description of the mining projects you are analyzing and the companies managing those projects. Consider for example the size of the project investment and size (market capitalisation) of the company managing the project
• A brief description of the host communities associated with the mining project.
• The nature of the relationship between the company and host communities including an overview of key issues between the companies and their host communities. Has there been any community outrage for example.
• A description of the community projects that the companies are implementing, the level of involvement of the host communities and the findings of evaluations focused on the community projects.
• An outline of how the companies structure their community relations effort. Do they have executive level staff with community engagement / development responsibilities, is there a community relations team in place, what role does the company board of directors play? Is there a community relations policy in place and / or management system?
• How do the companies report on community relations activities. Do they have an external advisory panel in place?

It is a critical component of this analysis that you compare the two mining projects regarding their community relations activities and outline why you think their approaches are similar or different. The purpose of this assessment is for you to explore how mining companies differ in their approach to community relations, including their internal management structures, and why this is the case.

Much of this information can be sourced from company websites, sustainability and annual reports however it is expected that you explore other texts to inform your analysis and provide a bibliography.

Option two : Choose two local governments and undertake a comparitive analysis of their work with community.

This analysis must be no more than 2000 words in length (excluding bibliography) and may consider the following:

• A brief description of the approach adopted by each local government authority (LGA) . Ie. consider the size of the budget the local government commits to work with the community, staff, what kind of work they do with community.
• A brief description of the local community.
• The nature of the relationship between the community and local government. Eg. has there been any community outrage recently.
• A description of the community projects that the LGA are implementing, the level of involvement of community and any findings of evaluations focused on the community projects.
• An outline of how the companies structure their staffing. Do they have executive level staff with community engagement / development responsibilities, is there a community relations team in place, what role does the company board of directors play? Is there a community relations policy in place and / or management system?
• How did the LGA approach integrated planning and reporting and how does it set out the ‘community strategic plan’?

It is a critical component of this analysis that you compare the two LGAs and outline why you think their approaches are similar or different. The purpose of this assessment is for you to explore how LGAs differ in their approach to community development, including their internal management structures, and how this is the case.

Much of this information can be sourced from LGA websites, community strategic plans, sustainability and annual reports. However it is expected that you explore other texts to inform your analysis and provide a bibliography.

Note: you are not to approach LGAs directly.

The key objectives of this assessment are:

1. ii) to summarise key the ideas/concepts/theories dealt with in the weekly lecture series.

The key objectives of this assessment are to:

1. Enhance your reading skills, including helping you to retain and record key ideas from scholarly articles.
2. Enhance your written skills, so that you can communicate in a concise fashion what you have learnt and concluded from your research.
3. Enhance your research skills (broadly defined) by carrying out learning tasks that require the use of the library, online sources and interpretation of materials found there.
4. Enhance your critical and skeptical skills by carrying out written work for assessment.