Assignment Task
Case study: It is permissible to make assumptions by adding to the case study details given below, provided the essence of the case study is neither changed nor undermined in any way by what is added.
Task:
You have been called in as a Management Consultant to advise the Senior Management Team on how to embed leadership development within the organisation, to support the anticipated changes. This needs to be presented as a sound business case with clearly justified and feasible recommendations.
- Assess the key leadership challenges involved in improving organisational performance. To what extent can leaders make a difference and facilitate this transition?
- Outline how you propose to introduce leadership development for members of the management team in order to retain talent, encourage an innovative culture and foster creativity.
- Indicate how the success of your proposals will be evaluated and measured.
Format
You will address the remit with reference to the theoretical aspects of the topic. The business solutions should be word processed and presented in a brief report format.
The report must also include a detailed action plan with timings as an appendix.
The case study should provide evidence of a planned and considered structure and reflect a professional commitment to offering realistic business solutions.
Grading Criteria
A good assignment will also show evidence of:
- Contemporary research on HRP, leadership development and reward strategy which will include a range of journal material, correctly referenced.
- Correctly structured report format professionally presented and word processed.
- Materials from reading and practical experience should be integrated in a logical way to produce reasoned arguments.
- Evidence of a range of industry examples to illustrate points argued.
Appendix 1
Africa Omnipotence – The Way Forward
Africa Omnipotence is a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to relief aid in Africa. The two founders are high-profile celebrities who were inspired to establish the charity three years ago after taking part in an excursion as part of Comic Relief. It is entirely dependent on charitable donations, which have mainly been forthcoming from media personalities and private companies. The charity has recently undertaken a recruitment drive taking on a number of graduates, particularly targeting as a priority those graduates seeking a career in the voluntary sector. The charity has contacted you as the retained HR consultant for guidance on the development of a suitable policy and procedure to develop a plan to retain the graduates in order to meet this immediate expansion.
In order to meet the initial planned expansion programme, the graduates will have to be ready to lead others, quickly, as the charity wishes to expand its operations across Africa within the next two years. More importantly, the implementation of an appropriate L & D strategy is needed to support their career development. The two founders are keen to delegate the learning and development responsibility to the current management team. However, the managers have not received any formal training in graduate learning and development and only have limited experience of development in previous roles. The charity has tended to agree pay rates and salaries on an ad hoc basis in order to retain the calibre of staff required, but it is unclear whether the charity is getting ‘value for money’.
You have conducted initial research into Africa Omnipotence and there is no salary structure at all with staff on varying rates yet fulfilling identical duties. The key problem you witness is confusion about roles and reporting structures with a definite hint of inflated egos amongst the nursing personnel. Despite claims to the contrary, it would appear that there is a turnover rate of 20 per cent, which is relatively high for the voluntary sector. Only a very few of the overseas staff are multilingual and none speak the local language of the area in which they are based. There is no formal induction process in place and there is no structured approach to learning and development.
The expansion must retain top graduates in order to retain its current donations and to attract further funding. The founders are keen to attract and retain the top graduate talent from all parts of the world to increase the profile of the charity in new areas. As the HR consultant you will design a strategy to establish a strong learning and development culture which offers career progression and cost effective rewards.
Task Guidance
The purpose of HRP in resourcing a business is to be examined, whilst also giving consideration to the role of recruitment and selection and the legal framework
People Management Magazine
June 2017
‘Our research calls on businesses to focus more on training , investment and progression opportunities in our workforce, to attract more UK-based talent and to develop more inclusive recruitment to tap into broader talent pools. This will take time and solutions that include access to migrant workers which needs to be part of a national and local skills strategy, alongside recognition of the role and rights of EU workers already in the UK.’
Peter Cheese Chief Executive of the CIPD
Assess the role of HR in delivering a well rewarded, flexible and diverse workforce, for your industry, with the right skills, at the right time, in the right place.
Reference should be made to current research data sets for example ACAS/CIPD/keynote reports and research from specific industry bodies such as the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, Chartered Management Institute and Institute of Directors.
Essays should be neatly presented with a text not exceeding 2,000 words. Your word count MUST be included at the end of the essay. The College Standard on Referencing must be used and a list of references must be included at the end of the assignment.
In addition to this, a good academic essay will also show evidence of:
- Contemporary research on HRP, recruitment & selection strategy, legalities and should include a range of journal material, correctly referenced.
- A well-researched, clearly structured argument validated with theoretical concepts and academic journal articles
- Materials from reading and practical experience should be integrated in a logical way to produce a reasoned analysis.
- Evidence of a range of current industry examples to illustrate points argued
- Module Learning Outcomes:
- 1. Demonstrate the role of Human Resource Planning in responding to the challenges of a changing business landscape
- Evaluate the role of a reward strategy in the development and retention of talent.