Contemporary People Management Issues - Business Management Report

The report will be based on a real-case study propose by student that the company selected should be a top regional or global company in the respected industry which is undergoing or just completed a major restructuring exercise and/or merge & acquisition process driven by keen competition, growth and innovation. The proposed case should be approved by module lecturer.

 

Produce a business management report that details evidence-based research on a contemporary issue within the field of people management. The report must contain conclusions derived from the findings detailed within the report and culminate in fully justified recommendations and an implementation plan for recommended changes. You will have a choice as to which of several current HR issues upon which to focus in your report.

 

Your task in this assignment is to prepare a business management report (NOT an essay!) based on the case. (It concerns a complex business environment).

 

• The report should select one or two key people management issues identified in the case since the business environment described is complex and involves several different HR issues discussed during the module. You do not have to address all of the people management issues raised in the case! (If you are uncertain as to which to select, consult with the module lecturer).

 

• You must indicate in your report which issues you have selected.

 

• Your report should draw upon the theories, principles, tools and guidelines for people management given in the lectures or in the previous activities and exercises.

Please note the following when completing your written assignment:

1. Writing: Written in English in an appropriate business/academic style

2. Focus: Focus only on the tasks set in the assignment.

3. Length: 7,500 words (+/- 10%)

4. Formatting: Typed on A4 paper in Times New Roman or Arial font 12 with a 2 centimetre space at each edge, 1.5 spaced and pages numbered.

5. Document format: In business report format

6. Ensure the assignment specification (Page 1) is attached to your assignment and a bibliography using Harvard referencing throughout is also provided.

7. Research: Research should use reliable and relevant sources of information e.g. academic books and journals that have been peer reviewed. The research should be extensive. 

 

The use of a range of information sources is expected academic books, peer reviewed journal articles, professional articles, press releases and newspaper articles, reliable statistics, company annual reports and other company information. All reports must be consistently referenced with a separate Harvard style bibliography. They will be submitted via Turnitin and checked for plagiarism.

Produce a Business Management Report

Note: The guidance offered below is linked to the five generic assessment criteria overleaf.

Your work must be informed and supported by scholarly material that is relevant to and focused on the task(s) set; you should make use of scholarly reviews and primary sources, as appropriate (for example, refereed research articles and/or original materials appropriate to the discipline).    You should provide evidence that you have accessed a wide range of sources, which may be academic, governmental and industrial; these sources may include academic journal articles, textbooks, current news articles, organisational documents, and websites.  You should consider the credibility of your sources; academic journals are normally highly credible sources while websites require careful consideration/selection and should be used sparingly.   Any sources you use should be current and up-to-date, mostly published within the last five years or so, though seminal/important works in the field may be older.  You must provide evidence of your research/own reading throughout your work, using correctly a suitable referencing system, including in-text citations in the main body of your work and a reference list at the end of your work. 

• Literature review - your work must be informed and supported by recent and scholarly material that is relevant to the field of people management; you should make use of scholarly reviews and primary sources, where appropriate (for example, refereed business articles, research articles and/or original materials).

• You are required to identify, discuss, analyse and recommend solution related to the business case and people management perspective in the selected articles. Elaboration using support from the literature about suggestions/recommendation on the issues and possible solutions

• Referencing: Consistently accurate application of referencing

At level 7, you should be able to demonstrate a systematic understanding of knowledge, and a critical awareness of current problems and/or new insights, much of which is at, or informed by, the forefront of your academic discipline, field of study or area of professional practice, with a comprehensive understanding of techniques applicable to your own research or advanced scholarship. Your work must demonstrate your growing mastery of these concepts, principles, current challenges, innovation and insights associated with the subject area.  Knowledge relates to the facts, information and skills you have acquired through your learning.  You demonstrate your understanding by interpreting the meaning of the facts and information (knowledge). This means that you need to select and include in your work the contemporary concepts, techniques, models, theories, etc. appropriate to the task(s) set.  You should be able to explain the theories, concepts, etc. meaningfully to show your understanding.  Your mark/grade will also depend upon the extent to which you demonstrate your knowledge and understanding; ideally each should be complete and detailed, with comprehensive coverage. 

Preparing the Business Management Report

 

• You should be able to demonstrate a systematic understanding of knowledge, and a critical awareness of current and complex business and people management related problems and/or new insights in the forefront of your academic discipline, field of study or area of professional practice.

• Your work must demonstrate your growing mastery of these concepts, principles, current challenges, innovation and insights associated with the business and people management area.

• You are expected to elaborate based on the contemporary concepts, techniques, models, theories, etc. appropriate to the task(s) set in people management. 

You should be able to: evaluate critically current research and advanced scholarship in the discipline; evaluate methodologies and develop critiques of them and, where appropriate, to propose new hypotheses; deal with complex issues both systematically and creatively to make sound judgements in the absence of complete data. Your work must contain evidence of logical, analytical thinking, evaluation and synthesis. For example, to examine and break information down into parts, make inferences, compile, compare and contrast information.  This means not just describing what! But also justifying: Why? How? When? Who? Where? At what cost? At all times, you must provide justification for your arguments and judgements.  Evidence that you have reflected upon the ideas of experts within the subject area is crucial to you providing a reasoned and informed debate within your work.  Your choice of methodologies to gather data and information must be rigorously defended. Furthermore, you should provide evidence that you are able to make sound judgements and convincing arguments using data and concepts.  Sound, valid, persuasive conclusions are necessary and must be derived from the content of your work.   Where relevant, alternative solutions and recommendations may be proposed.

 
• A critique of the case used - critically justify and analyse the case used, i.e. analysing the complexity of the people management to the case, and pros and cons of different alterative suggestions.  

• Strengths & limitations of suggestions critically analyse the strengths and limitations of the recommendation per the selected case, e.g. in terms of methodology, analytics and results, backed up by evidence.  

At level 7, you should be able to demonstrate originality in the application of knowledge, together with a practical understanding of how established techniques of research and enquiry are used to create and interpret knowledge in the discipline. This includes acting autonomously in planning and implementing tasks at a professional or equivalent level, originality in tackling and solving problems, and decision-making in complex and unpredictable contexts or situations.

 

You should be able to demonstrate mastery of the leading edge subject-related concepts and ideas as they relate to real world situations and/or particular contexts.  How do they work in practice?  You will deploy models, methods, techniques, and/or theories, in those contexts or circumstances, to assess current situations, perhaps to formulate plans or plausible, justifiable recommendations to solve problems, or to propose new models, or to create artefacts, which may be innovative and creative, thereby demonstrating your understanding of how the boundaries of knowledge are advanced through research and/or application.  This is likely to involve, for instance, the use of real world artefacts, examples and cases, the application of a model within an organisation and/or benchmarking one theory or organisation against others.