Assignment

For this assignment you will need to complete four activities which focus on the areas listed below:

• Human resource management
• Management of physical resources
• Marketing
• Information systems

You should complete all four activities using an organisation with which you are familiar and/or where you have access to the relevant information for the purposes of the research. Alternatively the individual tasks may be completed using different organisations. Where appropriate you may interview relevant staff and use the evidence to complete the tasks. In preparation for completing this assignment you need to investigate possible options and identify the organisation(s) you intend to use. You may wish to discuss your choices with your tutor before embarking on the work.

Activity 1: Human Resource Management (HRM)

Produce a document which demonstrates your understanding of the role of HRM in supporting business strategy and shows how to develop human resources in organisations.

The document should include

• A consideration of the objectives for your chosen organisation and an explanation of how HRM contributes to their achievement AC 1.1
• A critical evaluation of the role of HRM in your chosen organization AC 1.2
• An evaluation of the recruitment and retention strategies of your chosen organization AC 2.1
• A critical assessment of the techniques used to develop employees in the organization AC 2.2.
• An evaluation of the contribution these techniques make to ensuring the engagement of employees AC, 2.3.
• A systematic analysis of the effective strategies an HRM department must use to support the achievement of organisational strategy. AC 2.4

Finally as planning human resource requirements is important for the success of businesses you must also appraise the processes your chosen organisation uses AC 1.3

Activity 2: Management of physical resources

Create a table which identifies the chosen organisation’s objectives and shows the physical resources required to ensure achievement of each of these objectives. Explain the resource management implications of the information in your table. AC 3.1

Using the table above critically evaluate the role of physical resource management within the organisation and systematically appraise the processes that are used to plan the physical requirements of the organisation. Your appraisal and evaluation must be supported with relevant theory and include recommendations where appropriate, to support and provide evidence for your work. AC 3.2, 3.3.

Activity 3: Marketing

In this section you must clearly show that you understand the role of marketing in supporting business strategy. Produce a report on your chosen organization which:

• investigates how marketing activities contribute to achievement of organisational objectives in the organisation AC 4.1
• critically evaluates marketing operations in that organisation AC 4.2
• appraises the processes that the organisation uses to develop its markets AC 4.3.

Activity 4: Information Systems Management (ISM)

For your chosen organisation investigate and report on how ISM contributes to the achievement of the objectives of this organisation. In completing this investigation you must also critically evaluate the role ISM plays in the organisation AC 5.1, 5.2.

Finally as planning the requirements and place of information systems is important for the success of businesses you must also appraise the processes your chosen organisation uses to plan its IS requirements AC 5.3

Guidelines for assessors

The assessment criteria for the unit specify the standard a learner is expected to meet. They demonstrate that the learning outcomes have been achieved at the right standards. The suggested evidence listed below is how students can demonstrate that they have met the required standard.

Task

Activity 1

Learning Outcomes

LO1 and 2 Assessment Criteria 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4

Suggested Evidence

Learners must identify organisations which they plan to use for the purposes of this set of activities. Tutors must ensure that the chosen organisations will provide sufficient information and evidence for the learner to meet the
standards.
Where learners have gathered information from staff interviews this must be used appropriately taking account of
any potential bias.

In completing this activity learners should obtain the corporate and HR strategy for the chosen organisation and
use this information to demonstrate how the HR management and strategy supports the achievement of organisational objectives.. This work must be thorough and demonstrate understanding of the part HRM plays in
delivering strategy and objectives. There must be a full appraisal of all the processes that the organisation uses in
planning the HR requirements, HR techniques and models should be referred to as appropriate. The evaluation of the recruitment and retention strategies needs to be specific and needs to be against stated criteria. The analysis of HRM strategies must be systematic and clearly linked to the organisation’s strategy.

Task

Activities 2

Learning Outcomes

LO3 Assessment Criteria 3.1, 3.2, 3.3.

Suggested Evidence

Learners must produce a table showing the organisation’s objectives and their physical resource requirements. The
evaluation of the physical resource management must be directly linked to the information in the table and clearly show the role of physical resource management in achieving organisational objectives.

Learners must clearly document their evaluation of the role physical resource management plays in the organisation.
There must be a full appraisal of all the processes that the organisation uses to plan its physical requirements.

Task

Activity 3

Learning Outcomes

LO4 Assessment Criteria 4.1, 4.2, 4.3.

Suggested Evidence

Learners must ensure the report has the appropriate format. They may obtain the marketing strategy for the chosen
organisation and investigate how marketing activities have contributed to achievement of organisational objectives.
Learners should evaluate the role of marketing in the organisation and included an appraisal of how it develops its
markets.

The written documentation produced by learners should relate their findings to relevant theoretical standpoints that
they have studied.

Task

Activity 4

Learning Outcomes

LO5 Assessment Criteria 5.1, 5.2, 5.3.

Suggested Evidence

Learners may find it helpful to obtain the IT strategy for the chosen organisation. They must produce a thorough
investigation of the contribution ISM makes to the achievement of the organisational objectives. Learners
should document and critically evaluate the role of IS management in the organisation. The appraisal must be
systematic and cover a wide range of processes which the organisation uses to plan its IS requirements.