Unit 6 Managing a Successful
Business Project (MSBP)
Assignment Brief Group 7
Talent Management
| Assignment Brief – Group 7 | |
| Qualification | Pearson BTEC Level 4 Higher National Certificate in Business (Pearson) |
| Campus | Oxford |
| Period of Study | Term 1: 22 May 2021 – 25 Jul 2021 (Sat & Sun) Term 2: 14 Aug 2021 – 17 Oct 2021 (Sat & Sun) |
| Class Days & Times | Sat & Sun 16:30 – 18:30 |
| Unit Number & Title | Unit 6: Managing a Successful Business Project |
| Pearson Set Theme | Talent Management |
| Topic | What are the key challenges and obstacles facing different business sectors in terms of talent management? (select one business sector e.g. marketing, finance, operations, manufacturing, education) |
| Unit Code | D/508/0491 |
| Tutor(s) | |
| Assessor(s) | |
| Internal Verifier | Shifan Razik |
| Assignment Tasks | First Task: Written Project Plan (1500 – 2000 Words) Second Task – Power-point oral presentation (750 – 1000 Words) |
| Weighting | 100% |
| Important Dates | |
| Term Start | 22 May 2021 |
| Issue Date | 29 May 2021 |
| Formative Written Submission LO1 & LO2 | 25 Jul 2021 |
| Summative Written and Oral Presentation LO1, LO2, LO3, LO4 | 17 Oct 2021 |
| Submission Details | Please submit on Moodle by 5pm on the deadline day. |
| Summative Feedback Date | 17 Nov 2021 |
| Resubmission Date | 01 Dec 2021 |
| Assignment Brief Instructions and Guidance |
| Scenario You have been appointed as the Assistant to the Talent Management Consultant at Oxford Business College or another organisation of your choice, in a sector where talent management and the ability to attract and retain talent in the workplace are of vital importance to organisational success. Recently, the Head of HR has noticed that it is challenging for the organisation to meet its commitment to attract and retain talent. The Head of HR would like to understand the reasons for this difficulty and to identify what measures they may take in order to increase the number of talented staff they recruit and retain. To this end the Head of HR has asked you to carry out secondary and primary research into the key challenges and obstacles that organisations in the sector face with the recruitment and retention of talented staff, including your chosen organisation, and to identify measures that the organisation might take in order to resolve them. If you choose OBC, the sector would be education, but you may choose another organisation and sector if you wish. You will need to look at a range of issues and challenges with the hiring and retention of talented staff in different organisations within your chosen sector in the UK or internationally and consider the implications for talent management in your chosen organisation. You must provide a plan of action, with recommendations on how to recruit and retain more talented staff and improve overall talent management in the organisation. |
| Task One: Written research-based project plan LO1 Establish project aims, objectives and timeframes based on the chosen theme of Talent Management in the workplace. LO2 Conduct small-scale research, information gathering and data collection, generating knowledge to support the project. |
| Scenario The Head of HR has asked you to submit a written research-based plan which can be passed to the senior management team for consideration. To complete the research-based project plan it is recommended that you follow the four stages below: Give a brief introduction of the organisation, the importance and issues related to recruitment and retention of talented staff with the sector you have chosen.Establish the aims and objectives of the project, the research you will conduct to inform your project and the research methods you will employ.Keep a Project Logbook throughout the project. You may use the Project Logbook Template provided at the end of this assignment brief. When you submit your final project plan, you should include the logbook as an appendix. |
| Carry out qualitative and quantitative secondary research and small-scale primary research to inform the project. Sources of secondary research may include textbooks, journal articles, newspapers and magazine articles. Sources of primary research may include original first-hand accounts by individuals, legal and historical documents, results of experiments and market research data collection. You can obtain primary research by interviewing staff at an organisation if you wish, as long as your research is appropriate for meeting the project aims and objectives, you have completed the OBC research proposal form and your research proposal has been granted approval by the OBC ethics committee.Produce a comprehensive project management plan and schedule with milestones for monitoring and completing all the aims and objectives of the project. Include a plan for the recruitment and retention of talented staff at the organisation, which includes project costs, scope, quality, communication, risk and resources. Make sure that your plan provides solutions to the talent management challenges and obstacles that you identified within the sector and your organisation in particular.Produce a work breakdown structure (WBS) and a Gantt chart to provide timeframes and stages for completion of the project.Critically evaluate the accuracy and reliability of the project management process and the research methodologies you have applied, explaining why they are appropriate. |
| The required submission is in the form of a research-based plan. It must be word-processed, written work with clear indication of the unit number and title, the relevant task being addressed, your name and registration number. This should be written in a concise, formal business style using single spacing and font size 12. You are required to make use of headings, paragraphs and subheadings as appropriate. The plan must include the work breakdown structure and Gantt chart. These may be included in the main body or in the appendices, but you must provide a written explanation of them in the main body. Any sources you draw information from should be referenced using the Harvard referencing system. The recommended word limit is 1500 to 2000 words excluding appendices. |
| Task Two – Oral Presentation of the project findings with speaker’s notes LO3 Present the project and communicate appropriate recommendations based on meaningful conclusions drawn from the evidence findings and/or analysis LO4 Reflect on the value gained from conducting the project and its usefulness to support sustainable organisational performance |
| Scenario Once you have submitted your plan, the Head of HR would like you to give a presentation about the project to the senior management team. You need to prepare power-point slides and speaker’s notes to hand out to the senior management during the presentation. You will need to communicate the following: An analysis of your research and the data you collected using appropriate tools and techniques in order to show your findings and what they mean for the recruitment and retention of talented staff for the sector in general and/or your chosen organisation.Your recommendations resulting from the research and data analysis with valid and meaningful conclusions |
| Your reflections on the value of the project management process and use of quality research to overcome the staff recruitment and retention challenges and obstacles identified and your own learning and performance during the project. You may use the performance review template at the end of this assignment brief to help you with your reflections.Evaluate your selection of appropriate research tools and techniques for accuracy and authenticity to support and justify your recommendations.Critically evaluate and reflect on the project outcomes, the decision-making process and changes or developments of the initial project management plan to support justification of recommendations and learning during the project. |
| Submission Format |
| The submission is in the form of a 5-10-minute individual PowerPoint presentation with some additional time (approximately 5 minutes) allocated for questions. The presentation slides and speaker notes including your recommendations and reflections should be submitted as one document. You are required to make effective use of power-point headings, bullet points and subsections as appropriate. Your research should be referenced using the Harvard referencing system. Please also provide a list of references at the end using the Harvard referencing system. The recommended word limit is 750 words for your recommendations (LO3) and your reflections (LO4) including speaker notes, although you will not be penalised for exceeding the total word limit. |
| Project Logbook Template | |||
| You may use the following template for your project logbook which needs to be added as an appendix when you submit your assignment (LO1 – LO3). | |||
| Student Name: | Date: | ||
| Project title: | |||
| Update on weekly research/tasks achieved | |||
| Questions | Answers | Dates | |
| What have you completed? | |||
| What task requirements did you fulfil? | |||
| What deadlines have you met? | |||
| What deadlines have you missed and what have you reset them to? | |||
| What changes did you need to make to your project management plan? | |||
| Any risks and/or issues identified? | |||
| Did you identify risks/issues with a lack of skills required for undertaking research/tasks? | |||
| Did you identify any additional risks/issues that have an impact on the project management plan? |
| Problems encountered | |
| What barriers did you face? | |
| How did you overcome them? | |
| Any new ideas and change of project direction? | |
| Performance Review Guidelines | |
| What was the project supposed to accomplish? | |
| Did the project succeed in its aims? How do you know? Specifically, outline any evaluation and assessment undertaken. | |
| What things do you think worked well and why? Evaluate all aspects of the project (e.g. initial inception, project activities and project outcomes) from a range of perspectives. | |
| What problems emerged during the project and how were they tackled? Was there timely identification of issues and resolution during the project process? | |
| What did you learn from undertaking the project? |
| Performance Review Template for Reflections | |||
| You may use the following template for your reflections on the project (LO4) | |||
| Student Name: | Date: | ||
| Project title: | |||
| What was the project supposed to accomplish? | |||
| Did the project succeed in its aims? How do you know? Specifically, please outline any evaluation and assessment undertaken. | |||
| What things do you think worked well and why? Evaluate all aspects of the project (e.g. initial inception, project activities and project outcomes) from a range of perspectives. | |||
| What problems emerged during the project and how were they tackled? Was there timely identification of issues and resolution during the project process? | |||
| What did you learn from undertaking the project? | |||
| How would you rate your performance as Project Manager? | |||
| What strengths and weaknesses of your performance did you identify? | |||
| How will this inform and support your continuous professional development? |
| Please submit your assignment on Moodle by 5pm deadline day |
| Important Information: |
| Academic Misconduct Policy Academic misconduct applies in any situation where a student is attempting to gain credit by unfair or improper means and covers cheating, attempts to cheat, plagiarism and collusion. For more information on misconduct and the penalties you may face, please refer to the Academic Misconduct Policy which is issued and explained at induction and is also available on the College VLE (Moodle). Appeals Policy You have the right to appeal against assessment decisions if you feel that the grade and feedback you have received is incorrect or unfair. You may appeal to the College and you may appeal to the Pearson awarding body if you are still not satisfied. For more information, please refer to the College’s Academic Appeals Policy explained at induction and also available on the College VLE (Moodle). Complaints Policy You have the right to complain if you feel that you have been unfairly or badly treated by anyone at the College including students and staff. You may appeal to the College and you may appeal to the Pearson awarding body if you are still not satisfied. For more information, please refer to the College’s Complaints Policy explained at induction and also available on the College VLE (Moodle). Extenuating Circumstances Policy If you are unable to submit your work by the deadline, you should submit a request for extenuating circumstances before the deadline passes. You may only request extenuating circumstances if you have genuine reasons for not being able to submit you work by deadline such as illness. In these cases, you may be granted an extension to the deadline with no penalties. For more information see the College’s Extenuating Circumstances Policy on the College VLE (Moodle). Resubmission and Retake Policy If you fail to submit your assignment by the deadline without extenuating circumstance or if you submit but fail, you will be able to submit it on the resubmission deadline. However, all resubmissions are capped at a Pass. If you fail the resubmission, you will have to retake the unit. This will mean attending the course again which will take more time and can incur costs that you would need to pay for. For more information see the College’s Resubmission and Retake Policy on the College VLE (Moodle). Return of Assessed Work The College aims to return your work to you with feedback within three to four weeks after submission depending upon the date of the Assessment Board Meeting. For more information see the College’s Return of Assessed Work Policy on the College VLE (Moodle). Other Policies You may also refer to the College’s Learning Teaching and Assessment Policy and the HND Student Handbook for more information on all of the policies and procedures listed above. |
| Additional Guidelines |
| For higher grades you are required to consider developing your answers further based on the given learning outcomes and assessment criteria given at the end of the assessment brief. Across the report you are required to provide various examples to enhance the credibility, currency and depth of the answer. You are also required to support your report and presentation with academic and professional source material as well as statistics when relevant. Headings and subheadings should be included for all written work submitted. |
| Final Submission Instructions |
| You should be aware of the OBC guidance and regulations concerning plagiarism (see policies on our website for full details). The Harvard referencing system should be used, and the Wikipedia website must not be referenced in your work. Aim to keep your Turnitin similarity score below 20%. You have the right to appeal against assessment decisions. Please see the Head of Academics if you wish to do this. You are required to complete and submit a cover page with your assignment. You must download the cover page template in Word format from Moodle. The cover page will ask you to sign a declaration verifying that the submitted assignment is your own work and that you did it without any help apart from acceptable support from your Tutor(s). |
Please see Moodle for links to:
- Recommended reading list
- Viva Procedure
- Cover sheet templates
- Assignment templates
- Links to other units
- Slides and class documents
- Guide on commanding verbs
Please see the Head of Academics for examples of previous successful assignments.
| Useful resources for the impacts of Equality and Diversity in Business | ||
| Type of Resources | Resources Titles | Links |
| Online factsheets, reports | Talent Management | |
| Online Report | Winning with your talent – management strategy | |
| Online Articles | Entrepreneur Europe Magazine | https://www.entrepreneur.com/topic/talent-management |
| Online Articles | Human Resources Today – Talent Management | https://www.humanresource stoday.com/2020/talentmanagement/ |
| Webinar | Talent Management Strategies in the GCC | https://www.youtube.com/w atch?v=FiY2hwoAXsg |
| Youtube | Talent | https://www.youtube.com/w atch?v=snl7eC8LDLk |
| Video | Management/Linkedin | |
| learning – What is a | ||
| talent management | ||
| strategy | ||
| Online Report | Global Talent Trends 2019 | https://www.mercer.com/content/dam/mercer/attachments/ private/gl-2019-globaltalent-trends-study.pdf |
| Useful resources for Project Management | ||
| Online Resources | What is Project Management? | |
| Online | Project Management | https://www.mindtools.com/ |
| Resources | links: Start HereSchedulingScope Management | pages/main/newMN_PPM.ht m |
| Online Article | Demystifying the 5 phases of project management | |
| Maylor, H. (2010) Project Management. 40th edn. Harlow: Pearson |
| Learning Outcomes and Assessment Criteria | ||
| Pass | Merit | Distinction |
| LO1 Establish project aims, objectives and timeframes based on the chosen theme | LO1 & LO2- D1 Critically evaluate the project management process and appropriate research methodologies applied | |
| P1 Devise project aims and objectives for a chosen scenario. P2 Produce a project management plan that covers aspects of cost, scope, time, quality, communication, risk and resources. P3 Produce a work breakdown structure and a Gantt chart to provide timeframes and stages for completion. | M1 Produce a comprehensive project management plan, milestone schedule and project schedule for monitoring and completing the aims and objectives of the project. | |
| LO2 Conduct small-scale research, information gathering and data collection, generating knowledge to support the project | ||
| P4 Carry out small-scale research by applying qualitative and quantitative research methods appropriate for meeting project aims and objectives | M2 Evaluate the accuracy and reliability of different research methods applied. | |
| LO3 Present the project and communicate appropriate recommendations based on meaningful conclusions drawn from the evidence findings and/or analysis | ||
| P5 Analyse research and data using appropriate tools and techniques P6 Communicate appropriate recommendations as a result of research and data analysis to draw valid and meaningful conclusions | M3 Evaluate the selection of appropriate tools and techniques for accuracy and authenticity to support and justify recommendations | D2 Critically evaluate and reflect on the project outcomes, the decision- making process and changes or developments of the initial project management plan to support justification of recommendations and learning during the project. |
| LO4 Reflect on the value gained from conducting the project and its usefulness to support sustainable organisational performance | ||
| P7 Reflect on the value of undertaking the research to meet stated objectives and own learning and performance | M4 Evaluate the value of the project management process and use of quality research to meet stated objectives and support own learning and performance |
