HE Assessment submission

Qualification Title: Higher National Certificate/Diploma in Business

Academic year: 2020/21 Location: Oldham
Assignment number: 1 of 1 Student name:
Assignment name: (Pearson-set theme) Talent Student ID/number:
Management
Module number and title: Unit 6 - Managing a Fit to sit declaration
successful business project D/508/0491
I confirm that I am fit to sit this assessment.
Module coordinator’s name: Ambrish Joijode

Assignment set by: Naomi Williams Student

signature.......................................Date......................
Assessor name/names: Date stamp:
Data Bob Manuel
Centre check signature: Ambrish Joijode 15/11/20
Assignment issue date: 11.01.2021

Nescot check signature: Carole Spicer 15/11/20

Formative Submission: 04.04.2021
Submission due date: 14.05.2021

Academic conduct
Work submitted for assessment must be your own, if authorship is misrepresented this may be considered
to be academic misconduct. Academic misconduct can be considered to be any act whereby a candidate
seeks to obtain an unfair advantage for themselves or another candidate. The penalties for academic
misconduct can be serious. Examples of academic misconduct (not exhaustive) are as follows;
 Using online sites such as Spinbot, Check Plagiarism, Paraphrasing Tool, Seo Magnifer, Article
Rewriter or any such other sites that offer a similar service to reword work to avoid plagiarism
detection
 Plagiarism; defined broadly as the unacknowledged use of the work of another person. Including
words, images, artwork, computer generated work (including Internet sources), thoughts,
inventions and/or discoveries whether published or not.
 Fabrication; falsification of results or evidence, for example, experiments, interviews, observations
or other forms of empirical research and investigation.
 Collusion; working collaboratively with others in the preparation or production of material
submitted for assessment where not explicitly permitted by programme documentation.

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  Misrepresentation; falsification of degree of participation or responsibility for shared work submitted
for assessment.
Authenticity declaration
I have read the above and confirm that the work submitted is my own. All material for which I am not the
author (published or unpublished) has been clearly identified, attributed to others, fully acknowledged and
reference made to the original sources. I understand that the College has the right to submit my work to
further checks for originality if deemed necessary.

Student
signature.........................................................................................................................Date..........................

I am unwell and/or have been affected by unforeseen circumstances [delete as appropriate] during or
immediately prior to this assessment or examination. However, I choose to continue to take this
assessment or examination and I have drawn this to the attention of the assessor/invigilator.

Student
signature..........................................................................................................................Date.........................

Assessor/invigilator name…………….Assessor/invigilator signature......................Date........................

Submission arrangements
• All work for submission must be signed in using an electronic signature via weblearn
• All assignments must be submitted through Turnitin failure to do so will result in your work being
unmarked.

Tutors declaration:
Whilst marking this work I have duly checked that there is no variations in writing style compared
to the students normal submissions, grammar and spelling have been identified in the work and to
the best of my knowledge the student has not used any paraphrasing tools to complete this work.

Provisional Grade ...............……………..Tutor’s signature............................... Date............................

Note this grade is provisional until agreed by the Examination Board

Assessor Feedback related to grading criteria:

Turnitin % ……………………………………….

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 Areas of Improvement:

Action: (referrals only)

Student’s Comments: What grade are you aiming for:

Feedback received from Lecturer: Yes/No

Student signature;_________________________ Date:___________

Date of resubmission (where required)

Assignment Brief and Guidance

Talent management (TM) is the process by which businesses and organisations recognise and develop
talented people who can have a positive impact on their organisations and their productivity. It not only has
become a key component of human resource management but also the responsibility of leaders and
managers at all levels to manage talent within the business, with talent management strategies being
developed in line with the particular needs and structure of the business and industry. Staff retention,
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training and morale are essential in any industry where talented, motivated employees can help differentiate
one organisation from another and influence business success. An increasing number of businesses are
rethinking ways to get the most from their staff. Rising costs, recruitment difficulties and changing
employee attitudes mean that, for many employers, the traditional approaches to recruiting, training and
retaining staff are being revisited to harness and develop talent and ultimately drive competitive advantage.

Scenario
As a freelance market researcher, you have been hired by a local goods transport provider (with a number
of vehicles and hubs) to conduct a small-scale research project to look at how they might implement talent
management within their organisation. Specifically, they would like to find out what talent strategies the
best companies use to attract and retain people and how they might be able to use some of these in their
own organisation. Part of this investigation will also need to look at a range of local businesses to explore
how they are using talent management (effectively or otherwise) to ensure that they learn from the mistakes
and experiences of other SME’s.

Assignment tasks
In order to conduct your project successfully, you will need to complete the following tasks. As you
complete each stage, you should record this in a project log book with ongoing reflection about how you
handled each element, any problems you encountered and what you did to overcome this:

Task 1
Part A. Project Planning
In the first instance, you should devise clear aims and objectives for the project to outline what outcomes
you hope to achieve. You will then need to produce a comprehensive project management plan, milestone
schedule and project schedule for monitoring and completing the aims and objectives of the project. As a
minimum, this should cover aims and deliverables, time, quality, communication, risk and resources. You
should also produce a work breakdown structure and a Gantt Chart to provide timeframes and stages for
completion.

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Part B – Conducting research

You will now need to carry out small-scale research applying primary and secondary methods appropriate
for meeting project aims and objectives. This will include secondary research into the general principles of
talent management and talent strategies the best companies use to attract and retain people to identify best
practice in industry. This will be supported by primary research (in the form of a questionnaire, interview or
focus group) to look at how a range of local businesses have adopted strategies of talent management in their
operations to identify strengths and weaknesses of such strategies in SME’s. In addition to your planning
and conducting research you will need to critically evaluate the project management process and methods
applied for gathering information and data collection. Within this, you should evaluate the accuracy and
reliability of primary and secondary methods applied.

Task 2 – Present findings

When you have conducted your research, you will need to present findings and data using appropriate tools
and techniques. You will need to draw valid and meaningful conclusions from this data and communicate
appropriate recommendations to the local transport provider based on this information. You should include
an evaluation of your selection of appropriate tools and techniques for accuracy and authenticity to support
and justify recommendations.

Task 3 – Reflective practice

After you have presented your findings to the client, you should carry out a review on the whole project
from start to finish to reflect on what you have learnt.

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. You should also evaluate the value of the project management process to meet
stated objectives and support own learning and performance.

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Submission Format
Your submission must be in the form of a portfolio which includes the following components:
1. Project management plan including a work breakdown structure in the form a Gantt chart
2. A completed project Logbook (Appendix A)
3. A report for the local organisation to present the business case.
4. A reflection of the process

You are required to make use of headings, paragraphs and subsections as appropriate, and all work must be
supported with research and referenced using the Harvard referencing system. Please provide a bibliography
using the Harvard referencing system. The recommended word limit for tasks 3 and 4 is 4000 words,
although you will not be penalised for exceeding the total word limit.

Please note that details of the Learning Outcomes and Assessment Criteria for this unit should not be
included in your report or presentation.

Recommended resources for talent management

Type of Resource Resource Titles Links

Online factsheets, reports Talent Management https://www.cipd.co.uk/know
ledge/strategy/resourcing/tal ent-
factsheet
Online articles Entrepreneur Europe Magazine https://www.entrepreneur.c
om/topic/talent- management

Online report Winning with your talent – https://www.mckinsey.com/b

management strategy usiness-
functions/organization/our-
insights/winning-with-your-
talent-management- strategy#
Online articles Human Resources Today – https://www.humanresource
Talent Management stoday.com/2020/talent-
management/
Webinar Talent Management Strategies in https://www.youtube.com/w
the GCC atch?v=FiY2hwoAXsg
You Tube Video Talent Management/Linkedin https://www.youtube.com/w
learning – What is a talent atch?v=snl7eC8LDLk
management strategy

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 Online Report Global Talent Trends 2019 https://www.mercer.com/co
ntent/dam/mercer/attachme
nts/private/gl-2019-global-
talent-trends-study.pdf

Recommended resources for Project Management

Type of Resource Resource Titles Links
Online Resources What is Project Management? https://www.apm.org.uk/res
ources/what-is-project-
management/
Online Resources Project Management links: https://www.mindtools.com/
● Start Here pages/main/newMN_PPM.ht m
● Scheduling
● Scope Management
Online article Demystifying the 5 phases of https://www.smartsheet.com
project management /blog/demystifying-5-phases-
project-management
Additional materials
Maylor, H. (2010) Project Management. 4th ed. Harlow: Pearson

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Appendix A - Project Logbook

Name:
Project title:
Date:
Update on weekly research/tasks achieved

Points to consider:
What have you completed?

Did you fulfil task requirements?

Are you on track and within deadlines set?

Did you need to make any changes to your project management plan?

Any risks and/or issues identified?

Points to consider:
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

Points to consider:
What barriers did you face?

How did you overcome them?

New ideas and change of project direction

What have I learnt about myself this week?

Points to consider:
How did I feel when I had to deal with tasks/problems?

Did I find it useful to complete the tasks?

How well have I performed?

What did I contribute?

What can I improve on next week?

How might this learning apply in the future?

Tasks planned for next week

Points to consider:
Which tasks are priority?
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Have you set aside sufficient time for completion?

Project plan status to date (on, ahead, behind):

Supervisor comments to address:

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Please click on the link to see Pearson Course Specification:
https://qualifications.pearson.com/content/dam/pdf/BTEC-Higher-
Nationals/Business/2016/Specification/btec-higher-nationals-business-specification.pdf

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