Assignment
Brief
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Course |
HND Business |
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Unit Number and Title |
6
Managing a Successful Business Project |
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Academic Term |
Jan 2021 – Mar
2021 |
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Submission Format |
Report, Logbook, Performance Review, and
Self Reflection |
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Submission
Format: |
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The report should be written
in a concise, formal business style using. · 1.5 lines Spacing · Times New Roman Font · 12 Font size · You are required to make use of
headings, paragraphs and subsections as appropriate, · All work must be supported with
research and referenced using the Harvard referencing system. · Please also provide a bibliography
using the Harvard referencing system. · The recommended word limit is
2,000–2,500 words, although you will not be penalized for exceeding the total
word limit. · Please ensure that the similarity
do not exceed 20% threshold.
Please provide College’s Cover page with your report
Also,
please follow the normal report structure (cover page, executive summary, table of
contents, introduction, main body, conclusion and recommendation and
References).
You
must complete the Project Log Book in Appendix 1 as a compulsory
activity in this module and it should be signed off by your tutor. The log
should be completed on weekly basis summarising your activities on the
project.
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Pearson-set Theme |
Talent Management
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Assignment Topic |
What talent strategies do the best
companies use to attract and retain people?
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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 TM
strategies being developed in line with the particular needs and structure of
the business and industry. Themes
of TM relevant to businesses when considering a strategic approach to talent
management include the following: · the role of line managers and
leaders in employee development and well-being; · talent management being used as a
lever for culture change; · the importance of contextualising
approaches to talent management; · the need for new and innovative
ways of working to achieve a strategic approach to talent management; · barriers for the development of a
strategic approach caused by economic and day-to-day operational pressures.
Staff
retention, training and morale is key 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.
Talent refers
to individuals who can make a significant difference to organisational
performance. This may either be through their immediate contribution or, in
the longer-term, by reaching their highest levels of potential.
Talent management is the systematic
attraction, identification, development, engagement, retention and deployment
of those individuals who are of particular value to an organisation. This may
be through their high potential or because they fulfil critical roles.
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Case Study Valuing your
Talent at Halfords |
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‘We’re
not doing this out of the goodness of our hearts. We’re not training people
for the sake of it. We are training people so that we can leverage that
experience to drive sales. That’s the strategy.’ Matt Davies, CEO, Halfords
Halfords,
a specialist retailer of leisure and car products, provides a useful current
case study of effective human capital management reporting in action and
demonstrates the importance between the successful alignment of business and
HR strategy underpinned by clear HCM measures. In
May 2013, the new CEO of Halfords, Matt Davies, took the opportunity, during
a discussion of the company’s preliminary results to investors, to reveal the
board’s strategy to restore performance in the company to what he believed
would be a permanently higher level (Halfords 2013).
Davies
took considerable care to describe the strategic challenges that explained
Halfords’ poor performance to date, and the human capital-centric means by
which he intended to transform the company’s performance.
With
around 70% of its customers requiring some form of advice in order to make a
purchase, Davies confirmed that Halfords was a speciality retailer.
‘Specialism is something we should celebrate,’ he said. ‘That’s our business.
We’re experts.’
Yet
Halfords’ customer satisfaction rating measured using a Net Promoter Score
(NPS) ranked alongside that of low-cost organisations competing on price and
generalist retailers that compete on assortment and range: not on expert
service.
And
because previous management teams had failed to recruit the right staff and
to equip employees with the product knowledge required in their role – and
because they had failed to embed a service culture into the company –
Halfords had left itself vulnerable to competition from business models that
were not encumbered by high staff and product choice costs.
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Pointing to data that showed
that more than 20% of Halfords’ staff left the company in the first three
months of their employment, Davies explained that measures such as employee
turnover have historically illustrated a significant challenge for the
business:
‘Recruitment, training and
retention of great people has not been part of Halfords’ core focus in recent
years. We consequently have a large churn of people. All the time people are
leaving and joining, leaving and joining; it’s like a merry-go-round.’
That explained why Halfords had
experienced declining like-for-like sales in 10 of the 13 quarters prior to
Davies joining the company – and why his diagnosis of the strategic challenge
that confronted Halfords focused on recruitment, on training and development,
and on employee engagement.
Although prior management could
not see the solution, the treatment Davies arrived at was simple. He had
‘never seen a specialist retailer where expertise is more important than
Halfords’ and the new level of service to which he was aspiring would be
something that Halfords’ main competitor – supermarkets – would never be able
to deliver, and something which would give Halfords a clear advantage over
online-only competitors that have no stores or colleagues on the ground. His
message to investment analysts was clear:
‘So what we need to do is we
need to engage our colleagues, as we know that highly engaged colleagues
result in satisfied customers. So our programme makes recruitment
development, and retention of people, a core KPI. This particular investment
will be the most important investment we make in the next three years.’
In all, Halfords would invest
around £50 million over the period to improve staff recruitment, training and
retention processes.
Yet he was also convinced that
the investment he made in recruitment, in training and development and in
employee engagement was a major factor in the company’s improved performance
(Halfords 2014b).
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References: Cipd.co.uk. 2020. Valuing
Your Talent At Halfords. [online] Available at: <https://www.cipd.co.uk/Images/case-study-halfords_tcm18-19988.pdf>
[Accessed 10 December 2020]. HALFORDS GROUP. (2014b)
Preliminary results 2014: [transcript of a webcast on May 22 2014 with
speakers Matt Davies and Andrew Findlay] [online]. Redditch: Halfords Group.
Available at: http://www.halfordscompany.
com/media/217702/PreliminaryTranscript-May-2104.pdf[Accessed 10 December
2020].
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LO1: Establish project aims,
objectives and timeframes based on the chosen theme LO2: Conduct small-scale
research, information gathering and data collection, generating knowledge to
support the project |
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Requirements: Working at Halfords as an assistant project
manager you have been asked to undertake a project based on the “Strategies
for Talent Management” in Halford and
present your findings to the CEO in a report format.
You are required to o Devise project aims and objectives for the
project. o (2,3) Produce a project comprehensive management plan
that covers ·
Aspects
of cost ·
Scope ·
Time, ·
Quality ·
Communication ·
Risk
and resources. ·
Work
breakdown structure ·
A
Gantt Chart to provide timeframes and stages for completion. ·
Monitoring
and completing the aims and the objectives
To ensure the viability of your
project, you are expected to o (4) Carry out small-scale research by applying primary
and secondary data collection methods appropriate for meeting project aims
and objectives, and critically evaluate the project management processes and accuracy
and reliability of different types of primary and secondary methods applied.
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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 |
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o (5) Present findings and data using appropriate
tools and techniques. o (6) Analyse the data and research to draw valid and
meaningful conclusion and communicate appropriate recommendations.
Furthermore, you may evaluate the selection of appropriate tools and
techniques for accuracy and authenticity to support and justify recommendations. o (7) Using the performance review template in appendix I, reflect on the value of
undertaking the research to meet stated objectives and own learning and
performance. You may evaluate the value of the project management processes
and use of quality research to meet stated objectives and own learning and
performance. o Finally, you may 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.
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Grading Criteria |
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Learning Outcome |
Pass |
Merit |
Distinction |
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LO1 Establish
project aims, objectives and timeframes based on the chosen theme
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P1 Devise project aims and objectives for a chosen scenario. P2 Produce a project management plan that covers, aim and
deliverables, 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.
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LO1 & LO2 D1 Critically evaluate the project management process and methods
applied for gathering information and data collection. |
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LO2 Conduct
small-scale research, information gathering and data collection to generate knowledge
to support the project
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P4 Carry out small-scale research applying primary and secondary
methods appropriate for meeting project aims and objectives.
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M2 Evaluate the accuracy and reliability of
primary and secondary methods applied.
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LO3 Present the project and communicate appropriate recommendations
based on meaningful conclusions drawn from the evidence findings and/or
analysis
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P5 Present
findings and data using appropriate tools and techniques.
P6
Communicate appropriate recommendations as a result of findings 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.
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LO3 & LO4 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. |
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LO4 Reflect on the value gained from conducting the project and its
usefulness to support sustainable organisational performance
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P7 Reflect on the value of undertaking the project to meet stated
objectives and own learning and performance.
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M4 Evaluate the value of the project management process to meet stated
objectives and support own learning and performance.
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