Assessment 2 instructions
Weighting: 55%
Format: 3000-word written report (+10%)
Summary
You will write a case report based on your organisation (or any organisation you are familiar with) to critically evaluate its strategic HRM by examining its policies, practices and procedures against the employee-centred sustainable HRM approaches that have been discussed in the prescribed article below (Richards, 2020).
Referencing is Australian Harvard (AGPS), outlined in the AIB Style Guide.
Note: Insert this summary description in Smarthinking. Submit your assessment for writing feedback from Smarthinking.
Learning outcomes
Demonstrate advanced understanding of strategic human resource management theory and its application in practice. (SLO1).
Critically evaluate, and recommend improvements to existing human resource management strategies. (SLO2).
Identify and evaluate different perspectives and contemporary trends, and their impact on strategic HRM. (SLO3).
Design and effectively communicate an evidence based human resource management initiative with consideration to ethical concerns. (SLO4).
Task
Read
Read the following case study:
Richards, J 2022, ‘Putting employees at the centre of sustainable HRM: A review, map and research agenda‘, Employee Relations: The International Journal, vol. 44, no. 3, pp. 533-554, DOI:10.1108/ER-01-2019-0037.
For further resources on sustainable HRM review this saved library search or check articles that have cited Richards (2022).
According to Richards (2020), Sustainable HRM is built on the principles of Strategic HRM and focuses on broad organisational goals in a number of areas, and not just “business” goals. Central to this study is the employee-centred approach to sustainable HRM where employee interests are privileged over employer agendas. Based on your reading of this article and your understanding of the HRM theories, concepts and principles that you have learned in this subject, your task is to:
Critically evaluate your organisation’s strategic HRM approach (or any organisation you are familiar with) by examining its policies, practices and procedures. Focus on the employee-centred sustainable HRM practices as discussed by Richards (2020) that you believe to be the most important and/or relevant for your organisation.
Recommend improvements to existing human resource management strategies. Your recommendation must provide tangible actions that your chosen organisation can adopt to help it achieve its employee-centred sustainable HRM outcomes. You must also explain how your recommendations will help the organisation achieve its strategic goals and objectives.
Please ensure you begin your assignment by providing an introduction to the organisation.
Requirements
Note: Submit all written assessments as Word files (.docx) (Word is available from your AIB Office 365 account).
The required word length for the assignment is 3000 words (+ 10%)
You are required to follow AIB standard report format, in terms of structure, presentation and style. Please refer to the AIB Style Guide and AIB report template.
This assessment requires you to use a minimum of ten (10) credible academic sources in addition to your textbook. You may also use current company, industry, government and media sources to support your statements, but these will NOT count toward the minimum required credible academic sources for your assessment. Most web-based sources are not sufficiently rigorous and credible for use in academic assessments and will NOT count toward the minimum required credible academic sources for your assessment. For further guidance, refer to Scholarly, academic & peer-reviewed journals.
You must appropriately acknowledge all sources of information in your assessment with the AIB Harvard author-date style of referencing – see the AIB Style Guide and Assessment Policy and Procedure.
The title page, table of contents, executive summary, reference list, and appendix are not included in the word count.
Grading criteria and feedback
Your assessment will be marked according to the following grading criteria:
Criterion 1: 10%
Description of the organisation – the student provides background information about the organisation.
Criterion 2: 30%
Understanding of the relevant HRM theories and concepts – the student demonstrates relevant understanding and knowledge of HRM theories and concepts.
Criterion 3: 35%
Analysis and evaluation – the student provides relevant examples. The student analyses and evaluates the HRM issue and provides a logical conclusion.
Criterion 4: 15%
Recommendations and justification – the student provides sound recommendations and justification.
Criterion 5: 5%
Citation and referencing – the student provides quality citations and references and adheres to the author-date referencing convention.
Criterion 6: 5%
Structure, presentation and communication – the student uses relevant structure, presents the content appropriately and writes academically. The writing is clear, free of grammatical or spelling mistakes and within the word count.