Assessment
Assessment scheme
The assessment for Strategic management of human resources and innovation has two case studies and an on-line test.
Description Marks out of Wtg(%) Due date
On-line test (see study desk) 100 20% Friday, 18 December 2015
Case study 1 (2000 words) 100 40% Friday, 15 January 2016
Case study 2 (2000 words) 100 40% Friday, 05 February 2016
On-line test (due to be completed by Friday 18 December, 2015)
Please note, the on-line test relates to 20 multiple choice questions prepared from the main text Millmore et al, 2007, Strategic human resource management: contemporary issues. Prentice Hall.
To pass this test, you must have acquired a copy of this textbook. You can acquire a copy of the text by contacting the USQ cooperative bookshop where both your texts (i.e. Milmore and Davilla et al) have been packaged together to reduce the cost.
Please see the study desk in week 1 under the heading ‘ON-LINE TEST’. A ‘Guidelines for the On-line Test’ will also be posted in this section. These guidelines will set out which chapters you should study to be able to answer the multiple choice questions. Further details will be posted for completing this test.
Case study 1
Description Marks out of Wtg(%) Due date
Case study 1 (2000 words) 100 40% Friday, 15 January 2016
(approximately 5 typed pages single spaced)
You should write the case study in such a way that you start your answers from line 1. That is, there is no need for large introductions that we see in essays. You should apply the principles you have learned from lecture material/tutorials/readings that are specific to the case study. Case study 1 answers should be written in narrative form (i.e. sentences not bullet points), and should be 2000 words long, single spaced. Each case study should be referenced and show evidence of recommended readings as set out in the Guidelines to Case Study 1. You should use a minimum of 10 references for your case study.
Questions for the case can be found at the conclusion of the case.
Individual case study 1
You need to clearly demonstrate how you will solve the following problem.
Problem statement:
John Tomey (fictional name) is a business manager that is responsible for several divisions of Wesfarmers, a large Australian conglomerate of mixed businesses. Some facts include over 30 managers and 500 factory and distribution staff. Approximately half the managers work in Head Office on normal functions such as marketing, accounting, technical, and HRM functions. The other half of managers work in the factories. In a new restructure, John will lead up Wesfarmers Chemicals, Energy and Fertilisers. John’s CEO has asked him to grow the business by more than 20 per cent over the next three years. His other tasks include taking the existing business which just ‘plodded along’ to new heights by increasing skills and capabilities across both managers and other staff. John is acutely aware that approximately half the staff he has inherited do not ‘make the numbers’ in performance and some don’t ‘live the values’. John has had little experience in building people skills in such a way that divisional performance will increase as much of his past experience has been in accounting.
Furthermore, he has heard about ‘the balanced scorecard’ approach but he is not sure how it works, and that innovation and learning is important in this approach which he would like to explore. More recently, he listened intently to other managers who told him how they were building a strategic HRM approach to reach the level of capabilities required to grow the business. John knows that 3 years is not a long time so he has much work to do. He considers his first group of tasks. He realises that he does not have all the skill-set required to build and grow people as well as the business so he decides to consult you as the HR Director for advice about his next steps.
Required: Assuming less than perfect information where you may need to fill in the ‘facts’ by adding more assumptions that you think may assist you in solving case facts, you are required to:
1. Advise John about the practical aspects of theories that you think are relevant (e.g. best practice, best fit, RBV) in relation to building and growing people and improving business performance;
2. Explain how John could use the Balanced Scorecard Approach to assess his business and how he could practically implement the ideas;
3. Include in your answer to John a one page summary of the facts in relation to ideas about how he can move forward, what strategies will be important, and how he can get people to ‘live the values’ in such a way that business performance will improve.
Note: Please use all theory based on the readings in Module 1 and 2. Please use both the set text and the readings. More marks will be gained by students showing adequate evidence of readings in their case answer.
Marking guidelines and criteria
The general marking criteria we will be using for the assignment is as follows:
Case study 1 assessment criteria
Extensive Minor
Evidence Evidence
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
1 Overall quality of analysis addressing the major themes and issues
2 Quality of assumptions and facts proposed in addition to case facts
3 Critical analysis of the literature relevant to solving case problems
4 Quality of one page advice summary
5 Quantity of your research – did you collect enough information and write enough to explain the problem and its solutions
6 The overall structure and logical development of your case report
Communication as pects of your prese ntation
7 Referencing
8 Writing clarity
9 Tertiary standard: does your case study reach a high standard of research, analysis and writing?
10 Overall, your report is worth
Case study 2
Description Marks out of Wtg(%) Due date
Case study 2 (2000) words) 100 40% Friday, 05 February 2016
(approximately 5 typed pages single spaced)
You should write the case study in such a way that you start your answers from line 1. That is, there is no need for large introductions that we see in essays. You should apply the principles you have learned from lecture material/tutorials/readings that are specific to the case study. Case study 2 answers should be written in narrative form (i.e. sentences not bullet points), and should be 2000 words long, single spaced. Each case study should be referenced and show evidence of recommended readings as set out in the Guidelines to Case Study 2. You should use a minimum of 10 references for your case study.
Questions for the case can be found at the conclusion of the case.
Individual case study 2
You need to clearly demonstrate how you will solve the following problem.
Problem statement:
Vesna Bladzik is a highly intelligent person with an undergraduate degree in business from Boston and a Masters degree in Communication from USQ Australia. At a recent interview for a position in one of Google’s worldwide locations (Atlanta, USA), she uses her superior communication skills to convince the selection panel of her ability in applying for a Communications Managerial role. Approximately 2 weeks later, Vesna started work and spent the first 2–3 months analysing and assessing how to do her role. After 6 months, her managers started to worry somewhat when she showed a real ‘lack of experience’ in assessing employee skills from performance reviews. This followed other concerns that she was ‘slow’ in applying much needed training functions to staff that showed gaps in their skill base; also, she had recommended 10–15 redundancies from her total staff of 50. This was based on the assumption that staff was not performing to previous performance standards as set out in annual performance reviews.
After some time, her manager, Nick Price, realised that despite her communication ability, there was a large disconnect between this and her overall management experience. However, he felt that Vesna should have more guidance on certain aspects on HR. In particular, he decided that he would ask you as a Google HR Director (High
Performance) to assist Vesna in ‘bringing her up to speed’ on strategic HRM. After you complete some brief reviews of her role, you discover that she is doing too much evaluation on her own with little or no advice from HR. Therefore, you decide that she requires practical advice and some practical skills related to implementing 360 degree feedback assessments. She also requires skills related to understanding the strategic aspect of Redundancy as distinct from Downsizing. Rather just ‘talk about theory’ to her, you decide to do some basic designs/charts for her illustrating 360 degree feedback and redundancy. You realise that despite her qualifications, she needs to understanding the difference between old fashioned functional HR and strategic HR. While redundancy is often the first lever managers reach for in restructuring their departments/divisions/businesses, you realise that she needs to know how staff are ‘really’ assessed and that in the assessment process a strategy will be worked out to clearly improve employee skills as valuable resources.
Required: Assuming less than perfect information where you may need to fill in the ‘facts’ by adding more assumptions that will help in solving case facts, you are required to:
1. Advise Vesna about the practical aspects of theories in relation to 360 degree feedback and strategic redundancy versus downsizing;
2. Explain how Vesna can implement these ideas given the facts in the case with a design or a chart that illustrates the concepts and how to apply them. What else should Vesna consider before embarking on redundancies?
3. Include in your answer to Vesna a one page summary of the facts in relation to ideas about how she can move forward, what strategies will be important, and how she can address key skill problems and use performance management strategies in ways that will advantage her workers.
Note: Please use all theory based on the readings in Module 3 and 4. Please use both the set text and the readings. More marks will be gained by students showing adequate evidence of readings in their case answer. Please use the Style Guide Referencing advice below for quoting and listing references.
Marking guidelines and criteria
The general marking criteria we will be using for the assignment is as follows:
Case study 2 assessment criteria
Extensive Minor
Evidence Evidence
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
1 Overall quality of analysis addressing the major themes and issues
2 Quality of assumptions and facts proposed in addition to case facts
3 Critical analysis of the literature relevant to solving case problems
4 Quality of one page advice summary
5 Quantity of your research – did you collect enough information and write enough to explain the problem and its solutions
6 The overall structure and logical development of your case report
Communication as pects of your prese ntation
7 Referencing
8 Writing clarity
9 Tertiary standard: does your case study reach a high standard of research, analysis and writing?
10 Overall, your report is worth
Guidelines for late assignments
Please note that unless prior arrangements are made with your lecturer/tutor, all assignments are due to be uploaded via Moodle on the study desk by the due date. Late assignments will be penalised with a deduction of 5% per cent for every day the assignment is late. This is due to fairness and equity for all other students who submit their assignments on time.
If you require an extension for a legitimate reason (e.g. ill health, personal circumstances or for some other critical reason), please seek an extension on or before the due date by writing to the course leader Bruce McKenzie – bruce.mckenzie@usq.edu.au
Style guide references
References References to other publications must be in Harvard style and carefully checked for completeness, accuracy and consistency. This is very important in an electronic environment because it enables your readers to exploit the Reference Linking facility on the database and link back to the works you have cited through CrossRef.
You should cite publications in the text: (Adams, 2006) using the first named author’s name or (Adams and Brown, 2006) citing both names of two, or (Adams et al., 2006), when there are three or more authors. At the end of the paper a reference list in alphabetical order should be supplied.
For books Surname, Initials (year), Title of Book, Publisher, Place of publication.
e.g. Harrow, R. (2005), No Place to Hide, Simon & Schuster, New York, NY.
For book chapters Surname, Initials (year), “Chapter title”, Editor’s Surname, Initials, Title of Book, Publisher, Place of publication, pages.
e.g. Calabrese, F.A. (2005), “The early pathways: theory to practice – a
continuum”, in Stankosky, M. (Ed.), Creating the Discipline of
Knowledge Management, Elsevier, New York, NY, pp. 15–20.
For journals Surname, Initials (year), “Title of article”, Journal Name, volume, number, pages.
e.g. Capizzi, M.T. and Ferguson, R. (2005), “Loyalty trends for the twenty-first century”, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 22, No. 2, pp. 72–80.
For published conference proceedings Surname, Initials (year of publication), “Title of paper”, in Surname, Initials (Ed.), Title of published proceeding which may include place and date(s) held, Publisher, Place of publication, Page numbers.
e.g. Jakkilinki, R., Georgievski, M. and Sharda, N. (2007), “Connecting destinations with an ontology-based e-tourism planner”, in Information and communication technologies in tourism 2007 proceedings of the
international conference in Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2007, Springer-Verlag, Vienna, pp. 12–32.
For unpublished conference proceedings Surname, Initials (year), “Title of paper”, paper presented at Name of Conference, date of conference, place of conference, available at: URL if freely available on the internet (accessed date).
e.g. Aumueller, D. (2005), “Semantic authoring and retrieval within a wiki”, paper presented at the European Semantic Web Conference (ESWC), 29 May–1 June, Heraklion, Crete, available at: http://dbs.unileipzig.de/file/aumueller05wiksar.pdf (accessed 20 February 2007).
For working papers Surname, Initials (year), “Title of article”, working paper [number if available], Institution or organization, Place of organization, date.
e.g. Moizer, P. (2003), “How published academic research can inform policy decisions: the case of mandatory rotation of audit appointments”, working paper, Leeds University Business School, University of Leeds, Leeds, 28 March.
For encyclopedia entries (with no author or editor) Title of Encyclopedia (year) “Title of entry”, volume, edition, Title of Encyclopedia, Publisher, Place of publication, pages.
e.g. Encyclopaedia Britannica (1926) “Psychology of culture contact”, Vol. 1, 13th ed., Encyclopaedia Britannica, London and New York, NY, pp. 765–71.
(For authored entries please refer to book chapter guidelines above)
For newspaper
articles
(authored) Surname, Initials (year), “Article title”, Newspaper, date, pages.
e.g. Smith, A. (2008), “Money for old rope”, Daily News, 21 January, pp. 1, 3–4.
For newspaper articles (nonauthored) Newspaper (year), “Article title”, date, pages.
e.g. Daily News (2008), “Small change”, 2 February, p. 7.
For electronic sources If available online, the full URL should be supplied at the end of the reference, as well as a date that the resource was accessed.
e.g. Castle, B. (2005), “Introduction to web services for remote portlets”, available at: http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/library/ws-wsrp/ (accessed 12 November 2007).
Standalone URLs, i.e. without an author or date, should be included either within parentheses within the main text, or preferably set as a note (roman numeral within square brackets within text followed by the full URL address at the end of the paper).