Network Rail invests in people and, in so doing, invests in its future. It is one of Britain’s biggest employers, with 35,000 employees

Unit Number and Title

Unit 3: Management of Human Resources

Academic Term

Jan 2025 – March 2025

Module Leader

Unit Tutor

Student Support Lecturers

Assignment Title

The Role of HRM and Organisational Development

Issue Date

WC:- 13/01/2025

Formative Feedback Dates

WC:-10/03/2025

Submission Date

26/03/2025

Submission Format

Written Report and Job Advertisement

The submission should be in the form of a Written Report. This should be written in a concise, formal business style using 1.5 line spacing and font size 12. You are required to make use of headings, paragraphs, and subsections as appropriate and all work must be supported with research, including examples, and referenced using the Harvard referencing system.

Please make sure the similarity does not exceed the threshold of 20% as assignments with higher similarity may get blocked. The recommended word limit is a minimum of 3000 to a maximum of 5000 words, although you will not be penalized for going under or exceeding the total word limit.

Unit Learning Outcomes

LO1 Explain the impact of the role of HRM in creating sustainable organizational performance and contributing to business success.

 Transferable skills and competencies developed

• Articulating and explaining information effectively.
• Communication and listening, including the ability to produce clear, structured business communications in a variety of media.
• Conceptual and critical thinking, analysis, synthesis and evaluation.
• Development and delivery of HR solutions to the business, appropriate to the

Organizational context.

• Research, analysis, and presentation of HR business data (both internal and external) to provide insight, support solutions to business issues, and track performance.
• Curiosity about HR business trends and developments, incorporating them into work

Vocational scenario

Network Rail invests in people and, in so doing, invests in its future. It is one of Britain’s biggest employers, with 35,000 employees. It offers a broad range of roles, from maintenance and signalling engineers to project managers. There are opportunities in all functional areas. These include specialists in human resources (HR), information technology (IT), finance and customer service. To achieve its work programme Network Rail needs to recruit and retain talented engineers. Its engineers are currently working on some of the most exciting projects in Europe. These include HS2, the new high-speed rail link between the north and south of Britain, and the London Crossrail project. There are also major upgrades to some of the country’s biggest and busiest stations, like London King’s Cross and Birmingham New Street

Network Rail’s vision is to improve the rail network by providing faster and more reliable journeys. Network Rail’s HR strategy focus is on recruiting a diverse workforce. This not only gives depth to the culture of the business but also ensures that it can access the widest pool of talent. To make sure it has a continuous stream of the right talent to keep its long-term projects on-track, it offers training to suit all applicants, whether school leavers or graduates, male or female. The company also offers a range of opportunities for employees to acquire recognised qualifications, including a unique postgraduate programme, sponsoring a Master’s degree in project management, and apprenticeships. In addition, it provides development opportunities for employees to make sure that their knowledge and skills meet its world-class standards. Many of Network Rail’s current senior engineers and managers started their careers through these programme

To maintain the quality of staff, Network Rail has put major investment into improving the knowledge and skills of its workforce. It operates a ‘learning for life’ policy and staff are expected to continue learning throughout their careers. Training is usually defined as being job-related. It provides staff with new or improved skills so that they can carry out a role or task better. Training staff brings a number of benefits to a business. It makes staff more efficient and therefore they produce more output. At the same time it improves safety and reduces the risk of accidents. Workers become more flexible, allowing the business to use them in whatever areas they are needed. This can also help to improve motivation. The provision of good training has led both to higher quality applicants and to better customer satisfaction.

Assignment activity and guidance

You have been working as a Assistant HR manager and you have just completed your probation period. Your HR manager at Network Rail has asked you to write a report to demonstrate your understanding and learning so far.

Your report will include the following:

• An explanation and comparison of how the functions and roles of the HRM department contribute to overall sustainable organizational performance. ⁽¹⁾
• Review how the changing nature (such as IT, globalization, flexible working, etc.)  of organizations effects skills and knowledge of the HR department. ⁽²⁾  Also, provide an examination of HRM about the changing nature of the contemporary business organization.

Vocational Scenario 

FusionTech, a mid-sized technology company specializing in software development for the healthcare sector, is facing a critical skills shortage. With rapid technological advancements and growing demand for their solutions, the company is struggling to recruit and retain skilled employees, especially in software engineering, project management, and leadership roles. Additionally, maintaining the company’s collaborative and innovative culture during this growth period is essential to sustain their competitive edge.

You are working as a HR manager in FusionTech, and the CEO at the company has tasked you with developing an action plan to ensure organisational sustainability.

Requirements

• Produce a workforce action plan that addresses the skills needs, skills gaps and hard-to-fill vacancies for recruiting and retaining talent in Fusion Tech or an organisation of your choice⁽³⁾
• Devise a strategic workforce action plan for recruitment and retention in relation to the importance of the labour market. In your report, critically evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of HRM in relation to creating a sustainable workforce action plan for recruiting and retaining talent. Also, use a variety of organizational examples to support valid recommendations and considerations.
• Critically evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of HRM in relation to creating a sustainable workforce action plan for recruiting and retaining talent.

Your action plan has been discussed in management meetings and management have asked you also explain various consideration that you took into account when preparing the plan. In support of your plan you have to write a report on the following areas.

• Carry out an investigation into the internal and external factors that influence HRM decisions in the workplace. ⁽⁴⁾
• Discuss and evaluate these factors and how they support organizational development.

The report will conclude with a visual roadmap that shows the steps that need to be taken to successfully strengthen the organization’s talent management strategy.

Assignment Title

HRM Practices

Submission Format

 Job Description and Written Report

Submission Guidelines - Part 2

This submission is in the form of a report. All work must be supported with research and referenced using the Harvard referencing system. You will need to provide a bibliography using the Harvard referencing system. Inaccurate use of referencing may lead to issues of plagiarism if not applied correctly.

All the students are required to include an assignment cover sheet which is available on VLE.

   Unit Learning Outcomes

LO4 Apply HRM practices in a work-related context for improving sustainable organizational performance.

Transferable skills and occupational competencies developed

• Communication and listening, including the ability to produce clear, structured business communications in a variety of media.
• Effective communication skills: verbal and non-verbal.
• The ability to generate, develop, and communicate ideas.
• Creative thinking.
• Development and delivery of HR solutions to the business, appropriate to the organizational context.
• Tailoring business-centered advice on the interpretation and application of HR policies and processes.

Vocational scenario

In your role as Human Resources Administrator in the Network Rail or any organization of choice, you have been tasked to review the role of a marketing manager that will soon be vacant as the current manager is retiring soon. This position is quite challenging to fill in as Network Rail is quite peculiar about the requirements as the candidate, alongwith other responsibilities will have create and communicate positive and elite image of the oranisations.  To plan, you are required to find talented individuals to fill out the position. The first step in this regard is to create an appropriate and attractive job advertisement.

Assignment activity and guidance

Requirements:

⁽⁵⁾ Develop a creative Job advertisement (including company details, job description, person specification, and salary and benefits) for any role in Network Rail or your chosen workplace as evidence of application of HRM practices that may result in quick filling of the vacancy.

Additionally, illustrates using a diagram how this job advertainment or any other HR practices you used in a work-related context can improve sustainable organizational performance.

Moreover, determine the strengths and weaknesses of HRM practices to make recommendations for improving sustainable organizational performance in Network Rail or your chosen organization.

Recommended Resources

Please note that the resources listed are examples for you to use as a starting point in your research – the list is not definitive.

Weblinks

Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD). Recruitment and Selection. Available at: https://www.cipd.co.uk/knowledge/fundamentals/people/recruitment/selection-factsheet#7261

Business Case Studies. Available at: https://businesscasestudies.co.uk/recruitment-selection-and-training/

HR Zone. What are Employee Relations? Available at: https://www.hrzone.com/hr-glossary/what-are-employee-relations

Tesco recruitment. Available at: https://www.tescounderwriting.com/join-us/our-recruitment-process/

Amazon. Interviewing at Amazon. Available at: https://www.amazon.jobs/en/landing_pages/interviewing-at-amazon

Recruitment in the Automotive Industry in Europe: Industry Report 2019 Available at: https://www.skeeled.com/blog/recruitment-in-the-automotive-industry-in-europe

HN Global

HN Global (2021) Reading Lists. Available at: https://hnglobal.highernationals.com/learning-zone/reading-lists

HN Global (2021) Student Resource Library. Available at: https://hnglobal.highernationals.com/subjects/resource-libraries

HN Global (2021) Textbooks. Available at:  https://hnglobal.highernationals.com/textbooks

Textbooks

Armstrong, M. and Taylor, S. (2020) Armstrong’s Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice. 15th Ed. London: Kogan Page.

Bratton, J. and Gold, J. (2017) Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice. 6th Ed. Basingstoke: Palgrave.

TORRINGTON, D. et al. (2018) Human Resource Management. 10th Ed. London: Pearson.

LEATHERBARROW, C. and FLETCHER, J. (2018) Introduction to Human Resource

Management. 4th Ed. Kogan Page