BMO0264 Leading Managing and Developing People Individual Coursework Brief

Assessment Task

If you were in John Holmes Place,what would you do?

In a 2500-word essay, critically evaluate your solution. Your essay should demonstrate critical thinking and problem-solving skills and use evidence-based arguments to support our conclusions.

Elizabeth Sculley is the managing director at iThera. She just returned from a site visit to iThera(Huddersfield).The primary function sofi Thera(Huddersfield) areen suring that the iThera network of computers operates smoothly, installing and running an up-to-date software portfolio and providing trouble-shooting services for its network users. These functions involve helping university students in the online drop-in sessions, maintaining computer labs and public libraries IT systems, and supporting teaching, research and administrative staff using the network from PCs in their offices and personal laptops in Yorkshire in the United Kingdom.

Elizabeth is frustrated that iThera (Huddersfield) lags in productivity. There is no sign of things getting better. When John Holmes was appointed site manager, he said he would studythesituationanddeviseaplantoimprovethesituation.Ithasbeenfivemonths,and this plan has not mate rialised yet. She wanted to find out the issue(s) and if the site manager has a practical and financially feasible plan to improve the lag in productivity.

During her visit, Elizabeth met with John. When she asked him how things sare,John replied: We've got a tricky problem here; it seems like we have to turnu pat the' leaving do' of one of the information systems staff every week. It's all very pleasant, the usual speech and have a drink, but with all these people leaving we are having real difficulty running a service. We always seem to be a couple of people short at the Huddersfield site.It Sometimes Feels Like we're welcoming someone to the site one week and handing over their leaving present the next! We also lose people with a bit more experience than that. Of course, it's all down to money, and who can blame them? We can't pay competitive rates in this sector, and people are bound to go to where they can earn more.It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't the best ones who always leave. 

They come to us after their degree with a couple of years' information systems work behind them, we give them some valuable experience, and then they go off somewhere else. You've got to keep at the cutting edge of knowledge; otherwise, your skills are not marketable. These people probably want a new challenge after a couple of years; I suppose the work must seem pretty routine once you've mastered it,but as we have only five team leaders,there is no prospect of promotion. The officers who have been here long tend very rarely to leave.In fact,as they have reached the top of the payscale, they are actually paid quite well, and, given their skills, it would be hard for them to earn as much elsewhere.

The trouble is that they are not our best people, are no longer motivated, and to be honest, drag everyone else down. The other thing is, it is really difficult to find good new recruits,only last week Interviewed 12 people,and none of them were any good, but we are so thin on the ground that we had taken on someone who hasn't really got the skills and experience that we need. I'm at a loss to know what to do, particularly as we can't change the pay rates because they are agreed at a national level.

During the meeting, several pieces of information were shared and discussed. The first piece was the previous site manager, Ginni Salz berg,statement from his extinct view. He said he had several sleepless nights about the productivity issue and thought it was due to the employee turnover issue at the site. He was unsure if the following would have led to meaningful improvements:

• To conduct exit views and her feedback from departing employees,as they are unlikely to comment on push factors.
• To implement as stem knowledge the work of team members,as there is already a performance management system in place.
• To offer learning and development programs,such as workshops, seminars, online courses, and certifications, as there is no guarantee of a return on investment
• To explore non-financial benefits, such as offering flexible working hours, work- from-home options,health and wellness programs,and additional vacation days, as there is no point in a system without meaningful pay increases.
• To consider utilising online job portals, professional networking platforms, and partnering with educational institutions to attract a wider pool of  and dates as they are not in a position to sponsor visas.
• To develop partnerships with universities and colleges to establish internship programs that provide hands-on experience and a pipeline for potential hires and connect with talented graduates seeking employment opportunities as talented graduates will find jobs from other sectors.

He seemed to have had his ideas about the nature,extent and causes of the employee turnover problem.He thought these suggestions would not improve the situation without a substantial pay increase. Ginni had multiple discussions with the team leaders about pay increases. Jack, one of the team leaders, proposed a raise that aligns with inflation rates, applicable uniformly to everyone from Grade 1 to 10 (refer to the table below).

Contrarily,Ginni proposed that the raise should only apply to employees from Grade 1 to 6, arguing that the pay for the remaining grades is already high. Most of the team leaders agreed with Ginni’s perspective.

General Study Guidance:

• Cite all formation used in your work which is clearly from a source. Try to ensure that all sources in your reference list are seen as citations in your work, and all names cited in the work appear in your reference list.

• Reference and cite your work in accordance with the APA 7th system – the University's Chosen Referencing Style.Forspecificadvice,youcantalkto your Business librarians or go to the library help desk, or you can access library guidance via the following link:
o APA7threferencing:https://library.hud.ac.uk/pages/apareferencing/
• The University has regulations relating to academic misconduct, including plagiarism.The Academic Skills Team can advise and help you with how to avoid ‘poor scholarship’ and potential academic misconduct.
• If you have any concerns about your writing,referencing,research or presentation skills,you are welcome to consult the Academic Skills Team,you can book tutorial appointments with them via the website How to book a tutorial appointment

• Further study resources including the Academic Skills Team overview can be found here:Study resources
• Do not exceed the word limit. 

Assessment Criteria

• The Assessment Criteria are shown the end of this document.Your tutor will discuss how your work will be assessed/marked and will explain how the assessment criteria apply to this piece of work.These criteria have been designed for your level of study.

• These criteria will be used to mark your work and will be used to support the electronic feedback you receive your marked assignment.Before Submission, check that you have tried to meet the requirements of the higher-grade bands to the best of your ability. Please note that the marking process involves academic judgement and interpretation within the marking criteria.

Learning Outcomes

This section is for information only.

• The assessment task outlined above has been designed to address specific validated

• learningoutcomesforthismodule.Itisusefultokeepinmindthatthesearethe things you need to show in this piece of work.
  On completion of this module,students will need to demonstrate:

Knowledge and Understanding

• MLO1 Demonstrate a conceptual and critical understanding of theories, principles and practices in Human Resource Management (HRM) and Human Resource Development (HRD)
• MLO2 Evaluate major theories relating to motivation, commitment and engagement at work and how strategically these are putin to practice by organisations
• MLO3 Debate and critically evaluate the characteristics of effective leadership and the methods used to develop leader sin organisations
• MLO4 Critically discuss the aims and objectives of the HRM and HRD functions in organisations and how these are met in practice
• MLO5 Assess the contribution made by HRM and HRD special is different types of organisations

• MLO6 Be able to contribute to the promotion of flexible working and effective change management in organisations
• MLO7 Be able to promote professional is and ethical approach to HRM and HRD practice in organisations