Risk Management at Taylors of Harrogate Assessment Summary | Leeds Beckett University

Module Aim

The module aims to develop skills in independent thinking and collaborative working as students analyse and apply both the classic concepts and contemporary approaches to how strategy pertaining to risk is carried out in today’s organisations.

Module Learning Outcomes

1. Understand how to advise the board on the use of risk frameworks as a basis for appraising, evaluating, and supporting risk management
2. Be able to critically evaluate approaches to risk management
3. Be able to critically evaluate the management of risk and provide professionally appropriate advice to those responsible for governance
4. Understand how to critically examine the impact of the business environment on risk with regard to legislation, policy and industry changes
5. Be able to critically evaluate the impact of organisational conduct, behaviours and culture on risk management practices.

Module Learning Activities 

The module strongly emphasises peer to peer learning. We therefore expect you to be an active participant in this module, contributing to a positive atmosphere by questioning, sharing and helping out others, engaging in meaningful discussions where we learn together.  You will need to read each and every week up on the topic for the next week.  Resources will be placed online to assist you, while each week you should review the text book.  You will be expected to apply knowledge and come up with options for Board consideration.

Regarding attendance, we expect you to keep on track by regular attending class in order to benefit from learning within a community. This module is meant to be a place where you learn with, and from, others. In this sense, we would like you to experience collaboration and peer-feedback, so please make sure you follow with your peers to enrich the overall learning experience.

Follow ‘MyBeckett’ and respect the module and course policies and general moral code of academia. Any attempt to engage in plagiarism, or academic misconduct will be viewed dimly, and dealt with in accordance with the University’s regulations.

Assessment Details

Coursework

The coursework for this module is an analysis of a real company. The company’s information will be provided for you to analyse and the material in this case study must be used in your work.

The company we will be analysing this semester will be: Taylors of Harrogate You must analyse the case study company. Do not write your assignment on any other company.

Students on the ‘MSC Corporate Governance’ programme ONLY may choose to analyse the risk profile of their employer. This is subject to approval by your seminar tutor.

Case Study Company

The case study materials will be available on the Module page w/c 4 November 2024 (Week 7).

The case study company is a business that has agreed to be interviewed for the purpose. The materials in the case study are bespoke for this exercise and based on their current and emerging risk profile. 

The case study will include:

• An interview with the company’s representative

• Publicly available financial and trading information

• Contemporary current affairs materials relating to the company and the emerging areas of uncertainty they are concerned with.

While I encourage you to read around the topic, the industry, and to do background research, please DO NOT contact the Case Study company directly. They have NOT agreed to have students contact them for this exercise and doing so will be viewed as academic misconduct.

Course Work Assessment: Written Risk Report (100% of module grade)

You have been asked by the board of the company to analyse their main risks and prepare a risk report. This will entail four major elements, and offer a strategy for the company to respond to their risk profile: 

For this assignment, you will need to:

1. Use a risk identification tool from the module to develop a structured approach to identifying risks to the company. You must use (at least) the case study information for the identification process, and ensure that the risks are SPECIFIC in nature. (around 1000 words)

2. You will use a risk register to record, assess, and prioritise the risks. The risk register should contain between 20 to 30 risks, categorisation, assessment of both inherent and residual risks, and any other elements you deem appropriate. This full risk register should be included in an appendix to the report. (1000 words equivalent)

3. You will identify which of the top 5 or 6 risks are most important for the board of the company to be aware of, and you will then write an in depth analysis about these risks. This should include what they are, and why they are particularly important, the exposure levels, justification for both the choice and the level of the risk. Use Harvard referencing for any sources. (around 1000 words)

4. You should then develop a clear set of mitigation actions which the board can act upon. You should include either SMART objectives or KPIs for these actions. Each mitigation action should be clearly tied to the risks you have identified, and there should be an overall strategy to your approach. (around 1000 words)

In the seminars, we will be working on examples and practice exercises that follow the same processes that are used in the assignment. 

Reference MUST be made to the academic content of the module and include the use of concepts detailed in the reading list for the module. In particular, this should include the module textbook Ashby (2022) Risk Management and Hopkin & Thompson (2022) Fundamentals of Risk Management. 

The report should be written as if you were to send it to the Board of Directors. It should adhere to professional standards of presentation and grammar. All tables and spreadsheets should be embedded / cut & pasted into a single document that you are to submit through Turnitin.

The word count for this component is 4,000 words in total; 3,000 of which are the written report. 1,000 equivalent for the Risk Register.