Part A: Learning and Development Report $(45\%)$

You have just been appointed as a Human Resources $($HR$)$ consultant, working with the client$$s HR team. You have been given the following projects to complete in the next year. Your role is to review and critique current organisational practice in respect of learning and development, suggest new approaches with full justification of such $($drawing on appropriate theory, research and organisational examples$),$ and present detailed recommendations for implementation.

Choice of organisation: You may decide to use your own organisation for this coursework. However, if this is not appropriate you have three alternatives: a small, private sector organisation or charity; a large, public sector organisation; or a case study of an organisation with which you are very familiar. $($Note: As we refer in the separate questions to changes and implications for the organisation$$s current policies, you may make assumptions about the organisation$$s current policies so long as you state your assumptions clearly, in an appendix for example$).$

Guidelines for Part A

The following provides you with more explicit guidelines on how to structure your report and draw on the course materials to effectively address the report requirements.

$1$ Introduction

Your introduction should begin with a clear statement of purpose. You also need to provide a theoretical context for your report, stressing in the process the importance of the area you have chosen to examine as a core competence and a necessary precondition for long$-$term organisational effectiveness and success.

$2$ A Critical Overview of the Area $$

academic and practice$-$based You will begin with a critical overview of the subject area drawing on relevant literature and examples and case studies to illustrate the trends and issues facing HR practitioners and managers and the most common academic and professional approaches to this area of HR practice. Then you will provide a critical overview of the organisations current practice to include the organisation$$s current internal and external context, any changes or challenges they are dealing with $($internally or externally$)$ and the key strategy and policy approach and any other issues that are pertinent to the subject area. Your overview should be written with reference to appropriate academic sources.

$3$ Diagnosing the Issues

What are the issues that your organisation is facing. You may wish to conduct some key expert interviews in the organisation in order to uncover the detail around the practice$-$based issue you have chosen. You may want to use an academic model or framework or a piece of academic research or commentary to compare$/$contrast or structure your discussion of the issues facing the organisation. You need to identify your organisations current practice and compare it to academic$/$professional knowledge in the area and draw out any strengths or weaknesses or gaps. Once you have identified and justified a range of relevant theory and research that will help you understand the issue, explain what the main practice$-$based issues are and why these need to be resolved.

$4$ Conclusions

In this section, you should distil the key issues arising from the body of your report. You need to make sure that your conclusions are consistent with the arguments you will have put forward in the preceding discussion. Justify and explain the key findings that you need to take forward and act upon. Conclude as to how this might inform your future practice and lead to new understanding about practice.

$5$ Recommendations for Planning and Implementing any Change

Drawing on the above analysis you will frame your recommendations as to how management should plan and implement the proposed changes. You need to ensure that these have operational significance and result in changes to practice. You can also critically reflect on the significance of your recommendations, underlining why they are worthy of management$$s attention. This section should flow smoothly from the conclusions.