Your Individual Task Brief
The current performance, pay and benefits offering is reasonably competitive but due to rapid recent expansion, plans for growth in the UK and globally and the current economic downturn, it is in need of revision. This led the Board to ask their Head of People to task their team members to review all performance and reward policies and practices and to develop a Performance and Rewards Strategy. You are a new member of the team and will be working on this brief to support the Head of People …..
At a high level the new strategy should aim to:
• Provide a fair and transparent total rewards offering, balancing equality of opportunity and fair rewards for contribution.
• Encourage and compensate employees for their contribution to the business and core values.
• Ensure cost effectiveness – contain costs where possible (e.g. benefits) and ensure that all new pay initiatives are self-funding from additional profits generated.
• Makes GourmetBaby an employer of choice for key talent areas and thus ensure that reward management helps deliver the key people objectives and aims. This is particularly important for the attraction and retention of top graduate talent in what is a still a tight labour sector (for top key talent).
• At a global level, it will allow for the a global offering that maintains the company ethos and values but also for local adaptations in line with the need to be competitive, respect cultural values and legal obligations. Plus, removes barriers or disincentives for global movement of key talent.
Brief: In your role as a new HRM specialist within the organisation, with specific duties toward developing and running the Performance and Reward (PRM) Strategy, prepare answers to the questions below. Your review and recommendations will go to the Head of People to review before they get put to the Board.
You can choose to focus solely on the UK or widen the scope of the work to cover a region/country of your choice.
QUESTIONS (in italics and bold)
Part 1: Review of current practice (30%)
• Provide a critical review of current Performance and Reward practice at GourmetBaby.
Ensure you use theories, concepts and models and literature as an evidence base and to assist you in your analysis. Take the range of information the case provides you with as the basis of your review, e.g. how does the current PRM package help the company in what they are trying to achieve (business plans, vision, values, etc)
Part 2: Analysis of potential challenges and issues (20%)
• Discuss the cultural and PEST (political, economic, social and technological) challenges and factors that need to be considered when developing the new PRM Strategy and its implementation.
You may want to use a PEST analysis tool to help you with this section and this can go into the appendix but must be also discussed in the main body of the text. Make sure your PEST is related the PRM issues affecting GourmetBaby and not just a general business related PEST with no PRM implications
Your critical analysis in part 1 and your cultural and PEST analysis in part 2 should provide you with some key PRM related issues that will then feed into part 3…
Part 3: Development of a Total Rewards Strategy and Performance and Reward Policies, Tools & Procedures (50%)
• Create a new Performance and Total Rewards Strategy that suits GourmetBaby’s expansion plans, organisational culture and values. Ensure you discuss the rationale for your strategy in addition to providing the wording for the actual strategy.
• Provide justified and well argued recommendations and solutions for the suggested PRM approach. These should include:
o A suitable reward package i.e. tangible and intangible; pay, benefits and intangible rewards; what rewards are suitable given the current climate?
o An appropriate performance management system and associated practices, procedures and tools i.e. how will performance be measured, managed, evaluated and rewarded? Think of organisational and individual performance levels.
Provide rationale for your choices and justification for them via a mixture of theory, models, literature and comparisons with other organisations.
Plus a relevant conclusion of course!
The above weightings (30% etc.) are there as a guide to how much effort / word count you should devote to each part/question. You will also need an introduction and conclusion. The final overall mark will also be moderated (up or down) based on the other aspects of the marking matrix (see Appendix 1 below) e.g. use of theory/models/concepts, use of evidence and general and presentational aspects of your work.
Style: Full third person academic style but some parts may be put in a table or appendix and some elements may involve bullet point lists (more like a report). You still need to write most of it in prose style though and provide discussion and critical analysis. Some questions are more academic / theoretical in focus and others are expecting you to produce policies and plans.
Guidance & Tips
Ensure your work addresses the following general academic points:
Answer is focused on the questions set, is sufficiently analytical and employs the use of concepts as diagnostic and explanatory tools.
Theory is used in the analysis of PRM issues.
Uses extensive literature and research to inform the work.
Produces an answer that has depth, is contextually realistic / relevant and demonstrates an awareness and application of good practice.
A critical / evaluative stance is taken.
Evidence is provided of understanding of alternative approaches to PRM.
There is recognition of the debates that underpin the topic area.
Arguments are supported by evidence.
Suitable and innovative solutions are proposed which fit the organization and country/region in question.
Also:
Use an appropriate referencing methodology (the university standard is the Harvard method) and produce a well-presented piece of work.
You are strongly advised to do some research and add to the depth and breadth of your work. Try Library Gateway, Google Scholar or other sources via the LRC website or the www. Remember to fully reference all sources you use.
Remember to hand in a paper copy at the SHIP and submit via Turnitin.
Appendix 1- ASSESSMENT MARKING MATRIX
Criteria < 40% 40 – 49% 50 – 59% 60 – 69% > 70%
Evaluation of the current PRM offering of the organisation Fails to adequately evaluate offering. Limited evaluation of offering. Good evaluation of offering. Very good evaluation of offering. Excellent evaluation of offering.
Use of relevant underpinning theory Fails to adequately explain concepts.
No or minimal relevant concepts, theory or models (where appropriate). Limited explanation of concepts.
Limited use of relevant theory or models (where appropriate). Good explanation of concepts.
Good use of relevant and contrasting theory or models (where appropriate). Very good explanation of concepts.
Use of relevant and contrasting theory or models (where appropriate) throughout the work. Excellent explanation of concepts.
Extensive use of relevant and contrasting theory or models (where appropriate).
Diagnosis and exploration of challenges and issues facing the organisation Little/no evidence of understanding of issue(s). Some limited understanding and insights into nature of issues. Understanding and insights becoming more analytical, relevant and realistic. + Insights linked to deeper and more integrated understanding of situation + Deep understanding demonstrated and insights linked to effective use of theories / models.
Proposal and justification of recommendations that show awareness of organisational issues and concerns (e.g. strategic & implementation considerations, cost effectiveness). Shows little/no understanding of the context of the proposed solutions.
Justification absent or poor. A degree of realism and relevance in the solutions proposed.
Some limited justification. Solutions and supporting discussion that are clearly linked to the nature of the problem(s).
Reasonable justification provided. Discussion and solutions that have few weaknesses and are sensitive to implementation issues.
Relevant justification provided. Strong discussion and proposed solutions that reflect the range of organisational requirements.
Contextually sensitive justification provided.
Use of evidence and examples to support arguments No / very limited relevant examples / illustrations used.
Little supporting evidence. Few examples/ illustrations used.
Limited supporting evidence. Good use of examples / illustrations.
Some supporting evidence. Good use of relevant examples / illustrations.
Wide ranging supporting evidence. Excellent use of examples/ illustrations.
Containing extensive and relevant supporting evidence.
General & Presentation
Criteria < 40% 40 – 49% 50 – 59% 60 – 69% 70% – 100%
Structure No logical structure. Structure present but with weaknesses. Clear appropriate structure. Clear and effective structure. Excellent structure that aids the flow of the work.
Writing Style Poorly written, hard to follow. Weaknesses in writing style, does not flow. Satisfactory academic writing style. Overall reader friendly, themes are developed logically, arguments followed through. Reader friendly. Logical and coherent structure, good development of arguments.
Grammar Full of grammatical errors & spelling mistakes. Some errors of grammar & spelling. Grammar and spelling of a reasonable standard. Very few grammatical and spelling errors. Sound grammar and spelling.
Referencing of sources, style and accuracy No referencing of work. Some referencing of work. Reasonable referencing of work. Effective and full referencing. Excellent referencing with full details provided.
Addresses the assessment brief Not directly addressed, contains extraneous information. Partially addressed but has weaknesses. Addressed but with some extraneous information or lack of focus. Well addressed and shows focus, with little extraneous information. Fully addresses the brief in a focussed manner.
