7CO01 Work and working lives in a changing business environment

7CO01

Work and working lives in a changing business environment

Student Assessment Brief

Assessment ID / CIPD_7CO01_25_01

 

Level 7 Advanced Diploma in

• Strategic People Management
• Strategic Learning and Development

 

Introduction

Your knowledge and understanding of the material covered in this core unit will be assessed through your answers to four of the questions listed below. Your assessor will let you know which questions you are to answer. You are expected to complete all the learning for the unit, irrespective of which questions you are asked to answer.

 

The four questions will be drawn from different learning outcomes, featuring one assessment criterion in each learning outcome. These questions encompass a wide range of generalist HR, OD & L&D subject areas.

 

You will write four answers of approximately 1000 words to the questions posed and submit them together in a single document. This constitutes your assessment for this unit. The total word count for the assessment will therefore be 4000 words, plus or minus 10%. The bibliography or list of references is not included in the total word count.

 

You must demonstrate within the submitted evidence (through headings and sub-headings) which learning outcomes and assessment criteria you have addressed. We are unable to moderate your work if this is not included.

As this is an Advanced Level Diploma, it is important that you are able to demonstrate not only good knowledge and understanding of the material associated with each learning outcome, but also the ability to develop an original argument and justify it persuasively with reference to wider reading. Examples of approaches taken in a range of organisations are also an effective means by which to justify your arguments.

 

The six main criteria that CIPD requires centres to use when marking your assessment are outlined below, but it may be that not all these criteria are present in every question.

 

• focus
• depth and breadth of understanding
• strategic application and professional advice
• research and wider reading
• persuasiveness and originality
• presentation and language

 

The CIPD have provided a supporting video for this unit which can be found in Mystudyspace.

 

Case study

PrimeReach Care is a government funded, acute health care service to around 500,000 people in its local region. Located across multiple, geographically dispersed sites, it employs over 15,000 people in a wide variety of professional and ancillary roles and maintains a variety of important partnerships with dozens of other organisations.

 

PrimeReach Care has faced very substantial challenges in recent years. Some, like the covid pandemic were exceptional, but thankfully quite short-lived. Others, such as a fast-aging population and the emergence of some chronic skills shortages in key areas, are longer term in nature, but equally concerning in terms of their potential impact on PrimeReach Care’s capacity to provide the highest standards of healthcare. Skills shortages in some specialist areas are becoming increasingly severe. PrimeReach Care has plugged gaps by recruiting overseas but is finding it hard to retain these recruits for longer periods of time.

 

During 2024, employee voice activities highlighted that groups of staff were dissatisfied about pay and conditions within the organisation. This has now abated due to significant government-funded pay rises, but discontent among staff in respect of terms and conditions continues to simmer. Staff retention is a particular current challenge, as is absence. A higher percentage of PrimeReach Care’s employees are currently taking extended periods of sick leave than has ever been the case before, and in over 50% of these cases poor mental health comprises at least one of the causes.

 

Senior managers at PrimeReach Care have recently attended a briefing given by ministers and officials, at which some very clear messages were communicated regarding the next five years. The most important concerned funding. Put simply, health care services like PrimeReach Care should plan for very tight, ongoing financial settlements in the next five years. They should not expect above-inflation increases in their regular operating budgets, which include pay for staff. Any additional funds that become available will be focused specifically on priorities such as bringing waiting lists and waiting times down. Capital budgets will also be very constrained, reducing the availability of funds for new buildings and equipment. Repair bills will have to be met out of current expenditure.

Substantial efficiency improvements and increased productivity are both needed and expected.

 

Senior Managers have asked the People Department to provide recommendations about appropriate future actions at PrimeReach Care in some key areas. You work in a generalist, mid-level People management role on PrimeReach Care’s main site but are considered to be someone who is appropriate for promotion into a more senior role on completion of your studies. The People Director has asked you to provide answers to the following questions that will provide insight into some of the major challenges facing PrimeReach Care and help to inform the recommendations.

 

Questions

 

1. Assess the impact of globalisation at PrimeReach Care, linking this to the potential for it to enhance its processes for sourcing medical staff from overseas into hard-to-recruit (AC 1.1)

 

2. Critically evaluate how far and in what ways future technological developments will be able to reduce staff costs at PrimeReach Care over the next five years, whilst maintaining or improving service levels. (AC 1.2)

 

3. A particular challenge is the ageing workforce and subsequent effects of this including the degree of turnover and loss of intrinsic expertise. Evaluate the long-term impact of population ageing for PrimeReach Care. (AC 1.3)

 

4. Appraise the potential long-term consequences on work, employment and management practices at PrimeReach Care, arising from published forecasts about the economy over the coming three years. (AC 1.4)

 

5. Evaluate current developments in social media and the potential for PrimeReach Care to make more strategic use of social media to enhance its reputation as an employer and attract new members of staff. (AC 2.1)

 

6. Assess the likely impact of the government’s current economic policies, on the people practice agenda within the healthcare sector. (AC 2.2)

 

7. Analyse the potential consequences for PrimeReach Care of major legal and regulatory developments in employment and the labour market. (AC 2.3)

 

8. Critically discuss current labour trends and how skills shortages are most likely to have an adverse impact on recruitment and retention at PrimeReach Care over the next two to three years. (AC 2.4)

 

9. With reference to theories you have researched for a management training course at PrimeReach Care entitled ‘effectively managing the people aspects of change’, analyse the effective management and leadership of change in organisations. (AC 3.1)

 

10. Examine how best to tackle resistance to cultural change at PrimeReach Care, including making specific recommendations about this. The driver for this is the productivity improvement agenda that PrimeReach Care expects to become an increasingly prominent feature of its people management activity over the coming three years. (AC 3.2)

 

11. Evaluate the future advantages and disadvantages of home and hybrid working for PrimeReach Care to inform management decision-making in this area. (AC 3.3)

 

12. Assess the contribution of people management in improving organisational productivity across PrimeReach Care’s operations. (AC 3.4)

 

13. Examine the ethics of proposed initiatives for the use of HR surveillance technologies at PrimeReach Care, including those which keep a record of computer usage both on site and at home, and ‘wearables’ which track someone’s location during their working day. (AC 4.1)

 

14. Evaluate policy and practice aimed at improving employee wellbeing and making recommendations in respect of reducing the incidence of long-term ill health among staff at PrimeReach Care, particularly for reasons related to mental health. (AC 4.2)

 

15. Critically evaluate theories around sustainability and how people professionals at PrimeReach Care could apply these to introduce sustainable management practices.

(AC 4.3)

 

16. Critically discuss current thinking on ‘unconscious bias in respect of equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) with a view to making and justifying recommendations to PrimeReach Care leaders about appropriate management responses. (AC 4.4)

 

Marking Grid

Students will receive a Pass, Merit, Distinction or Refer/Fail result at unit level.

You should mark in line with the generic grade descriptors provided on the last page of this brief.

You must provide a mark from 1 to 4 for each Learning Outcome in the unit. You must provide constructive, developmental feedback for each Learning Outcome where you award a mark of one, so refer/fail. If it is your Study Centre’s policy, you can also provide constructive, developmental feedback for learning outcomes where you award a mark of two or above. In both cases, you must provide rich summary feedback at the end of the feedback form, following the instructions provided there.

To pass the unit assessment students must achieve a 2 (Pass) or above for each of the learning outcomes.

The overall mark achieved will dictate the grade the student receives for the Unit, provided NONE of the learning outcomes have been failed or referred.

 

 

Overall mark	Unit result
0 to 7	Refer / Fail
8 or 9	Pass
10 to 13	Merit
14 to 16	Distinction

 

Level 7 Advanced Diploma

 

 

Generic grade descriptors	REFER/FAIL / 1	PASS / 2	MERIT / 3	DISTINCTION / 4
Focus	Fails to address all the questions either sufficiently fully or directly.	An adequate attempt to address all the questions fully and directly.	A good attempt to address all the questions relatively well and directly.	An excellent attempt to address all the questions very well and directly.
Depth & breadth of understanding	Inadequate knowledge and understanding in respect of one or more of the questions. Limited depth and breadth of analysis.	Adequate knowledge and understanding across the questions. Satisfactory breadth and depth of analysis.	Full and solid knowledge and understanding across all the questions. Good breadth and depth of analysis.	Very full knowledge and understanding across all the questions. Excellent breadth and depth of analysis.
Strategic application & professional advice	Fails to provide appropriate or well-justified advice and/or recommendations. Lacks a strategic approach.	Provides adequately justified advice and informed recommendations Some strategic application.	Provides solid and thoughtful advice and well-informed recommendations. Clearly strategic in orientation.	Provides excellent advice and very well-informed recommendations. Strategically oriented in all respects.
Research & wider reading	Limited original research and/or appropriate wider reading for the assignment. Limited or no referencing.	Evidence of sufficient research and appropriate wider reading for the assignment. Satisfactory in-text referencing.	Evidence of significant research and thoughtful, appropriate wider reading for the assignment. A good standard of in-text referencing.	Evidence of considerable research and excellent, appropriate wider reading for the assignment. An excellent standard of in-text referencing
Persuasiveness & originality	Limited development of persuasive and original arguments. Inadequate use of examples.	An adequate attempt to develop original arguments and to justify these persuasively. Includes appropriate examples.	Some strong original arguments are presented which are mainly justified persuasively. Good use of examples.	Mostly strong original arguments are presented and justified very persuasively. Excellent use of examples.
Presentation & language	An inadequate standard of presentation or language. The assignment is poorly written and/or poorly structured. It is not at the level required for a management presentation.	A solid standard of presentation and use of language. The structure and ideas are satisfactory for a management presentation.	A strong and professional standard of presentation and use of language. The structure and ideas are well crafted for a management presentation.	An outstanding standard of presentation and use of language. The structure and ideas are very well crafted for a management presentation.