1 Assessment Task 3 (45%) Academic Essay on Retaining Talent Submission Guidelines Course: Human Resource Management Course Code: HRMT 20024, Term 3, 2016 Course Coordinator: Dr. Upamali Amarakoon ([email protected]) General Guidelines: • Assessment 3 for HRMT20024 must be submitted through Moodle site through the Student Portal available at http://my.cqu.edu.au. No email submissions will be accepted and or marked directly resulting in a score zero (0). • Failure to submit electronically will be taken as a failure to submit and therefore a zero (0) score will apply to the specific assignment. • Please submit your assignments early and DO NOT wait for the last minute. It is your responsibility to ensure that the assignment is submitted on time. • Please note that any assignment submitted as a draft will be automatically submitted for marking after the due date and time. Late Penalty: • Late submission without p r i o r approval will result in a penalty of five percent (5%) of the total marks allocated for the assessment (i.e. 45*5% = 2.25 marks) for each calendar day of delay. Assessment Extension: • Students must submit their requests for extension of assignment submission date through the CQU system ("Assessment Extension Request" under the "Support" block of the Moodle site). No email or telephone request will be accepted. • Requests for extension will NOT be approved without relevant supporting documents (e.g. a medical certificate showing the issue date, recommended number of days off work and the doctor's contact details etc.). • All requests MUST be applied at least 48 hours prior to the due time (only for Assessments 2 and 3). • Extension requests without supporting documents and those applied less than 48 hours before the due time will NOT be granted.2 Policies and Procedures for Assessment: • Students may familiarise themselves with the following policies and procedures at http://policy.cqu.edu.au: Assessment and examination policy and procedures, Assessment of Coursework Policy, Assessment of Coursework Principles and Assessment of Coursework Procedures • Assignment preparation and presentation guide for students available at http://www.cqu.edu.au/current-student/international-students/student-support/learning-skillsunit/resources • Guide for APA style of referencing is available at https://www.cqu.edu.au/?a=14033 • Information on assignment submission extensions, assessment grading and plagiarism is available at http://www.cqu.edu.au/current-student/domestic-students/first-yearstudents/getting-help NOTE: Copy detection software (TurnitIn) is used in this course and work found in contravention of the copying and plagiarism rules will be investigated. Penalties apply in the case of proven instances of copying, plagiarism and academic dishonesty. For more details about the penalty, refer to the marking criteria for each assessment task Please check the following links to know more about TurnitIn: http://turnitin.com/en_us/training/student-training/viewing-originalityreports http://turnitin.com/en_us/training/student-training/about-originalitycheck TurnitIn is only a tool and judgement needs to be used when you view your Originality Report. TurnitIn does not make a judgement as to what is referenced properly, it highlights the nonoriginal material in a piece of work. You should use the similarity score as a guide only and must then check the originality report to determine whether or not changes need to be made to the assignment. You may have unwillingly forgotten to reference a quote or you may need to consider paraphrasing if the amount of quoted material is too high.3 Assessment Task 3 – Academic Essay on Retaining Talent Due Date: Friday of Week 12 (10 February 2017) at 12:00 noon AEST ASSESSMENT Case Study: Retaining talent with salary packaging (Pg. 492-494, Chapter 14 of textbook) Length: 2500 words ± 10% (excluding title page and reference) Weighting: Reference Style: 4 APA Style 5 % https://www.cqu.edu.au/?a=14033 3 Document type: MS Word document only, do not submit in PDF format Objectives This assessment item relates to course learning outcomes numbers 1, 2, 3 and 4. Purpose The primary purpose of this assessment task is to assist students to develop skills in using HRM theories and models relating to employee attraction and retention, career progression, performance management, remuneration and reward, in the analysis of a typical business situation. The assessment task encourages exploration of the effectiveness of the HRM practices in a dynamic business environment. The secondary purpose of this assignment is to give students the opportunity to enhance their research, analysis, critical thinking, argument development, and written communication skills. Description Assessment task 3 requires the writing of an argumentative academic essay. The essay should therefore contain an argument that is used as the structuring element. Students are expected to engage in extensive research within the academic literature in Human Resource Management, particularly focusing on employee attraction and retention, career progression, performance management, remuneration and reward. Task The assessment item is based on the case study titled "Retaining talent with salary packaging (Pg. 492-494 of textbook): Human Resource Management in Australia (5th Ed.) by Kramar, Bartram, De Cieri, Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart & Wright, McGraw-Hill Australia). Read, and carefully analyse the case to write an argumentative essay which addresses all of the following: 1. Discuss how the recognition scheme supports McDonald's culture and attracts future leaders. 2. Discuss which theory(ies) you think would support McDonald's recognition scheme. 3. Would McDonald's approach to managing human resources be directly applicable in a not-forprofit organisation such as the Spastic Centre? Justify your answer. All the answers must be written with supporting academic referencesContent of the Argumentative Essay Title page: The title page of an essay should be brief and precise. It contains the following information: the name of the essay, who prepared the essay, the date the essay was prepared. Abstract (approx. 100 words): Abstract is a concise summary of your essay and should state the following: the purpose of the assignment, the main areas or aspects covered and the main conclusions or findings. It should be written as continuous text, without headings, numbers or bullet points (dot points). All academic journal articles require authors to write abstracts for their papers which will be useful exemplars when developing your abstract. Introduction (approx. 100 words): The introduction consists of two or three paragraphs in which the aims, structure and methodology of the essay are outlined. It states clearly the purpose or main task of the essay and what the reader can expect to obtain from it. Important background information is included, such as what are the main arguments in the essay. Please include a thesis statement that clearly mentions the main purpose of the essay. The introduction should introduce the essay and include your argument. Body Paragraphs (approx. 2200 to 2300 words): In this section, you should answer all the assessment questions in paragraphs. There should not be any headings or sub headings in this section. Within each paragraph you must refer to (cite) the sources of specific information and ideas that you found during your literature research to support the topic that you are addressing. An academic essay will often contain an argument beginning with a contentious statement, the author will consider different viewpoints before arriving at a conclusion. Please ensure that you have answered all questions. Answers to the assessment questions should be based on arguments, answers developed through research findings (references). Avoid using bullet points, direct quotes and unnecessary discussion which are not related to the question. Please note that a paragraph is a series of around five or six sentences that are all related to a single point or idea. Typically a paragraph is about 200–250 words and starts with a topic sentence that states the main point you are making in that paragraph. The other sentences in the paragraph should all relate to this topic sentence, providing additional explanation, evidence and/or examples. Final sentence in each paragraph should sum up the material on that aspect. It is often useful to revisit those final sentences when you write your conclusion. Conclusion (approx. 100 words): The conclusion is a brief section which analyses the significance of the essay's findings and reiterates the main points of the essay. These findings must derive logically from material presented in the essay. A generalisation is then drawn from the specific findings of the research. New information is not included in the conclusion. Information in a conclusion should not be presented as dot pointsReferences: A Reference List is a listing of all external resources that were consulted and mentioned during research for the report, and information from which is directly referred to in the text of the report. • AVOID using only the textbook. However, the prescribed textbook for the course may be cited in regard to broad HRM principles. • Cite at least fifteen (15) relevant peer reviewed journal articles (absolute minimum requirement). These do not include other academic references such as books, conference papers, and book chapters and etc. Although you can cite these other academic references in your report, they will not be counted as part of the 15 journal articles. • Refer to your recommended readings for examples of academic journal articles. Although you can cite these recommended references, it is expected that you find fifteen (15) peer reviewed journal articles not listed in the course materials. • The quality and number of citations will demonstrate the breadth and depth of the literature used to support your arguments. • Avoid secondary referencing (i.e. cited in …….. Ricardo (2005) mentioned that ……you're your assignments as much as possible. You are supposed to read the references before mentioning in reference list. • Your marker is interested in the analysis that you have developed from YOUR review of the literature and how well you use the literature to discuss the topic. AVOID presenting a descriptive account ONLY of your readings. What is required in this assessment is a critical evaluation of the academic literature as it relates to the specific details of the case study. • Use APA referencing style in your business report. CQUniversity Australia library link to APA referencing style is available at https://www.cqu.edu.au/?a=14033 Appendices (if needed): An appendix is a section containing large amounts of data or information pertaining to a specific topic that has been collected from an external source. It may have been collected from a reference source during preparation of the report, or have been generated from experiments or from field work. It may, for instance, be the technical description of a piece of equipment, or the calibration data of a measurement instrument. Note: CQUniversity Australia's webpage with generic information on academic writing can be found at https://my.cqu.edu.au/documents/10165/2178077/Great+Guide+to+University+Study+Topic+5+- +Developing+academic+writing+skills/ad106a89-377b-4395-a076-869eb6f6e9ec Format of the Essay: As a general rule, the following document settings are suitable for most academic reports. Font type Use a simple font such as Times New Roman Font size Use 12 point as the base size Headings and sub headings Use 14 point Bold for Headings and 12 point Bold for sub headings Margins Use 25 mm (1 inch) for all margins Line spacing Use 1.5 line spacing The writing style and layout should be consistent throughout the document. Failure to provide a consistent and professional looking document is an indication that the writer iseither careless, or places no importance on the work being undertaken.Important Dates Week 1: 07 November 2016 - 13 November 2016 Commencement of Term 3 2016 Week 3: 21 November 2016 - 27 November 2016 Online Quiz 1 Opens - Monday 21 November 2016 at 9.00 a.m. AEST Closes - Sunday 27 November 2016 at 5.00 p.m. AEST Week 5: 12 December 2016- 18 December 2016 Online Quiz 2 Opens - Monday 12 December 2016 at 9.00 a.m. AEST Closes - Sunday 18 December 2016 at 5.00 p.m. AEST Week 6: 19 December 2016 – 25 December 2016 Assessment 2 - Business Repot on the role of HRM Due – Friday 23 December 2016 at 12.00 noon AEST Week 9: 16 January 2017 - 22 January 2017 Online Quiz 3 Opens - Monday 16 January 2017 at 9.00 a.m. AEST Closes - Sunday 22 January 2017 at 5.00 p.m. AEST Week 11: 30 January 2017 - 05 February 2017 Online Quiz 4 Opens - Monday 30 January 2017 at 9.00 a.m. AEST Closes - Sunday 05 February 2017 at 5.00 p.m. AEST Week 12: 06 February 2017 - 12 February 2017 Assessment 3 – Academic Essay on Retaining Talent Due – Friday 10 February 2017 at 12.00 noon AEST