1 INTRODUCTION
We trust that you have begun your studies and that you are looking forward to completing this module successfully. The purpose of this tutorial letter is to provide you with questions related to learning outcomes of lessons 01 to 04.
Answer all the questions!
This assignment comprises essay questions on scenarios and schematic scenarios (e.g., tables).
A rubric (see table 1) will be used to assess your assignment.
3 LEARNING OUTCOMES OF LESSONS 01 TO 04
The purpose statement of the HRM4801 module enables students to demonstrate a fundamental and systematic knowledge of advanced human resource management with a view to determine, design and implement appropriate HR systems and practices to ensure proper management of employees in an organisation. The curriculum includes managing human resources from a strategic investment perspective of human capital over and above the following:
• enhancement of employee and organisational health, wellness and safety,
• measuring HR’s contribution to the strategic business plan,
• challenges and barriers facing ethical HRM decision-making,
• HR’s key roles,
• HR planning and staffing, designing work/life systems,
• change management,
• training and the learning organisation,
• reward systems and practices,
• employee separation,
• global HR management and its challenges and
• organisational culture and its impact on organisational performance
Next follows three questions related to the specific outcomes, assessment criteria and the learning outcomes of the HRM4801 module.
By now you should have studied lessons 01 to 04, and the learning outcomes of lessons 01 to 04 are as follows:
LEARNING OUTCOMES 01
After you have completed this assignment, you should be able to:
• evaluate the changing context of the nature of human resources
• explain the reasons for changes at work and the conditions surrounding work risk that erode work-related wellbeing, which has harmful consequences for employees and, potentially, for organisations
• explain why it is difficult to manage people
• examine the influence of contextual factors on human resource management (HRM)
• justify the prioritisation of human resource (HR) practices that can help to alter the impact of eroding work-related wellbeing on both employees and organisations
• explain why HRM can be regarded as essentially strategic
• differentiate between HRM strategic models and how each model influences the various HR practices
• identify and discuss the different components of a typical strategic HRM process in an organisation
LEARNING OUTCOMES 02
After you have completed this assignment, you should be able to:
• assess the choices available to managers in a context of uncertainty
• describe flexibility and flexible employment practices
• evaluate the suitability of various flexible employment practices against constraining factors and apparent advantages and disadvantages to employers and employees
• compare and contrast new forms of employment practice against traditional approaches
LEARNING OUTCOMES 03
After you have completed this assignment, you should be able to:
• discuss the influence of employment legislation on human resource management
• analyse the impact of employment regulation on the extent and the nature of line managers' responsibility for issues and decisions relating to human resourcing
• compile an employment equity (EE) plan and an EE report
• critically discuss the implications of EE and affirmative action for the various HRM functions
• critically comment on the value of skills development legislation in uplifting the skills base of the workforce
LEARNING OUTCOMES 04
After you have completed this assignment, you should be able to:
• explain ethical issues underlying strategic HR activities and identify potential ethical implications of both low- and high-commitment HR strategies
• discuss the range of options that HR managers have at their disposal to take an ethical stance
• explain how management decisions concerning ethical issues affect organisations and societies
6 RESEARCH PARTICIPANT INFORMATION
Title: Using a collaborative, active ODeL learning context to develop postgraduate students’ outward mindsets, employability attributes, and metacognitive competencies
You are invited to participate in research conducted by Dr Elizabeth C. Rudolph, the primary researcher and the Khulisa Abantu (“a cause to grow people”) community engagement team in the Department of Human Resource Management at the University of South Africa.
Globally, as well as nationally, there is an ongoing struggle for young undergraduates to find employment. This could likely be because many graduates do not always have the time or space to attend in-person training or they do not have the opportunity during their coursework to learn how to practice, work, lead and
live an outward mindset in their personal and/or work life. Higher education institutions (HEIs) are required to demonstrate social responsibility in their commitment to make available scholar expertise, within various disciplines, to equip and facilitate opportunities for production of knowledge and to develop graduates’ skills and experiences to live in a diverse society. Hence, the integration of the Outward Mindset Online (OMO) programme and HRM4801 enables the Khulisa Abantu Community Engagement (CE) team to engage with HRM4801 students, both scholarly and to share real-life stories of experts using an outward mindset to address work challenges. These experts are employed within different industries.
All the HRM4801 assignments have been designed to use a collaborative, active, open distance and education learning (ODeL) context, to develop postgraduate students’ outward mindsets, employability attributes and metacognitive competencies. Hence, all the assignments in the HRM4801 module are designed to give you a rich learning opportunity to reach the learning outcomes as part of your qualification.
You were selected to participate in the research because we would like to hear your voice about your personal experiences in relation to the HRM4801 learning outcomes, since you are a registered student for the module HRM4801 (Advanced Human Resource Management).
The assignment will be anonymised during the analysis of the data, meaning that there will be no way of connecting the information that you provide to you personally. This is to protect your privacy.
It is anticipated that the information we gain from this assignment will help us to formulate guidelines for use in the development of ODeL learning material and assessment, to promote adult learners’ outward mindsets, employability attributes and metacognitive competencies.
If you choose to participate in the research, it will take no additional of your time than the required notional hour assigned to the completion of HRM4801 assignments. You will benefit from your participation as an individual, as this provides you with a learning opportunity in relation to HRM4801 module outcomes and OMO learning outcomes. Feedback will be provided in the Tutorial Letter 200s. It is envisioned that the findings of this study will contribute towards the body of knowledge of ODeL tuition and assessment in South Africa.
The research is rated as a low-risk study and therefore we do not foresee any harmful consequences in completing the assignment. The key aim of the assignment is to give you an opportunity to share your learning experience in developing an outward mindset and to achieve the HRM4801 learning outcomes. You are, however, under no obligation to agree that the content you share in the assignment can be used in the research and you can withdraw from the study at any time. By withdrawing from the study, it would mean that the information will be omitted for the sake of research; however, no one will be penalised in the mark allocation of the assignment.
The researchers undertake to keep any information provided herein confidential, not to let it out of our possession and to report on the findings from the perspective of the participating group and not from the perspective of an individual.
Electronic records will be kept for five years, in a password protected file, for audit purposes, where after it will be permanently destroyed. You will not be reimbursed or receive any incentives for your participation in the questionnaire.
The research was reviewed and approved by the UNISA College of Economic and Management Sciences Research Ethics Review Committee. The primary researcher, Dr Elizabeth Cornelia Rudolph, can be contacted during office hours, at 072 466 6607. Alternatively, she can be contacted at rudolec@unisa.ac.za.
By confirming your consent to take part in this research, you take note of the nature of your participation in the research, linked to the completion and submission of the assignment on myUnisa.
Should you have concerns about the way in which the research has been conducted, you may contact Prof N Sewdass (sewdan@unisa.ac.za). Alternatively, you can report any serious unethical behaviour at the University’s Toll-Free Hotline 0800 86 96.
Thank you for taking time to read this information sheet and for participating in this study.
7 QUESTIONS
QUESTION 1 [85]
The world of work has changed significantly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to the COvid- 19 pandemic, the South African Board for People Practices (SABPP) published their view on how the South African Labour Market will change over the next 14 years. Being mindful of the drastic changes for people and work and the SABPP’s view of the labour market, read the information published by the SABBP at the two links below to answer the sub-questions that follow.
People and Work – How will the South African Labour Market Change over the next 14 years? Retrieved from (click on the website link below or copy and paste the link in your browser):
https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.sabpp.co.za/resource/resmgr/website_files_1/publications
/labour_market_scenario/labour-market-2030-scenarios.pdf
The Fact Sheet by the SABPP of April 2020 Number 2020/03. Retrieved from (click on the website link below or copy and paste the link in your browser):
https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.sabpp.co.za/resource/resmgr/website_files_1/publications/fact
_sheets/fact_sheet_2020/fact-sheet_april_2020-min.pdf
1.1. Why is it imperative for human resource (HR) practitioners to align the strategic human resource management (SHRM) with the business strategy, and which strategic decisions need the attention of HR practitioners? (10)
1.2. Critically explain the changing nature of HRM, and why it is challenging to manage people .
(10)
1.3. Why do conflict and tension regarding the managing of people arise between line managers and HR practitioners? Substantiate your answer by referring to the impact of employment regulation on the extent and the nature of line managers' responsibility for issues and decisions relating to human resourcing. Provide practical examples. (10)
1.4. What push-pull factors might influence SHRM? Provide a minimum of five (5) practical examples to substantiate your answer. (10)
1.5. Justify the prioritisation of human resource (HR) practices that can help to alter the impact of eroding work-related wellbeing on both employees and organisations. (10)
1.6. Critically discuss the range of options that HR managers have at their disposal to take an ethical stance. Substantiate your answer with practical examples by referring to HRM functions. (10)
1.7. Organisations, individual employees and the South African government could deliberate to minimise the global spread, infection rate and the impact of the COVID-19 virus. Concerning the statement mentioned above, assess the choices available to managers when managing an uncertain context such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, how could managers ensure fair and
ethical treatment of employees in the long-term prosperity for both individuals and organisations? Substantiate your answer by developing a Strategic Human Resource Prevention and Management Plan of Action to minimise the impact of the Coronavirus for the greater good. (25)
QUESTION 2 [10]
2.1. Tell me more about your work/life/study experience in one page.
2.2. Which points of the study material did you find specially interesting in your reading, and would like to follow up in more detail?
2.3. What questions came to mind related to the study material of the HRM4801 lessons 01 to 04?
2.4. What are the three main things you have learned from the HRM4801 lessons 01 to 04 and what you may be able to use in future within your work/life context??
2.5. What did you previously think to be true related to the HRM4801 lessons 01 to 04, but now know to be wrong?
2.6. What did we not cover that you expected would be covered in the HRM4801 lessons 01 to 04?
2.7. What are you still unsure about regarding the HRM4801 lessons 01 to 04?
2.8. What did you like most about the HRM4801 lessons 01 to 04?
2.9. What did you dislike most about the HRM4801 lessons 01 to 04?
2.10. What miscellaneous, interesting facts did you learn in the HRM4801 lessons 01 to 04?
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