Faculty of Business and Law Assignment Brief Module Title: Contemporary Issues in HR Service Deliver Assignment Number 1 Module Code: 202HRM Assignment Title Allocation of HR Service Delivery in SME case study Assignment Weighting 50% Release Date: 23/01/17 Module Leader Konstantinos Kakavelakis Submission Date/Time: 16/03/17 : 23:55:00 Submission Time and Place: Submission through Turnitin ONLY Assessment Information This assignment is designed to assess learning outcomes: 1. Understand the reasons behind organisations changing the structure and location of HR service provision. 2. Understand the different HR service delivery models available to contemporary organisations. 3. Understand the challenges involved in maintaining and managing HR services and how standards are established and monitored. This assignment is an individual assignment. This assignment requires you to: Company Case Study: Softwire Who We Are Softwire is a UK-based software development company with offices in London and Bristol. Our highly talented and dedicated staff deliver work of exceptional quality, and can help you no matter what stage you are at in developing your software. We are totally committed to customer satisfaction, and this drives everything we do. Customer Satisfaction Softwire is a complete software partner for our clients, from initial consultancy and design phases right through to deployment and ongoing support. We can provide a one-stop shop for your project through our partnerships with trusted third parties such as web designers and ISPs. Our proactive and capable project managers run project smoothly and efficiently, leaving you with an exceptional software solution for a highly competitive price. We have experience of a vast range of markets and technologies and are continually broadening our horizons yet further. Our can-do attitude and deep technical experience allow us to deliver the most challenging projects with a minimum of fuss. Website - http://www.softwire.com/ Scenario In building up the company, the founders of Softwire have always valued the contribution of its employees to its success. Currently, all HR services are performed by the foundering members. They have decided recently that it is now time to invest in a small team of employees to enable the company to extent its existing HRM services. The founders wish to retain some HRM services internally but also to consider outsourcing other HRM services. One of the founders, has agreed to produce a report outlining the company’s plans on this issue. Task Imagine then that you are the member of the team with the task of producing this report. The report will illustrate: · a brief outline and justification of your view of HR service delivery (i.e. generalist/specialist. centralised/decentralised). · identification and justification of what HR services would be retained and what HR services would be outsourced. Your discussion should d ...

1. Faculty of Business and Law
Assignment Brief
Module Title:
Contemporary Issues in HR Service Deliver
Assignment Number
1
Module Code:
202HRM
Assignment Title
Allocation of HR Service Delivery in SME case study
Assignment Weighting
50%
Release Date:
23/01/17
Module Leader
Konstantinos Kakavelakis
Submission Date/Time:
16/03/17 :
23:55:00

2. Submission
Time and Place:
Submission through Turnitin ONLY
Assessment Information
This assignment is designed to assess learning outcomes:
1.
Understand the reasons behind organisations changing the
structure and location of HR service provision.
2.
Understand the different HR service delivery models available
to contemporary organisations.
3.
Understand the challenges involved in maintaining and
managing HR services and how standards are established and
monitored.
This assignment is an individual assignment.
This assignment requires you to:
Company Case Study: Softwire
Who We Are

3. Softwire is a UK-based software development company with
offices in London and Bristol.
Our highly talented and dedicated staff deliver work of
exceptional quality, and can help you no matter what stage you
are at in developing your software. We are totally committed to
customer satisfaction, and this drives everything we do.
Customer Satisfaction
Softwire is a complete software partner for our clients, from
initial consultancy and design phases right through to
deployment and ongoing support. We can provide a one-stop
shop for your project through our partnerships with trusted third
parties such as web designers and ISPs. Our proactive and
capable project managers run project smoothly and efficiently,
leaving you with an exceptional software solution for a highly
competitive price.
We have experience of a vast range of markets and technologies
and are continually broadening our horizons yet further. Our
can-do attitude and deep technical experience allow us to
deliver the most challenging projects with a minimum of fuss.
Website -
http://www.softwire.com/
Scenario
In building up the company, the founders of Softwire have
always valued the contribution of its employees to its success.
Currently, all HR services are performed by the foundering
members.
They have decided recently that it is now time to invest in a
small team of employees to enable the company to extent its
existing HRM services.

4. The founders wish to retain some HRM services internally but
also to consider outsourcing other HRM services.
One of the founders, has agreed to produce a report outlining
the company’s plans on this issue.
Task
Imagine then that you are the member of the team with the task
of producing this report.
The report will illustrate:
·
a brief outline and justification of your view of HR service
delivery (i.e. generalist/specialist. centralised/decentralised).
·
identification and justification of what HR services would be
retained and what HR services would be outsourced.
Your discussion should draw on and make reference to academic
material
Criteria for Assessment – see below
Word Count
The word count is 1750

5. There will be a penalty of a deduction of 10% of the mark (after
internal moderation) for work exceeding the word limit by 10%
or more.
The word limit includes quotations, but excludes the
bibliography.
How to submit your assessment
The assessment
must be submitted by
23.55:00
on16/03/17
. No paper copies are required. You can access the submission
link through the module web.
·
Your coursework will be given a zero mark if you do not submit
a copy through Turnitin. Please take care to ensure that you
have fully submitted your work.
·
All work submitted after the submission deadline without a
valid and approved reason (see below) will be given a mark of
zero.
·
Extensions of up to two calendar weeks can only be given for
genuine "force majeure" and medical reasons, not for bad
planning of your time. Please note that theft, loss, or failure to
keep a back-up file, are not valid reasons. The extension must
be applied for on or before the submission date. You can apply
for an extension by submitting an Examination/ Coursework
Deferral/Extension Application Form. Application Forms along

6. with the supporting evidence should go to the relevant Student
Support Office. For a longer delay in submission a student may
apply for a deferral.
·
Extenuating Circumstances - The University wants you to do
your best.
However we know that sometimes events happen which mean
that you can’t submit your coursework by the deadline – these
events should be beyond your control and not easy to predict. If
this happens, you can apply for an extension to your deadline
for up to two weeks, or if you need longer, you can apply for a
deferral, which takes you to the next assessment period (for
example, to the resit period following the main Assessment
Boards). You
must
apply before the deadline. You will find information about the
process and what is or is not considered to be an event beyond
your control at
https://share.coventry.ac.uk/students/Registry/Pages/Deferrals-
and-Extension.aspx
·
Students MUST keep a copy and/or an electronic file of their
assignment.
·
Checks will be made on your work using anti-plagiarism
software and approved plagiarism checking websites.
GUIDELINES AND BACKGROUND TO THIS ASSIGNMENT
Plagiarism
As part of your study you will be involved in carrying out

7. research and using this when writing up your coursework. It is
important that you correctly acknowledge someone else’s
writing, thoughts or ideas and that you do not attempt to pass
this off as your own work.
Doing so is known as plagiarism.
It is not acceptable to copy from another source without
acknowledging that it is someone else’s writing or
thinking. This includes using paraphrasing as well as direct
quotations. You are expected to correctly cite and reference the
works of others. The Centre for Academic Writing provides
documents to help you get this right. If you are unsure, please
visit
www.coventry.ac.uk/caw
.
You can also check your understanding of academic conduct by
completing the Good Academic Practice quiz available on
Moodle.
Moodle includes a plagiarism detection system and assessors are
experienced enough to recognise plagiarism when it occurs
. Copying another student’s work, using previous work of your
own or copying large sections from a book or the internet are
examples of plagiarism and carry
serious consequences
. Please familiarise yourself with the CU Harvard Reference
Style (on Moodle) and use it correctly to avoid a case of
plagiarism or cheating being brought.
Again, i
f you are unsure
,
please
contact the Centre for Academic Writing, your Academic

8. Personal Tutor or a member of the course team.
Return of Marked Work
You can expect to have marked work returned to
you
13/04/17
.
If for any reason there is a delay you will be kept informed.
Marks and feedback will be provided
online.
As always, marks will have been internally moderated only,
and will therefore be provisional; your mark will be formally
agreed later in the year once the external examiner has
completed his / her review.

9. Class
Mark range
Guidelines
Class I
90 – 100%
80 – 89%
70
– 79%
In addition to that for 70 – 79% below, an outstanding answer
that could hardly be bettered.

10. High degree of understanding, critical/analytic skills and
original research, where specified.
Outstanding in all respects.
In addition to that for 7
0 – 79% below, the answer will demonstrate an excellent level
of understanding, presence of clear description,
critical/analytical skills or research, as appropriate.
Answer entirely relevant to the assignment set.
Answer will demonstrate clear understan
ding of theories, concepts, issues and methodology, as
appropriate.
There will be evidence of wide-ranging reading and/or research,
as appropriate, beyond the minimum recommended. Answers
will be written
/
presented in a clear, well-structured way with clar
ity of expression.
At level 3, evidence of independent, critical thought would
normally be expected.
Class II : I
65 – 69%

11. 60 – 64%
Answer demonstrating a very good understanding of the
requirements of the assignment.
Answer will demonstrate
very good understanding of theories, concepts, issues and
methodology, as appropriate.
Answer will be mostly accurate
/
appropriate, with few errors.
Little, if any, irrelevant material may be present.
Reading beyond the recommended minimum will be pre
sent where appropriate.
Well organised and clearly written
/
presented.
A good understanding, with few errors.
Some irrelevant material may be present.
Well organised and clearly written
/
presented.
Some reading
/
research beyond recommended in evidence.

12. Class II : II
55 – 59%
50 – 54%
Answer demonstrating a good understanding of relevant
theories, concepts, issues and methodology.
Some reading
/
research beyond that recommended may be present.
Some errors may be present and inclusion of irrelev
ant material.
May not be particularly well-structured, and/or clearly
presented.
Answer demonstrating a reasonable understanding of theories,
concepts, issues and methodology.
Answer likely to show some errors of understanding.
May be significant amoun
t of irrelevant material.
May not be well-structured and expression

13. /
presentation may be unclear at times.
Class III
45 - 49%
40 – 44%
An understanding demonstrated, but may be incomplete and
with some errors.
Limited use of material with limite
d reading
/
research on the topic.
Likely to be poorly structured and not well-expressed
/
presented.
Irrelevant material likely to be present.
Basic understanding demonstrated, with some correct
description. Answer likely to be incomplete with substantial
errors or misunderstandings.
Little use of material and limited reading
/
research on the topic in evidence.

14. May be poorly structured and poorly expressed
/
presented.
Some material may be irrelevant to the assignment
requirements.
Marginal fail
35 – 3
9%
Some relevant material will be present. Understanding will be
poor with little evidence of reading
/
research on the topic.
Fundamental errors and misunderstanding likely to be present.
Poor structure and poor expression/presentation.
Much material ma
y not be relevant to the assignment.
Fail
30 – 34%
20 – 29%

15. 0 – 19%
Inadequate answer with little relevant material and poor
understanding of theories, concepts, issues and methodology, as
appropriate.
Fundamental errors and misunderstandin
gs will be present.
Material may be largely irrelevant.
Poorly structured and poorly expressed
/
presented.
Clear failure to provide answer to the assignment.
Little understanding and only a vague knowledge of the area.
Serious and fundamental errors an
d lack of understanding.
Virtually no evidence of relevant reading
/
research.
Poorly structured and inadequately expressed
/
presented.
Complete failure, virtually no understanding of requirements of
the assignment.

16. Material may be entirely irrelevant.
A
nswer may be extremely short, and in note form only.
Answer may be fundamentally wrong, or trivial.
Not a serious attempt.
Assignment 1 – Suggested Outline
Introduction
A short intro outlining the purpose of the report – around 150
words maximum
Task 1
Here you are asked to provide your view regarding HR service
delivery. Should it be generalist in its outlook (i.e. including a
bit of everything in terms of the areas that HRM entails) or
should it be specialist (i.e. specialising on key HRM practices
which are crucial to the company’s success). You also need to
consider whether HR delivery will be centralised (delivered by
one central department – responsible for the design and
implementation of HRM practices) across the organisation or
decentralised (whereby HRM responsibility would be devolved
to line managers in the various locations in which the company
operates) – dedicate around 650-700 words to this task.
Task 2

17. Here you need to consider what HR services (i.e. HR practices)
could be kept in house and what HR services need to be
outsourced (i.e. becoming the responsibility of an external
provider – around 650-700 words
Conclusion/recommendations
Summarise your conclusions (key points from your analysis in
relation to both tasks) and outline some recommendations which
would help support HR service delivery in the way you have
envisaged it. The recommendations need to flow from the points
you raised previously in your analysis – around 200/300 words.
As the scenario is based on a real life organisation you are
encouraged to take a look at the company’s website to get a
better idea about the nature of their business which would
ideally inform their HRM approach (the topic of the
assignment). Needless to say that your argument needs to be
justified with reference to academic concepts/theories we have
covered in class. Two chapters from the recommended textbook
(Marchington and Wilkinson) pertaining to the role of line
managers (which is relevant to the debate around
decentralisation) and outsourcing have been scanned and
uploaded on moodle (week 4) alongside other material which
you are invited to use. Obviously, for a distinction mark you
need to demonstrate more extensive search for relevant
information which goes beyond what we have provided in the
class.