ASSESSMENT TASK DESCRIPTION:

ASSESSMENT TASK DESCRIPTION:

Aim: This assessment aims to enable students to examine and critically analyse one aspect of staffing in depth, to understand some scholarly research activities and to see how knowledge is built gradually.

Purpose: The purpose of writing a literature review in this unit is to develop a comprehensive understanding of the research and theoretical perspectives in one aspect of staffing, by focussing on what is known about a single occupation. By conducting a literature review, students will gain a deeper insight into staffing in organizations. The process will enable students to critically analyse and synthesize existing knowledge, identify research gaps and potentially contribute to the advancement of the field. Moreover, writing a literature review fosters the development of critical thinking, research skills and academic writing proficiency, which are important for success in future academic endeavours.

KNOWLEDGE & SKILLS IN FOCUS:

Knowledge:By conducting a literature review students will acquire deep knowledge on staffing practices in organisations. Students will explore seminal research papers and current scholarly articles, allowing them to grasp the historical evolution, key theories and contemporary trends in staffing. Through this process, students will gain a deep understanding of essential concepts such as recruitment strategies, training and competency development, selection methods and talent management. This knowledge will not only enhance their understanding of the course material but also provide a solid foundation for their future studies in human resource management or related fields. Students will develop the ability to critically evaluate research findings and apply evidence-based practices, enabling them to make informed decisions in their professional careers.

Skills: Writing a literature review in this unit equips students with a diverse set of skills that are valuable both within and beyond the academic realm. Through this process, students will enhance their research skills, including information retrieval, literature search strategies and citation management. They will learn how to critically evaluate research articles, identify strengths and weaknesses and synthesize findings from multiple sources to form a cohesive narrative. Students will develop effective academic writing skills, such as organizing and structuring their ideas, employing appropriate academic language and adhering to citation guidelines. These skills are transferable to other university courses, allowing students to excel in their academic endeavours. Furthermore, the ability to conduct a literature review and analyse research findings will be beneficial in students' future professional careers, as it enables them to stay updated with industry trends, make evidence-based decisions and contribute to the development of best practices in staffing organizations. Following are the three distinct skills developed through this assessment.

Problem-solving:A literature review assignment enables students to identify and synthesize diverse research findings, fostering their ability to discern and address complex academic and practical problems.

Critical thinking:By evaluating the credibility and relevance of various sources, students enhance their ability to critically analyze information, arguments, and methodologies within their field of study.

Communication:Writing a literature review hones students' skills in clearly and effectively articulating their insights and arguments, ensuring they can present complex information in a structured and coherent manner. Precision in word choice, citing and referencing, and adhering to word count are communication skills developed in this assignment.

TASK DESCRIPTION:

Students are required to write a review based on a minimum of eight journal articles from the scholarly peer-review literature on a single topic within recruitment and selection, choosing one one out of following three topics:

1.Global staffing for multinational corporations:involves strategically managing and deploying employees across international borders to optimize organizational performance, meet local market demands, and ensure cultural alignment.

2.Flexible work practices, including remote work and working from home: offer employees the ability to adjust their work schedules and locations to better balance personal and professional responsibilities, enhance productivity, and accommodate diverse needs.

3.HR analytics:involves the systematic collection, analysis, and interpretation of workforce data to improve decision-making, optimize human resource processes, and enhance overall organizational performance.

Length: Maximum report length is 1,200 words, excluding references. Include word count at the end of the review. Use 1.5 line spacing, 2.5 cm margins on top, bottom and each side, Arial font size 12.

Writing and presentation style: Your review should be written in formal academic narrative style. It will be evaluated for clarity of expression, discriminatory language and overall presentation including grammar, spelling and punctuation. Do NOT include an executive summary, abstract, footnotes or endnotes, and do NOT use bullet points, casual language, (or bracketed comments). Use headings sparingly.

Citations and referencing: Reports must be fully and appropriately cited and referenced using a formal academic style. Use APA 6th or 7th style. Substantial marks will be deducted for inadequate or incorrect referencing or violation of these presentation rules.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

ULO1:Analyse and explain the role of HR measurement, reliability and validity in staffing decision making.

ULO2:Critically evaluate staffing processes and decision making.

ULO3:Describe and assess a range of sustainable, best practice staffing processes.

ULO4:Communicate effectively in both scholarly and professional contexts

Criteria High Distinction Distinction Credit Pass Fail

1: Content1. Quality of the research, i.e., relevance of your references as they relate to the topic.2. Quantity of the research, i.e., was there evidence of a review of enough literature?3. How clearly the review identified the major themes and issues in the literature. The appropriate content is covered in depth without being redundant. Sources are cited when specific statements are made. Insightful and comprehensive identification and discussion of key scholarly literature on the specialist topic. Advanced understanding of relevant theory leading to defensible generalisations. Demonstrates capacity to use new insights to critically appraise literature, ideas and arguments, draws wellsupported conclusions, and applies relevant theory. Uses creative examples, possible extensions, and applications of theory. Presents a compelling and effective argument or discussion. Demonstrates understanding of key concepts, theories and issues. Key literature identified and discussed. Demonstrates a comprehensive understanding of relevant theory. Demonstrates selectivity and uses judgment in determining the importance of readings and ideas. Develops a progressive, convincing, and clear argument throughout the work. Demonstrates capacity to evaluate and critically appraise literature, ideas and arguments, draws appropriate conclusions and apply relevant theory Many major sections of relevant content are included, but not covered in as much depth, or as explicit, as expected. Demonstrates the understanding of key HR concepts, theories, and issues. Key literature identified and discussed. Demonstrates a sound understanding of relevant theory. Demonstrates a sound capacity to appraise literature, ideas and arguments, to draw limited conclusions and apply relevant theory. May sometimes lapse into description rather than providing analysis and evaluation. Some sections of relevant content have been omitted. Referencing is incomplete or limited readings providing little evidence of research. May demonstrate a narrow focus. Most key concepts, theories, and issues in the specialist topic are identified and discussed. Conveys a basic understanding of the relevant theory. The work demonstrates a limited capacity to appraise literature, ideas and arguments, draw appropriate conclusions and apply relevant theory. Major sections of relevant content have been omitted. References have been listed but not discussed or interpreted. Poor quality references (texts, websites or popular press) used. Has not identified key scholarly literature concerning the specialist topic. Conveys little evidence of understanding of relevant theory. The work conveys little evidence of the capacity to appraise literature, ideas, and arguments, to draw appropriate conclusions and apply relevant theory. Demonstrates a failure to identify the issues. Demonstrates a failure to answer the question or misinterprets the question. Does not provide evidence of the minimum scholarly reading requirements.

2: AnalysisThe report's critical analysis of the literature. The author was able to make succinct and precise conclusions based on the review. Insights into the problem are appropriate. Conclusions are strongly supported in the review. Demonstrates a sound capacity to appraise literature, ideas and arguments, to draw limited conclusions and apply relevant theory. May sometimes lapse into description rather than 5providing analysis and evaluation. The author provides concluding remarks that show an analysis and synthesis of ideas occurred. Some of the conclusions, however, we not supported in the body of the report. Some attempt at critical analysis. There is little indication that the author tried to synthesize the information or make a conclusion based on the literature under review.

3: StructureThe overall structure and logical development of the review. Document flows well in a logical sequence. The summary goes from general ideas to specific conclusions. Transitions tie sections, as well as adjacent paragraphs, together. Provides a satisfactorily structured work, but which needs improvements to meet publication standard. There is a basic flow from one section to the next, but not all sections or paragraphs follow in a natural or logical order. Improvements required to meet academic writing standards. The summary appears to have no direction, with subtopics appearing disjointed.

4:ReferencingIn-text citations and referencing. Citations and referencing followed correct format, essential information was accurate and complete. Satisfactory level and scope of referencing. Citations did follow format, however a few errors in essential information were evident. Did not meet academic standards for referencing. May be inconsistent. Citations often did not follow format and/or were missing essential information. Referencing inconsistent or inaccurate

5: ClarityWriting clarity and grammar, presentation. Writing is crisp, clear and succinct. The author incorporates the active voice when appropriate and supports ideas with examples. No spelling, grammar or punctuation errors are made Work is mostly clearly written and grammatically accurate in terms of spelling, grammar and punctuation. Writing is generally clear, but unnecessary words are sometimes used. Meaning is sometimes hidden. Paragraph or sentence structure is repetitive. The work is sometimes presented with insufficient coherence and clarity for the reader to understand the ideas and arguments being proposed. It is difficult at times to know what the author is trying to express. Writing is convoluted. Misspelled words, incorrect grammar and improper punctuation are evident.

TIPS AND FAQs :

1. Topic selection. You need to research the topic. This means searching the library databases for relevant peer reviewed literature, perhaps across a few databases and certainly across a variety of journals. You need to review the literature broadly. Look at which researchers have conducted what studies, on what populations or samples, under what conditions, using what methods, in what contexts and so on. Then work out what topic within that broad literature to write about and select the most relevant literature for that topic.

2. References used. A minimum of eight peer-reviews references are required. A better literature review will probably NOT include all papers a student has looked at. Be prepared to not use some papers that are not appropriate for your paper.

There is no room for textbooks, newspapers, industry or popular press (e.g., Business Review Weekly, HR Monthly), web-based or other external (non-refereed) material in this scholarly literature review. Research books may be used but are rarely available online at this time.

There may be many journal papers on your chosen topic and you will need to make judgements on what is relevant to your topic. You will need to narrow the scope of your chosen topic. Given the word limit, students will need to use their problem solving skills to determine which papers to include.

Your review will probably be improved by older studies that provide definitions and a foundation for later studies as well as more recent studies. Authors cited most often are usually the most important scholars in this area.

3. Writing up. Better submissions will be critical in their analysis.

Be ready to be impressed with the level of detail reported but also be prepared to be critical in a scientific way of some studies you read. Most student submissions tend to be descriptive, like you're a journalist writing for a newspaper or industry magazine. For a High Distinction level, we are looking for critical insights of the body of literature, beyond mere description.

Do not be concerned by any statistics you do not follow they are not at issue in this assessment. You are not expected to be able to comment on the statistics or analyses.

Remember, almost every journal article you read for this assignment will serve as a guide or model for this assignment. Almost every journal article (on the planet!) starts with a literature review. Notice what you are reading - and how it is written - to help you with your own writing.

Determine to what level of detail which papers will be included in your final submission. Your communication skills will be tested as you try different ways of expressing important ideas within the word count. A sentence that took 25 words the first time may also be clearly articulated in 12 or 18 words if you allow time for revisions.

4. Getting started. Some students have trouble working out the topic for a literature review. Some obvious topics include attraction, training or professional development, retention, industry/sector destination choice, salaries and payroll issues, retirement and planning. But as other topics emerge from your broad search, see if you have enough peer-reviewed journal papers to support your literature review to focus around questions such as:

What is the current state of research on Topic X? What do we know about Topic X? What research has been done on Topic X? What are the main issues or themes in Topic X research?

What do we need to know about Topic X?

One aspect of Topic X that has been researched extensively is Sub-topic Z

Three main research areas within Topic X are Y, Z and B

5. Additional supportfor the literature review assignment is available at:

The early tutorials include support for the literature review assignment.

Check the units iLearn page for a discussion board on assignments, see if others can help you.

Review the library guide on Literature Reviews at:https://libguides.mq.edu.au/c.php?g=674377&p=4748759and

Consult the Manchester Academic Phrasebook for help with scholarly writing (https://www.phrasebank.manchester.ac.uk/).