Unit Number and Title

Unit 3 Management of Human Resources

Academic Term

Sep 2025 – Dec 2025

Issue Date

15/09/2025

Formative Feedback

20/10/2025 – 16/11/2025

Submission Date

05/12/2025

Submission Format

Report, Job Advertisement

Submission Format

The submission is in the form of an individual report. 

• All your work must be appropriately referenced using the Harvard referencing system. Please also provide a bibliography using this system.

• The report should be in a formal business style using 1.5 pt spacing.

• Use formal fonts such as Times New Roman, Arial, and Open Sans. The font size must be at least 12pt, and all the content must be appropriately aligned. 

• All figures, graphs, and tables must be numbered. 

• The recommended word limit is 4000 words, +-10%. 

• Turnitin similarities (including AI) should not exceed 20%.

• Avoid the use of AI-generated content in your report.

• Try incorporating a good mix of academic and web-based sources into your write-up. Online sites such as Wikipedia, MindTools, CourseHero, etc., are unsuitable academic writing sources.

LO1 Explain the impact of the role of HRM in creating sustainable organisational performance and contributing to business success.

Transferable skills and competencies developed

• Communication skills

• Research skills

• Organisation skills

• Technical skills

Vocational scenario 

John Lewis Partnership (JLP)—the UK’s largest employee-owned retailer operating John Lewis and Waitrose—is recognised for its ethics and sustainability commitments and invests substantially in apprenticeship pathways across retail, distribution, data & analytics, HR, finance, and leadership. You have been appointed as an HR Apprentice at JLP (or a comparable UK employer with strong ethical credentials). During your first two months, your HR Manager will assess your grasp of HR roles and responsibilities—covering workforce planning, recruitment and selection, learning and development, reward, employee relations, equality, diversity and inclusion, and health, safety and wellbeing—within a values-driven retail context. You are required to submit a professional report demonstrating how core HRM practices underpin capability building and early-careers development, explicitly aligning recommendations to the Partnership’s purpose and ethics & sustainability strategy.

Assignment activity and guidance

• Explain the main areas of HRM and how some of these areas contribute to creating sustainable performance(i). You may want to compare the contribution of those areas in creating sustainable performance.

• In the context of John Lewis Partnership (or any other organisation of your choice), review the effects of the changing nature of organisations (such as work from home, workforce diversity, use of technology etc) on the skills and knowledge of human resources. (ii) Furthermore, examine HRM in relation to the changing nature of HR operations in John Lewis Partnership (or any other organisation of your choice).

LO2 Produce a workforce action plan for recruiting and retaining talent to address skills shortages in an organisation.

Vocational Scenario

John Lewis Partnership (JLP)—the UK’s largest employee-owned retailer—has committed to reaching net-zero greenhouse-gas emissions in its own operations by 2035 and across its value chain by 2050 in service of its purpose, Working in Partnership for a happier world (John Lewis Partnership, n.d.; 2024a). JLP frames this transition as creating long-term value for customers, Partners (employees), suppliers and communities, and anchoring decisions in Partnership principles of fairness, honesty and respect (John Lewis Partnership, 2025).

However, achieving net-zero will be challenging as many retailers and consumer-goods firms pursue similar goals, intensifying competition for “green” skills. UK evidence indicates rising demand for sustainability-related capabilities, creating supply constraints that may affect recruitment and retention. For JLP’s HR function, this implies pressure to attract and develop talent in areas such as low-carbon logistics and fleet electrification, sustainable sourcing and farming practices, refrigeration and energy management, carbon accounting/data analytics, and change leadership—capabilities that the green HRM literature links to improved sustainability performance. In response, the Partnership Board has asked the HR Director to take proactive measures—strategic workforce planning, apprenticeships and reskilling pathways, targeted employer branding, and partnerships with FE/HE providers—to mitigate talent bottlenecks and sustain progress toward net-zero.

Assignment activity and guidance

You have been promoted to HR Manager at the John Lewis Partnership after successfully completing your probation. Your HR Director has shared the Partnership’s long-term sustainability vision and asked you to recommend proactive workforce measures to enable delivery. In essence, you are required to produce a concise HR workforce action plan that outlines priority initiatives (e.g., apprenticeships, targeted recruitment, reskilling/upskilling), with detailed strategies, timeframes, frequency, clear KPIs, implementation and evaluation.

• Develop a workforce action plan that will help John Lewis Partnership (or any other organisation of your choice) acquire and retain the relevant staff with relevant skills to bridge the skills gaps for such hard-to-fill vacancies for recruiting and retaining talent. (iii) Subsequently, a strategic workforce action plan can be devised to help improve recruitment and retention in relation to the importance of the labour market.

• Support your suggested approaches for recruitment and retention conducting their critical evaluation of the strengths and weaknesses of HRM in relation to creating a sustainable workforce action plan.  

LO3 Examine how external and internal factors can affect HRM decision-making in relation to organisational development.

Transferable skills and competencies developed

• Communication skills

• Research skills

• Analytical skills

• Organisation skills

• Technical skills

• Strategic thinking skills

Vocational scenario 

As part of your role at the John Lewis Partnership (JLP), you are required to conduct an audit of the external and internal factors that could affect HR’s ability to support the Partnership’s 2050 vision. The HR Director emphasises that a thorough, evidence-informed scan will help the function anticipate challenges and avoid costly missteps—such as adopting ineffective motivation practices or failing to use culturally appropriate approaches—that could undermine engagement and damage the Partnership’s reputation.

Assignment activity and guidance

You, as a HR manager, are required to scan internal and external environment and write a report that:

• Investigates both the external factors (such as regulatory conditions, labour force trends, and diversity) and internal factors (such as the influence of leadership styles, culture, and employee experience) that affect HRM decision-making in supporting organisational development. (iv) While doing so, use relevant examples from John Lewis Partnership (or an organisation of your choice) to illustrate how these key external and internal factors support organisational development. 

• Evaluate key factors affecting HRM decision-making and provide valid recommendations to support HRM decision-making for John Lewis Partnership or any other organisation of your choice. 

LO4-Apply HRM practices in a work-related context for improving sustainable organisational performance.

Transferable skills and competencies developed

• Communication skills

• Research skills

• Analytical skills

• Organisation skills

• Technical skills

• Strategic thinking skills

• Interpersonal skills

• Leadership skills

Vocational scenario

The Marketing Manager at the John Lewis Partnership (JLP) is due to resign in two months. He has served JLP for the past five years, during which the scope and competencies of the role have evolved substantially. The job advertisement currently held in the JLP HR repository is outdated and no longer reflects the role’s present responsibilities, required capabilities, or market expectations.

Assignment activity and guidance

Your line manager has asked you to research the current information with regards to job description, person specification and other relevant information. Using the information, he has requested you to:

• Prepare a job advertisement as evidence of the application of HR practices. The job advertisement should cover following mandatory areas:

• Company Profile

• Overview of the role

• Job Description

• Person Specification

• Salary and Benefits

• Application process and deadline (v) 

• Furthermore, explain how this job advertisement will improve sustainable organisational performance within a work-related context such as John Lewis Partnership or any other organisation of your choice. 

• Determine the strengths and weaknesses of HRM practices (specifically the ones applied while designing the Recruitment and Selection process for the role) to make recommendations for improving sustainable organisational performance.

Pass

Merit

Distinction

LO1 Explain the impact of the role of HRM in creating sustainable organisational performance and contributing to business success.

D1 Critically evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of HRM in relation to creating a sustainable workforce action plan for recruiting and retaining talent.

P1 Explain the main areas of HRM and their contribution to creating sustainable performance.

M1 Compare areas of HRM to create sustainable organisational performance.

P2 Review the effects of the changing nature of organisations on human resources skills and knowledge.

M2 Examine HRM in relation to the changing nature of the modern business organisation.

LO2 Produce a workforce action plan for recruiting and retaining talent to address skills shortages in an organisation

P3 Create a workforce action plan that addresses skills needs, skills gaps and hard-to-fill vacancies for recruiting and retaining talent in an organisation.

M3 Devise a strategic workforce action plan for improving recruitment and retention in relation to the importance of the labour market.

LO3 Examine how external and internal factors can affect HRM decision-making in relation to organisational development

D2 Evaluate key factors affecting HRM decision-making to make valid recommendations.

P4 Investigate the external and internal factors that affect HRM decision-making to support organisational development.

M4 Discuss the key external and internal factors that affect HRM decision-making, using relevant organisational examples to illustrate how they support organisational development.

LO4 Apply HRM practices in a work-related context for improving sustainable organisational performance

D3 Determine strengths and weaknesses of HRM practices to make recommendations for improving sustainable organisational performance.

P5 Apply HRM practices in a work-related context, using specific examples to demonstrate improvement to sustainable organisational performance.

M5 Illustrate how the application of specific HRM practices in a work-related context can improve sustainable organisational performance.