5UIN Using Information in Human Resources

5UIN Assessment guidance

5UIN is an assessment that requires the learners to identify and investigate an area in HR practice. The students are expected to complete a 2600 words assessment, where they identify a research area in different HR functions, and use secondary research to evaluate the different issues that impact the research topic. The student has to select a HR topic and develop a research question that will guide them in completing the assessment. Examples of topics that students may choose from include, but are not limited to;

1. An investigation of employee retention methods used to reduce high staff turnover
2. To explain how employee ngage4ment within the workplace improves employee performance
3. To determine the role of HR in enhancing succession planning by evaluating the methods, benefits, and justification for implementation
4. An investigation into effective absence management strategies that are meant to reduce absenteeism among the employees
5. Determining the development of future organisational leaders in the public sector
6. To explain the significance of learning and development in a pool of employees within the organisation.

From the above identified topics, learners may consider taking a case study of a specific company. The learners develop a research question and consider investigating the question to identify the various issues of concern related to the chosen research topic.

Purpose of the assessment

In completing the assessment, learners will identify sources of data that will help support the investigation of the chosen HR practice or rather help answer the developed research question. The learners should therefore have research skills that will be helpful in development of information that is sufficient in completing the 5UIN assessment. Learners should understand the different research approaches used in carrying out research. This is important in determining the extent to which learners will develop conclusions and suggest recommendations that will help complete the research topic.

Assessment brief

The students are expected to complete the assessment based on the following instructions;

Your CEO has asked each departmental head to undertake a critical review of their systems, processes and practices as part of a major organisational change agenda. You have been asked to review an area of HR/business practice and present a business report to key stakeholders with recommendations for improving practice. To provide the basis for your report, you have been asked to conduct a critical review of information sources relevant to the area of practice.

Learners are expected to follow the outline below in completing the assessment;

Introduction to the research; the learners should introduce the research topic to make learners understand the purpose of the assessment and how it is to be completed.  Under the introduction topic, learners should first identify the stakeholders and their roles, and develop the research aims and objectives that will guide them in carrying out the review of literature.

Literature review; learners have to provide a good literature review that tells a story about the research topic. The sources used in completing the literature review should be up to date and credible. The learners should keep the literature review focused on the developed research questions, and they should also learn how to reference appropriately using the CIPD referencing method. The review should be done from academic sources including books, journals, and specific company information.

Critique of literature review; the learners in critiquing of the sources of information should clearly differentiate between the research methods used by the different authors in the selected topics. By critiquing the research, the learners should follow justify the research, and provide the advantages and disadvantages of each.

Justification of selected research is to justify the research identified is significant in answering the research questions, learners should explain the usefulness of the research, the reason why the journal has been selected, and its significant and impact to the company or business being investigated. The research may be qualitative, quantitative, exploratory, or mixed methods depending on the researcher.

Advantages and disadvantages are developed on basis of the kind of research that was conducted, the returns of the research process based on the results developed by the authors, and determination of whether the sample was appropriate.

Proposed presentation of findings; this follows after reviewing the literature, and it involves having the learners develop a discussion that would be presented to the stakeholders on the obtained research. The presentations have to be done using diagrams such as charts and graphs. Learners should explain the advantages and disadvantages of using the diagrams in presenting the research findings, and provide an example of each.

Conclusion and recommendations; this is the final part of the assessment where the learners form a triangulation on the results obtained from the research. Learners may also provide a critique from the findings discovered in the literature review, and highlight the most significant key points from the research. The learners should also develop recommendations that provide the next cause of action and the role of organisational management in supporting them. The timeline on carrying out the actions should also be developed and effectively managed.

Research process stages

Having completed the assessment on investigating the research topic identified, the learners are expected to provide a summary of the research process stages. The first step is definition of research problem, followed by a review of literature. The third step involves designing of the research approach, and the fourth step is the analysis of literature. The fifth step is development of research questions, followed by the sixth step of evaluating the questions. The seventh step involves interpreting the results and drawing on conclusions, and the final step is providing a summary of the findings and development of recommendations.

The learners should also learn the different data collection methods such as surveys and questionnaires, interviews, focus group discussions, observation, and review of documents and records. The learners should then provide a comparison of the two and at the same time provide the advantages and disadvantages of each identified.

Assessment Completion

In completing the 5UIN assessment, the learners should follow the Harvard referencing format, and follow the CIPD guidelines. It is advised for the learners to develop the report using headings and subheadings to provide clear outline of the discussed topic issues.