Reference no: EM132948897 , Length: word count:2000

Scenario

Company - Chalton Park Care Home

Choosing a topic
You need to carry out a piece of primary research on the subject of talent management. The CIPD (2020) defines talent management as ‘the systematic attraction, identification, development, engagement, retention and deployment of those individuals who are of particular value to an organisation, either in view of their ‘high potential' for the future or because they are fulfilling business/operation-critical roles.' They note that many organisations are broadening their definitions, looking at the ‘talents' of all their staff, so at its broadest, the term ‘talent' may be used to encompass the entire workforce of an organisation.

Pearson suggest a range of possible topics:
- Talent management as a strategic priority
- The role of talent management frameworks and future implications within organisations
- Effective talent management strategies for successful organisations
- The impact of talent management on the role HR
- Talent management for entrepreneurs and small businesses
- Best practices in global talent management within multinationals.

Primary research on these topics is very likely to need access to HR managers in order to interview them and analyse their views, comparing against what you have found in the literature.

If you cannot get access to at least four experienced HR managers within the organisation - which is very likely for all but larger organisations - you should focus on a specific aspect of talent management and look at the perceptions of staff relevant to that area. Examples of possible themes within the overall talent management topic could be:

• Specific aspects of recruitment or selection
• Staff retention
• Problems with performance appraisal
• Employee engagement
• Career management, from the perspective of people at a particular stage in their career and how they think about managing it
• Aspects of staff training or development - looking at managing staff careers from the perspective of an organisation
• Home working

When choosing a topic, please also keep the following points in mind:
• You need to select one business sector - in practice, you will need to find an organisation in a sector which could act as a case study for the wider sector.
• You are doing your research within a limited word count and timeframe, so you cannot address this topic in general terms - it must be focussed on a specific organisation to which you can gain access to gather primary data. The organisation could be in the UK, your home country (if not the UK) or anywhere else.
• The proposed research should be a realistic one for a student to do in the time available. You are not expected to propose a topic that would require a large research team or take years to complete!
• As your research report will include a short literature review, it is also important to consider whether there is enough literature when choosing your subject. This should not be a problem - there is a lot of material about talent management and the different elements within it. Finding one or two examples of past relevant research on which to model your own research should be perfectly possible and would be a very good idea.
• You are strongly recommended to propose only one method of collecting your primary data - e.g. a questionnaire survey or semi-structured interviews, not both.

Before you do a lot of work on this assignment, you should discuss your ideas for a topic with the module tutor and ensure that he agrees that the topic is a suitable one. A key factor to consider is whether you can get access to a suitable business/organisation. Think about the place where you work, or places you have worked before and have good contacts. What issues around talent management might be relevant?

Task 1
You are required to produce a research proposal with the following sections:

Title Page
CHAPTER 1 Introduction [around 500 words]
CHAPTER 2 Literature Review [around 1,000 words]
CHAPTER 3 Methodology Justification [250-500 words]

References
ANNEX 1 Research ethics approval form

Chapter 1. Introduction

In the introduction you should introduce the reader to the background to the study and the nature of the problem/issue/opportunity. It should therefore set the study in context explaining why this study is important. The main focus of the justification should be on why the research would be useful to the specific organisation to the wider sector. But you could also mention the academic interest of the topic - for example, how it would fill a gap in the literature. The aim and objectives should be stated clearly in this chapter.

You should also provide proof that you have access to gather your primary data. This could be a scanned letter or a copied email from a relevant manager, or contact details of the manager or of the intended interviewees.

Chapter 2. Literature Review

You are expected to provide a critical review of the existing literature on the research area being investigated. Key factors to take into account are:

• You cannot read every book and article on your chosen topic. Nevertheless your review should indicate that you have studied some good quality academic work in the field, including journal articles reporting relevant empirical research and/or credible stories from specialist or general news sites.

• The literature review should be relevant to your research aim and objectives. It should also inform your choice of methodology (e.g. you should consider what primary research methods previous researchers have used and consider whether this suggests you should propose the same method or a different one, or variations in your approach to build on what others have done).

• Critically reviewing past research is essential. You cannot just describe what you have read, with each article summarised in turn. The material needs to be organised into relevant themes/topics.

• The literature must be up-to-date. You should be looking to use plenty of recent literature (not older than five years).

Chapter 3. Methodology Justification

The purpose of this chapter is to explain briefly what your primary research method will be and then to justify why you chose that method. In other words, what are the advantages of the proposed method in your specific case and, where there are potential disadvantages of the method, why are these not so important or how do you plan to minimise them through a good research design.

Annex 1. Research ethics approval form

A version of this form is at Annex 1. You will need to complete this form and attach it as an annex to your assignment.

This provides evidence for LO1 and LO3
Word count: 2,000 words, +/-10%, excluding the research ethics approval form.