Higher National Project - Type of Project: Investigation
Local hotel that expert have selected in Oman is Crown Plaza Hotel.
Purpose:
Designed to provide evidence that the learner has achieved the following principal aims of the HND Business (G9MM 16):
- develop learner competencies in a range of specialised areas of their choice in line with their preferred career pattern or courses of further study
- provide a basis for future career and personal development
- adopt an innovative and creative approach to their work and be able to respond quickly to the challenges posed by changes in the business environment
- enable learners to consider and revisit core business issues and develop a depth of understanding from a managerial perspective
- further develop organisational and investigative skills
- promote the development of transferable skills in planning, organising and evaluation and enable the learner to investigate business issues and problems in depth
- promote advanced level of entry to further academic or professional qualification
- develop underpinning knowledge which supports SVQs
Assessment
This Graded Unit will be assessed by the use of a project-based case investigation developed by centres. The project should provide the learner with the opportunity to produce evidence that demonstrates she/he has met the aims of this Graded Unit.
The project undertaken by the learner must be a complex task which involves:
- variables which are complex or unfamiliar
- relationships which need to be clarified
- a context which may be unfamiliar to the learner
The project must require the learner to:
- Analyse the task and decide on a course of action for undertaking the project. A detailed brief should be developed which would enable the learner to carry out the investigation. This should include an appropriate title, the issue(s) and/or business(es) to be investigated, objectives to be achieved, clear identification and justification of the resources to be used and an explanation of the methodologies to be adopted during the investigation.
- Plan and organise work and carry it through to completion. A plan must be produced with appropriate and realistic timeframes and required resources.
- Organise and implement that plan through to completion.
- Reflect on and evaluate the Planning and Developing stages including any personal development of skills, knowledge or understanding and draw conclusions for the future.
- Produce and/or present evidence of an evaluation of the investigation and the learner's performance as well as the personal development of the learner through the task.
- Produce evidence of meeting the aims which this Graded Unit has been designed to cover.
The project must involve the investigation of a business issue and the assessment of its implications for a business or a number of businesses. The learner will choose the issue to be investigated in consultation with their lecturer but it should be one which can be directly related to topics, concepts or models studied as part of the mandatory section of the HND Business. However, the issue investigated must relate to the way in which the business or businesses meets the needs of its internal and/or external customers.
The term 'business' refers to any organisation operating in the private, public or voluntary sector of the economy. 'Customers' refers to any internal or external customer of the organisation or to a number of such customers.
It is expected that learners will carry out the investigation individually. Learners should not produce joint evidence. Each learner must provide her or his individual responses to each of the three stages of the investigation and lecturers must be satisfied that the work has been completed by the individual learner.
Evidence Requirements -
The project undertaken by learners will consist of three stages: planning; developing; and evaluating. The following table specifies the minimum evidence required to pass each stage.
Project stages -
Stage 1 - Planning
Develop a brief to investigate a business issue and assess its implications for an organisation or organisations. The issue must involve meeting the needs of internal or external customers. The brief must include:
1. Initial personal assessment of the learner's skills.
2. An appropriate title of the project.
3. Statement of the issue to be investigated. This should cover how it involves meeting the needs of customers and who the relevant customers are.
4. Aims and objectives of the project.
5. Reasons for the choice of issue which must be directly related to a topic or topics covered as part of the Group Award.
6. Justification for the choice of business or businesses involved.
7. Explanation of the range of primary and secondary sources of information which will be used for the investigation and justification for the choice of each source.
8. Explanation of how the investigation will be conducted with justification for the choice of methods used.
Devise an action plan to carry out the investigation. The plan must include:
9. Negotiated dates for the planning, development and evaluation of the project.
10. Interim and final timescales and dates for conducting the investigation, which should be related to the objectives of the investigation.
11. Identification of the resources (including time) required to carry out the investigation.
Produce a log of activities carried out by the learner. The log must include activities undertaken, resources used and time allocated.
Evidence of all of the above should be presented. It may be supplemented by evidence provided orally by the learner in a discussion with their lecturer. If oral evidence is provided by the learner, a record of the main points of the discussion should be recorded.
The learner should retain evidence of their progress, experiences and personal development during the Planning and Developing stages of the investigation.
This will assist and support the learner during the evaluation stage of the project.
Stage 2 - Developing
Prepare a report of the investigation of a business issue and its implications for an organisation or organisations. It must include:
1. Detailed explanation of how the issue affects the organisation or organisations chosen. The explanation should be justified by explicit reference to the data collected and to concepts covered as in the mandatory Units of the Group Award. The explanation should be consistent with objectives at the Planning stage.
2. Analysis of the primary and secondary sources of information and data collected.
3. Assessment of the implications of these effects for the chosen organisation or organisations should be analysed in relation to the organisation(s), the business environment and the impact upon customers and should make reference to concepts and topics studied within the mandatory section of the Group Award.
4. Statement of the conclusions drawn from the investigation and any appropriate recommendations to be made to the organisation(s). These should be explicitly related to the issues being investigated and the needs of customers.
Produce a log of activities carried out by the learner.
The log must include activities undertaken, resources used and time allocated.
The report should consist of 2500-3500 words or equivalent, if presented verbally, and must be presented in a format suitable for a business report. This must include a contents page, a summary of findings, acknowledgements and references. The evidence may be supplemented by evidence provided orally by the learner in a discussion with their lecturer. If this is done, a record of the main points of the discussion should be recorded.
The learner should retain evidence of their progress, experiences and personal development during the Planning and Developing stages of the investigation.
This will assist and support the learner during the evaluation stage of the project.
Stage 3 - Evaluating
Providing an evaluation of the effectiveness of all parts of the investigation. The evaluation should include:
1. A brief outline of the investigation.
2. Assessment of the extent to which each of the original objectives of the investigation have been met. This should include reference to any modifications made during the course of the investigation and their importance and to any alternative courses of action considered but rejected. Throughout, the assessment should be supported with credible reasons.
3. Commentary on aspects of the Planning and Developing stages which worked effectively and why and/or aspects of the Planning and Developing stages which did not work as effectively as expected. Three separate aspects should be covered - one for the planning brief, one for the plan and one for the development report.
4. Assessment of the reliability and validity of the primary and secondary sources of information.
5. Assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the report of the investigation. This should be supported by credible reasons and cover at least one strength and at least one weakness.
6. Recommendations for future investigations. These should be based on items above and must relate to the personal development of the learner (eg in terms of the further development of skills used in this investigation) and aspects of the process or product of the investigation (eg with respect to setting timescales, gathering information or possible future investigations). It should be clear from the recommendations that the learner has reflected on what happened and has drawn conclusions from this reflection.
7. Assessment of new skills and knowledge gained during the process of the investigation.
The Evaluating section of the practical assignment will be assessed by the submission of 1500 words or equivalent, if presented verbally. Learners may present this evidence in a manner which they consider appropriate but it must be negotiated and agreed with their lecturer. Evidence may be submitted using more than one type of assessment instrument. The evidence may be supplemented by evidence provided orally by the leamer in a discussion with their lecturer. If this is done, a record of the main points of the discussion should be recorded.
Stage 2 needs to be 5000 words and Stage 3 need to be 1500 words.
Assignment Files -
https://www.dropbox.com/s/6z9vhonc2j6biqr/Assignment%20Files.rar?dl=0