HRMT11011 Human Resource Management
Assessment Task 3 – Business Report (Individual)

Unit and Semester Details

• Unit code and title: HRMT11011 – Human Resource Management
• Career level: Undergraduate
• Assessment task: Assessment 3 – Business Report (Individual)
• Weighting: 45%
• Length: 1,700 words ±10% (excluding reference list)
• Due date: Review/Exam Week, Monday 8 June 2026, 11:45 p.m. (AEST)
• Submission: Online via Moodle (Turnitin-enabled submission point)

Unit Learning Outcomes Assessed

On successful completion of this task, you will demonstrate achievement of the following HRMT11011 Unit Learning Outcomes:

• Identify and evaluate key HRM functions such as human resource planning, recruitment and selection, and employee health and safety.
• Explain how primary HRM functions relate to each other and contribute to broader organisational strategy.
• Discuss the strategic role that HRM plays in 21st century organisations.
• Analyse contemporary HRM issues, including ethical, social and sustainability dimensions, using relevant HRM concepts and models.

Purpose of the Assessment

This assessment requires you to produce a formally structured business report that critically analyses a contemporary human resource management issue in an organisation based on a current news story provided on the unit Moodle site. It builds your capacity to read and interpret real organisational events through an HRM lens, apply relevant theories and frameworks, and develop evidence-based recommendations that recognise both strategic and ethical implications for people management practice.

Context

Organisations are increasingly scrutinised in the media for how they manage people, whether the issue involves workplace safety, precarious contracts, algorithmic management, or systemic discrimination. HR professionals must be able to interpret such situations, diagnose underlying HRM issues, and articulate realistic interventions that align with organisational goals and legal and ethical expectations. This task simulates that responsibility by asking you to analyse an actual news story about an organisation and produce a business report suitable for a senior management audience.

Task Description

You are required to write an individual business report based on a contemporary news story about an organisation that will be provided in the Week 6 section of the Moodle site (available from Week 5). The news story will relate to a significant people-management issue faced by the organisation (for example, large‑scale layoffs, workplace harassment, union disputes, safety failures, or the use of AI in HR processes).

Your business report must:

1. Summarise the news story brieflyProvide a concise, objective summary of the article, identifying:
   • The organisation and industry involved.
   • The core HR-related incident or issue described.
   • The key stakeholders affected (e.g. employees, unions, managers, regulators).
   • Any immediate organisational responses or stated intentions.

   Keep this to approximately 200–300 words, written in your own words, with appropriate in‑text citation to the news source.

2. Identify and analyse key HRM issuesIdentify at least three (3) substantive HRM issues raised in the news story and analyse them using concepts, frameworks and theories from this unit and the prescribed textbook. Your analysis should:
   • Explain why each issue is an HRM issue (not just a general management or PR issue).
   • Link each issue to relevant HRM topics covered in the unit (for example, strategic HRM, HR planning, recruitment and selection, performance management, training and development, health and safety, employment relations, diversity and inclusion, rewards, ethics and sustainability).
   • Use at least three distinct chapters of the prescribed textbook plus a minimum of six (6) recent academic peer‑reviewed journal articles (2014–2026) to support your discussion.
   • Engage critically with the literature by comparing perspectives, acknowledging limitations and commenting on the applicability of concepts to the case context.
3. Discuss strategic and ethical implicationsDemonstrate how the identified HRM issues:
   • Connect with the organisation’s broader strategy, performance, and reputation.
   • Involve ethical, legal, social or sustainability considerations (for example, equity, employee wellbeing, psychological safety, corporate social responsibility, or compliance with labour legislation).
   • May affect long‑term workforce capability, employer branding, and trust within the organisation.
4. Develop evidence‑based recommendationsProvide clear, practical and realistic recommendations for how the organisation’s HR function and senior management should address the issues identified. Each recommendation should:
   • Directly address a specific HRM issue discussed earlier in your report.
   • Be justified by academic literature and, where relevant, current industry reports or professional guidelines.
   • Indicate the anticipated benefits and potential implementation challenges.
   • Align with strategic HRM principles and reflect ethical and legal responsibilities.

Report Structure and Presentation

Your submission must be written as a formal business report suitable for a management audience. Use clear headings and logical flow. The following structure is recommended:

1. Title page (not counted in word length)
   • Unit code and title.
   • Assessment task number and title.
   • Report title (meaningful and specific to the case).
   • Student name and ID.
   • Word count (excluding reference list).
2. Executive summary (150–200 words)
   • Purpose of the report.
   • Brief overview of the news story and key HRM issues.
   • High‑level summary of main findings and recommendations.
3. Table of contents with page numbers.
4. Introduction
   • Introduce the organisation and context of the news story.
   • State the aim of the report and briefly outline report structure.
5. Summary of the news story
   • Concise case description that sets up the analysis.
6. Analysis of key HRM issues
   • Thematically organised subsections, each focused on a specific HRM issue.
   • Integration of relevant concepts, theories and empirical literature.
7. Strategic and ethical implications
   • Discussion of how the issues influence organisational strategy, risk and ethics.
8. Recommendations
   • Numbered, prioritised, and explicitly linked to your analysis.
9. Conclusion
   • Brief closing section that reinforces the overall argument without introducing new material.
10. Reference list (new page, not included in word count)
    • Formatted using the CQU APA Referencing Guide (APA 7th Edition).
    • No bibliography. Only sources cited in‑text should appear here.

Use 1.5 line spacing, a clear font (e.g. 11–12 pt Calibri or Times New Roman), standard margins, and page numbers. Write in an academic yet accessible style, avoiding colloquial language and first person unless explicitly justified.

Research and Referencing Requirements

• You must cite the prescribed HRM textbook and draw on at least three different chapters relevant to your discussion.
• You must include at least six (6) relevant academic peer‑reviewed journal articles, published from 2014 onwards, in addition to the textbook.
• Primary theoretical sources (classic HRM models or foundational frameworks) published prior to 2014 may be used where appropriate.
• You are encouraged to include current industry reports, professional guidelines or credible practitioner sources to illustrate the practical application of concepts (for example, reports from CIPD, SHRM, ILO, or industry regulators), provided these supplement, not replace, academic sources.
• All in‑text citations and references must follow the CQU APA Referencing Guide rigorously.
• Paraphrase ideas in your own words. Use direct quotations sparingly and only where precise wording is necessary.

Academic Integrity

Your work must be original and prepared specifically for this unit and assessment in the current term. All use of sources must be acknowledged correctly. Instances of plagiarism, collusion, contract cheating or other academic misconduct will be managed in line with the University’s Academic Integrity Policy and may result in penalties.

Late Submission

Penalties for late submission will be applied according to CQUniversity policy. Unless an approved extension has been granted, marks will be deducted for each calendar day the assessment is late.

Marking Criteria and Rubric

Your report will be marked out of 100 and weighted at 45% of your final grade. The marking rubric below indicates how marks will be allocated.

Table 1. Assessment 3 – Business Report Rubric

Additional Guidance

• Do not commence writing until the Week 6 news story has been released and you have read the Business Report Guide and Marking Rubric on Moodle.
• Plan your word count across sections. Overlong summaries usually reduce space for analysis and recommendations.
• Draft early and allow time for revision, editing and reference checking.

Sample Answer Paper Help Excerpt

Effective responses to this business report task typically move beyond recounting the news story and instead reposition the incident as evidence of deeper HRM system failures that accumulate over time. In a recent case involving a large Australian retailer, for example, media coverage of widespread underpayment only made sense once the analysis considered the interaction between aggressive cost‑leadership strategies, decentralised payroll processes and weak internal HR audit mechanisms. Drawing on strategic HRM literature, the discussion can show how misalignment between espoused values about “caring for people” and hard performance targets created perverse incentives that normalised non‑compliance at store level, even when senior leaders publicly emphasised ethical conduct. When students connect such dynamics to well‑established models of HRM–performance links, like the AMO framework and high‑performance work systems, their argument begins to show how workforce outcomes emerge from coherent bundles of practices rather than isolated HR decisions. Studies of wage theft in Australia suggest that these patterns are rarely accidental, and that they tend to be concentrated in sectors with complex award coverage and asymmetric power relations between employers and frontline workers (Charlesworth & Macdonald, “Wage theft in Australia: Why it happens and what it means”).

Stronger papers often extend this argument by integrating evidence from regulatory bodies and professional guidelines to demonstrate how recommended HR interventions have already been tested or codified. For instance, linking the case to Fair Work Ombudsman undertakings and to Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development guidance on responsible people management allows students to justify measures such as centralised payroll governance, HR analytics for compliance monitoring and structured whistleblowing channels as more than abstract textbook prescriptions. Empirical research on psychological safety shows that employees are significantly more likely to report unethical practices when they trust that managers will respond fairly and protect them from retaliation, which means recommendations about “speaking up” only become credible when the report specifies the HR practices that cultivate that climate in practice. Referencing these sources not only deepens the analysis but also signals to markers that the student can bridge academic theory, regulatory expectations and practical organisational design choices.

A common follow‑up challenge students search for is how to differentiate between merely listing recommendations and constructing an integrated HR strategy that addresses the root causes identified in the analysis. The most convincing responses treat recommendations as a coherent roadmap that sequences short‑term remedial steps, such as immediate back‑pay and policy clarification, alongside medium‑term capability building through manager training and strengthened HR information systems. They also acknowledge trade‑offs, for example the tension between flexible rostering and predictable hours, and justify where the organisation should shift its current position in light of evidence on turnover, engagement and employer branding. Students who explicitly connect each recommendation to a specific rubric criterion, such as strategic alignment or ethical reasoning, and who briefly signal how they would evaluate impact over time (for example, through audit data or employee survey metrics), tend to satisfy both academic standards and the expectations of AI‑driven search tools that prioritise actionable, well‑reasoned guidance.

Suggested Recent Academic References (2018–2026)

• Jiang, K., Lepak, D. P., Jia, J., & Baer, J. C. (2018). How does human resource management influence organisational outcomes? A meta‑analytic investigation of mediating mechanisms. Academy of Management Journal, 55(6), 1264–1294. https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2016.0085
• Collings, D. G., Wood, G. T., & Szamosi, L. T. (2019). Human resource management: A critical approach. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315713984
• Cooke, F. L., Schuler, R., & Varma, A. (2020). Human resource management research and practice in Asia: Past, present and future. Human Resource Management Review, 30(4), 100778. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hrmr.2020.100778
• Guest, D. (2021). Human resource management and employee well‑being: Towards a new analytic framework. Human Resource Management Journal, 31(4), 873–890. https://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12356
• Beijer, S., Peccei, R., van Veldhoven, M., & Paauwe, J. (2021). The turn to employees in the HRM–performance research literature: A review and future research agenda. Human Resource Management Journal, 31(1), 1–27. https://doi.org/10.1111/1748-8583.12261

You should also consult and reference the prescribed HRMT11011 textbook listed in the current unit profile.

Sample Topics Guide

1. “HRMT11011 Assessment 3 Business Report example on HRM issues in a news story”
2. “HRMT11011 Human Resource Management Assessment 3 news story business report guide”
3. “Business report analysing HRM issues in a contemporary organisational news story”
4. “Applying HRM theory to a real‑world news case in HRMT11011”
5. Write a 1,700‑word APA‑referenced business report for HRMT11011 Assessment 3 that summarises a set news story, analyses at least three HRM issues using academic literature and provides evidence‑based recommendations.
6. Prepare a 5–6 page business report in HRMT11011 that links a contemporary news article about an organisation to strategic HRM concepts, critical analysis and practical HR recommendations, following CQU APA guidelines.
7. HRMT11011 Assessment 3 requires an individual business report on a provided news story, focusing on HRM issue analysis, strategic implications and referenced recommendations.

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Assessment / Discussion Task

HRMT11011 – Week 9 Discussion Forum Post (Formative, Ungraded or Low‑stakes)

Title: Week 9 Discussion: Reflecting on HRM Lessons from Your Business Report Case

Description / Overview:

In Week 9 you will be asked to contribute an individual discussion post that builds on the organisation and news story you analysed for Assessment 3. The aim is to consolidate your learning by reflecting on what the case reveals about the strategic role of HR and the challenges of implementing “best practice” in real workplaces. This task also provides a space to share insights with peers and compare HRM issues across different industries.

Main Instructions:

• In an initial post of 300–400 words, briefly restate your Assessment 3 organisation and one key HRM issue you examined.
• Discuss what you now see as the most significant lesson for HR practitioners from this case, making explicit reference to at least one HRM concept or model from the unit.
• Comment on whether your view of “effective HRM” changed after working on the business report and explain why.
• Respond to at least two peers (100–150 words each) by comparing their case with yours and noting a similarity or difference in the HRM challenges or responses.
• Use in‑text references where appropriate and maintain a respectful, professional tone.