Nelson College London Assignment Brief Unit Details: Unit Code (K/601/1749) (Unit 20) Unit Name: Business Health Check Programme Name: HND in Hospitality Management Awarding body: Pearson Unit Level: QCF- Level 5 Academic term: May - August 2016 Assignment Brief Distribution date: Week commencing: 23 May, 2016 Submission deadline : 28 July, 2016 Result and feedback date: 4 weeks from the deadline 1 Unit 20- Business Health Check Nelson College London Course Details Course Name Higher National Diploma (HND) in Hospitality Management Unit number 20 Unit Name Business Health Check (Unit 20) Credit Value 15 Lecturer Hakeem Kazeem Issue Date Week Commencing: 23 May, 2016 Submission Deadline 28 July, 2016 2 Unit 20- Business Health Check Nelson College London Introduction Business Health Check in the hospitality industry, like in other industries, can be defined as a quantitative and measurable assessment of a business. This check will indicate areas of improvement and the best direction to follow to grow and improve a business. All businesses have weaknesses as well as strengths. If you want to sustain and grow your business, it is vital to address these issues before they threaten your chances of longterm success. A business health check can be a key part of that process. A business health check asks some key questions about your business highlighting areas of potential weaknesses and pointing you in the direction of relevant help and support. A business health check should cover the following areas: - People, management and culture - Resources - Innovation, ideas and IT - Marketing and sales - Operations and systems - Finance A business health check should also look at the culture or context the organization operates in, and should take more than one persons view. Any business health check that does not look at all of these areas is potentially missing a key element of your business. Context is important. 3 Unit 20- Business Health Check Nelson College London Assignment aim: The aim of this assignment is to enable you to build on the work done in class to further develop your understanding of the way that the progress of a business involved in the hospitality industry can be checked and its direction amended depending on what is happening inside and outside the company at any time. Learners are expected to write a report covering the assessment criteria listed under each of the learning outcomes. To achieve a pass in this unit, a learner must successfully address all the assessment criteria listed (P1- P7). Learners are expected to achieve their potentials and are encouraged to address all pass criteria, merit and distinction descriptors. Learners will need to select an organisation of their choice and base the whole report on that organisation. It is expected that they do comprehensive research of their chosen organisation with a view to pointing out examples of the authenticity of their report. They are also expected to read and cite relevant books, newspapers and industry journals to find suitable articles from which they can make relevant comparisons and elicit references. Like all business reports, it is recommended that the report should have an introduction, body and a conclusion. 4 Unit 20- Business Health Check Nelson College London Outline of assignment: For the purposes of this assignment you are to take the role of a consultant called in to carry out a business health check of a company of your choice in the hospitality industry. Much of the information you will need to deal successfully with this assignment must be accessed through your own activities and research. You should note that it is essential that in writing your report you look well beyond just the website of the company you have chosen. Comparative analysis can also be made looking at websites of similar companies and also newspapers and journals. Assignment tasks: Task 1 - Understand the focuses of the business (LO1) You begin by carrying out an analysis of your chosen company's current situation and its position within the hospitality industry. P1. First of all, you analyse the company's history together with their short and long term objectives and, in doing this, you gather information from a variety of digital sources. (AC1.1) P2. Secondly, you investigate the external influences on the business through carrying out a detailed PESTLE analysis plus an industry analysis using Porter's Five Forces, and you follow this with an analysis of the internal situation. You then draw out the results of these analyses into a detailed SWOT analysis. (AC1.2) M1 - To achieve M1, learners are expected to use an effective approach in carrying out detailed PESTLE and Porter's Five Forces analyses. To this end, the use of diagrams would be considered an effective approach. D1 - To achieve D1, learners are expected to make sure self-criticism of approach has taken place in drawing out the results of the detailed SWOT analysis. P3. Then, using your SWOT analysis as a base, you consider possible options for improvements to the company and its operation using Ansoff's Growth Matrix to assist your development of possible options (AC1.3) M2 - To achieve M2, learners are expected to make sure a range of sources of information, which might be evidenced by detailed and correct use of the Harvard Referencing System, has been used to discuss the possible options for improvements to the company and its operations. 5 Unit 20- Business Health Check Nelson College London D2 - To achieve D2, learners are expected to make sure that the importance of interdependence has been recognised has been when explaining possible options for improvements to the company and its operation. Task 2 - Be able to develop plans for the business (LO2) Now, you begin the consider the future of your selected organisation in more detail using the information you gathered as part of Task 1 P4. Your starting point is a final review of the effectiveness of the company looking at products/services; marketing; finance; staffing; business image (AC2.1) P5. This leads you to a plan for the company's future development in which you consider internal and external issues and also provide justification of the value of your plan. (AC2.2) Task 3 - Be able to evaluate and develop skills of management and staff (LO3) Your final task is to consider the current skills and the development needs of management and staff. P6. Using the information sources you have already identified, you should evaluate the current skills, experience and abilities of your chosen company's management and staff (AC3.1) M3 - To achieve M3, learners are expected to make sure that appropriate structure and approach to investigation and evaluation has been used with regard to appropriate skills development for management and staff of their selected organisation. P7. Knowledge of the current situation leads you to the production of an outline plan for future skills development. This may cover new skills that you have identified as desirable and also the improvement of existing skills. You also consider the need to link skills targets to business targets and you also provide a detailed justification of your plans. (AC3.2) D3 - To achieve D3, learners are expected to make sure that possible problems that can arise in the production of an outline plan for future skills development have been discussed and solutions proposed. 6 Unit 20- Business Health Check Nelson College London Guidelines for Report writing Structure and Format You are advised to use the following format: Title page - The details of the unit, student name and ID number. Contents page - Should be provided with page numbers. Introduction - The background, the issue and the aim of the report. Major sections - As many as necessary, usually covering the concepts used, the information collected and the evaluation. Conclusions - Overall findings of the investigation: the overall picture that has emerged and the implications. Recommendations - Actions that should be taken based on the conclusions. References - Identification of literature and other sources used and referred to in the text. Ensure that all references are quoted at the end of any quotations, definitions and websourced materials (Preferred: Harvard referencing). Submission of report without references will not be allowed. Word count - All tasks should be completed within a word limit of 4500, plus or minus 10%. Words in tables, diagrams and appendices, including your reference list, do not count. You should note that there may be penalties for assignments which are over length. 7 Unit 20- Business Health Check Nelson College London Appendix A: Plagiarism and Collusion Any act of plagiarism and collusion will be seriously dealt with according to the regulations. In this context the definition and scope of plagiarism are presented below: Plagiarism is defined as the act of using the work of others without acknowledging source of information or inspiration. \"Even if the words are changed or sentences are put in different order, the result is still plagiarism\". (Cortell 2003) Collusion describes as the submission of work produced in collaboration for an assignment based on the assessment of individual work. When one person shares his/her work with others who submit part or all of it as their own work. Appendix B: Harvard Referencing System (HRS) Any information that is not yours needs to be referenced or else turns to be plagiarism. Copying from someone's work can be unintentionally done if you are unaware of the rules of acknowledging and referencing direct quotations. The Harvard system of citation requires you to acknowledge certain information, which are mainly the surname and year of publication within the text. For example: According to Bell (1999), as you write your report you will use a citation to indicate in your text the source of piece of information. This is called in-text referencing. The authors and publication information cited within the main body of your work must be listed in the reference list. For example: Bell, J. (1999) 'Doing your research Project'. (3rd Ed) Buckingham: Open University Press Detailed guidance on the Harvard Referencing System (HRS) is available on the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). 8 Unit 20- Business Health Check Nelson College London Indicative reading for learners Textbooks Chon, K and Maier, A.T. (2010) Welcome to Hospitality...an Introduction,3rd Edition. Canada: Nelson Education, Ltd. Cathy, E.A. (2010) Hospitality Strategic Management-Concept and Cases,2nd Edition. , New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. Sommerville, L.M. (2007) Hospitality Employee management and Supervision, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. Journals Mohamed Nassar. 2012. Exploring current benchmarking practices in the Egyptian hotel sector. Benchmarking: An International Journal 19:6, 730-742. Anthony Brien, Nazmun Ratna, Lyn Boddington. 2012. Is Organizational Social Capital Crucial for Productivity Growth? An Exploration of \"Trust\" within Luxury Hotels in New Zealand. Journal of Human Resources in Hospitality & Tourism 11:2, 123-145. Jehad S. Aldehayyat, Adel A. Al Khattab, John R. Anchor. 2011. The use of strategic planning tools and techniques by hotels in Jordan. Management Research Review 34:4, 477-490. Newspapers Quality newspapers - especially the hospitality sections Websites www.abta.com www.iata.org www.keynote.co.uk www.mintel.com www.staruk.com www.statistics.gov.uk www.tourismconcern.com www.visitbritain.com www.wttc.org 9 Association of British Travel Agents International Air Transport Association Key Note market information Mintel site provides media, product and Consumer information English tourism statistics National Statistics Online official UK statistics Tourism Concern Visit Britain travel guide to Britain World Travel and Tourism Council Unit 20- Business Health Check