Assignment Task

A distinguishing feature of the APC program is its focus as a work integrated program with practical application of learning in the organisation.

This unit focuses on HR competencies and behaviours and their application to ensure the HR professional’s ability to demonstrate their skills and knowledge and its application in the workplace.

Unit 4 assessment requires students to select, plan, implement and evaluate a work- based project which demonstrates their ability to apply their learning from the APC program, and the HR competencies and behaviours of the Australian HR Capability Framework , in the workplace in terms of building organisational capability.

You will apply the HR competencies and behaviours learnt throughout the APC program through the assessment tasks and the reflections recorded in your learning journal.

1. Pre-work

As part of APC program Unit 4 assessment, you must undertake the following pre-work requirements:

Prior to commencing Unit 4

1. Identify and select an organisational capability opportunity or problem / issue that you will use as the focus of your work-based project. You will need to be able to articulate:
   • The context and background to the problem/issue including an overview of the organisation, its size, complexity and your
   • The aim of the project with a clear understanding of the problem to be solved, issue to be addressed, or change to be
   • The objectives/deliverables of the project – what you hope to achieve by the end of the 30-week timeframe and how you intend contribute to building organisational
2. Identify your organisation project sponsor (e.g. your direct manager or head of HR) and meet with them to discuss the potential work-based project. Using the information in the completed pre-work template (see below), obtain their approval for the project concept and commitment to support the planning, implementation and evaluation of the

Provide your sponsor with a copy of the Unit 4 Project Sponsor Guide so they clearly understand their role and responsibilities. (Note: The sponsor guide is available on the APC student portal in the Unit 4 pre-work section.)

After you have attended the first workshop or webinar

3. When you have completed items 1 and 2 above and attended the first workshop or webinar, complete and submit the pre-work template (which is essentially a rough/first draft of your project proposal) to your Academic Coordinator via the online portal within one week after the first workshop/ webinar .

2. Work-based Project - Project Proposal and Plan

Project proposal and project plan

Prepare a convincing proposal and plan for your Applied Project in Organisational Capability using the template provided. Your project proposal and plan needs to be approved and signed off by your organisational sponsor (e.g. your direct manager or HR director).

In this document you will include a detailed plan about how you will implement your organisational capability project. This will include:

• A clear outline of how the project will build organisational capability
• Proposed approach or method for achieving the aim and objectives – i.e. implementation methodology for the project
• A full task / time plan in a table, figure or other structured format using project management techniques
• A full risk assessment
• Resources required, including personnel and budgeting issues, and securing time in the workplace to work on the project
• Any other details from your project proposal that you wish to expand

3. Work-based Project - Project Report

Write an evaluative project report detailing your Applied Project in Organisational Capability and the outcomes.

The project report will consist of two parts and be uploaded and submitted as two separate documents:

• Part A: Executive summary (preliminary parts)
• Part B: Project report (i.e. main body of report, inclusive of a table of contents, and supplementary parts).

NOTE: The supplementary parts of the project report, being reference list and appendices, are NOT included in the word count for this assessment task. Further information is provided below.

Use the following notes and the ‘Guidance on Producing a Project Report’ information on the following pages to guide your completion of this assessment task.

Executive summary

The executive summary should be written after the project report (using the template provided). It briefly advises of the findings, conclusions and recommendations of the project – it contains the ‘essence’ of the report so that a reader can read just this section to glean the most important information. The executive summary distils and presents essential information.

The executive summary concisely sums up the whole report. It contains a limited number of paragraphs summarising the main findings. It is not an introduction or preview of what is to come; rather it provides the key answers in a nutshell.

To prepare your executive summary, read each section of your project report and ask yourself, ‘what is this really saying’?

Body of the project report

The main body of the report includes:

• an introduction
• the body (Note: The words ‘the body’ are not used as a heading; rather the body of the report is made up of sections with informative headings and paragraphs)
• the conclusion
• recommendations - these should be precise, concise action items specifying what, when and who, often in point form. The recommendations should be specific, practical and feasible. Everything that you recommend in this section must have a secure anchor in the preceding sections of the report. Evidence or justification must exist in the body of the report. If you have a properly designed analysis and report, the same issues or themes will flow through the whole report and in this case when the reader gets to your recommendations they will not be surprised or be thinking ‘where did that idea come from?’.
• final page with author’s signature, name, position and

Use the template on the following pages to develop the executive summary.

4. Learning Journal

Keep a learning journal during your Unit 4 studies and at the end of the study period use it (and your Learning Journals from Units 1-3 if you are a full study pathway student) for reflection and evaluation. You should:

• Analyse your Unit learning journal/s – both the content and the
• Assess your HR competencies by:
  • reviewing the Personal Development Plan that you developed as part of your Unit 1 studies OR
  • completing the AHRI Australian HR Capability Analysis Tool available on the AHRI website

You should identify those areas where you require further professional development to create a career development plan for yourself that can be actioned following completion of the APC program.

• Reflect on your learning in the APC program and:
  • How the learning journal/s (Units 1-4) and the capstone assessment (i.e. applied project in organisational capability) have helped you develop as a HR
  • What you have learnt about yourself as HR professional. You may wish to revisit the Australian HR Capability Framework to reflect on the skills, knowledge and behaviours required for certified HR practitioners.
  • What have you learnt to enable you to be more effective in your role and
  • How you are able to help your organisation build its human resources capability and achieve its strategic objectives.