7CO02 People Management and Development Strategies for Performance Learner Assessment Brief 2026

7CO02 People Management and Development Strategies for Performance Learner Assessment Brief 2026

7CO02 Learner Assessment Brief

Introduction

Your knowledge and understanding of the material covered in this core unit will be assessed through your answers to four of the questions listed below. Your assessor will let you know which questions you are to answer. You are expected to complete all the learning for the unit, irrespective of which questions you are asked to answer.

The four questions will be drawn from different learning outcomes, featuring one assessment criterion in each learning outcome. These questions encompass a wide range of generalist HR, OD & L&D subject areas.

You will write four answers of approximately 1000 words to the questions posed and submit them together in a single document. This constitutes your assessment for this unit. The total word count for the assessment will therefore be 4000 words, plus or minus 10%. The bibliography or list of references is not included in the total word count.

You must demonstrate within the submitted evidence (through headings and sub-headings) which learning outcomes and assessment criteria you have addressed. We are unable to moderate your work if this is not included.
As this is an Advanced Level Diploma, it is important that you are able to demonstrate not only good knowledge and understanding of the material associated with each learning outcome, but also the ability to develop an original argument and justify it persuasively with reference to wider reading. Examples of approaches taken in a range of organisations are also an effective means by which to justify your arguments.

The six main criteria that CIPD requires centres to use when marking your assessment are outlined below, but it maybe that not all these criteria are present in every question.

1. focus
2. depth and breadth of understanding
3. strategic application and professional advice
4. research and wider reading
5. persuasiveness and originality
6. presentation and language

Watch the supporting video for this unit: Link

Case Study

Essona is a UK-based, medium-sized retailer, employing around 1,200 people across its head office, distribution hubs, and 40 high street stores. The stores sell a carefully curated range of home, fashion and wellness products sourced from independent makers, that collectively express mindful and sustainable living.

The organisation positions itself in the market as a customer-centric, ethically responsible lifestyle brand, with four core values: trust, curiosity, care and accountability. Although these values are central to the brand identity, staff surveys suggest they are not consistently reflected in everyday people management practices.

Essona’s ambitious organisational strategy emphasises the importance of innovation, customer loyalty and a high performing workforce capable of delivering exceptional customer service. The strategy also sets out an ambition for the retailer to be more agile and digitally enabled, with a strong e commerce offer to complement the store presence. The wording of the strategy document references empowering people and creating a collaborative culture where ideas are valued, experimentation is encouraged and people development is key. However, to date, the approach to people management practice at Essona has followed a low road, cost minimisation model with strong elements of hard HRM. The People Team is small, consisting of a people manager (who is not part of the Senior Leadership Team), three people management officers (with responsibility for head office, stores and distribution hubs respectively), an L&D specialist and two administrative assistants. With such limited resources, day-to-day people practice is devolved to line managers.

Budget-driven decision-making, limited investment in learning and development, and a focus on short-term staffing efficiencies exemplify the low-road stance. Workforce planning tends to be reactive and performance management is compliance oriented. In addition, decision making is siloed, cross functional collaboration rarely occurs, and line managers often default to command-and-control styles of management despite the organisation’s stated values of trust, curiosity and care. As a result of these operational and cultural norms, Essona is slowly realising that current people practices do not align well with the organisation’s strategic goals and values.

Whilst Essona’s brand is well known, since the pandemic the retailer has experienced year-on-year declining sales and intense competition from retailers with a strong online presence. To address these problems the Senior Leadership Team has renewed its attention to the organisational strategy and developed a clear five-year action plan to ensure the digital transformation and operational optimisation that is central to the strategy is prioritised, and that the people culture and practices in the organisation are fit for the future.

Part of the plan involves improving the capacity of the People Team and paying greater attention to how people management can contribute to organisational performance. To lead this work and demonstrate a clear commitment to the strategic importance of people practice, Essona has recently appointed Maya Choudhury to the newly created Senior Leadership Team position of People Director.

In her first few months in post, Maya makes the following key observations:

• Skills shortages are emerging in digital, data analytics, and supply chain roles and the organisation is struggling to attract and retain the talent it needs.
• Employee turnover is a challenge in customer facing teams too, with exit interview data pointing to examples of uncaring and biased line managers, poor learning and development and limited career prospects.
• It is evident that learning and development provision has suffered from years of budget constraints. Much of the current offering consists of outdated e-learning modules and informal on-the-job instruction.
• There is no structured approach to talent management or succession planning.
• Performance management is viewed as administrative, and the annual appraisal cycle is treated purely as a tick box exercise. Objectives are often unclear, feedback is infrequent, and rewards are currently not aligned to performance or capability.
• Little attention has been paid to equity, diversity and inclusion or employee wellbeing, and Maya is concerned about the potential for grievances and/or the organisation developing a poor employer reputation.
• Recruitment and selection practices are basic and inconsistent, raising questions about their reliability and validity.
• Pay practices have developed over time and there are potential pay inequalities that have not been addressed.

Reflecting on these issues, Maya firmly believes that a move towards a high-performance working practices (HPWP) model is necessary if Essona’s organisational strategy and associated five-year action plan is to succeed.

Questions

Please ensure you review which of the questions you need to answer for your moderation window as it varies each time and are only required to answer 4 of the questions.

Your questions for this moderation window are:

Question 7 (AC 2.3)

Drawing on the CIPD Guide, Learning and development: How to develop and deliver effective learning (Sept 2025) and the CIPD Learning at work 2023 survey report, evaluate current developments in learning and development and organisational design and development, including how any of these could be adopted by Essona to modernise their outdated L&D offering and reduce the problem of siloed working.

Question 15 (AC 4.3)

Assess how Essona’s people management practices might need to vary if the organisation decides to expand internationally or deepens global supply chain partnerships.

Learning Outcome, Assessment Criteria and Indicative Content

1 Understand and debate the ways in which people management practices and strategies are connected to organisational outcomes and add value.

1.1 Explain the major objectives of people management practice in contemporary organisations.

Creating value for different stakeholders. Attracting and retaining staff; improving employee performance, motivation and engagement; managing change effectively; maintaining high- trust employment relationships; enhancing wellbeing; promoting equality, diversity and inclusion; enhancing organisational reputation; efficient administration.

1.2 Evaluate ways in which organisations align people management practices with organisational strategy and integrate people management practice within their culture, brand and values.

Vertical and horizontal integration; developing people practice strategies and people plans which relate to pressures up and down the supply chain. Managing and mitigating associated risks including the risks associated with the misalignment of people practice strategies and policies; the long- term impact of people management which improves the organisation’s culture and performance.

1.3 Examine the merits of different models of people practice management, including models of systemic thinking, and the ways these link to effective business performance.

High commitment models; low cost/low road approaches; hard and soft models, systems models. Best fit and best practice models; resource- based thinking. High performance models; debates about the relative merits of these models and when they are best used.

1.4 Critically evaluate research that links people management practice in organisations with improved employer outcomes.

Research linking people management practice to improved organisational effectiveness, including financial performance, customer satisfaction and people management outcomes. High performance work practices and bundles of good people management practice.

2 Understand current strategic practice in major areas of people management and development work.

2.1 Assess different approaches to the development of people management strategies.

Setting medium and long- term strategic objectives; emergent approaches to strategy- making; workforce planning; succession planning; organisational, team and individual development planning; environmental scanning; competitive positioning in labour markets. Communicating and implementing strategic plans.

2.2 Evaluate current developments in the fields of resourcing and performance management.

Core activities and current developments in the fields of recruitment, selection, employee retention, talent management, performance management and reward management.

2.3 Evaluate current developments in the fields of learning and development and organisational design and development.

Major theories and developments in practice in L&D, management development and organisational design and development; learning technologies; management development.

2.4 Evaluate current developments in the fields of employment relations, employee engagement and diversity and inclusion.

Union and non- union settings; informal working, the rise of the gig economy, the quality of work debate, employee involvement; discipline and grievance procedures. Developments in the field of employee engagement; wellbeing, stress management, employee voice, workplace flexibility. Developments in the field of equality, diversity and inclusion.

3 Understand the role and influence of people management professionals.

3.1 Examine the merits of the various ways in which people practice activities are organised and structured.

The variety of people practice roles (generalist and specialist); the structure of people management careers; major alternative ways of structuring the people practice function in organisations; the role of people consultants and providers of outsourced people services; working effectively with line managers and managers in other specialist functions; developing people management specialists and leaders; coaching, mentoring and consulting in different people practice contexts.

3.2 Critically assess the nature of ethics and professionalism in people practice and the role of the CIPD.

The role and objectives of the CIPD; interacting and networking with the people professional community; principles of professionalism and debates about professional management. Major ethical tensions and dilemmas faced by people managers and the ways these can be resolved; professional approaches to the management of the people management function.

3.3 Examine the major ways in which technology is changing the people management function in organisations.

Predictive data analytics, generative artificial intelligence, human resource information systems. Practical challenges associated with these and technological developments for people professionals: the pace of development, attracting and retaining expertise, training and development, managing change, associated costs and risks. Ethical challenges presented by data analytics and technological developments: reliability of data sources, data extraction and manipulation, reporting, data handling and compliance, GDPR, data sensitivity, potential for data security breach, managing risk and reputation.

3.4 Critically assess methods used to evaluate people management practices and interventions.

Employee surveys, focus groups and formal feedback exercises; evaluating return on investments; key people metrics and ratios; benchmarking; goal setting and auditing; effective human capital reporting. Contemporary and likely future developments in the evaluation of people management activity.

4 Understand ways in which people management practice varies in different contexts.

4.1 Analyse the advantages of partnering with external customers and suppliers to understand their current and future needs from a people practice perspective.

Gaining insight from external customers to inform people management and organisational strategy; methods of gathering data and feedback from external customers about people management performance; communicating and building relationships with larger external customers to inform people management practices; working with suppliers and external customers to ensure their people policies are in line with management expectations.

4.2 Examine the different issues and challenges facing people management professionals in different sectors.

People management practice in larger private corporations, public sector organisations, voluntary sector organisations, small and medium- sized enterprises, professional services organisations and different industrial sectors. Variation in the types of people management challenges, cultures and expectations in different organisational settings.

4.3 Assess how people management practice varies internationally.

Global cultural and institutional variation across the world of work and employment; effective structuring of international organisations; managing culturally diverse teams; global staffing strategies; international knowledge management; managing teams of expatriate staff at home and abroad; adopting a global mind- set to understand and improve relationships within and beyond the organisation.

4.4 Demonstrate an ability to build and maintain knowledge and understanding of developments relating to effective people management in different contexts.

Major contemporary research studies in the field of people management; major contemporary debates about current and future workplaces and people management practices; research undertaken, sponsored and published by the CIPD.

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