The key to this assignment is to THINK STRATEGICALLY. It may help to imagine you are in a senior position within an organisation and have been given responsibility for devising and implementing HR strategies to support the organisation in meeting the challenges. Where would you start? What would you do?

1. Look at the assignment brief. You are required to produce a 2500-word report relating to the hospitality industry.

Start by explaining the terms of reference of your report and introducing the industry. Also include a brief summary of the contents of the report.

2. The assignment asks you to"critically evaluate the extent to which strategic HRM can help organisations face current challenges".

You could start this section either by identifying the challenges or by defining and explaining ‘strategic HRM', but be sure to include both.

Identifying the challenges

· Analyse the current external environment, e.g. What are the trends within the industry? How much competition is there? What challenges do businesses face? Show evidence of research relating to the industry (remember to keep the challenges related to HR)

· Identify and evaluate the internal environment, e.g. What problems do businesses face? Consider in particular the ‘service encounter' - what are the key human resource issues within the sector? Again show evidence of research relating to the industry (remember to keep the challenges related to HR).

Defining and explaining strategic HRM

· Refer to theory to support your explanations

· Discuss the importance of strategic HRM to support business strategy

3. Link back to the industry and critically evaluate the extent to which it could benefit by using strategic HRM to support its business plans and achieve its objectives.

This will be the biggest section. Issues may include:

Human resource planning and flexibility of labour; Strategic recruitment and retention strategies; Employee development, knowledge management and succession planning; Performance management; Employment relationships and employee involvement; Motivation and reward strategies

Ensure you link the theoretical perspectives to the issues facing the industry, supporting your critical evaluation with reference to range of relevant theory and using examples from industry to illustrate your points.