BUOB017H6 - Learning and Employee Development

Assignment brief

Source: https://andrewbeso.medium.com/ikigai-how-to-navigate-life-using-a-framework-efa39d4a4f5e

You work for a small psychology consultancy, which has just been brought in to advise a young
start-up on their learning and development activities and strategy. The start-up is called Ikigai,
the ancient Japanese concept for “a reason for being”. The company has developed a series
of holistic therapy businesses ideas, including an app. The company is now rapidly expanding
and recognises the need to formalise learning and development; they are asking you to
provide an advisory report drawing on current evidence.

The team currently consists of 10 people: 4 App developers, 1 Marketing/Comms manager, 3

Sales Managers, 1 Finance Director and the CEO/Founder.
They are all graduates but apart from the CEO none had any specific training or corporate
experience.

Igaki believe that they have training and development needs in the following areas:

• people management skills (almost every person in the team would get line
management responsibilities);
• the ability to work efficiently with virtual teams spread across multiple countries and
in different time zones.

The CEO has asked you to consider a series of questions they want to include in the report.
He holds qualifications in business psychology and is keen that that your recommendations
are backed up by evidence and that you speak with authority about your assumptions and
suggestions. Please refer to the technical brief for any further support with your writing.

These are the questions you need to address:

1. Why is it important to have a Learning and Development strategy for the team? (400
words)

2. What kind of interventions would you recommend to develop the team on their
management skills? (500 words)

3. In view of a possible expansion into other markets, what development areas would
you recommend Ikigai to focus on to make sure that virtual teams work together well?
(500 words)

4. How would you make sure that the trained skills are maintained in time and become
a working standard for Ikigai? (600 words)

Technical Brief (read carefully)

• Include a cover sheet (You can download one on Moodle if you like, or make one
that includes the same info)
• Please use professional criteria for your document, choose legible fonts, create
paragraphs, you can rewrite the questions if you like and they will not count towards
your wordcount. Use spaces and make sure you submit a version you would feel
confident to hand it to a client.
• Whilst this is a professional report, you will still need to use academic referencing
throughout the assignment.
• Include a reference list at the end of the assignment.
• Your statements must be backed up by evidence. For instance, if you recommend
coaching or face to face training, you should find evidence in the literature that
demonstrates your recommendations have been investigated and proved to work.
• Use APA style for your referencing (use this guide if you need help http://bbk-psy-
sci.com/apa-citing-referencing-ii/). In-text referencing as well as a tidy reference list
at the end of the assignment are mandatory.
• Stick to the number of words indicated for each question and include the word count
at the bottom of every answer. For example

1. Why is it important to have a Learning and Development strategy for the team? (400 words)

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Quisque commodo erat turpis, a consequat est cursus quis.
Pellentesque sit amet interdum massa. Nulla ut leo eget risus rhoncus faucibus eget non ante. Duis at felis facilisis, rutrum
ante eget, suscipit ex. Aenean eget arcu ornare, porta quam quis, pharetra tortor. Nam dui quam, faucibus vel interdum
vel, finibus a orci. Nam egestas vel magna a tempor. Praesent suscipit nisl metus, et rutrum libero dignissim scelerisque.
Phasellus interdum, risus eu pretium ultricies, massa felis congue dui, ut molestie felis libero quis nisl. Integer et arcu
ultricies libero fermentum sagittis at et urna. Nam et lacus nec risus tincidunt faucibus et interdum nisi. Etiam a libero quis
quam bibendum gravida. Quisque posuere mollis urna, eget sagittis arcu varius vel.

Sed in fermentum ex. Nulla molestie vulputate eros, vel sodales sapien fringilla quis. Vestibulum bibendum finibus metus,
a interdum lectus lacinia sed. Quisque vestibulum quam ut consequat pretium. Aenean in facilisis nulla. Maecenas
pharetra placerat turpis, eu tempus tortor iaculis nec. Nulla vel faucibus elit. Cras suscipit cursus arcu a porta. Donec et
metus et magna accumsan vehicula. Nulla vehicula vitae velit ac pulvinar. Proin pretium libero ut sapien blandit, id suscipit
ligula auctor.

Orci varius natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. In aliquet dictum tempus. In at
• Use the allocated number of words provided. Do not exceed it and do not write less.
A few words (10/15 words) in excess or less than indicated is acceptable.
• There is not a minimum number of references required, however, given the nature
of the assignment, you will hardly offer a compelling amount of evidence if you only
consult 3 or 4 papers. Aim for 10 or more sources at least.
• Do not copy and paste from the papers you read. Always paraphrase what you find
interesting and cite accordingly. Remember Turnitin has a sophisticated software
that detects any attempt to plagiarise. If you are concerned about what you wrote,
you can check out the Similarity Report on Turnitin by submitting a draft version of
your paper before the submission deadline. The marker will only see the latest
version you upload.
• Proofread your answers before you submit and pay attention to grammar,
punctuation, sentence structure and register. If you struggle with Academic writing
look for support on our Birkbeck portal or talk to your tutor.
• If you have any disability and/or impairment of any kind make sure that the school is
informed, so that this can be taken into account appropriately.