HRM318 TMA01 Work Engagement and Career Development at LearnChamps, Singapore

Background

LearnChamps1 is a small medium enterprise based in Singapore. It is mainly engaged in the business of delivering enrichment programmes at the pre-primary level. LearnChamps vision is to nurture minds to be adaptive for the future. To achieve this vision, LearnChamps mission is to develop a world of learning champions that are focused on growth mindset, curiosity, and respect. LearnChamps develops its programmes using evidence-based pedagogy so that it is able to bring out the potential and virtue in every learner. Starting with just one centre, LearnChamps has grown to 28 centres across Singapore. LearnChamps is well-known for their innovative and engaging programmes and facilitators which sets them apart from their competitors.

LearnChamps comprises of several key departments. The programme development department is responsible for developing new activities and redeveloping existing activities based on latest educational technology. This can include their proprietary in-house learning software applications as well as classroom activities. The learning and development department is responsible for the training of new facilitators that adopts the unique pedagogy of LearnChamps. It is also responsible for the continuous learning and training of existing facilitators. The sales and marketing department is responsible for spearheading the LearnChamps brand positioning and business growth. This is done by researching the needs of the parents and children who enrols in their programmes as well as building brand presence through various publicity events. The operations department is also crucial to LearnChamps success. This department ensures that the all facilities, facilitators, and learners are seamlessly scheduled using the state-of-the art enterprise resource planning software.

The synergies between these three departments are important to give LearnChamps a strong edge against their competitors. Therefore, the senior leadership monitor several key performance indicators (KPI) to ensure that the departments are meeting their business outputs. For example, the senior leadership also tracks revenue of each centre to determine its performance. It also regularly measures it brand position through various indicators such as market share and awards.

The growth of LearnChamps has been steady. However, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is worried if the stability of the company has led to its people resting on their laurels. It has also been a while since they have last reviewed its human resources management system. Therefore, to ensure they maintain a competitive advantage, the CEO wants to understand how each aspect of the human resource management system relates to the work engagement.
To enable this, the Chief Human Resource Officer (CHRO) has engaged a consultancy firm that specialised in developing and implementing  engagement surveys. The Organisation Development Survey (ODS) is a proprietary survey owned by the consulting company which measures different work engagement factors for companies in various industries including LearnChamps. Doing so allows LearnChamps to understand the state of their human resource management system and how it impacts work engagement. With this in mind, LearnChamps has included several factors which are of interest to the company. These factors and their items are listed in Appendix 1.

Measuring Impact of the Initiatives

After the first ODS was conducted, focus group discussions was conducted among the employees. There are two purposes for the focus group discussion. The first purpose was to provide more details on the issues faced by the employees and areas of improvement. The second purpose was also to corroborate with the results of the ODS. Subsequently, based on these data, LearnChamps embarked on several initiative to improve the conditions of the
work environment. One of the initiatives was on the career development of the facilitators. Facilitators are a key group of employees for LearnChamps. Facilitators is a key touchpoint for the learners. Therefore, LearnChamps has put in place different levels of facilitators so that there will be a career path for facilitators to grow from a junior facilitator to a master facilitator. The annual ODS was then conducted two years later. The CEO is particularly keen to know whether the career developments perceptions of the facilitators have improved.

Data Set 2 consists of ratings of career development from the first (Year 2022) and second (Year 2024) annual ODS by LearnChamps facilitators (See HRM318-2025JanLearnChamps-DataSet2-CarDev.csv). It must be noted that the ratings of career development could not traced to any employees due to anonymity and confidentiality. Please note that during the period between first and second annual ODS, there was an increase in facilitators due to the growth of LearnChamps Centres in Singapore.

Tasks

As the HR Manager, you are required to produce a technical report to the CHRO based on the following:

1. Apply Fitz-Enz’s Human Capital-to-Enterprise pathway based on the information from the case vignette (Please exclude the human capital management level). (10 marks)

2. Apply the steps based on the scientific process in Bauer et al. (2019) for data set 1 (see Appendix 1) and prepare a data analysis report in the following manner (Please only apply analytic methods taught from this course, other analytic methods will NOT be marked):

(a) Identify the problem faced by the organisation and the purpose of the survey as indicated in data set 1.

(b) Conduct research (based on reputable academic journals) on the factors (i.e., independent variables) relating to the dependent variable as indicated in data set 1. From your research, briefly summarise the research that explains the relationship between each factor (i.e., independent variable) and the dependent variable. Then, develop hypotheses for each factor (i.e., independent variable) and its relationship with the dependent variable.

(c) Analyse data set 1 in the following manner:

(i) Examine and report the reliabilities of each measurement scale. (Attach the SPSS output as Appendix 1 in your TMA).

(ii) Explain an appropriate statistical analysis to use. Then analyse the data using the appropriate statistical analysis and report the descriptive statistics and the statistical analysis output and conclusions (You are required to recreate the required tables from the output in the main report. Then attach the SPSS output as Appendix 2 in your TMA).

3. Apply the following steps based on the scientific process in Bauer et al. (2019) for data set 2 (see HRM318-2025Jan-LearnChamps-DataSet2-CarDev.csv) and prepare a data analysis report in the following manner (Please only apply analytic methods taught from this course, other analytic methods will NOT be marked):

(a) Identify the purpose of the study as indicated in data set 2.

(b) Develop a hypothesis.

(c) Explain an appropriate statistical analysis to use. Then analyse data set 2 using an appropriate statistical analysis and report the output and conclusions (You are required to create the required tables from the output in the main report. Then attach the SPSS output as Appendix 3 in your TMA).

(d) To improve the careers of the facilitators, the CHRO has suggested to the CEO that senior facilitators can be equipped with advanced certifications. The CEO is interested to know what metrics are available to monitor this. Indicate the appropriate activity under the human capital measurement level in Fitz-Enz’s Human Capital-to-Enterprise pathway that is associated with this suggestion. Propose TWO (2) metrics that can be used with description of the metrics and how each measure relates to the talent gap.

General Formatting of the Report

1. Formatting

(a) Recreate Tables from the statistical output with accuracy following the 7th edition APA format.

(b) Attach required statistical outputs as appendices.

2. Citations and References

(a) All Citations and references need to follow the 7th edition APA format.

(b) For research, citations and references should be from credible and reputable journals where possible such as:

(i) Top 50 Journals from Financial Times

(ii) Q1 Journals from Scaimago Journal & Country Rank  https://www.scimagojr.com/journalrank.php
(e.g., subject Areas in Business, Management and Accounting; Psychology)

Additional Information

• LearnChamp data set 1 Organisational Development Survey data is uploaded on CANVAS. The filename is titled: HRM318-2025Jan-LearnChamp-DataSet1-
  Survey.csv. Details of the survey can be found on Appendix 1.
  HRM318 Tutor-Marked Assignment SINGAPORE UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES (SUSS) Page 10 of 14
•  LearnChamp data set 2 Perceptions of Career Development data is uploaded on CANVAS. The filename is titled: HRM318-2025Jan-LearnChamp-DataSet2- CarDev.csv. Details of the data can be found in the case vignette.
• The assessment rubric is provided in Appendix 2.

Organisation Development Survey Manual

The Organisational Development Survey captures five variables: Work Engagement, Career Development, Performance Appraisal, Supervisor Effectiveness, and Compensation and Benefits. These variables were all self-rated by the employees. These five variables were  developed by external consultants that were hired by the organisation. Due to confidentiality
and anonymity, demographic variables were excluded from this dataset. The data are listed in the HRM318-2025Jan-LearnChamps-DataSet1-Survey.csv file. The descriptions of the five variables are highlighted below.

1. Work Engagement
Work Engagement measures an employee’s sense of significance from one’s work, feelings of enthusiasm, and pride about one’s job (Schaufeli & Bakker, 2004). There are six items used in this measurement scale. Employees rated these items on a 5-point Likert Scale (1 – Strongly Disagree, 2 – Disagree, 3 – Neither Disagree nor Agree, 4 – Agree, & 5 – Strongly Agree). Table 1 shows the description of items. Suggested keywords are work engagement and employee engagement.

Table 1

2. Career Development
Career Development measures the perceptions towards career growth and career developmentopportunities such as through training and development in the organisation. There are six items used in this measurement scale. This measure is likely Employees rated these items on a 5-point Likert Scale (1 – Strongly Disagree, 2 – Disagree, 3 – Neither Disagree nor Agree, 4 – Agree, & 5 – Strongly Agree). Table 2 shows the description of items. Suggested keywords for research: Career development, career advancement, training, training and development, and learning and development.

Table 2
Items in Career Development

3. Performance Appraisal
Performance Appraisal measures the perception of the fairness and usefulness of the performance appraisal in helping the employee to improve performance and career development. There are three items used in this measurement for the survey. Employees rated these items on a 5-point Likert Scale (1 – Strongly Disagree, 2 – Disagree, 3 – Neither Disagree nor Agree, 4 – Agree, & 5 – Strongly Agree). Table 3 shows the description of items. Suggested keywords for research: Performance appraisal, performance feedback, and performance evaluation.

Table 3
Items in Performance Appraisal

4. Supervisor Effectiveness
Supervisor Effectiveness measures the employee’s perception of their supervisor’s ability to lead and manage. There are eight items in this measurement scale. Employees rated these items on a 5-point Likert Scale (1 – Strongly Disagree, 2 – Disagree, 3 – Neither Disagree nor Agree, 4 – Agree, & 5 – Strongly Agree). Table 4 shows the description of items. Suggested keywords for research: Supervisor effectiveness, supervisor support, leadership effectiveness, managerial effectiveness.

Table 4
Items in Supervisor Effectiveness

5. Compensation and Benefits
Compensation and Benefit measures an employee’s sense of how well the organisations pays, rewards and benefits. There are four items used in this measurement for the survey. Employees rated these items on a 5-point Likert Scale (1 – Strongly Disagree, 2 – Disagree, 3  – Neither Disagree nor Agree, 4 – Agree, & 5 – Strongly Agree). Table 5 shows the description of items. Suggested keywords for research: Compensation and benefits, pay
management, total rewards management, organisational rewards, and pay satisfaction.

Table 5
Items in Compensation and Benefits

Reference: Schaufeli, W., & Bakker, A. (2004). Utrecht work engagement scale preliminary manual.

Assessment Rubric