Identifying Business Issues and Justifying Your Terms of Reference

Identifying a suitable business issue for a Level 7 research project involves considerably more analytical rigour than simply selecting a topic of professional interest. This video addresses Assessment Criterion 1.1 of 7CO04 and works through the criteria that distinguish a strategically significant people management issue from one that lacks sufficient organisational weight. It covers three core dimensions of issue analysis — organisational significance, research appropriateness, and feasibility — and explains how each of these must be examined before terms of reference can be responsibly drafted. The video also addresses ethical sensitivities as a distinct feasibility consideration, using examples such as disciplinary practices and discrimination experiences to illustrate where additional care is required.

Justification is treated in the video as an active, evidenced argument rather than a descriptive statement of intent. The video covers how internal evidence sources — including organisational data, strategic documents, and stakeholder priorities — can be combined with external evidence such as CIPD research output, sector benchmarking data, and HSE statistics to construct a convincing rationale. An employee wellbeing scenario is used to illustrate how these evidence types work together. The video also examines stakeholder mapping in relation to terms of reference, distinguishing between the interests of senior leaders, line managers, employees, and HR colleagues, and explaining how awareness of those differing priorities strengthens a justification without requiring equal weight to be given to every group.

Scope definition is the final substantive topic the video covers under AC 1.1, with attention given to four parameters: workforce population, organisational boundaries, timeframe, and the explicit inclusion and exclusion of specific aspects of the issue. The video examines why overly broad scope produces superficial treatment of complex people management questions, while scope that is drawn too narrowly risks undermining the strategic relevance that Level 7 research demands. Throughout, the framing remains practical for the written business project, with the overall focus on producing terms of reference that are simultaneously ambitious, achievable, and defensible to multiple organisational audiences.