This module introduces current theory and practice in human resource management (HRM) and development (HRD) and applies these to different work environments. You learn about the connections between HRM and strategic management and consider employment strategies and concepts, such as flexible working, the ‘contingent workforce’, culture management and the ‘learning organisation’. You explore the distinct characteristics of the public, private and voluntary sectors and how they impact HR managers, as well as the effects of internationalisation, technological and social change. The module enables you to apply your knowledge and skills to the management of practical problems and situations in the workplace.

Learning Outcomes:

1.Identify different types of organisations and their principal environments.

2.The managerial and business environment within which HR professionals work.

3.Review and critically evaluate major contemporary research and debates in the fields of human resource management (HRM) and human resource development (HRD).

4.Evaluate major theories relating to motivation, commitment and engagement at work and how these are put into practice by organisations.

5.Critically discuss the aims and objectives of the HRM and HRD function in organisations and how these are met in practice.

6.How organisational and HR strategies are shaped by and developed in response to internal and external environmental factors.

7.The market and competitive environments of organisations and how organisational leaders and the HR function respond to them.

8.Globalisation and international forces and how they shape and impact on organisational and HR strategies and HR practices.

9.Demographic, social and technological trends and how they shape and impact on organisational and HR strategies and HR practices.

10.Government policy and legal regulation and how these shape and impact on organisational and HR strategies and HR practices.

11.Assess the contribution made by HRM and HRD specialists in different types of organisation.

12.Contribute to the promotion of flexible working and effective change management in organisations.

13.Promote professionalism and an ethical approach to HRM and HRD practice in organisations.

14.Debate and critically evaluate the characteristics of effective leadership and the methods used to develop leaders in organisations.

Skills for Your Professional Life (Transferable Skills)

Enhance your oral communication skills through short presentations given in group work activities.

Enhance your critical thinking through case studies encouraging you to discern preconditions and consequences of management actions and to apply diverse theories and concepts to the analysis of practical organisational situations.

Enhance your teamwork and collaborative skills through group based practical activities.

Commercial awareness will be enhanced by practitioner guest speakers, by observation of a ‘real life human resource department in action and by practical activities and cases.

Innovation will be encouraged by practical exercises encouraging you to develop solutions to human resource issues and problems.

‘The employment relationship may be defined as ‘the set of conditions determining the exchange, use and reproduction of the labour force’… It is therefore the product of economic, social, political, legal and technological developments as well as the ways in which the various actors interpret and respond to these developments.’ (Dibben et al 2011:2)

This module aims to investigate that relationship against the background of a globalized context, considering interactions among local, national and international actors, as well as the impact of institutions, regulatory systems and actual practices with respect to traditional labour contracts and new types of labour arrangements.

Throughout the course, relevant themes will be explored with application to various countries. Students will also be allowed to choose a country of their interest as the basis for their group and individual assignments. Essentially, the module aims to highlight the relevance of employment relations for individuals, communities and organisations around the world.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Different theories and perspectives on employment relations;
2. The impact of local, national and global contexts shaping employment relations;
3. The roles and functions of the different actors involved in the employment relationship;
4. The importance of organisational-level employment relations processes, policies and practices that support organisational performance, including employee voice and consultation, employee engagement; diversity management; and conflict resolution;
5. The importance of employment relations procedures that help mitigate organisational risk;
6. The importance of employment relations procedures and policies that help mitigate social injustice;
7. The integration of employment relations processes and how they impact on policy, practice and organisational outcomes such as performance and employee engagement.

This module introduces the methodology and methods of research in the field of human resource management, equipping students with the means to explore a complex practical business issue from a human resource perspective. Students are acquainted with the nature of the philosophical assumptions that underpin the choice of research design. Various research methods are examined and situated within an explicatory framework.

The module explores a variety of quantitative and qualitative methods utilizing case studies to illustrate the suitability of these methods and make transparent their epistemological and ontological underpinnings. The ethical questions raised by research are explored. We examine practical aspects of the research process including the skills to organise and undertake a research project. Students will be enabled to locate their study within the body of relevant knowledge, to collect and analyse data and make practical and actionable recommendations.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Appreciate the ways in which business research is located in the broader corpus of the social sciences;
2. Demonstrate a critical understanding of the principles and techniques of research method and design;
3. Identify, understand, and apply a range of research methods and tools;
4. Draw on current research and advanced scholarship to identify and develop relevant research question(s);
5. Evaluate, select and apply research perspectives and methodologies appropriate to particular research questions;
6. Identify and justify a business issue that is of strategic relevance to an organisation;
7. Undertake a systematic analysis of quantitative and/or qualitative information and present the results in a clear and consistent format;
8. Be able to demonstrate how to propose realistic and appropriate conclusions and recommendations based on costed options in relation to a business issue.
9. Be able to write a reflective account of what has been learned during the project and how this can be applied in the future.

The module will help you to develop the following transferrable skills:

– Written communication

– Oral communication through group presentations

– Research skills through the development of a research proposal

– Critical thinking through the exploration of diverse research methodologies

– Teamwork-collaboration though group exercises

– Innovation and curiosity through the development of your own research interest

– Data and analytics through the application of quantitative research methods

– Commercial awareness through the identification of practical recommendations, including costs and action implications of your chosen research topic.

For your HRM dissertation, you produce an extended, independent, piece of work based on a live organisational case study. You undertake a thorough review of literature and current knowledge and diagnose a real people management and development issue. The dissertation will demonstrate your ability to synthesise theories, relate them to practice in a critical manner and to make practical recommendations for change. You’re assigned a supervisor for the duration of your project.

Learning Outcomes:

• The dissertation will demonstrate your ability to synthesise theories, relate them to practice in a critical manner and to make practical recommendations for change.

To successfully take up the role of a human resource (HR) professional requires the development of a variety of attributes and beliefs. These in turn underpin skills proficiency. A key purpose of this module is thus to encourage learners to develop a strong sense of self-awareness, and of social awareness, and thus of their own strengths and weaknesses as managers and colleagues. The module also specifically seeks to develop and improve a range of definable skills that are pivotal to successful management and leadership.

These include thinking and decision-making skills, the management of financial information, managing budgets, a range of team working and interpersonal skills and skills associated with developing personal effectiveness and credibility at work. The module also seeks to develop more specialised skills that are of particular significance to effective higher-level people management. Finally, the module seeks to help learners make the most of their formal programmes of study with the inclusion of key postgraduate study skills and requires critical reflection on theory and practice from an ethical and professional standpoint.Learning Outcomes

Learning Outcomes

• Manage themselves more effectively at work or in another professional context
• Manage interpersonal relationships at work more effectively
• Make sound and justifiable decisions and solve problems more effectively
• Lead and influence others more effectively
• Interpret financial information and manage financial resources
• Demonstrate enhanced IT proficiency
• Demonstrate an essential people management skill-set
• Demonstrate competence in postgraduate study skills.
  
  

This module considers the ideas, debates and concepts underpinning the development of different policies and practices shaping the management of equality and diversity within contemporary work organizations. It also considers the changing contexts and practices shaping lived experiences of equality and diversity at work. Encouraging a critical, reflexive understanding of theory and practice, it outlines and evaluates the role played by HRM and by HR professionals in managing equality and diversity.

Learning Outcomes:

1. A considered understanding of the changing context of equality and diversity management, informed by relevant scholarly research and case-study material.
2. A critical awareness of relevant philosophical, theoretical and conceptual debates underpinning different approaches to the management of equality and diversity at work.
3. An informed and reflexive appreciation of lived experiences of equality, diversity and discrimination in contemporary work organizations and labour markets.
4. An ability to analyse and evaluate the role of HRM policy and practice, and relevant legislation, in shaping the experience and management of diversity.

Skills for Your Professional Life (Transferable Skills)

– Nurture your curiosity through a self-evaluative approach to co-learning.

– Develop your capacity for reflexive critical engagement and collaborative analysis of key issues through weekly interactive group discussion and case study analysis.

– Foster your commercial and social awareness through discussion of contemporary case studies engaging with current issues in the management of equality and diversity.

– Improve your oral communication skills by participating in small group presentations.

– Develop your research skills by producing a developmental outline of a case study of your choice.

– Improve your critical thinking and written communication by developing an in-depth case study which draws on your module learning

This module examines HRM in an international context. Foreign direct investment (FDI) has grown dramatically over the past 25 years. This FDI manifests itself as foreign affiliates of international companies. Currently more than 800,000 of these foreign affiliates are in existence, all of which need to be staffed. These staffing needs bring with them unique challenges that domestic firm do not face. This module will explore the additional complexities introduced by conducting HRM across national borders.

HRM is a complex and often contested topic in a domestic context. Once organisations start operating across national borders, these complexities and challenges grow exponentially. This module will explore these complexities and outline some of the key differences between domestic and international HRM and look into the additional challenges emanating from having to fulfil various HR functions in an international context. A particular emphasis will be put on the management of globally mobile employees.

Learning Outcomes:

1) how organisational and HR strategies are shaped by and developed in response to internal and external environmental factors.

2) globalisation and international forces and how they shape and impact on organisational and HR strategies and HR practices.

3) analyse and evaluate the major features of national and international employment markets from which organisations source staff and ways in which these markets evolve or change.

Skills for your professional life (Transferable Skills)

– Enhance your written communication skills through preparing a logically coherent and cogently argued integrated HR project

– Develop your research skills through locating and retrieving information from a variety of online and offline sources in preparing your integrated HR project

– Critically evaluate information from a variety of sources when building a compelling argument in preparing your integrated HR project

– Being innovative in building your own case when preparing your integrated HR project

– Develop your commercial awareness by researching the real-life commercial context of the company at the centre of your integrated HR project

This module introduces students to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). Students will learn the fundamental structure and concepts used in the MBTI, as well as developing an understanding of their own ‘personality type’ according to the theory. The theory is then applied to a variety of workplace and human resources issues.

It is expected that students will develop a comprehensive understanding of the theory, and engage reflexively with the theory in relation to their own ‘type’.

Topics to be covered will include the origins and ethical foundations of the MBTI, detailed explication of the theory itself and sessions applying this theory of personality to a range of work issues such as communication, conflict, stress and career selection and development.

Learning Outcomes:

1. demonstrate a detailed understanding of the origins, theoretical basis and ethical orientation of the MBTI;
2. show a reflexive awareness of the benefit of understanding personality dimensions of oneself and others, particularly with regard to work and careers;
3. critically analyse the strengths and limitations of the application of the MBTI to the world of work, for example, communication, conflict, leadership and careers.

The module provides an introduction to consultancy approaches, from a depth psychology perspective. Participants will study approaches to observing organisational process, the role and stance of the consultant, models of organisational change, interpersonal dynamics in teams, approaches to relational data collection, a variety of consultancy models informed by gestalt, complexity and psychodynamic perspectives and the process of negotiating, contracting and concluding consultancy assignments.

Learning Outcomes:

* Demonstrate a critical understanding of the nature of consultancy engagements

* Apply this understanding in designing consultancy projects

* Demonstrate a critical understanding of a range of depth psychology models of organisational change

* Debate the respective merits of these models, in relation to a variety or organisational contexts

* Engage in critical dialogue and debate on the consultancy process

* Demonstrate an understanding of the elements of the consultancy role and stance.

* Apply the learning from this module, in role, as a consultant.