Human Resource Management MA/PG Dip (full time) module details
Block 1: People Management: Leadership, Development and Analytics
This module will allow students to develop an understanding of a variety of themes, issues, and concepts relevant to people management and organisational life through an array of approaches encapsulated by Organisation Studies. Students will consider complex nuances associated with “leadership” and explore a variety of challenges that management and leadership circles face. The module also invites students to explore how the behaviour of key stakeholders, employees and management and leadership circles shape organisational dynamics, space and culture at individual, national and global levels. For example, how are organisational behaviour and work environments shaped by, and in turn how do they shape, leadership? How do leadership styles translate across geographical contexts? In doing so, students develop a deeper understanding of the significance of behaviours exhibited by organisational members to the implementation and success of leadership in a variety of organisational functions.
This module also develops an appreciation of the complexities, intricacies and contradictions that surround organisational change and development at individual and societal levels. These factors will be considered specifically through the lenses of internationalisation, globalisation and multiculturalism, which are central to the critical analysis and consideration of contemporary organisations. Complementing themes examined under leadership and organisational development, students also learn about the role of data analytics in supporting the strategic development of HRM functions. In particular, the module considers some of the benefits and potential (un)intended consequences of the growing use and influence that data driven decision making in people management presents for employees, organisations and society. In engaging with this module, students develop the ability to analyse theoretical and practical knowledge when addressing inherent social and operational problems they may face critically and analytically as middle/top executives, managers or in their other future organisational roles
Block 2: Managing Employment Relations in a Legal Context
The subject of Employment Relations in a Legal Context is concerned with the changing nature of work, that is directly influenced by legislation and how this effects the terms and conditions under which people’s employment and work contracts are determined. Because employers and workers have different interests as buyers and sellers of labour, power is central to the subject. The power of employers and workers to exercise control over the terms and conditions of employment is influenced by a range of factors that operate at various levels - the workplace, the wider organisation, and the national and international environment in which employers, managers, workers, trade unions and governments operate. The module seeks to analyse the very nature of the role played by legal regulation in the management of human resources. It explores how managers perceive this role and their ability to understand the different consequences of legal developments. It offers an introduction to the key principles that underpin legal regulation within the UK and the EU. In developing this understanding, it seeks to identify the purpose of regulation and the major defences employers use to defend legal claims. It analyses the role of HR managers as channels through which legal understanding is communicated to other decision makers within the organisation.
Employment Relations in a Legal Context studies how the parties to the employment relationship engage with each other and how this engagement is shaped by wider legal, economic, social, political, and cultural/ideological forces. The expansion of legal regulation and the process of juridification within HRM have been accompanied by the potential of increase costs and the danger of reputational damage where organisations become involved in Employment Tribunal cases, irrespective of whether those cases are won or lost. The complexity and amount of regulation has grown significantly, including the imposition of additional equality duties placed on public bodies, resulting in the need for senior HR professionals to be adequately informed about current and forthcoming legal developments, all of which will have significant impact on employment relations.
Block 3: Sustainable Human Resource Management in the Contemporary and Global Context
Contemporary and Global Human Resource Management (HRM) provides, in the first instance, an in-depth overview, and for some students a detailed refresher, on the critical significance of fundamental HRM practices. The module enables students to identify, explore and interpret aspects at the forefront of a substantial body of knowledge, providing students with the capacity to articulate and appreciate the impact and effect of the global contextual and environmental factors on human resource strategies and policies and the dynamics that shape those policies, influence organisational performance and effectiveness.
The module progresses to examine contemporary themes and issues in HRM. Students will demonstrate the ability to synthesise theory with contemporary professional practices to enable them to offer constructive advice on policy development and operational activities to address a range of extant workplace considerations including elements such as emotional labour and the psychological contract, ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility, employee and personal wellbeing, approaches to stress management, coaching and mentoring at work. Students will be actively encouraged and supported in focussing on the development of their own academic and career development, enhancing their distinctive employability and team working skills, communication and digital skills.
Students will gain an explicit understanding of the theoretical principles that underpin the management of human resources and how those principles may be translated and applied in a variety of organizational contexts. Specifically, the significance of the global context in which HRM activities are embedded. This aspect is concerned with identifying and understanding how the Multinational Companies (MNC’s) manage their geographically dispersed workforce in order to leverage their HR resources for obtaining a local as well as a global competitive advantage in a sustainable manner. The module will pay attention to ethnocentric, polycentric, regional and geocentric approaches to understanding and conceptualising international HRM. It evaluates the role of parent, host and in-country partners. The module makes effective use of thought-provoking case studies, encouraging students to identify, examine and apply key concepts to real-world examples.
Block 4: Employee Resourcing in the Changing World of Work
Human resource (HR) professionals, managers and employee resourcing specialists operate within increasingly complex and changing organisational and contextual circumstances. This module introduces students to the principal HRM and employee resourcing issues facing organisations in the twenty first century, and how organisational responses are shaped in context. As such, the module aims to develop critical skills and competencies relevant to human resource (HR) professionals and resourcing specialists. The initial phase of the module pays attention to the key factors of the external operating environment which shape how businesses and organisations respond in terms of corporate decision-making and HR choices, before moving on to its influence on resourcing policy and practice. Later stages of the module concentrate upon developing knowledge, understanding and skills in managing resourcing practices, following the employee journey from recruitment through to exit considering both the costs involved and returns on investment. Attention is paid to issues of equality, diversity and inclusion in resourcing the organisation, and the challenges HR and resourcing specialists face in relation to the ‘business case’. Having studied this module, students will be aware that managers and HR professionals in different types of organisations (small, large, national, global, private and public sector), in responding to their internal, business and external environmental contexts, not only have opportunities and choices when taking organisational, HR and resourcing decisions but that wider contextual factors and policy decisions also act as constraints. This module explores the implications for professional practice and provides opportunities for applied learning and continuous professional development.
Block 5 & 6: Research Dissertation in Human Resource Management
This is a 60-credit module which provides the academic framework within which students can develop an understanding of the principal approaches to management research and design and carry out an independent piece of research leading to the submission of a Masters dissertation. There will be seminars to facilitate the formulation of a research topic and the development of the research methods.
This module develops student’s research and analytical skills. It enables students to understand and apply appropriate research methods to investigate an issue of significance in work, employment and related topics. This module will guide students through the key processes involved in identifying a topic for research, undertaking an independent review of literature to formulate the precise aims and objectives of their projects, different approaches to designing a research project and collecting, analysing and interpreting different types of data that they can apply to their own dissertation project. The module also develops awareness of ethical issues in the context of management research.
This module deepens the ability to provide evidence-based recommendations to relevant stakeholders in respect of organisational and workforce issues. Students learn to draw on an evidence base of theory, and both primary and secondary research in their making recommendations. The module enables students to identify and apply relevant theory to address issues and challenges that face workers, managers, leaders, organisations and society. Students develop the ability to make recommendations to a range of stakeholders such as organisations, managers, workers, trade unions, policy makers and other actors involved in the dynamics of work and employment.
Students will be allocated a supervisor who will provide guidance on completing the dissertation. A major component of this module is self-directed study by students which includes reviewing academic literature, self-study on research methods as well as applying appropriate research methods in collecting and analysing data.
Students will be expected to submit two elements assessment. The first is a dissertation proposal that establishes the rationale, aims and objectives of the project and contains preliminary proposals for the design and conduct of the research. This will account for 20% of the total module marks. The second element is a full dissertation between 12,000 - 14,000 words in length.