Human Resource Management (HRM) is a management function which is crucial to the success of organisations nowadays. Human Resources are considered to be a firm's sustainable competitive advantage and thus good HRM management leads to positive outcomes for a firm and to enhanced performance. However, HRM is not isolated. It is embedded in a wider organisational and societal context. Therefore, it is liable to constant changes, through which HRM should maintain its role and its contribution to organisational success.

This module stands as an introduction to HRM. It is designed to introduce you to the basic HRM concepts and functional components of HRM. It also explores how HRM practice is affected by the external environment and the changes in it. As such you will be provided with the building blocks for further study of HRM. The aim of the module is also to encourage you to think critically, to critically analyse and evaluate information and develop skills in problem-solving.

HR Practice is an immersive journey exploring the employee development and learning experience. The module aids the identification of individual, team and organisational learning needs and how they can be most effectively met. It facilitates the development of aptitudes and skills through an interactive approach, and helps you to identify problems, classify them in priority areas and create solutions. The module develops an understanding of the HR profession through the use of the CIPD professional map, articulating HR specialist knowledge, critical core behaviours and core knowledge.

Organisational Behaviour (OB) is an interdisciplinary field of study, which explores individual, group and organisational behaviour, along with the impact of individuals, groups, organisations and society in creating, shaping and controlling behaviours. This module facilitates an understanding of OB from a managerial and critical viewpoint, drawing on international research (including the department and teaching team’s research).

The managerial viewpoint seeks to understand behaviour in order to manage more effectively and more ethically - understanding the fundamentals of behaviour in organisations enables better practices to be developed and implemented. The critical viewpoint seeks to view the organisation from the perspective of employees and asks questions about the impact of managerial practice. The module applies concepts from psychology, occupational psychology, social psychology, sociology, political science, economics and organisation theory, in an attempt to understand the behaviour of people in organisations.  

HRM in a Global Business Context provides you with an in-depth and critical understanding of the major internal and external environmental contexts within which human resource managers operate, whether in public, private or Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO) sectors. It provides insights in terms of customising and delivering effective HR strategies that are consistent with cultural or organisational contexts. The awareness of markets, products and services is now a key attribute for HR practitioners. You will need to be aware of the wide range of contexts in which HR work takes place and the influence of external bodies, and this applies to all types of practitioners, including personnel and development generalists or specialist, line manager and consultant. A manager of people also needs to develop an analytical and critical reflective approach to the subject, to enable them to distinguish between the conflicting solutions put forward to human resource problems.

The module focuses on the analysis of the application of HRM practices within contemporary organisations. The module enables you to begin to look critically at Human Resource Management as a body of theory and practice. Drawing on theoretical, empirical and case study material, students are able to explore key areas of HRM – including how it’s applied in the workplace and how workers, line managers and HR professionals are affected by and respond to HRM initiatives. The module considers how a range of issues impact HRM – including organisational change, the legal framework and ethical issues, including sustainability. It explores how HRM is applied in different contexts – including multinational corporations (MNCs) and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The purpose and aim of this module is to provide an understanding of key developments in the theory and practice of Learning and Development (L&D), both within and beyond the immediate organisational context. It allows you to build on your knowledge and develop the new understanding required to make informed and effective judgements about existing and emerging models, processes and practices in L&D. The module is designed to encourage you to compare, contrast and evaluate developments (in theory and practice), that influence the design, delivery and management of L&D to drive sustained business performance and anticipate future organisational needs.

The aim of the module is to provide an accessible and critical introduction to the employment relationship, and how to manage individual conflicts that occur in the workplace. The module is concerned with the changing nature of the employment relationship and how this is regulated, experienced and contested. It offers both a theoretical understanding and equips you with the relevant practitioner skills to manage a myriad of workplace tensions. In addition, this module examines the nature of conflict on an individual level within the workplace – it explores the philosophies, rationale and approaches that underpin workplace conflict in the UK. This aspect of the module has an emphasis on applied learning, as it requires an element of engagement with the resolution of workplace conflict and the development of appropriate skills.

This module explores theoretical paradigms, and legal and regulatory data that aids managerial decisions on reward and pay. It presents innovative approaches to formulating a dynamic reward strategy premised on effective communication, employee engagement and performance management. Market-based strategies are analysed in line with other factors – such as base pay system and levels, job role evaluation, performance related pay and other variable pay mechanisms. The module critically explores the complex relationship and tensions between reward and performance in contemporary organisations, where management's and workers' interest may not align. 

This module is designed to explore and debate the concept of equality and inclusion in the workplace against a backdrop of growing diversity within the labour force. The module begins with a theoretically informed examination of the nature and causes of discrimination and disadvantage in employment. This theoretical base is used to underpin the remainder of the module and provide a framework within which patterns of segregation and disadvantage in the labour market can be understood and debated.

During this module, you are alerted to both visible and non-visible dimensions of diversity including race, ethnicity, religion and belief, gender and gender identity, age, disability and sexual orientation. You will be encouraged to critically assess the measures used by organisations to manage equality and diversity. And then to consider the relative merits of moral and business arguments for introducing equal opportunities policies and practices aimed at managing diversity.

The module analyses the role played by legal regulation in the management of Human Resources. It explores the purpose of regulation and how it is applied in practice. Analysis will include consideration of how UK employment law has developed and the principles that underpin legal regulation of the employment relationship. This module explores the role of employment law in achieving social justice and tackling issues such as discrimination, slavery and child labour.

The aim of this module is to develop a critical, creative and applied understanding of HRM's place in organisations. And to fully understand HRM's capacity to improve organisational performance and effectiveness – including strategic HRM, HR analytics, organisational development and leadership. You are encouraged to read and discuss theory, critically reflect on your own experience of work and apply this to organisational cases and examples of your choosing. You will be provided with an opportunity to explore and develop your own interests in a supportive yet rigorous theoretically applied HRM module. The module encourages the challenging of mainstream thinking and traditional theoretical models.

The module supports involvement in overseas learning experiences, and feeds into the general aims of an integrated programme offering and decolonisation of the curriculum. The module is linked to professional membership of the CIPD and meets the learning and skills outcomes required by the professional body. 

This module explores, through a review of theories and models, the elements that contribute to organisation design. It also looks at the development of organisation insight that is crucial to building agile, adaptable organisations, with the healthy cultures needed to meet current and future challenges. It provides a good foundation of underpinning organisational development theory and knowledge, including its relationship to organisation design and change management, and how effective organisational development interventions can increase business performance and productivity. This module introduces consulting principles and structures, to prepare potential future consultants and/or purchasers of consulting services.

The Business Management Project is designed to provide a comprehensive introduction to research philosophy, methodology and design, and their application in researching employment and people management issues in domestic and international contexts. The module is intended to prepare you to critically read and evaluate research within your chosen field of study as well as undertaking the independent research that is required for the dissertation. The module seeks to develop the practice of critical and analytical reflection on personal skill, knowledge, assumptions and values.