International Human Resource Management - MA

This module aims to enable you to appreciate and evaluate the external factors that impact on an organisations and the HR function.  You will develop skills to analyse the changes in the business context and respond to these through strategic HR planning with consideration for the commercial business environment and people management practice. 

This module encourages you to critically explore contemporary research and practice regarding managing people in organisations, including employee engagement, performance and development and managing change. You will gain a critical understanding of how to manage people within the workplace in a fair and effective way for optimum performance.

The one constant in the workplace is change. The requirement of HR to meet the needs of the Organisation from a Human Capital perspective is ever evolving. The challenge of different work patterns, the emergence of new working practices in the wake of the pandemic and variation of support needs required by our teams as a result of this will demand more from the HR Professional. The need to adopt innovation and creativity in finding ways to meet the aspirations of a diverse team whilst delivering the key commercial metrics of the business has never been more daunting. 

This module addresses the emerging complexity of managing and leading expatriates in various contexts by exploring past and present thinking on international imperatives and issues in Human Resources Management (HRM). In particular, this module aims to develop your understanding of the impact of globalisation on HRM and introduce various strategic issues and practices that need to be addressed in managing an international workforce. 

In studying this module you will develop your understanding of how business strategy and strategic change translates to people practice. Using business simulations this module will allow you to experience how businesses respond and adapt to changes and what the people profession can do to support them. 

This module is designed to provide you with a solid underpinning of the process of research and is keenly focussed on the connection between research and practice.  The module takes you through the stages of research from the formulation of a research problem and a research question, through to understanding the essential research philosophy issues, producing a literature review, and developing appropriate methods to the field of The People Profession.  The module further examines the key ways in which data is gathered and analysed. Throughout its duration, the module considers the difficulties encountered including ethical issues in conducting research and ways to address those.  It also explores the centrality of the influence of the researchers own predisposition on the process and the final outcome. 

Making sense of organisations, how they work and how they fail, is an important part of the tool kit of any developing professional practitioner in the field of management and business.  This module provides you with a wide appreciation of the reality of organisational life internationally and explores the major influences on our experience of organisations. This is achieved with a solid underpinning appreciation of the development of organisational theory and practice over the last 100 years. In completing this module, you will be in a position to demonstrate a mature understanding of the reality of international organisations which will be of benefit at all stages of their career development.

Research is the lifeblood of any field of knowledge. What was foundational thinking at one point can very quickly become redundant and obsolete. Therefore as senior HR Practitioners you must have both the ability to stay informed with current theory but also, where possible, to contribute to it. The skills associated with producing a Research Dissertation at Masters level are highly transferrable to a practice context. The discipline and criticality that is developed in determining what is and is not relevant to a given topic are invaluable. The impact of producing a large piece of work that is well received will also build your confidence and self believe. The experience will also help you develop project management skills and personal management, skills that if developed at an early career stage can be invaluable as you progress.