Postgraduate Course: Human Resource Management In Context (CMSE11177)
Course Outline
| School | Business School |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 15 |
ECTS Credits | 7.5 |
| Summary | This course provides a broad introduction to, and understanding of, the principal internal and external environmental contexts of contemporary organisations. This covers both the managerial and business context, within which Human Resource Management (HRM) professionals, managers and employees must learn to interact, often under challenging conditions of environmental turbulence, change and uncertainty.
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| Course description |
Aims, Nature, Context:
The course examines how leading organisations in various sectors and industries respond to trends and features of their dynamic internal and environmental contexts. It indicates how those working in the HR function need to work with the rest of the organisation and its stakeholders to recognise and acknowledge how corporate decisions are shaped by various forces, and how these decisions might be made most effectively given the business environment.
This means learning to identify and evaluate a range of internal and external forces, often beyond the immediate or direct control of the HR function itself. Having studied this course, students will therefore be aware that HR professionals and managers in different types of organisation (small, large, national, global) not only have opportunities and choices when taking organisational decisions, but also face some constraints on their autonomy in determining their futures.
The course explores the implications for professional HR policy and practice of engaging with broader business environments and trends, and provides opportunities for applied learning and continuous professional development.
Syllabus:
1. HRM in contemporary organisations and defining business environments.
2. The line management and professional context of HRM.
3. HRM (and general business) strategy.
4. Market and competitive organisational environments facing HRM.
5. Globalisation and the world economy's impact on HRM.
6. Government policy, legal regulation, and HRM.
7. Demographic and social trends affecting HRM.
8. Technology and HRM.
9. Ethics, social responsibility, sustainability and HRM.
10. Course overview and revision of weeks 1-9.
Student Learning Experience:
This course provides students with a wide understanding of the boundaries and key areas of concern across the field of HRM, through examples and topics addressed in lectures. Lectures will all be digitally recorded using Panopto software so students can listen to them again in a flexible and interactive format.
The students use class exercises and case study examples to facilitate interactive student discussions applying HRM frameworks to contemporary business problems, with formative feedback provided to individuals and groups where appropriate. Two guest speakers with established backgrounds in the HR profession will also deliver sessions in the course on cutting-edge areas of HR strategy and practice that have been, and can be, applied to client organisations where HR is making a real difference to success.
Assessment provides opportunities for students to analyse HRM issues and topics by critically and in more depth, summarising multiple viewpoints and making related recommendations for policy and practice, and receiving further formative and summative feedback on completion of this assessed work.
Tutorial/seminar hours represent the minimum total live hours - online or in-person - a student can expect to receive on this course. These hours may be delivered in tutorial/seminar, lecture, workshop or other interactive whole class or small group format. These live hours may be supplemented by pre-recorded lecture material for students to engage with asynchronously.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | For Business School PG students only, or by special permission of the School. Please contact the course secretary. |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2021/22, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
150
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 15,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 3,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
132 )
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| Additional Information (Learning and Teaching) |
Seminar/Tutorial hrs are the min total live hrs, online or in-person, students can expect to receive
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
100% coursework (individual) - assesses all course Learning Outcomes |
| Feedback |
Not entered |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Understand and critically evaluate the range of contemporary business organisations and to explain how they fit into their principal environments.
- Understand and critically evaluate the managerial and business environment within which HR professionals work
- Critically evaluate how organisational and HR strategies are shaped by and developed in response to internal and external environmental factors.
- Summarise key globalisation and international forces and discuss how they interact with organisational HR strategies and practices.
- Analyse economic, political, demographic/social, legal/regulatory and technological trends in terms of how they interact with organisational and HR strategies and HR practices.
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Reading List
KEW, J and STREDWICK, J. (2010, 2013) HRM in a Business Context. London: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development
Resource List:
https://eu01.alma.exlibrisgroup.com/leganto/public/44UOE_INST/lists/26181396820002466?auth=SAML
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Subject Specific Skills:
Evaluate market and competitive environments of various types of organisations and be able to critically explain how HR professionals can try to respond to them and engage with them
Analyse and explain the impact of various environmental trends (e.g. legal/regulatory, economic, technological, and demographic) and how these relate to and interact with organisational and HR strategies and practices.
Transferable skills:
competently communicate and exchange ideas in both large and small group settings;
critically evaluate evidence and present a balanced argument;
Plan, organise and prioritise work effectively. |
| Keywords | HRM-HRM in Context |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Thomas Calvard
Tel: (0131 6)51 5313
Email: thomas.calvard@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Lauren Millson
Tel: (0131 6)51 3013
Email: Lauren.Millson@ed.ac.uk |
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