Postgraduate Course: Reward Management (CMSE11681)
Course Outline
| School | Business School |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 10 |
ECTS Credits | 5 |
| Summary | This course prepares students for all aspects of the human resources area that deal with reward - sometimes termed "pay and benefits" or "benefits and compensation". However, the area goes more widely than these simple titles suggest and plays a key role in the attract/retain/motivate challenges that characterise human resource management (HRM). It is a vital aspect of any HRM professionals work and at least sometime in any HRM career these issues will loom large. |
| Course description |
The course aims are to provide a survey of current understanding in the field of Reward Management. This will embrace both our theoretical understanding and practical application. It will acquaint students with the various aspects of HRM that relate to reward management and provide a working understanding of each dimension of reward that must be dealt with as an HRM professional. Students will be provided with a working knowledge and the confidence to tackle these various areas.
Outline content
This course provides an overview of employee reward and compensation systems and their role in supporting organisational effectiveness. It introduces the key principles underlying reward design and examines how reward systems influence employee behaviour, motivation, and performance.
The course draws on both economic and psychological perspectives, including an introduction to major theories of work motivation, to explain how different aspects of rewards affect employee well-being, motivation, and performance. It considers how employees perceive rewards, how fairness and expectations shape motivation, and how reward systems interact with individual and organisational goals.
Reward management is examined within its broader economic, legal, and organisational environment, highlighting the external and internal factors that shape pay and reward decisions. The course explores fixed and variable forms of reward, employee benefits, and non-financial rewards, as well as the total reward perspective.
The course concludes by examining recent developments in reward management practice, highlighting how organisations are responding to contemporary global challenges such as changing workforce expectations, evolving forms of work, international mobility, and the increasing emphasis on flexibility, inclusion, and strategic alignment in reward design.
Student learning experience
The course aims are to provide a survey of current understanding in the field of Reward Management. The course will comprise a series of 7 teaching and learning sessions during which students will be encouraged to interact both with each other and with the instructor. To facilitate this, there is a series of exercises accompanying the teaching and learning sessions. These are accompanied by discussion and de-briefing sessions.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | For MSc Human Resource Management and MSc International Human Resource Management students only. |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2026/27, 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:
100
(
Lecture Hours 14,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 1,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
83 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
100% Timed assessment (Individual) - 2,000 words- Assesses all course Learning Outcomes |
| Feedback |
Formative: Weekly multiple-choice quizzes and weekly in-class exercises with de-briefing discussion.
Summative: Feedback will be provided on the assessment within agreed deadlines. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Analyse the relationship between the environment, strategy and systems of reward management, critically evaluating the key issues in reward management.
- Explore the conceptual apparatus and theoretical debates informing reward management.
- Critically discuss traditional, contingent and knowledge bases for transactional and relational rewards.
- Design internally consistent reward structures that recognise labour market and equity constraints.
- Analyse executive and expatriate rewards in an international context.
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Reading List
Stephen J Perkins and Sarah Jones (2024) Reward Management: Alternatives, Consequences and Contexts, CIPD - Kogan (Paperback) Edition: 5, 512 (~£49.99). (5th edition, 2024). ISBN-10: 1789661773; ISBN-13: 978-1789661774.
Armstrong's Handbook of Reward Management Practice: Improving Performance Through Reward, Michael Armstrong, Duncan Brown. EAN: 9781398611122.Edition: 7
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Cognitive Skills
After completing this course, students should be able to:
Be self-motivated; curious; show initiative; set, achieve and surpass goals; as well as demonstrating adaptability, capable of handling complexity and ambiguity, with a willingness to learn; as well as being able to demonstrate the use digital and other tools to carry out tasks effectively, productively, and with attention to quality.
Understand how to manage and sustain successful individual and group relationships in order to achieve positive and responsible outcomes, in a range of virtual and face-to-face environments.
Knowledge and Understanding
After completing this course, students should be able to:
Demonstrate a thorough knowledge and understanding of contemporary organisational disciplines; comprehend the role of business within the contemporary world; and critically evaluate and synthesise primary and secondary research and sources of evidence in order to make, and present, well informed and transparent organisation-related decisions, which have a positive global impact.
Identify, define and analyse theoretical and applied business and management problems, and develop approaches, informed by an understanding of appropriate quantitative and/or qualitative techniques, to explore and solve them responsibly. |
| Keywords | Reward Management,Remuneration,Pay,Incentives,Bonus,Pension,Benefits |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Haien Ding
Tel:
Email: hding@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Jade Unwin
Tel:
Email: junwin@ed.ac.uk |
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