Human Resource Management

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Advance your knowledge and skills at master's level while also gaining membership of the CIPD.

This CIPD-accredited course has three aims:

* to progress your knowledge and competence in people management and development
* to provide in-depth study of core professional subject areas
* to offer an intellectually challenging and flexible learning environment at master's level.

The MA will develop your skills in independent learning, critical evaluation, discussions and debate, as well as offer the opportunity, through the dissertation, to explore a subject at depth.

In today's complex and dynamic working environment, HR managers and professionals need to address a host of employment issues. The course will give you both practical experience through your placement and advanced knowledge and expertise through the units studied. You will progress to the level of a critical observer of HRM rather than purely an HR manager.

The course has no work experience requirement. Students will be selected on the basis of their maturity of outlook, their ability to benefit from the course and to make the contribution that will be expected of them. Students wishing to gain graduate CIPD membership are required to undertake a placement of a minimum of 30 days.

Applications for exemptions from any course unit, except the dissertation, will be considered. No more than 60 credits can be exempted.

Core units
Learning and Development: You will analyse how the development of people can contribute to the enhanced performance of individuals, teams and organisations. The unit looks at the strategic and operational integration of development into
the organisation, focusing on the wider national context and the
notion of talent.

Human Resource Management in Context: This unit aims to broaden your understanding of the internal and external factors that affect organisations, including the constantly evolving managerial and business context in which managers, HR professionals and employees interact.

Leading, Managing and Developing People: In this unit you will critically assess how people are managed and developed in contemporary organisations. You will study major research evidence on effective approaches to human resource (HR) and learning and development
(L&D) practice.

Investigating a Business Issue 1: You will develop a stronger awareness of your own strengths and weaknesses as managers and colleagues. The unit focuses on developing and improving a range of skills that are pivotal to successful management practice and effective leadership. These include thinking and decision-making skills, the management of financial information, managing budgets, teamwork and interpersonal skills, and developing personal effectiveness and credibility at work.

Resourcing and Talent Management: You will analyse the role of resourcing and talent management in supporting strategic objectives in national and international contexts. The unit examines the various approaches to resourcing in organisations through recruitment, selection, employee retention and dismissal processes.

Managing Employment Relations: The aim of this unit is to provide personnel and development professionals with an understanding of employment relations, both nationally and internationally, from theoretical and behavioural competency perspectives.

Leadership and Management Development (possible option): The focus of this unit is the development of leadership and management and their role in facilitating change and growth in individuals, teams and organisations.

Employment Law (possible option): You will learn the key principles that underpin UK (or Irish) and EU employment law, their purpose, the major defences that employers are able to deploy when defending cases and the potential organisational costs and risks associated with losing them. You will focus on situations that occur relatively regularly in workplaces, rather than on more obscure legal scenarios or on advanced knowledge of legislation or case law.

Investigating a Business Issue 2: Through a work placement, this unit provides the opportunity for students to diagnose and investigate a live, complex business issue from an HR perspective. You will collect and analyse data, derive supportable conclusions and make practical and actionable recommendations for change, improvement or enhancement of current practice.

Assessment
Assessments vary across units and are a mixture of written assignments, skills and exams.

Key career skills
Communication, presentation, researching, assimilating and presenting data in a professional context, teamwork (particularly cross-culture), training skills.

Projects/work experience
Students have completed placements and projects on behalf of organisations such as the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, the NHS, Sainsburys and Winchester University.

Most applicants will be expected to hold a first degree with a minimum 2.2 or equivalent.Applicants without this may be admitted if they are able to show significant evidence of professional experience in management.If your first language is not English, you must have an IELTS score of 6.5 (6.0 writing) or equivalent. English Language Requirements IELTS band: 6.5 TOEFL paper-based test score : 600 IMPORTANT NOTE: Since April 2014 the ETS tests (including TOEFL and TOEIC) are no longer accepted for Tier 4 visa applications to the United Kingdom. The university might still accept these tests to admit you to the university, but if you require a Tier 4 visa to enter the UK and begin your degree programme, these tests will not be sufficient to obtain your Visa. The IELTS test is most widely accepted by universities and is also accepted for Tier 4 visas to the UK- learn more.