Business and Human Resource Management

This module introduces students to key skills designed to build their professionalism. It encourages students to develop their self-awareness and to think about how they appear to other people. It explores theories and practices of team working in order to develop skills in these areas.

This module gives students an understanding of finance within organisations, with a specific focus on budgeting, and an introduction to FinTech, the key technologies and business models that will re-imagine the global economy in the 21st century.

This module introduces students to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals through a focus on case studies and an understanding of the key concepts and the relationship to concerns such as climate change, poverty and sustainable development.

The rapid growth in digital technologies and the associated use in smart devices, sensors and internet applications has resulted in a proliferation of big data, which are defined as data having large volume, high velocity and wide variety. This emergent trend has not gone unnoticed by business and other organisations, which consistently aim to utilise digital technologies to their advantage. As such, they aim to extract value and reap the potential benefits of big data by seeking ways of transforming these high complexity data sets into meaningful business opportunities. The module will introduce the digital technologies, which enable potential value to be captured from big data sets. It will also consider the methods and applications that are used to analyse and translate such data into meaningful, actionable information, which could inform current as well as future business models. Finally, ethical, security and privacy aspects of big data will be considered over the backdrop of some recent high profile and widely publicised case studies, such as Facebook and Google.

The aim of this module is to provide students with an understanding of the wider world of work. It introduces students to tools for analysing the external environment (eg PESTLE, SWOT etc.) in order for them to understand how social-economic factors influences organisational and HR strategies. It examines features of the contemporary economy such as labour markets, changes in workforce demographics, changing composition of the economy (rise in service and knowledge work, decline of manufacturing) and the global economy. It explores the implications of specific contexts of the contemporary economy for managing people; for example, service workers, knowledge workers, precarious workers, an international workforce, social care, and differences in public/private sector work.

The module aims to review the digital context for work and its implications for managers. It explores how technology is used in the management of people and resources. It critically analyses how technology provides opportunities for collaborative working along with the strengths and limitations of technology for people and organisations, including ethical considerations.

The purpose of this module is to examine the influence and impact that individuals, groups and organisational structure have on human behaviour in the work environment. The module also examines the implications of human behaviour on job structure, performance, communication, motivation, leadership, decision-making, well-being etc. for applying such knowledge towards improving organisational effectiveness.

This module reviews the evolution of HRM and introduces students to the key underpinning theories. It explores the employee life cycle including recruitment and selection, development, reward and recognition, performance management, wellbeing, engagement, diversity and inclusion, conflict and departures. The module highlights various influences both internal and external to the organisation, which shape HR policies and practices, such as labour markets, CSR, political environment and the legal framework.

This module builds on the grounding from 'Global Concerns In Sustainable Development' and critiques the role of Multi-National Organisations, Social Enterprises and the role of the state in the emergence of Responsible Enterprise as a movement to address global issues for people and planet. 

This module presents a systematic approach to the study of strategy, building upon an array of ideas and theories ranging from industrial organisation theory to institutional economics. This module outlines the fundamentals of strategic management and gives students an introduction in this important area of business management. Students will gain an awareness of the issues involved and the techniques that managers adopt. The tools and techniques will help students understand how organisations achieve sustainable competitive advantage.

This module examines the employment relationship in-depth at both an individual and collective level and considers underpinning theories such as the Psychological Contract. It explores approaches to creating and sustaining effective employment relationships, including discussion of Employee Involvement and Participation and the role of trust. Conflict and dispute resolution mechanisms are explored.

Operations is the part of an organisation that actually makes products and/or delivers services. Managing operations can be extremely complex and this is even more difficult today because of several challenges. These include the application of new technologies (broadly termed Industry 4.0) and the need for operational practices to be both ethical and sustainable. The module will consider how organisations formulate operations strategy against this backdrop. It will also examine operations management theory and its relevance to early career professionals. Finally, the module will consider how operations relates to the other organisational functions (HRM, accounting, marketing and design).

The purpose of this module is to develop greater awareness of different cultures and their relevance for managers in the twenty-first century. It aims to develop a critical awareness of the complexity of management in the international context and to apply practices and techniques with sensitivity to national cultural differences. While developing an understanding of the principle areas of management activity in general, this module seeks to enable students to identify and tackle key management issues facing international organisations and to develop the skills and competences required for managing an increasingly diverse, complex and dispersed workforce and customer base.

This module provides an in-depth exploration of the legal framework, which governs the management of people. It explores the purpose and sources of law and the legal framework influencing key people activities e.g. recruitment, selection, discrimination, performance, reward, change, discipline, grievance, family friendly, dismissal and employment tribunals.

This module is designed to support students in applying for placements and for developing their professional skills in order to enhance their employability. It will enable students to understand their own skill sets and motivations for employability and introduce them to the structure and process of labour markets. It will help students to prepare for placement interviews and presentation and discuss more generally the interview process with opportunities for practice. This will be underpinned by the theme of professionalism incorporating discussions of what this means, why it is important and how students can develop their own professionalism.

This module introduces students to the research process and methodologies including quantitative and qualitative approaches. It discusses how to identify a business issue for research and how to situate this within a relevant body of academic literature. It explores the literature review process and analyses key considerations in research design.

This module builds on the tools and techniques from Principles of Strategic Management (Level 5), and is concerned with the strategic choices available to organisations to achieve competitive advantage in a global economy. The managerial decisions, processes and activities, that allow the creation and implementation of an effective global strategy are discussed and reflected-upon through a combination of theories and real-world case studies. This module explains that strategic management is the one of the most imperative considerations in the global economy. Organisations and managers can no longer base their strategies on the assumption that global markets will remain stable with steady growth.

This module builds on the Year 3, Term 1 module, Designing a Research Project. Students reflect on their chosen topics, literature review and research design and undertake data collection and analysis. They present their findings in the form of a Research Project.

The module examines the legal and business cases for a focus on gender and diversity. It critically analyses organisational approaches to gender and diversity and discusses the enablers of and barriers to interventions to encourage inclusion in the workplace.

The focus of this module is students’ immediate and sustainable employability. The course aims to develop understanding and apply theoretical approaches to employability and career management. The course will develop a range of relevant personal skills and attributes that will enable students to gain entry into respective professional and managerial labour market within a local and/or global context. It will also increase a sense of professionalism among students by enhancing their relationship management skills, commitment to continuing professional development and reflective practice.

The purpose of this module is to apply psychological theories and principles to organisations and individuals in their places of work as well as the individual's work-life more generally. The module examines key topic areas in work psychology that affect people's performance and well-being at work, including individual differences, stress, cognitive ability; teamwork; work design and emotional intelligence.