This core module critically examines the origins and meanings of Human Resource Management (HRM) as well as contemporary debates surfacing in the field of Strategic Human Resource Management. Key aspects of HRM include: recruitment and selection; the realisation of equal opportunities, diversity and inclusion; performance management; employee voice; rewards; ethics; and the reorganisation of work and working time.

By the end of the module students should be able to:

• Review and critically evaluate major contemporary research and debates in the field of HRM;
• Understand, analyse and critically evaluate the market and competitive environments of organizations and how the HR function responds to them;
• Evaluate major theories relating to motivation, commitment and engagement at work and how these are put into practice by organizations;
• Contribute to the promotion of effective flexible working in organizations;
• Understand, analyse and critically evaluate contemporary organizations and their principal environments;
• Understand, analyse and critically evaluate how organisational and HR strategies are shaped by and developed in response to internal and external environmental factors;
• Understand, analyse and critically evaluate the integration of employment relations processes and how they impact on policy, practice and organisational outcomes such as performance and employee engagement;
• Understand, analyse and critically evaluate government policy and legal regulation and how these shape and impact on organisational and HR strategies and practices;
• Understand, analyse and critically evaluate demographic, social and technological trends and how they shape and impact on organisational and HR strategies and HR practices.