MSc Human Resource Management (HRM)

Our MSc HRM Masters provides unique insights into new areas of Human Resource Management. HRM benefits employers and employees, as well as creating wider social benefits including lower unemployment, inclusion for marginalised people, reduced demand for out-of-work and in-work benefits while reducing healthcare burdens due to work-related illness and disability. We recognise the rapidly changing trends in employment and offer an exciting selection of specialist courses to educate current and future HR practitioners in a more sustainable and socially responsible form of managing people.

There are eight taught courses (divided equally over two semesters) and an HRM dissertation in semester three. If you choose to study part-time, you will register for two courses per semester and progress to the dissertation at the end of the second year.

In September semester you will take: Organisational Behaviour, HR Strategy and Practice, Digital Human Resource Management and the Legal Context of Work.

In January semester you will take: Research Philosophy and Practice, Sustainable HRM, Employment Trends and The Psychology of Leadership.

In May semester the HRM dissertation is the capstone course where you will be supported by our world leading faculty to “deep-dive” into your chosen area of HRM. The dissertation enables you to investigate an HRM topic of your choice, where you will be able to demonstrate your mastery of the subject area by developing new insights from analysis of valuable primary research.

Accreditation

Our MSc in HRM is aligned to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) Profession Map and maps to the core knowledge and core behaviour standards for a level of CIPD membership. By studying this degree you are aligning yourself to the international standard for the people profession. 

This accreditation provides a strong foundation by giving you the confidence and capabilities to guide your decision making, actions and behaviours, it sets the international standard for people professionals to make their greatest impact and thrive in a changing world of work. 

Upon successfully completing this programme, you will achieve a CIPD membership outcome, a visible demonstration of your experience and expertise in the people profession. 

UAE Federal Accreditation.

Course content

September Semester

HR Strategy and Practice

This course explores what it means to be an HR practitioner and provide insights into the differing strategic and operational roles occupied by those working within the HR profession. The course also explores the skills and behaviours required to perform the role of an HR practitioner effectively and considers how to design a range of people practices to deliver strategic people plans.

Organisational Behaviour 

Core to designing HR policies and practices is an understanding of why people behave the way they do at work. This course considers factors at an individual, group and organisational level that impact on our experience of work. Topics covered include motivation, work group dynamics, power and politics, organisational culture and the people aspects of change.

Digital Human Resource Management

Data permeates our world and is integral to the way businesses function and formulate strategies. The contemporary workplace therefore needs to augment human skills with the emergence of artificial intelligence and automation. This course examines how the HR profession can adapt to changing realities by combining artificial and human intelligence in new ways; finding digital solutions that not only enhance efficiency but also sustain positive employee experiences.

The Legal Context of Work

The legal context of work course aims to provide insights into the aspects of international and domestic law relevant to areas of work and employment, equipping you with the skills necessary to develop and maintain legally compliant and sustainable HRM practices.

January Semester

Sustainable HRM

Sustainable HRM builds on many of the ideas in the HR Practitioner but engages in a more specialized discussion around how to ensure long-term financial sustainability, whilst meeting broader individual, societal and environmental needs.

Specifically, the course helps to understand how HRM can be used to develop inclusive workplaces that promote wellbeing, achieve organisational flexibility which is mutually beneficial for employers and employees, and facilitate environmental sustainability in organisations.

Employment Trends

This course will encourage you to consider and discuss the context of contemporary employment, and its impacts on the pattern of employment outcome, as well as considering future trends in employment such as robotics. The course will provide the local, national and international context and trends that inform the practice of HR practitioners, and influence the outcomes for employees and workers.  

Research Philosophy and Practice

The Research Philosophy and Practice course aims to prepare students for conducting their own dissertation. It introduces the social science research process, explores different research philosophies, designs and methodologies, and helps students design their own research study.

The Psychology of Leadership

The Psychology of Leadership discusses core theories of leadership, with particular focus on key social psychological approaches to understanding this complex and contentious concept. The practical considerations of leading in an organisational setting are also considered.

May Semester

Dissertation Project

Over the summer the masters' dissertation enables you to deepen your knowledge of HRM through research into a topic of your choice. You will gather and analyse data from employers (this could be your current workplace) or employers which directly relates to your ambitions and interests.

• Examples of topics within this discipline are:

• The role of HRM in overcoming in work poverty

• The potential for remote working and robotics to improve employment outcomes

• The role of HR practitioners in ‘green' HRM

• Innovation, sustainable HRM and customer satisfaction in hospitality industry

• Sustainable HRM practices and the effects on employee retention

• The impact of employee wellness programs on employee engagement

An MSc with industry demand

Within the HR profession, there is growing interest in understanding how to manage people in a way that not only delivers business results, but provides a positive experience of work for employees and workers, and supports wider social and environmental objectives. Our MSc HRM covers all the topics you would expect from an HR degree but also enables our students to develop specialist knowledge in this increasingly important new approach to people management.

Our research: a driving force for new knowledge

Underpinning our MSc HRM is our close links with the Centre for Research in Employment, Work and the Professions (CREWS). The teaching team has a strong research interest in sustainable HRM, diversity and inclusion, and developing fair work and healthy workplaces.

Entry requirements

A good honours degree (first or second class), or its non-UK equivalent, in a related subject.

Applicants with relevant education and work experience may also be considered.

English language requirements

Where English was not the medium of instruction during previous education, applicants must demonstrate English language proficiency equivalent to IELTS 6.5.