International Human Resource Management MSc

University of Aberdeen

This course aims to critically analyse the major organisational and external contexts within which organisations operate across the range of business sectors in which Human Resource professionals work. Course members will evaluate the impact of the business environment and a range of stakeholders on organisation?s choices and strategies.

This module provides the opportunity for learners to demonstrate the ability to diagnose and investigate a live, complex business issue from an HR perspective, to locate the work within the body of contemporary knowledge, to collect and analyse data, to derive supportable conclusions and to make practical and actionable recommendations for change, improvement or enhancement of current practice.

This course serves as an introduction to the employment relationship. Students will learn the history of the field and how different employment relationships are established in different institutional, legal and national contexts. The focus will be on the interactions of workers and employers and the factors that shape that relationship.

This course, which is prescribed for all taught postgraduate students, is studied entirely online, takes approximately 5-6 hours to complete and can be taken in one sitting, or spread across a number of weeks.

Human Resource (HR) Essentials course serves as the first course in the program to provide students foundational understanding and knowledge of HR, and functions as a sound basis for other courses in the International Human Resources Management Programme. The course is focused on introducing HR theories and the application of theories and ideas into practice. In this course, students engage in a range of theories taught by lecturers as well as interactive exercises such case studies and evaluation of journal articles, through which they can reflect on and critically evaluate different HR theories. In this way students develop cognitive skills by actively and critically reflecting on practice, and practical transferable skills through assignment and in-class activities and exercises.

Organisational learning is argued to be a critical process affecting the success or otherwise of organisations, for example in achieving competitive advantage. The efficiency and effectiveness of the process influences performance outcomes. Therefore attention needs to be given to examining and improving organisational learning. This is often achieved through mechanisms and techniques associated with knowledge management. Learning and knowledge are intertwined, as the former is a necessary condition for the creation of the latter. There is therefore an established connection between the two concepts. This module will explore that connection to develop a critical understanding of the concepts of knowledge management and of organisational learning and associated theories and the personal and professional skills associated with designing and implementing knowledge management strategies that promote organisational learning. The module explores the implications for professional practice and requires learners to reflect critically on theory and practice from an ethical and professional standpoint and provides opportunities for applied learning and continuous professional development.

The concepts of change and innovation have never been more topical, especially given the commercial context of fierce business competition, shorter product life cycles and more demanding customers.  Increasingly, long-term commercial success is based on an ability to manage change, to act creatively and to promote innovation; These processes interconnect and overlap and often present major challenges to modern organizations; We address these issues through providing detailed case illustrations ranging from the workplace to the wider business market. Learning is encouraged through interaction, reading, investigation, video and case analysis, and critical discussion.

This course introduces the student to key aspects in labour and personnel economics and how these are related to human resource practices. It focuses on how firms seek to incentivise workers to yield efficient outcomes in the labour market.

This course introduces students to what is involved in undertaking business research in practice. Within lectures, tutorials and workshops students will develop an understanding of: Information retrieval and critical analysis; Philosophical issues in the construction of knowledge; Accessing and gathering quantitative and qualitative data; Data analysis; Student/Supervisor expectations.

This course provides an opportunity to explore and develop an understanding of your own leadership behaviour. Through workshops, group activities and discussions we investigate how personality, past experience, current situations and culture shape the way each of us behave in a leadership role. Using this information as a starting point we then explore how different leadership theories and approaches can be used as frameworks for developing a deeper understanding of leadership behaviour. You will also have an opportunity to try out a range of practical tools and techniques to assist you in the development of your own approach to leadership.