module specification

This module aims to provide learners with a rigorous framework of knowledge and understanding concerning people management that they will need whatever the degree of specialism they choose within their careers in HRM/HRD.  It seeks to familiarise learners with major contemporary research evidence on employment and effective approaches to HRM and HRD practice. Research focusing on the links between people management practices and positive organisational outcomes is covered as is research which highlights major contemporary changes and developments in practice. In addition the module introduces the major aims of HRM and HRD and explores how these are achieved in practice in different types of organisations. The module covers the CIPD module Leading, Managing and Developing People together with some of the content of CIPD’s HRM in Context (Contextualising Management).

This module also addresses many of the skills areas required by CIPD in its module Developing Skills for Business Leadership, including encouraging learners to develop a strong sense of self-awareness and of their own strengths and weaknesses as managers and colleagues. Thus, the module is also concerned with developing understanding and skills in a number of areas that constitute effectiveness in management, and specifically the management of self and of others. In addition it seeks to help learners to develop and improve a range of definable skills which are pivotal to successful management practice and to effective leadership in particular.  These include thinking and decision-making skills and a range of team working and interpersonal skills and others associated with developing personal effectiveness and credibility at work. Digital literacy is addressed in an integrated manner throughout the module.
 
Finally, the module seeks to help learners make the most of their formal programmes of study with the inclusion of key post-graduate level study-skills and aids students in exploring the connection and the implications for - and applications in - professional practice through continuing professional development and personal development planning.

a) to ensure that managers have the necessary competencies to manage themselves and others effectively.
b) to enable practitioners to be organisationally and socially aware, and act ethically and in a principled fashion in exercising these competencies.
c) to raise the profile of people management by considering ways in which practitioners can enhance their own status, influence and add-value to the organisation and the function.

To contribute to the academic and professional development of the student this module, along with the other core modules of the course, has been designed to incorporate digital and information literacy competences and dispositions, as outlined in the Open University’s Digital and Information Literacy Framework  (DILF).
Particularly, this module develops level 7 (postgraduate) competencies in the areas of:

• Understanding and engaging in digital practices
• Finding Information
• Critically evaluating information, online interactions and online tools
• Managing and communicating information
• Collaborating and sharing digital content

Managing People, Managing Yourself, Managing Stress
Learning and People Development, Action learning.
Organisational Culture, Authority, Power and Politics
Interpersonal Communication and Managing Conflict
Group Behaviour, Team Working and Presentation Skills
Societal Cultures and Diversity Management
Leadership and Management
Motivation, Commitment and Engagement at Work
The Contribution of HRM and HRD in Organisational Performance and Customer Service
Flexible Working, Ethical Decision-Making and The Management of Change

The module makes use of a wide range of teaching and learning methods.  These include tutor input, group discussion and exercises using case studies, role-plays, structured experiences and reflection.  The development of team, presentation, management and self-management skills will be facilitated and encouraged in an integrative way throughout.   Learning will be fully supported by pre-session work and web pages containing teaching resources, further reading and management development exercises.

On completion of the module students will be able to:

1. Review and critically evaluate major contemporary research and debates in the fields of HRM and HRD.
2. Critically evaluate the available theories and evidence relating to the factors that facilitate motivation, commitment and engagement in organisations and develop appropriate proposals for enhancing performance within an organisational setting.
3. Identify and critically evaluate the main functions and competencies of leaders and their development, and critically discuss and explain the relevance of current leadership theories.
4. Critically assess the importance of recognising organisational stakeholders in the management of change and promotion of flexible working. 
5. Evaluate and contribute to, the effectiveness of HRM and HRD systems in organisations for managing people and assess the contribution of, and the methods by which, effective people management can contribute to enhanced organisational performance, quality and customer service.
6. Contribute to the effective implementation of systems and enhanced performance by demonstrating an essential people management skill-set (such as selection interviewing, appraisal interviewing, disciplinary interviewing, managing poor performance, and making presentations).
7. Understand the need to promote sound, justifiable, professional and ethical considerations in organisational decision-making.
8. Identify the main features of societal and organisational cultures, and the implications of such cultures for managing diversity and organisational relationships.
9. Identify and demonstrate a range of relevant skills for managing self and interpersonal relationships both inside and outside work (including leading, influencing and working co-operatively with people in teams), and demonstrate improvement in identified areas of self-development, making plans for own continuous professional development, using appropriate tools and methods.

Additionally, in line with the DILF (level 7) students will be able to:

• Give evidence of proactive participation in academic and/or professional online networks outside the university study community.
• Demonstrate a critical and systematic approach to keeping up-to-date using the most appropriate tools and resources, e.g. RSS, mailing lists.
• Articulate the advantages and disadvantages of peer review practices.
• Assess whether an instance of online collaborative working has been effective and appropriate.
• Apply critical criteria to the evaluation of unfamiliar online tools.
• Distinguish between platforms for publishing digital content, recognising the difference between formal publication and information exchange.
• Demonstrate leadership in an online professional community, e.g. take the initiative in proposing appropriate media and working methods, facilitate the group working through agreed processes and evaluate group outputs.
• Give evidence of engagement in online communities and professional (subject) groups using multiple technologies and demonstrate successful management of group interactions.

The assessment will consist of three elements, addressing the learning outcomes of this module.

There are two elements of individual assessment (70% of the total assessment weighting for the module), and one element of group assessment (30% of the total assessment).

The individual assessments comprise a 1 hour and 30 minute unseen exam (40% of the total assessment weighting for the module) and a reflective continuing professional development portfolio (30% of the total assessment weighting for the module).

Rees, G. and French, R. (eds.) (2013) Leading, Managing and Developing People, London: CIPD.
Watson, G. and Reissner, S. (2010) Developing Skills for Business Leadership, London: CIPD.

You may find the following text particularly useful in preparing your personal portfolio:
Pedler, M., Burgoyne, J. and Boydell, T. (20010 A manager's guide to self-development. (2nd edition). Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill.

The CIPD website is also particularly useful:  www.cipd.co.uk

Other Suggested Reading:

There is no one text which covers all the content areas of the module. However you should find that most Organisational Behaviour or Management textbooks will cover most of the main areas of the module.  In particular you may find the following texts helpful:

Academy of Management Review (2004) Special Topic Forum on the Future of Work Motivation Theory, Vol. 29, No. 3, July 2004, pp. 339-499.
Armstrong, M. (1999) Managing Activities, London: CIPD.
Armstrong, M. and Stephens, T. (2005) A Handbook of Employee Reward Management and Practice, London: Kogan Page.
Armstrong, M. (2012) A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practice, (12th edition), London: Kogan Page.
Bloisi, W. (2007) An Introduction to Human Resource Management, Maidenhead: McGraw Hill.
Bratton, J. and Gold, J. (2012) Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.(5th edition)
Burnes, B. (2009) Managing Change, Harlow: Prentice Hall (5th edition).
Carnegie, D. (2006) How To Win Friends and Influence People, London : Simon and Schuster, 2011
Carnall, C.A. (2007) Managing Change in Organizations, London: Prentice Hall(5th edition)
Cheung-Judge, M-Y and Holbeche, L. (2011) Organization Development: A Practitioner’s Guide for OD and HR. London: Kogan Page.
Crowther, D. and Green, M. (2004) Organisational Theory, London: CIPD.
DTI, (2002), High Performance Workplaces (accessible via DTI website).
Foot, M. and Hook, C. (2011) Introducing Human Resource Management. London: Financial Times Press, Pearson (6th edition)
Guirdham, M. (2002) Interactive Behaviour at Work. 3rd Edition. Harlow: Pearson.
Guirdham, M. (2011) Communicating Across Cultures at Work. Basingstoke: Macmillan(3rd edition).
Harrison, R. (2009) Learning And Development, (5th edition), London: CIPD.
Hargie, O. (ed.) (2006) The Handbook of Communication Skills, (3rd edition).  Hove: Routledge.
Hughes, M. (2006) Change Management: A Critical Perspective, London: CIPD.
Kolb, D.A. (1984) Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Leary-Joyce, J. (2004) Becoming an Employer of Choice - Make your organisation a place where people want to do great work, London: CIPD
Leatherbarrow, C. (2014) Introduction to human resource management : a guide to HR in practice. London: CIPD
McKenna, E. (2012) Business Psychology and Organizational Behaviour. Hove: Taylor & Francis.
Megginson, D. and Whitaker, V. (2007) Continuing Professional Development. (2nd edition). London: CIPD.
Perkins, S.J. and White, G. (2012) Employee Reward: Alternatives, Consequences and Contexts.  London: CIPD.
Porter, C., Bingham, C. and Simmonds, D. (eds.) (2008) Exploring Human Resource Management.  Maidenhead: McGraw Hill.
Rayner, C. and Adam-Smith, D. (2009), Managing and Leading People, (2nd edition)  London: CIPD.
Rees, W.D. and Porter, C. (2008) Skills of Management. (6th edition), London: Thomson Learning.
Reid, M.A., Barrington, H. and Brown, M. (2004) Human Resource Development, (7th edition) London: CIPD.
Robinson, I. (2006) Human Resource Management in Organisations, London: CIPD.
Sirota, D. (2005) The Enthusiastic Employee, New Jersey: Wharton School Publishing.
Torrington, D., Taylor, S., Hall, L. and Atkinson, C. (2011) Human Resource Management. (8th edition) London: Financial Times Press, Pearson
Watson, G., Gallagher, J. (2005), Managing for Results (2nd edition), London, CIPD.
Weightman, J. (2004) Managing People, (2nd edition) London: CIPD.
Welch, J. (2005) Winning, London: Harper Collins.
Wellin, M. (2007) Managing the Psychological Contract – Using the personal deal to increase business performance, Aldershot: Gower.
Winstanley, D. (2009) Personal Effectiveness, (2nd edition) Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill.
Wright, A. (2004) Reward Management in Context, London: CIPD.