Module 1
Study Skills and Personal Development
Unit 1: Developing an Effective Reading Style
As reading constitutes a large part of distance learning, this unit aims to encourage the development of an effective reading style. The course member can then in turn make the best use of the course materials, prepare notes, and understand the main concepts raised during their studies.
Unit 2: Using Your Own Experience to Put Forward an Academic Argument
This unit explores the concept of analysis and looks at how use personal experience in an assignment. The unit also discusses how the workplace can be an additional source of information when writing assignments.
Unit 3: Argument and Analysis in Assignment Writing
This unit aims to show the student how effective reading and note-taking and the ability to analyse workplace experience are useful when writing academic assignments.

Module 2
Organisational Behaviour and Employee Development
Unit 1: Individual Behaviour
This unit examines both formal and informal systems of classifying and predicting individual behaviour, and the relevance of this process to human resource management. It explores what the psychological and HRM literature says about individual behaviour, and then considers how we evaluate and assess individuality within the context of work.

Unit 2: Group Behaviour
This unit looks at behaviour both within and between workgroups. Its focus is the psychology of group membership, the dynamic interactions that occur between individuals, and the collective identity, purpose and behaviour of the group.
Unit 3: Organisational Behaviour
This unit examines how corporate approaches to the development of the human resources help successful organisations to establish a shared sense of purpose and a commitment to adaptation and improvement in a rapidly changing commercial and technological environment.
Unit 4: Employee Development
The context in which all work-related individual development should occur is set in this unit. The ideas explored are all directly or indirectly linked to the need of organisations to continually adapt and to exploit the opportunities of change or face hardship and possibly extinction, in the business sense.

Module 3
Management in Organisations
Unit 1: Understanding Organisation Structure, Systems and Culture
This unit examines what we mean by an organisation and the context it provides for the learning of its members. It reviews the development of organisation theory over time and what we have learned about organisations and their structures, systems and cultures.
Unit 2: What is Management? What is Leadership?
This unit introduces the course member to the theory and practice of management within the organisation, and considers the emerging importance of leadership.
Unit 3: Management and HRM
This unit examines the relationship between management and human resource management, and how the two functions are interrelated in modern organisations.
Unit 4: Developing Human Resources
This unit introduces different perspectives on the development of human resources and shows how they contribute to the achievement of the strategic goals of the organisation.
Unit 5: Organisational Restructuring and the Learning Organisation
This unit looks at the concept of the ‘learning organisation’ and shows how organisations can achieve collective and continuous learning.

Module 4
Personnel and Human Resource Management
Unit 1: Personnel, HRM and Business Strategy
This unit reflects on the similarities and differences between personnel management and HRM. The intention is to examine what the academic literature says regarding the distinction between the two concepts and then look at what practitioners have to say on this subject. This unit looks at some of the key strands within the personnel vs. HRM debate.
Unit 2: The Role of IT in Human Resource Management Administration
This unit examines the use of IT within the HR function, giving an outline of the introduction of IT-based HR systems and their uses within contemporary organisations. It provides an assessment of firm-specific packages and the use of standard software, and looks at examples of the use of IT in HR administration.
Unit 3: Resourcing the Organisation
This unit examines the issue of resourcing the organisation looking at how organisations make staffing decisions both at an organisational and at an individual level. The unit traces the various stages of resourcing from manpower planning through job analysis to recruitment and selection of individuals.
Unit 4: The Employment Relationship
This unit examines the employment relationship, primarily the contract of employment and the legislative framework, which underpins the terms and conditions of employment. It begins with a look at the historical context in which the employment relationship developed in the UK. It also examines the nature of employment relationships in the United States and South-East Asia, the role of trade unions in different countries, collective bargaining procedures and the emergence of an ‘individualised’ HRM and rewarding, controlling and appraising staff within the organisation.
Unit 5: Performance Management
This unit examines HR techniques and systems that emphasise performance and also characterises performance management as one of three types of performance management system.

Module 5
HRM Project
Module 5 is a research-based project which helps the course member to identify, study and evaluate a particular issue of interest to them. The module starts with a general discussion on identifying a suitable research problem which relates to the course materials, before moving on to discuss the various research methods available. Some of the potential pitfalls are highlighted and these are discussed. The module also explores the various ways in which research findings can be presented making good use of the data generated.

Module 6
Culture and the International Context
Unit 1: Theorising the International context
This unit focuses on the concepts and debates which relate to understanding the international context, beginning by examining the process that is commonly referred to as ‘globalisation’. The ‘convergence�divergence’ debate is also explored, and also the terms ‘culture’ and ‘ideology’ in an attempt to integrate the key contributions from both the convergence and divergence schools.
Unit 2: Training and HRM in the International Context
This unit focuses on how culture and globalisation influence training and HRM practice. It begins by looking at cross-cultural communication and discussion of some of the issues involved in working in a different country. The unit concludes with a cross-cultural analysis of orientations to work, motivation and stress.
Unit 3: National VET Systems as Organisational Environments
This unit explores the impact of globalisation at the national level, comparing a number of national systems of education and training. It looks at the way national systems of Vocational Education and Training (VET) frame and, ultimately, influence the work of the training and HRM practitioner. How different countries have responded to the pressures of increased international competition and globalisation.

Course Dates
From To
1 May 2007 April 2008
2 July 2007 June 2008
3 October 2007 September 2008
4 January 2008 December 2008

Email Link: Sally.gatward@le.ac.uk

Web: www.clms.le.ac.uk

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