Business with Human Resource Management MSc
1 Year Full-Time | September Start

In this module you will learn about a comprehensive range of research methods and business analytics techniques. This will equip you with the knowledge and practical skills necessary for you to conduct research at Masters’ level and prepare you to complete a Master’s Dissertation, Consultancy Project or Management Enquiry. By the end of the module you will know how to apply both quantitative and qualitative data collection and business analysis techniques. In quantitative techniques you will learn about sampling, questionnaire design, statistical inference, and hypothesis testing while qualitative techniques covered will include methods such as interviewing and focus groups. Analysis methods such as content analysis and thematic analysis will also be covered. In addition, you will gain some understanding of research philosophy (positivism and interpretivism) and research ethics and you will be able to write a research proposal to bring these ideas together.
Furthermore, this module will provide clear, critical, and analysis of data, you will also be able to consider the use of analytics implementation skills, where you will be introduced to analytics software such as SPSS. SPSS statistics analysis is one of the powerful solutions that is designed to help businesses and researchers to solve problems by various methods (geospatial analysis, predictive analytics and hypothesis testing).

Studying away from your home country can differ due to cultural and language differences in teaching and assessment practices. This

module is designed to support your transition to postgraduate level study in the use and practice of subject specific skills around assessments

and teaching provision in your chosen subject. The overall aim of this module is to further develop your abilities to read and study effectively

for academic purposes; to develop your skills in analysing and using source material in seminars and academic writing and to develop your

use and application of language and communications skills suitable for a postgraduate level of study.

The topics you will cover on the module include:

• Understanding postgraduate assignment briefs.

• Developing advanced academic writing skills, including citation, paraphrasing, and summarising.

• Practising advanced ‘critical reading’ and ‘critical writing’

• Planning and structuring postgraduate level academic assignments (e.g. essays, reports and presentations).

• Avoiding academic misconduct and gaining credit by using academic sources and referencing effectively.

• Speaking in postgraduate seminar presentations.

• Presenting your ideas

• Giving discipline-related postgraduate level academic presentations, experiencing peer observation, and receiving formative feedback.

• Postgraduate level speed reading techniques.

• Developing self-reflection skills.

This module aims to develop your critical knowledge and understanding of how HRM can add value and enhance organisational effectiveness and sustainability, by exploring the effective integration of HRM with broader business and HR strategies, in order to facilitate the achievement of organisations strategic objectives.

You will be able to identify strategies for managing the shared and divergent interests of key stakeholders in HRM and understand how HRM can add value to individual and organisational objectives.

You will learn about a number of contemporary themes related to Human Resource Management in practice. These include:

Introduction to HRM as an ‘ideal ‘type
HRM and the labour market
Talent Management
Talent Development
Employer Branding
Flexibility and Job design
The new employee
International HRM
Employee Relations
Line Managers
Emerging Issues.

This is a 20-credit semester-based module. In this module you are introduced to a variety of approaches to organisational analysis, enabling you to challenge and critique, both organisational practice, and the theories, models and frameworks underpinning management, business and organisation. Mainstream views of organisational behaviour and practice are introduced, with progression to exploring alternative ways of ‘seeing’ organisation and organizing. This approach develops your critical thinking and draws on contemporary research to explore alternative ways of organizing. The module introduces you to the most established paradigm perspective on organisation theory (Burrell and Morgan’s (1985)), and thus allows an exploration of organisation behaviour and practice through the lens of mainstream and critical organisation theory on following topics:

• Culture and organisation
• Structure
• Innovation, change, and management
• Gender
• Power and control
• Teams and groups
• Ethics

This module engages you in personal and professional development in order that you develop and hone your teamworking, management and leadership skills, capabilities and attributes, and in so doing, enhance your employability. On this module, you will not only prepare for your first job after you graduate but also kickstart your commitment to life-long personal and professional learning. In the first part of the module you will be supported in a self-analysis by a range of activities, including the completion of self-administered tool-kits to demonstrate an increased self-awareness and self-understanding. This will also involve applying theoretical frameworks and researching contemporary literature for a more in-depth understanding of self. A key outcome of this process is how you will be able to exploit this development in order to lead, and manage, more effectively in your future careers. The second part of the module contains activities which enable you to build on your self-analysis and explore further your strengths, weaknesses and areas for development in the context of your career development plans. You will receive guidance on how to craft professional, postgraduate CVs, LinkeIn profiles, and supporting documentation to meet the needs of employer. Furthermore, you will use your understanding of self to help you to understand the key issues and specific challenges that you face, with your skills profile, in relation to your employability prospects in your target profession/industry/sector. This will also include the development of knowledge into the global graduate market, (including routes such as self-employment and developing your career with an existing employer) drawing upon local, national and international examples.

This is a 40-credit core module running in the first semester of the MSc Business with programme and is developed for those of you who have little or no prior business and management subject experience. The aim of the module is to introduce you to the main business functions – Finance, Marketing, HRM, Operations – and show how each can contribute to the competitive advantage of a firm and hence enable the firm to achieve its strategic objectives. The content of the module comprises six key parts which are listed below.

Business Simulation
Introduction to the module; The Business Simulation – introduction, decision-making, group work and allocation of roles, group presentation – annual report to shareholders; Round-up to the Business Simulation and summative assessment guidance.

Strategy
Developing a Business Plan; The Business Environment; The Competitive Environment; Organisational Objectives; Competitive Strategy; Functional Strategy; Strategic Capabilities; Responsible Decision-making; Evaluating Company Performance.

Financial Management
Cost behaviour and product costing; Cost classification and product costing; Pricing decisions and costing; Behavioural Aspects of Budgeting; Cash Budgeting; Integrated Performance Measures; Balanced Scorecard.

Operations Management
Role of Operations Management; Operations Strategy; Resource planning and capacity management; Quality Management; Global supply networks; JIT and Lean Management; Supplier selection and procurement; Benchmarking and Inventory Management.

Human Resources Management
Understanding HR and its contribution to Business Strategy; Human Resource Planning and Measures; Recruitment, Selection and Retention; Compensation and Benefits; Training and Development; Productivity and Performance Management; Employee Relations; Motivation and Employee Engagement.

Marketing Management
The Role of Marketing; Market Segmentation & Positioning; Buyer Behaviour/Consumer Behaviour; Pricing Strategy; Collecting Information and Forecasting Demand;
New Product Development; Channel Management and International Marketing; Integrated Marketing Communications.

This option is offered as an alternative to the NBS Masters’ Dissertation on all 1-year MSc programmes and in the second semester of year 2 on the 2-year programme variants with Study Abroad and with Advanced Practice (if the students select an Internship in semester 1), again as a Dissertation alternative. It is also offered as alternative to the Management Investigation on the MBA.

On this consultancy based module you will enhance your individual effectiveness and employability skills by locating the learning and development in an organisational context. In doing so, you will promote personal and group development, commercial awareness, and a range of inter-personal, intellectual and practical skills and knowledge centred on and demonstrated through a group negotiated real-time work-based project.

The content of the management report will be unique. The nature and scope of the area of your investigation will be defined and agreed in collaboration with the organisation and the University supervisor. The syllabus will include:

• Conducting research in organisations.
• Identifying researchable questions.
• Consultancy and project management skills.
• Research methods and doing a literature review
• Presentation, communication and report writing skills.
• Analysing findings.
• Writing recommendations and action plans.
• Reflecting on work based experiential learning.

In undertaking this project based module, you will critically reflect and evaluate upon organisational practices and their relation with academic theory, and in doing so, provide practical and actionable recommendations through an investigative management report.

The assessment for your module consists of a Group Consultancy Report (7,000 words) and Final Client Presentation, weighted at 60%, alongside an Individual Assignment comprising a Literature Review (4000 words) and a Reflective Learning Statement (2,000 words), weighted at 40%.

In this module you will gain an understanding of the academic skills that are required to produce a Masters Dissertation. By the end of the module you will have written a 15000 word Masters dissertation. The areas included are:

• Justification for the choice of topic
• Appropriate understanding, awareness and critical analysis of existing and up to date literature evidenced by a comprehensive and well-referenced literature review with an extensive reference list
• Selection, justification and application of an appropriately rigorous methodology - including limitations of the approach selected
• Clear statement of the findings of the research
• Critical analysis of the findings
• Explicit links between the analysis and the conclusions supported by critical argument
• Evidence of original work or thought for example in the form or context of the data collected, analytical process or application of findings

The Masters’ Management Enquiry module is a student-led individual project that enables you to undertake a significant piece of assessed

work commensurate with a capstone module and is offered as an alternative to the Masters’ Dissertation and Masters’ Consultancy Project.

The module aims to provide you with an opportunity to demonstrate an authentic engagement with managers and/or professionals in your

discipline (this enquiry has to be discipline specific), and to integrate the knowledge you have developed during your programme to explore

the theory in practice. The learning on this module is experiential and problem based, where the focus is upon you discovering, probing and

questioning key practice-based issues. Through the module you will be offered the opportunity to develop and enhance key transferable

employability skills including; time management, project management, communication (written, aural and verbal), negotiation, persuasion and

influence, discovery, initiative, problem-solving and analysis.


The module has five thematic areas; explore, review, engage, reflect and connect. These form the key elements of the assessed submission

which is a single 15,000 word report.


Part A (35%, 5,000-5,500 words)

Explore: Interviewing a manager and/or professional in your discipline. In this interview you will either explore a key issue which you feel the

discipline is facing or, alternatively, explore with the manager or professional the key issues that they feel they are facing in practice. It is

expected that you will apply non-verbatim documented conversation and provide evidence of the key ideas emerging within the submitted

enquiry report (e.g. within the appendices).

Review: Critically examining the academic and practitioner literature to support the exploration, displaying an ability to critically assess and

appraise the knowledge of your discipline related to a specific key issue arising from your exploration.


Part B (65%, 9,500-10,000 words)

Engage: Displaying an authentic engagement with the discipline problem/issue identified in Part A, by collecting/generating and analysing

further live data (beyond the initial interview) regarding the discipline problem/issue. This live data may be primary data (e.g. further interviews

with, or questionnaire to, managers and/or professionals in practice) or secondary data (e.g. industry data). Application of appropriate,

ethically-considered, research methods and appropriate qualitative or quantitative data analysis.

Reflect and Connect: Demonstrating an ability to critically evaluate and reflect on the issues arising from the Management Enquiry.

Demonstrating how you have connected and fed-back to the participants of the Enquiry (usually the manager and/or participants) your key

findings to provide clear prioritised, well-justified, practical and actionable recommendations for change/enhancement/improvement to existing

practice to show how the recommendations would potentially affect workplace professional decision making.