Diploma in Human Resource Management

Course details

This highly interactive and engaging programme is designed to familiarise participants with the very latest thinking on, and best practice in, Human Resource Management. This programme places HRM right at the heart of organisational management in a rapidly changing, ever more complex, and increasingly global marketplace. It is aimed at those who have been given, or who are about to be given, operational responsibility for aspects of HRM and those who wish to progress into a career in HRM. It is also aimed at those who are stimulated by the growing recognition of the strategic significance of HRM in the modern organisation and those who wish to use the programme as a launch-pad for further studies in HRM in due course.

Programme Aims and Objectives

The course provides a very effective practical overview of the latest thinking and case developments in HRM in order to provide both a conceptual and practical basis for student learning. It also encourages students to draw on their own experiences, and from their knowledge of the business world around them, to develop a clear understanding and practical working knowledge of what HRM in the modern organisation involves. The course is highly interactive, the enjoyment of class discussion by students being a major feature of the programme.

On completion of the programme students should have acquired the skills to:

• appreciate the strategic and operational significance of modern HRM
• be equipped with a highly relevant and useful theoretical framework for the development and evaluation of HRM concepts, strategies, policies, principles, and practices (allied to a thorough grasp of the operational details of HRM best practice).

Programme Structure

To enable students to take full advantage of their study experience and to better prepare them

for future managerial employment and further study in the HRM field, course delivery is structured to be: Student and Assessment-focused, and ‘Real-world’ oriented, allowing students to relate their learning to their own experiences and to the wider business world around them. The programme is delivered in the form of lectures guest presentations, group discussion, Individual and group exercises (including role playing exercises), videos, case study analysis, and topic-specific workshops/seminars. The nature of the module is essentially participative. To gain maximum benefit, students read the relevant chapters/articles highlighted by the Course Leader in advance, and generally keep abreast of what is going on in the wider business environment through the use of relevant media such as television/radio, newspapers, websites, magazines, and journals. Student contact is also warmly welcomed on the course. Use of the ‘canteen clinics’ provided by the Course Leader is especially recommended to students for assistance with coursework issues or any course topic they need assistance with.

Assessment

To be awarded the Diploma in Human Resource Management, a student will be required to complete continuous assessment (50%) and a written examination at the end of the academic year (50%)

Programme Content

Areas covered include:

• Introduction to Management Theory and Practice
• The Strategic Context for HRM Today
• The Historical Development of HRM
• HRM Planning
• HMR Practice in Ireland and Elsewhere
• The Labour Market and HRM
• Recruitment
• Selection
• Promoting Employee Engagement
• Reward Management
• Managing and Appraising Performance
• Training, Learning & Development
• Organisational Culture and HRM
• Promoting Improved Team-working and Communications
• Employee Relations
• Industrial Relations Management
• Managing Stress at Work
• International HRM
• Emerging Trends and Issues in HRM.

Together, these topic areas constitute a highly contemporary and relevant overview of the most significant elements of modern HRM. Although the course is based on HRM theoretical and case literature, it is essentially a very practical programme, which relies greatly on student participation for its success.