BSc Human Resource Management – Course Documentation Management & Business Systems Page 1 of 12

Course Information Form (CIF)

The CIF provides core information to students, staff teams and others on a particular course of study.

Section 1 - General Course Information

Course Title Human Resource Management

Qualification BSc (Hons)

Intermediate Qualification(s)

Awarding Institution University of Bedfordshire

Location of Delivery AA

Mode(s) of Study and Duration

Full time over three years

Core Teaching Pattern

Levels 4- core pattern 1 and 2

Level 5 – core pattern 4

Level 6- core pattern 1

FHEQ Level structure/FHEQ/ http://www.qaa.ac.uk/academicinfrastructure/FHEQ/EWNI08/FHEQ08.pdf

Professional, Statutory or Regulatory Body (PSRB) accreditation or endorsement

CIPD (pending)

PSRB Renewal Date

University of Bedfordshire Employability accreditation

Route Code (SITS) BSHRM-S

Subject Community HRM

UCAS Course Code N600

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Relevant External Benchmarking

The QAA subject benchmarking statement and standards for an honours degree in general business and management (2007) are used for this course. There is no specific QAA subject benchmark statement or standards for human resource management.

Further details of these benchmarks can also be obtained by accessing: http://www.qaa.ac.uk/Publications/InformationAndGuidance/Documents/GeneralBusinessManagement.pdf

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Section 2 - Published Information

Material in this section will be used on the course web site to promote the course to potential students. The text should be written with this potential audience in mind.

Course Structure

The Units which make up the course are:

Unit Code Level Credits Unit Name Core or option

BSS001-1 4 90 Business Pod C

SHR007-1 4 30 HRM Foundations C

BSS008-2 5 15 Practice Weeks: Career Planning C

BSS010-2 5 15 Research Skills C

BSS011-2 5 15 Project Management C

BSS015-2 5 15 Strategic Thinking C

SHR014-2 5 15 Employment Relations, Reward and Law C

SHR015-2 5 15 Innovative Practice in HRM and HRD C

SHR016-2 5 15 People Resourcing and Development C

SHR017-2 5 15 The Strategic Context of HRM C

BSS023-3 6 15 Practice Weeks: The Future You C

BSS040-3 6 15 Strategy and Creativity C

SHR011-3 6 30 Developing Professional HRM Practice C

SHR012-3 6 30 Dissertation in HRM O

BSS021-3 6 30 Business Practice Portfolio C

SHR015-3 6 30 Specialist Project in HRM O

Why study this course

The University of Bedfordshire Business School has a special, distinctive way to bring together real business practice, academic research and innovative approaches to learning. At the heart of your learning experience here is a rigorous approach to practice. That means that you will experience how academic learning informs and improves a manager’s business performance, and how practical experience informs and develops an understanding of theory.

You will have numerous contacts with real business and HRM projects and real HR managers, making the links all the time between your studies and practice.

Our innovative approaches to learning start with the Business Pods, which have established a reputation for excellent first year undergraduate education.

In your second year and final year your studies will centre on gaining the knowledge underpinning Human Resource Management. You will be introduced to practical techniques and tools and encouraged to develop professional behaviours which will enable you to become an HR professional.

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In your final year, you will also bring together and extend your experience in real world projects for real companies.

Employers value people who can think rigorously and creatively about problems. They value people who can get things done. On this course, you will bring the thinking and the doing together.

Course Summary – Educational Aims

The University of Bedfordshire Business School offers practice based education in all our courses. This means that the Human Resource Management (HRM) course is about more than just an academic education. You will have a rigorous practice based experience which integrates academic theory and real world business projects. Successful completion of the course will mean you can offer an employer the understanding of how to tackle business problems, the self-awareness to fit in to their organisation and the technical knowledge of HRM they would expect. Together those areas of learning and self-development will help you become a rounded and capable potential manager.

Through tasks in each year of your course and particularly through projects in the final year, you will address real, live problems brought to us by our partner employers. If you fully grasp these opportunities, you will leave with a professional attitude and with skills much sought after by employers. Your mind will be open to new approaches, to different cultures and to future learning. You will understand some of the real challenges of business and how to tackle them with a rigorous approach to practice informed by relevant theory and learning. You will be able to engage with the task of shaping future opportunities, not just of managing current business.

Our Degree is taught by a team of experienced, professional and committed staff. We want to work with you to ensure you maximise your experience at university and that you achieve to the very best of your ability. In particular you will develop and achieve the following knowledge and skills:

Enquiry

To be able to identify with clarity the relevant issues for research and to formulate them precisely

To be able to identify and retrieve up-to-date materials using manual and electronic searches

To develop an ability to analyse, synthesise, and to critically evaluate a wide range of materials

To be able to identify potential alternative conclusions for particular situations, and to provide supporting reasons for them

To become an independent learner through a programme predicated upon autonomy of learning

Contextual understanding

An ability to appreciate the broader economic, legal, social, political, historical, ethical and cultural environment of human resource management

To develop an awareness of the requirement for professionalism in human resource management activities

To appreciate different perspectives on managing human resources according to industrial sector and national context.

Collaboration

To develop an appreciation of how to work productively as a member of a team

To understand the different nature of team work in specific practical contexts

Enterprise

To be able to undertake independent research in subject areas which they have not previously studied

The ability to plan and undertake tasks with minimal or little supervision

To develop information technology and numeracy skills, and to evaluate the information as the basis of an argument

An ability to employ a precise use of language to present knowledge or an argument in a way which is comprehensible to others and which is directed at their concerns

To develop a basic ability to apply knowledge to a situation of complexity in order to provide arguable conclusions for substantive problems.

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To develop an ability to handle facts and to apply abstract concepts to them.

On completing your degree you will be ready for work, ready for continued study, ready for future life.

Entry requirements

Standard entry requirements for UK students – http://www.beds.ac.uk/howtoapply/ukugentryreqs

Students from the European Union - http://www.beds.ac.uk/howtoapply/eu/guides

International students - http://www.beds.ac.uk/howtoapply/international/apply

PSRB details

Accreditation from The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development – Intermediate Diploma (level 5). The Course Co-ordinator will act as a contact point for all PSRB matters.

Graduate Impact Statements

The course has been designed to develop graduates who are able to:

– Apply theoretical aspects of business and human resource management to the resolution of specified people management issues.

– Utilise acquired knowledge and understanding of the fundamental principles and practices of human resource management to undertake core HRM activities.

– Employ research skills to locate and assess appropriate academic and practitioner materials in relation to debates within the field of human resource management.

– Have an appreciation of the existence of a range of alternative management solutions and the ability to select the most appropriate response with supporting reasons using a range of intellectual tools to reach a desired outcome.

– Have the ability to engage effectively and appropriately, both orally and in writing, with a variety of audiences to analyse a situation to formulate a considered and reflective opinion and to make reasoned and informed recommendations.

– Work collaboratively across organisational boundaries and in doing so demonstrate the application of relevant theory in an employer based environment.

Higher Education Achievement Report - Additional Information

The course offers many activities alongside the curriculum to enhance your University experience. There are substantial opportunities to engage with local and national HR practitioners and business leaders intended to raise your aspirations giving you insights into what others have achieved and learn from examples of good practice outside your own direct experience.

Alongside your university transcript and CV you will leave university with a CPD portfolio detailing your readiness for a career in HRM as well as the tools for engaging in Continuing Professional Development throughout your career.

Learning and Teaching

The teaching you will experience expresses the Business School’s commitment to practice-based education. Much of the course is built round real projects for real businesses. The practice of human resource management is at the heart of the teaching, combining the technical knowledge with skills such as communication, problem-solving and teamwork to make your experience as much like real business as we can make it. You will experience, for example:

- The Business Pod: integrated, project based units which will set HRM in the context of business as a whole and give you the chance to work with students on other business-related courses.

- Practice Weeks: each year you have three practice weeks where the whole timetable focuses explicitly on the practice of HRM or on securing a job. These include company visits, talks from practitioners, workshops and personal advice on developing a good CV, an intensive assessment centre exercise and, at the end of your course, activities to prepare for entering the workplace.

- Project Management: you learn through managing a project, perhaps raising money for your favourite charity or organising an event for one of our business partners.

- Final Year Practice Units: these projects include work which explicitly extends across more than one

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business discipline which means that you work with one of more students bringing different areas of expertise, learning to collaborate and work across functional boundaries. In all cases projects address real problems or tasks brought to us by our business partners. You act as consultants, gathering data, developing and applying your analytical skills and using your knowledge to address the problem.

To provide this focus on practice, you will need to do reading and preparation outside class so that you gain maximum benefit from the tutors who will be helping you apply your learning in practical ways. There will be a number of ways in which this happens:

- Seminars: tutors help you clarify your understanding and apply it to a case, an exercise or a topical debate.

- Advice and support for projects: individual or group sessions to have direction and advice.

- Workshops: practical sessions working on projects or task.

- Lectures: to supplement your own reading with a summary and explanation of key points.

- Continuing Professional Development (CPD): planning and recording your learning and development activity as you take the first steps to becoming an HR professional.

Developing your employability

Once you have settled in to University life, you quite quickly start looking at building your marketability to employers. In your first year you will look at what employers are looking for, what you already have to offer and the things you can do to build your employability: a good degree is only the start. You will meet one of our Careers team in class who will introduce you to some of the services they offer.

The focus on your future employment increases in the second year. In a Practice Week, the whole of your timetable is taken over by a specific theme and in the second year the themes for your Practice Weeks are thinking about your future, preparing a CV and practising interviews. Your course tutors, Careers advisors and external employer representatives participate in the Practice Weeks. These themes will be picked up explicitly in appraisals and reviews with your Personal Academic Tutors, integrating your academic and professional development.

Early in the third year, you participate in an Assessment Centre exercise as part of a Practice Week. This intensive activity reminds you that applying for a job starts early. By this stage, you will be familiar with the Careers team and can access their services directly. Your employability continues to be part of appraisals and reviews with your Personal Academic Tutor.

This advice is very valuable whether you are aiming to go straight into a job when you graduate or whether you are going on to further study. Alongside the careers advice, we will provide advice on opportunities for Masters level study both in general and at the University of Bedfordshire specifically.

Department (s)

Management and Business Systems

Assessment

In line with the Business School’s commitment to practice-based education, a large part of the assessment will relate to your demonstration of your ability to do HRM in practice. We will want to see that you understand the theory and have developed critical thinking skills which help you evaluate the relevance of what you have learned. All of this comes together in being able to demonstrate rigorous human resources practice for an organisation.

To assess this range of integration of theory and skills into sound practice, we use a range of methods. You will encounter many different kinds, including the ones listed below, some of which are used in combination, for example a report might be required as an outcome of a time-limited assessment task.

- Reports: you analyse a business problem and propose solutions.

- Presentations: present proposals as if to your boss, a board or a client.

- Time-limited tasks: on a set day, you will be given a task which you will need to complete in a set time, such as 48 hours or five days.

- Academic writing: used to demonstrate clear, critical thinking, you might be asked to write an essay or a short summary of a theoretical debate.

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- Appraisals: just as in business, you use appraisals to assess your own learning and to set your personal and academic development objectives.

- Projects: these are assessed in a number of ways depending on the task defined by our business partner. Typically, you will need to prepare an analysis, report or presentation which is suitable for the business partner and a longer piece of work which sets out the “behind the scenes” work which underpinned the output for business. It is in the longer work that we expect to see explicitly your application of theory and critical thinking which underpin good HRM practice. You will usually also prepare a project review.

- Project reviews: you analyse and evaluate the way you worked on a project and set out how you would work more effectively on a similar task in future.

- Exams: as well as conventional exams using set questions and case studies, exams can be the outcome of a group task. You might work on a large task together and then sit an exam to show your individual learning from the task.

- Portfolio: you will plan and record your CPD activities using the CIPD’s HR Profession Map as a guide to the knowledge, skills and behaviours you need to develop to be ready to work in HR.

For all assignments you will have an assignment brief which clearly sets out what is required and you will be given the criteria which your tutors will use to mark your work. All units have a form of non-graded formative assessment which feeds into the summative methods of assessment; this may come directly from tutors or from your peers and self-assessment.

You will receive feedback on all your assessments. If you use this feedback, you will be able to improve your learning and your grades on future assignments.

After Graduation

On completing this course students are likely to progress into the following areas:

Career:

You will be equipped for starting a career as an HR professional with all the knowledge and experience to hit the ground running in an HR practitioner role within a variety of organisational contexts. Equally, your skills would enable you to excel in a range of more generalist people management roles.

Further study:

Alternatively, you could decide that you wish to continue your studies in HRM by progressing to the MSc Human Resource Management or other business related degrees.

Student Support during the course

While at university you will become an independent learner, taking greater responsibility for your own development. We help you take on this responsibility, providing intensive support in the early stages, developing your independence through the course and finally helping you think about managing your career and continued learning and professional development. At every stage, the aim is to make sure you are doing the very best you can to fulfil your potential and getting what you need from your time at the University of Bedfordshire.

We adopt a business-style approach to supporting your development. At each stage the primary support mechanisms for your growing independence is your Personal Academic Tutor (or mentor) and regular self-appraisals, just as in modern organisations. In your first year you will complete a self-appraisal roughly once a quarter and review these with your Personal Academic Tutor, agreeing objectives for the next phase of your studies. The objectives will relate to building your academic skills and achievements and also to the opportunities you have alongside your studies to build a strong CV.

You will have feedback on your assessments, contact with your unit tutors and learning about how your work in a group and a range of other information to help you understand how you are doing. Your Personal Academic Tutor will help you use this feedback and information and will direct you to a wide variety of resources embedded within your course to help you develop basic or advanced skills needed for studying and for business such as Word, Excel, Powerpoint, numerical skills, writing, note-taking etc. These materials remain available to your throughout your course and it is through all your first year units that you become familiar with them. In your first year you will be directed to some assessment options within your course which best stretch and develop your abilities to prepare you for future study.

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By the end of your first year, you will be used to setting realistic and challenging objectives for yourself, used to discussing them with your Personal Academic Tutor and used to finding resources to help you improve your own achievement.

Through the second year, you still look at doing the best you can in your studies. Alongside stretching you on academic achievement the focus of your Personal Academic Tutor turns increasingly to getting you ready to apply for placements, internships and jobs. Your self-appraisals and reviews with your Personal Academic Tutor will pick up your learning from the Practice Weeks which look at your employability.

In the final year, you are demonstrating independence in working on projects. You still have a Personal Academic Tutor who is supporting you in building skills for work. At the end of the year, you have a unit specifically designed to help you manage your transition into work and to help you manage your personal and professional development as you begin your career.

Alongside this cycle of appraisal and review with your Personal Academic Tutor, you will be introduced to and engage in Continuing Professional Development (CPD) activity supported by the CIPD HR Profession Map. You will also have access to students from previous years through a system of Peer Assisted Learning. They can help with a student perspective on how to get the best from your university experience.

Students with disabilities

The University of Bedfordshire is committed to supporting students with disabilities, and we do all we can to ensure we are accessible and welcoming to all. During the application process disabled students will be able to discuss their needs with individual members of the academic staff, as well as staff from the Disability Advice Team.

For more information:

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Assessment Map Unit Code Weeks

C/O

3 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

BSS001-1 C CW-Port

CW-Port

Cw-Port

SHR007-1 C PR-Oral

F G WR-I

F G EX-CB

BSS008-2 C WR-I

F G CW-Port

F G

BSS010-2 C CW-LR

F G WR-I

FG

BSS011-2 C CW-Port

F EX G

BSS015-2

C WR-I F G

SHR014-2 C CW-CS

EX F

G

SHR015-2 C CW-RW

WR-Prob

F

G F G

SHR016-2 C CW-CS

F G EX

SHR017-2 C PR-Oral / WR-I

F CW-CS G

F G

BSS023-3 C CW-RW

F G CW-RW

F G

BSS040-3

C WR-I WR-I F G F G

SHR011-3 C

CW-CS

F G CW-Port

F G

SHR012-3 O

WR-Post

F G PJ-Diss

F G

BSS021-3 C

WR-I F G PJ-Proj

CW-RW F

G F G

SHR015-3 O

WR-Post

F G PJ-Proj

F G

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Section 3 - Academic Information This section will be used as part of the approval and review process and peer academics are the target audience.

Course Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, students should be able to:-

1. Evidence the practice of HRM in real world projects from a range of organisations 2. Collaborate as a member or leader in a professional team, proactively managing interpersonal

relationships to deliver the set objective 3. Evaluate your own performance and actively seek to develop your strengths and moderate

weaknesses, creating a positive impact on the workplace, society and personal career development 4. In a diverse range of HRM contexts, select and employ an appropriate approach to communicate

professionally with influence and impact 5. Apply a range of creativity tools to tackle HRM problems and propose novel, effective solutions 6. Critically investigate an HRM task, collecting and evaluating information, and sourcing and analysing

data in order to assess options and make recommendations 7. Demonstrate a rigorous understanding of HRM and its relationship to other business disciplines

Course-specific regulations

N/A

Teaching, Learning and Assessment

The teaching, learning and assessment on BSc (Hons) HRM is underpinned by two complementary approaches; the practice-based vision of UBBS and professional accreditation from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. At the basis of the approach to teaching, learning and assessment is the appreciation that it is no longer sufficient for HRM graduates to enter the world of work equipped with a good knowledge and understanding of HRM theory and practice only. HRM graduates must have the capability to respond to changing contexts, environments and priorities; to work with people from around the world and to make a positive impact in organisations and in society. They must be effective communicators with the ability to build and sustain working relationships; have confidence that they can address real world problems using creative and critical thinking underpinned by rigorous research-based knowledge. They must be able to practice human resource management in a range of different management contexts and be equipped with the knowledge and tools to sustain their continuing personal and professional development in the longer-term as they embark on their careers as HR professionals.

Additional Academic Information

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Peer-assisted learning (PAL)

Business Pod (BSS001-1)

Peer-assisted learning sessions are delivered as part of the core 90-credit Business Pod unit for all first year students on the course.

Initial Assessment

Business Pod (BSS001-1)

Initial assessment (within first 6 weeks) will take place as part of assessment 1 in the core 90-credit Business Pod unit for all first year students on the course.

Improving students’ learning

The course contains several key units which actively develop students’ ability to understand and reflect on their own learning and development. In the first year in both the Business Pod (BSS001-1) and HRM Foundations (SHR007-1) students are introduced to practical learning techniques such as note-taking and discerning use of learning resources. In the second and third years their understanding of themselves as learners is developed through gaining an appreciation of learning theories and individual learning styles (People Resourcing and Development SHR016-2) and reflection on their learning experiences as they prepare for their next steps beyond graduation (Developing Professional HRM Practice SHR011-3 and Practice Weeks: The Future You BSS023-3). SHR011-3 will specifically develop students’ ability to undertake continuing professional development (CPD) activities which will encourage lifelong learning.

Academic Integrity

Students are introduced to issues around academic integrity during the induction process and the first few weeks of term for first year students in the Business Pod (BSS001-1). This includes the requirements of scholarship, writing and referencing at University level; and an introduction to the nature of good academic practice and the concept of academic misconduct including plagiarism. Further instruction and guidance on referencing, plagiarism and good academic practice is embedded into key units at each level of the course e.g. Research Skills (BSS010-2) and Dissertation in HRM (SHR012-3). In addition students will receive refresher information during assessment preparation sessions, on Breo sites and in coursework briefs for every unit.

HEAR implementation

Internationalisation

The study of business, management and the management of the human resource is by its very nature international. As business transcends national boundaries consideration is given to the inter-relationship between the culture of the business environment as it impacts upon the activities of the organisation at local, national and international level. To effectively consider the role of human resource management it is necessary to consider the development of the organisation in a comparative manner through appropriate reference systems, cultures, regulations and legislations that operate within the international business arena. This will be most explicit in units which specifically address cultural and comparative issues (e.g. HRM Foundations SHR007-1 and The Strategic Context of HRM SHR017-2)

Sustainability

Throughout this course every effort is made to consider the longer term impacts of organisation behaviour on the societies in which commercial activities may be set. Units such as The Strategic Context of HRM (SHR017-2) not only introduce the relationship between the different business functions and their impact upon the human resource professional but also take into account the practical implementation of these functions in respect of their wider environmental impact. The term environment is used in its broadest sense and therefore considers more than the sustainability of the ecological context to include the wider social environment including the political, economic, social, technological, legal and ethical dimensions that influence and are indeed influenced by the business enterprise.

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Section 4 - Administrative Information This section will be used as part of the approval and review process and peer academics are the target audience.

Faculty UBBS

Portfolio Human Resource Management

Department/School/Division Management and Business Systems

Course Coordinator Sarah Jones

Version Number 1/14

Approved by (cf Quality Handbook ch.2) University Approval Panel

Date of approval (dd/mm/yyyy) 05/03/15

Implementation start-date of this version (plus any identified end-date)

Form completed by: Name: Sarah Jones Date: December 2014 Authorisation on behalf of the Faculty Teaching Quality and Standards Committee (FTQSC) Chair: ………………………………………………………… Date: …..…………………………………….

Course Updates

Date (dd/mm/yyyy)

Nature of Update FTQSC Minute Ref:

17/07/2015 Change of diet

03/02/2018 Amended to include February starts for level 4