MGT 6004 - Managing Human Resources

MODULE MAP

Weeks Topics
1 Module presentation and assessment
History, Evolution and Developments
Comparison between HRM and Personnel Management
HRM Goals
2 Culture, Structure and Change
3 SHRM
4-5 Human Resource Planning
Recruitment and Selection
6 Training process
7 Performance Management
8 Career development
9 Management development
10 Employee Relations (ER)
Perspectives in ER
Stakeholders in ER
ER practices
11 Reward management
12 International HRM
Comparative HRM
13 IT enabled HR
14 Seminar/Guest Speaker
Submission of written report
15 Revision

Lecturer: Mr Indeeren VENCATACHELLUM

Room 1.19 Phone: 4037570 Email: vencati@uom.ac.mu
Open office hours: Monday 13.00 – 15.00 hrs

Meetings can be set outside the open office hours but for prior appointments.

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Reading List

Author Title of Book

L.Mullins Management and organisational behaviour
Steers, R.M, Porter, L.W Motivation and Leadership at work
and Bigley, G.A
G.Morgan Images of Organisation
D.Buchanan and Organisational Behaviour: An introductory Text.
A.Hucynski
M.Armstrong A handbook of Human Resource Management Practice *
M.Armstrong & H.Murlis Reward Management
I.Beardwell & L.Holden Human Resource Management
J.Storey Development in the Management of Human Resources
J.Storey New perspectives in Human Resource Management
K.Legge Human Resource Management
B.Towers Handbook of Human Resource Management
E.McKenna & N.Beech The Essence of Human Resource Management
R.Harrison Employee Development
D.Ulrich Human Resource Champions
G.Dessler Human Resource Management
M.Armstrong Strategic Human Resource Management: A guide to Action
J.Bratton and J.Gold Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice
G.Hofstede Cultures and Organizations
D.Torrington International HRM: Think globally, Act locally
D.Briscoe International Human Resource Management
C.Brewster International HRM
F.Trompenaars Riding the waves of culture
Ulrich, D., Brockbank, HR Transformation - Building Human Resources from the
W., Younger, J., Allen, J. Oustide In
And Nyman, M.
*Essential reading.

Journals/Periodicals/Magazines
People Management
HR focus
Harvard Business Review
Sloan Management Review
Management Learning
Journal of Management Studies
Academy of Management Journal

N.B: Both lists are not exhaustive. You are strongly advised to read the maximum of
authors to develop a holistic view of the subject matter.

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Electronic Libraries
EBSCO database http://search.ebscohost.com
Emerald Library http://www.emeraldinsight.com
JSTOR http://www.jstor.org
Sciencedirect http://www.sciencedirect.com/science

Methods of Assessment

Continuous assessment
Written report 25 %
Asynchronous conferences/online activities/skeletal
essays 15 %
Exams 60 %
Case study (40%)
X out of Y essay type questions (60%)

Continuous assessment – Written Report

This is a group assignment.

You are required to critically assess how the management of human resources is
transforming your organisation, or one with which you are familiar in the Mauritian
context.

Objective

The purpose of this assignment is to provide students with the opportunity to relate
concepts and theories acquired throughout the module, or discussed in the literature, to
the case study by solving an organisational problem.

The assignment also aims at empowering and involving students in their learning process,
and is geared towards the development of teamwork dynamics.

Assignment tasks

Each group should:

1. Consist of 4-5 members. Group ID and ID of members should be submitted by

Week 2.

2. Identify the organisation for case study and submit by week 3.

3. Submit a written report of 4000-5000 words (excluding appendix, tables, charts &
figures) by week 14.
Late submission, without extenuating circumstances, will be penalised by
25%/day of the written report marks for group members.

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 4. A project log template is provided to ensure a proper monitoring of the group’s
progress and should be submitted as an appendix to the written report.

5. Address all issues arising in the group, within itself, and use the lecturer as last
recourse. The latter will just be a facilitator. You may wish to appoint a group
co-ordinator to liase with the lecturer.

General guidelines for the case study

(i) Find HR problem(s) within the identified organisation. It needs to be of sufficient

complexity to allow for in-depth (but not overlong) analysis.

(ii) Describe the problem(s). Enough to orientate the reader; not so much as to bore
him or her with excessive (and non mark-earning) detail.

(iii) Examine the problem(s) with the aid of suitable concepts, models, perspectives or
theories from the literature/module, show what insights are gained and make
inferences thereby.

(iv) Make suggestions/recommendations for action on the basis of your analysis.

(v) Give your work a title. What has it all been about? Your title should tell us.

Written Report

The report should include a cover sheet with the following information:

 Title of report
 Group ID and members' Index nos.
 Course
 Year of course
 Module title
 Number of words

Structure of the report

The written report should at least contain the following sections:

 Definition of problem
 Conceptual Background
 Methodology
 Analysis of Findings
 Recommendations
 Conclusion

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 Assessment criteria

Overall balance of an answer: 40% theory/concepts and 60% critical analysis.

Criteria for bands - Indication of the standard required for each band.

Band A:

Answers at this level would have looked at the question under all the potential perspectives, i.e. a
holistic view. They will show a very full knowledge and understanding of course material and of
relevant interpretative and critical points. Answers will be well constructed with clear
conclusions supported by sound arguments. Students will have made the material their 'own' by,
for instance, using their own sentences and organisation or constructing their own examples from
relevant and acknowledged sources. Students will show independence of thought, for e.g. by
producing new arguments of his/her own or has made fresh applications and thorough synthesis
of arguments from the literature.

Band B:

Answers at this level would have looked at the question under some of the potential perspectives.
They will show a very full knowledge and understanding of course material and of relevant
interpretative and critical points. Answers will be well constructed with clear conclusions
supported by sound arguments. But the answers will generally show less independence of thought
and mastery of detail than those in the A band. There may be some errors or misunderstandings
in relatively unimportant details.

Band C:

Answers at this level would have looked at the question under a limited number of the potential
perspectives. They will show a sound knowledge and understanding of course material and of
relevant critical and interpretative points. Answers will be less clearly organised than those in the
higher bands and there may be some significant errors, omissions or misunderstandings.

Band D:

Answers at this level would have looked at the question under a very limited number of the
potential perspectives or just a single perspective. They will show an adequate level of knowledge
and understanding of course material, but are likely to be lacking in arguments and to include
significant errors, omissions and misunderstandings. The grasp shown of critical and
interpretative points may be insecure and the organisation of the answer may be weak. For e.g.
students regurgitating lecture notes and superficially addressing the question by adopting a
prescriptive rather than argumentative approach.

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Band E: 30 - 39

Answers at this level will show knowledge and understanding of the material but there will be
important deficiencies. Understanding of critical and interpretative points may be weak. The
answer may be badly organised.

Band F: Below 30

Answers at this level show limited or very little knowledge of the relevant material, and very
serious deficiencies. Answers may be so badly organised as to be difficult to follow. Poor
understanding of critical and interpretative points.