Managing Human Resource Session 1

Introduction to Module and Core Concepts

Learning Objectives

• Introduction to the module

• Expectations and house rules
• Introduction to overarching theories and concepts of Human Resource Management
• Understand context of Human Resource Management
Introduction to Module
Expectations, Process, Assessments
 Module Delivery Team Introduction
For your information below is the MHR teaching team for this trimester

Lecturers:   Lecturers:  
• Patrick O'Connor Patrick.OConnor@london.aru.ac.uk • Adam Rowledge Adam.Rowledge@london.aru.ac.uk
• Bentil Oduro Bentil.Oduro@london.aru.ac.uk • Saud Taj saud.taj@london.aru.ac.uk
• Kai Beswick Kai.Beswick@london.aru.ac.uk • Helen Rivera Helen.Rivera@london.aru.ac.uk
• Andrew Tweedie Andrew.Tweedie@london.aru.ac.uk • Mayah Abraham Mayah.Abraham@london.aru.ac.uk
• Jonathan Salkeld Jonathan.Salkeld@london.aru.ac.uk • Lorna Brooks Lorna.Brooks@london.aru.ac.uk
• Ingrid Kanuga Ingrid.Kanuga@london.aru.ac.uk • Robert Martin-Logue Robert.Martin-Logue@london.aru.ac.uk
• Shabnam Saif Shabnam.Saif@london.aru.ac.uk • Kelly Sandiford Kelly.Sandiford@london.aru.ac.uk

Lecturer & Module Leader:

Kally Kadoglou Kally.Kadoglou@london.aru.ac.uk
Module Leaders’ Introduction
On day-to-day queries and management of the module, Kally Kadoglou, will be your point of
contact. Therefore, please do not hesitate to contact Kally at Kally.Kadoglou@london.aru.ac.uk

Also, Kally has a weekly drop-in session. This is not compulsory! It is just another way to reach the
Module Leader in addition to sending an email.

The scheduled Zoom drop-in is every week on Tuesdays from 1pm - 2pm. Zoom link can be found at
the top of the Module VLE page.

Let’s watch a welcome/introductory Video now…

Some reminders on house-rules
• Be on time and attend all sessions. They all matter. Performance and grades often correlate with
attendance levels. Historical data of grades/attendance shows this, but…

• Being here isn’t enough – active learning is required!

• Telephones switched off or on silent mode, until needed for research.

• Case studies and activities are not for catching up on sleep and gossip, or for finishing early –
They help you to understand how to apply the material in your assessments.
Some reminders on house-rules
• Regular breaks – whether you are attending a classroom session or an online class via Zoom, stick
to the given timings please. This is when you check your phone!

• When attending a classroom session, anything you bring to class, you take home or put in the bin.
No eating meals in lessons please. Have your breakfast or lunch before the lesson begins.

• No talking when somebody else has the floor – listen, and show manners and respect please. Don’t
bring your ideology to class; we are here to learn how to think, not what to think.
Module Format
• 24 sessions: 22 taught sessions with 2 sessions reserved for practical assessments in Week 12.

• A 3,000 word mid-term written assignment and a practical final assessment in class which you
MUST ATTEND to pass the module. Weighted 70/30 percent respectively.

• Draft copy of interim assignment will be issued after Session 6 (Week 3).

• PowerPoint slides will be posted to the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) along with
assignments, guidance and additional reading materials – Refer to them when preparing for
assessments
Module Format
• No printed slide handouts (unless you have a specific registered learning need). You must use the
VLE – ARUL policy is to minimise paper resources.

• You are required to set aside reading/research time away from class, and will be given lecturer
support periods within the timetable.

• You have a Kortext copy of the core text book. Make sure you download it, as we will be using this
throughout the module (More on this shortly).

• The recommended additional reading list for the MHR module is posted to the module page on the
Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).
• Additional HRM textbooks, journals etc., can be found through the online library (Learning
Resource Centre).
Textbook
Hook, C, and Jenkins, A (2019). Introducing
Human Resource Management (Eighth Edition).
Harlow: Pearson Education Ltd.

This is an e-book on Kortext. Please ensure you

have downloaded it on your return from the break.

You will receive an e-mail from the Module Leader

asking you to join the Kortext group for this book –
please accept the invite
Kortext
• A video guide of how to use Kortext can be found in the section Module Information on your VLE.
(22 mins. 02 secs.)

• It is important that you listen to this video as you will learn how to use your Kortext Book effectively,
learn key features and support you in utilising in full this key resource provided for you.

• Let us now please login to Kortext to review some key features … (Laptops / iPads / Mobile Phones)
Key Learning Areas of the Module
• Underpinning theory of Human Resource Management (HRM)

• Main activities and processes of HRM functions and practitioners

• How HRM links to corporate strategy

• How internationalism and globalism affect HRM

Topic Areas
• History and Origins of HRM
• Recruitment and Selection
• Employment Systems
• Industrial and Employee Relations
• Reward Systems
The full scheme of work for the module
is available within he Module
• Performance Management and Appraisal Information document on the VLE.
• Learning and Development
• Health and Safety
• Equality and Diversity
• Grievance and Discipline
• Redundancy
• Alternative approaches to HRM
• International HRM
• Strategic HRM
Key Aspects of Study at Level 5
• More emphasis on analysis and evaluation rather than just remembering information. This is a key
developmental area to prepare you for your final year.

• Adopting more professional language and terminology

• Developing academic writing skills and precision of debate

• Higher levels of Academic skills

• Using more original research rather than being spoon-fed information

• Application of knowledge and skills to the ‘real world’

Key aspects of study at Level 5
• As a core module, the material is delivered and assessed in a multi-disciplinary context (not
specific to your course or sector) because the key principles of HRM can be adopted to any sector,
even the military.

• The expectations are higher than Level 4, but you will be guided and supported throughout…
providing you turn up and engage

• You should now start reading more business/professional publications, websites and newspapers in
order to develop your awareness of the contemporary environment and to help you develop a more
professional vocabulary
Expectations at Level 5
• Better referencing

• More reliable sources

• Better structure

• Greater clarity of
expression

• Greater criticality
Written Assessment
• Lots of preparation, support, and detailed feedback.
• Submit on time - Late submissions are capped at 40, no matter how good they are.
• We can scan draft work once for each student but WILL NOT forecast potential pass/fail or grade.
• If you want your work scanned and advice offered, you must bring the work to class. No e-mailed
drafts due to high number of students. Time will be made available routinely to scan drafts.
• We use ‘positive marking’ – You start with 0 and get awarded points for content that is relevant and of
value. The only active penalty used is for exceeding the word count.
• Assessments go through 3 levels of scrutiny and there is no appeal against academic judgement.
Practical Assessment
• Conducted in group setting but marked individually.
• You prepare for the assessment, and act your role, as an individual.
• No attendance means a failed assessment and a failed module.
• The practical assessments are in Week 12, so ensure you do not plan to be anywhere else!
• All practical assessments are filmed for review by internal and external moderators.
• You cannot read from a script – you must know what you are talking about.
• Full details issued at the end of Week 6.
The History and Modern
Context of Human Resource
Management
Debate it…
• What is ‘Human Resources’ (HR) and how does HR differ from ‘Personnel’?

• What do you think is the purposes of HR?

Discuss these questions amongst your table group and be prepared to share your answers with the class
in 10 minutes. The lecturer will invite responses from individuals.
The Evolution of HRM
Up until the 19th century, work was often done at ‘cottage
industry’ level with ‘artisans’ specialising in certain
activities

The Industrial Revolution of the late 18th and 19th

centuries created larger work organisations and workforces,
which resulted in the need for collective management
practices. These were often draconian in nature.

The late 19th and early 20th century saw the birth of
‘scientific management’, combined with a basic awareness
of workers rights and the rise of the Trade Union
movement.
The Evolution of HRM
Scientific Management was exemplified by ‘Taylorism’
and ‘Fordism’, with tasks broken down into individual
actions and subjected to strict time/motion targets.
Although designed to be worker-friendly, these often Frederick Taylor
devalued traditional ‘artisan jobs’ and resulted in
exploitation of workforces – the ‘hire and fire’ culture.

Line Managers (foremen) were often responsible for

hiring and firing workers, and monitoring their
attendance and holidays, with other HR functions
covered by discreet departments, such as ‘Payroll’. Henry Ford

In the mid-20th century, the concept of the ‘Personnel

Department’ became common, where all the
administrative functions concerning workers were
placed into a single, cohesive department.
The Evolution of HRM
In the late 20th century, enlightened thinkers began to regard
workers not as a cost, but as an asset. Assets that could be squeezed
to gain additional value.

Thus workers became a ‘resource’ like any other. Human

Resources are seen to have a basic, known ‘value’, but they are
also known to have an unknown value, often referred to as
‘discretionary effort’.

Despite this enlightened thinking, much of the world of work still

operates on the principles of Taylorism, from doctors’ surgeries, to
motor vehicle production lines.

We are now entering a new period of enlightened thinking that

focuses on ‘psychological contracts’ and flexible working.
History of HRM
• Industrial welfare
• Recruitment and selection
• Acquisition of other people management activities
• Employee relations
• Legislation
• Flexibility and diversity
• Thinking strategically, adding value and talent management.
HRM: the Development of this approach

The major characteristics of the HRM approach to people management are:

• A strategic approach is emphasised
• Line managers play an important role
• Organisational policies must be integrated and cohesive
• Communication is vital
• An underlying philosophy is adopted that emphasises the achievement of competitive advantage
through the efforts of people.
• A unitarist rather than a pluralist approach prevails in the relationship between managers and
employees.
• All people who work in an organisation are important.
The Resource view of Human ‘Resource’
Management
People are a resource like any other item.

Like most resources, they are rarely unique in their availability and affordability, but their value is in
how you use them and how much you can get out of them (sometimes referred to as ‘sweating your
assets’). This is one aspect of the ‘Resource Based View’ from corporate strategy.

In other words, recruit good people, look after them well, develop them and invest in their learning, and
they will reward you with loyalty and ‘added value’ by releasing their ‘discretionary effort’.
The Resource view of Human ‘Resource’
Management
Even in small organisations, getting the best out of people can be difficult because we are all so
individual in our hopes, fears, desires, expectations, values, strengths, weaknesses, etc

The aim of HRM is to try and develop a systematic way of getting the best out of our most valuable (and
often most costly) resource… people

People as ‘assets’ - According to Banfield and Kay (2012)…

• They cannot be transacted (bought and sold at will) *

• Their contribution is individual and variable
• They cannot be valued according to traditional financial principles

* With a possible exception of Premiership footballers !

Debate it…
• How do we get someone to release their ‘discretionary effort’?

• What would make people, for example,

• Do a task that is not in their job description?

• Work late on an evening?
• Adopt a different work routine or travel to another work location from their normal
one, especially at short notice?

Discuss these questions amongst your group and be prepared to share your answers with the
class in 10 minutes. The lecturer will invite responses from individuals.

27
The Human view of ‘Human’ Resource
Management
• Even though workers are a resource with immense value and unknown
(and often untapped) talent, they have limits… They are human after
all.

• Humans are subject to sudden and unpredictable changes in behaviour

and performance, often due to circumstance beyond their control, and
also beyond the control of managers.

• According to the Health and Safety Executive (2020), number of

working days lost due to work-related stress, anxiety or depression in
2019/20 was 17.9 million days.
• This equated to an average of 21.6 days lost per case.
• 55% of all working days lost due to work-related ill health.

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Emotional State linked to Ability and Demands
of Work
Optimum

Effective Reduced Efficiency

Creative Reduced Alertness

Decisive Overload

Ability Alert Difficulty Concentrating

Stimulated Indecisive

Under-Involved Anxious

Bored Confused
Frustrated Fatigued
Rust-out Exhausted Burnout

Demands

Adapted from Banfield and Kay (2012)

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The Management view of Human Resource
‘Management’
Key aspects of Management include:

• Clarifying Objectives

• Planning and Organising

• Directing and Controlling

Banfield and Kay (2012)

30
Human Resource ‘Management’ – Future
Trends
• There will be more self-management

• Outsourcing will create these opportunities

• Higher skilled jobs will increase employee discretion

• Managers will develop new ways in which to supervise and delegate work

• People will want greater responsibility

• More mundane jobs will be transformed to make employment feel like self-employment (Uber, Deliveroo,
etc)

Banfield and Kay (2012)

31
Summary – Key Lessons from Today
• All three elements of Human Resource Management are important

• Managers must be emotionally intelligent and socially aware in addition to being

procedurally competent

• HRM can have a strategic effect on organisations, both positively and negatively depending
on how people are managed

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Any Questions?
Self-Directed Study
Additional activity to enhance learning
Action required!
Following today’s session below is an additional activity to support greater understanding and
learning

Watch a video that explains

Hard and Soft HRM in more
detail…

https://www.youtube.com/wat
ch?v=RDYrUcP-EiM
(6 mins 43 secs)

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Employability
Enhance your skills! 
Action required!
Assess your Employability Skills: go to
Ch.1, p. 28-29 of your Kortext textbook and
read the key employability skills essential in
today’s job market.
Please reflect and complete the self-
assessment with your personal reflection of
your individual goals and actions.
Suggest you transfer the table on page 29 onto
a word document so that you can refer and
update as you progress throughout your
academic journey.
Post your top 3 PDP/Actions for this trimester
on the HRM Forum on the VLE page no later
than Wed 28-Sept. 2021.
Let's Explore the Career Zone!
Welcome session as well as a demo of ARUL
Career Zone
Guest Speaker Sonia Lassami [Employability
Team]
You can also… explore in your own time by
using your link from your VLE.
Explore, find out all the student support you
have!
https://www.abintegro.com/Members
37
References and Further Reading
Banfield. P., Kay. R., and Royles. D., 2018. Introduction to Human Resource Development 3rd Ed.
Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Brewster. C., Sparrow. P., Vernon. G., and Houldsworth. E., 2016. International Human Resource
Management 4th Ed. London: CIPD.
Briscoe. D., Schuler. R., and Tarique. I., 2012. International Human Resource Management: Policies
and Practices for International Enterprises 4th Ed. New York: Routledge.
Carberry. C., and Cross. C., 2015. Human Resource Development: A Concise Introduction. London:
Palgrave.
Deal. TE., and Kennedy. AA., 1982. Corporate cultures: the rites and rituals of corporate life.
Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Gilmore. S., and Williams. S., 2013. Human Resource Management 2nd Ed. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
References and Further Reading
Handy. CB., 1999. Understanding organizations. London: Penguin.
Hook. C. and Jenkins. A. 2019. Introducing Human Resource Management. 8th Ed Harlow: Pearson
Education Ltd.
Mankin. D., 2009. Human Resource Development. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Mello. JA., 2015. Strategic Human Resource Management 4th Ed. Stamford: Cengage.
Swart. J., Mann. C., Brown. S., and Price. A., 2015. Human Resource Development: Strategy and
Tactics. London: Routledge.
Schein. EH., 2004. Organisational Culture and Leadership. 3rd ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
HSE., 2020. Work-related stress, anxiety or depression statistics in Great Britain. [online] Available at:
https://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/causdis/stress.pdf [Accessed 06-01-2021]