BSc (Hons) Business with Human Resource Management (BMS, Sri Lanka)

The aim of this module is to encourage engagement with Organisation Theory through offering a comprehensive account of ideas, perspectives and practices of organisation. You will learn to analyse organisations, people and organising practices through critical employment of Organisation Theory which challenges conventional understanding of organisations. You will learn to explore the impact of recent trends in Organisation Theory and Practice on people and their behaviour in organisations.

The module links topics on Organisation Theory and Practice:
• Introduction to Organisation Theory, and implications for practice: overview of three main perspectives (Modern, Symbolic and Contemporary)
• Organisation Theory:
o Theorizing relationship between Organisation and its environment
o Theorizing different perspectives on Culture and Organisation, and managing across cultures
o Theorizing organisational (physical and social) structure
o Theorizing power, control and conflict (including the feminist perspective)
o Theorizing Identity and organisational behaviour
• Applications in practice:
o Organisational Design, Sustainable Organisational Design
o Organisational learning, tacit knowledge and knowledge management
o Organisational change, change management, and sustainable development
o Aesthetics and organisations, performance, narrative, theatre and organisation
o Managing culture, people and behaviour in organisations, and managing across cultures

Upon completion of the module you will gain an in-depth understanding of:

o The major perspectives on Organisation Theory
o ‘Critical’ organisation theory and management practices
o The recent trends in organising practices
o Theory and practices involved in working in multi-cultural organisations with an awareness of ethical considerations.
o How to form your own construction of knowledge on organisations, managing people and their behaviour

The module aims to provide you with the critical knowledge and understanding of the key strategic HRM/HRD aspects required in the modern workplace. It also aims to provide you with a strong awareness relating to how strategic HRM/HRD contributes to the interests of stake holders and adds value to the business.
Within this module you will cover 12 core topics.
These are:
• Strategic HRM and the Business Partner role
• HR planning linked with Recruitment and selection
• Diversity at work and CSR
• Induction and Performance management
• Managing absence at work and promoting wellbeing
• The challenges for practitioners including redundancy management
• Strategic HRD and promoting a learning culture
• OD and change management
• Shaping and managing the HRD function
• The practice of training and developing business needs
• Methods of design and delivery of training including aspects such as coaching
• Evaluation of HRD and ensuring value for money
This module will allow you to develop your resourcing and development skills by engaging with professional sources (for example CIPD factsheets and reports) as well as your researching academic journal articles.
You will gain opportunities to reflect upon HRM/HRD experience gained whilst on placement activity or during study abroad experiences allowing you to integrate them into your ongoing learning activities. For those students without such experiences there will be opportunities to learn from peers and tutors in order to gain confidence in understanding contemporary HRM/HRD.
This module provides you with a range of understanding and skills transferable to HRM/HRD workplaces

The module aims to provide you with a critical knowledge and understanding of the concept of ‘diversity’ in the workplace. It acknowledges that everyone is a unique person and that there a variety of differences that need to be considered. These differences are visible and non- visible, for example, background, culture, personality and work style, size, accent, language and so on. A number of these personal characteristics (‘protected characteristics’) are covered by the Equality Act 2010. You will therefore learn on this module about the ‘protected characteristics’- race, disability, gender reassignment, sex, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, religion and belief, sexual orientation and age.
This module starts will an overview of equality/diversity historical perspectives and context then moves to lectures/seminars on the protected characteristics. It also considers issues such as bullying at work before concluding with your reflections on contemporary equality/diversity in the workplace and how it can be effectively promoted.
This module allows you to develop your research skills by affording you the opportunity to examine both professional sources (e.g. ACAS/CIPD) as well as academic journal articles from sources such as ‘Equality, Diversity and Inclusion’ and ‘Gender in Management’.
It also develops your presentation skills as the focus is upon your own learning then being able to facilitate the learning of others, for example, managers and employees. So this module provides you with a range of skills that can be applied in the workplace for the benefit of existing and future employers.

The dissertation module aims to equip you with the necessary intellectual and practical skills for undertaking an individual student-led, ethical investigation into an applied business (or the named degree) problem or issue. In addition, the dissertation aims to equip you with key transferable, employability skills, including: time management, project management, communication (written and verbal), negotiation, persuasion and influence, discovery, initiative, creativity and innovation in problem-solving, analysis.

The module is student-led but you are supported by, initially, weekly lectures and seminar-workshops which provide an introduction to undertaking Business-Management research followed by one-to-one or small-group supervision meetings.
The lectures and seminar-workshops will cover the following topics:
1. Developing a research aim/question (focusing and scoping the research)
2. Developing a literature review
3. Writing a research proposal
4. Researching ethically
5. Quantitative research techniques
6. Qualitative research techniques
7. Quantitative analysis techniques
8. Qualitative analysis techniques

Upon completion of the module you will be able to:
1. Conduct independent and ethical academic research involving the application and critical evaluation of appropriate theories and models,
2. Engage critically with relevant literature to establish a framework in which to analyse and synthesise the results of your primary or secondary research
3. Generate / collect relevant primary or secondary data using an appropriate and justified method
4. Analyse your data using an appropriate and justified method of analysis
5. Recognise the ethical implications of your work
6. Critically evaluate the source of your data and the method you adopted

1. How strategic recommendations are likely to be evaluated by various stakeholder groups that place a different interpretation on the measurement of business success.
2. Understanding the concepts and frameworks of Endogenous Strategy that apply to a company’s Capabilities, Competences and Resources.
3. How to synthesise key concepts in the Resource-based View of Strategy (RBV) and apply them to companies in competitive markets.
4. How Sustained Competitive Advantage (SCA) can be achieved and maintained in an era of finite resources and increasing demand for sustainability.
5. How Innovation can be managed and applied to Products, Processes, Business Models and Sustainability.
6. How Sustainability can be incorporated into successful Strategy Formulation, Strategic Implementation, and Business Model Innovation.
7. How Leadership impacts upon strategic decision making.
8. Understanding how the concepts of Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility can be applied to meet the challenges of Ethical Business Management in the future.
9. How to successfully write compelling and influential strategic briefing documents based around the structure adopted by this module.