Course Resources Archive

Successful human resource (HR) professionals have different approaches to their work, sharing a range of diverse personality traits, attributes and beliefs. They are central determinants of an individual manager’s effectiveness and are developed consciously over time and with an awareness of differing cultural contexts and operating environments. A key purpose of this module is thus to encourage students to develop a strong sense of self-awareness and of their own strengths and weaknesses as managers and colleagues.  The module is primarily concerned with the development of skills, and specifically seeks to develop and improve a range of definable skills that are pivotal to successful management practice and to effective leadership. These include thinking and decision-making skills, the management of financial information, managing budgets, a range of team-working and interpersonal skills and others associated with developing personal effectiveness and credibility at work. The module also seeks to develop further more-specialised skills that are of particular significance to effective higher-level people management and provides opportunities for applied learning and continuous professional development.  Finally, the module seeks to help students make the most of their programmes of study with the inclusion of key postgraduate study skills and requires critical reflection on theory and practice from an ethical and professional standpoint.

1         Manage themselves more effectively at work or in another professional context.
Self-awareness, dimensions of personality and individual differences, time management, personal organising skills, stress management; principles of continuous professional development; professional and ethical approaches to self-management at work.

2         Manage interpersonal relationships at work more effectively.
Characteristics of effective teams and team-building, assertiveness, interpersonal communication, effective negotiation, handling emotion and conflict, written, verbal and non-verbal communication, networking, negotiating; organisational politics and the need to act in a politically astute and ethical manner to secure HR objectives; liaising with customers.

3         Make sound and justifiable decisions and solve problems more effectively.
Systematic and evidence-based decision-making, testing ideas, creative and team-based decision-making, evaluating evidence and options, ethical decision-making; communicating and justifying decisions; proactive approaches to problem-solving; consulting skills.

4         Lead and influence others more effectively.
Effective supervision and team leadership, coaching and mentoring, effective delegation, resolving conflict between team members, positively motivating others to raise their level of performance; chairing meetings and co-ordinating discussions; leading and facilitating change; providing direction; influencing thinking and decision-making on the part of others.

5         Interpret financial information and manage financial resources.
Structure, content and interpretation of simple balance sheets, profit and loss accounts and trading statements; ratio analysis; basic costing concepts and techniques; cash flow and cash budgets; budgetary planning and control.

6         Demonstrate enhanced IT proficiency.
Information-handling skills, commonly used IT applications and software packages, statistical techniques and the presentation of statistical data.

7         Demonstrate an essential people management skill-set.
Selection interviewing, appraisal interviewing, disciplinary interviewing; delivering training, making presentations; project management; managing poor performance (including absence, lateness and incompetence).

8         Demonstrate competence in postgraduate study skills.
Accessing and evaluating published research evidence, critical thinking, developing and justifying original arguments, referencing the work of others, effective essay and report-writing; effective revision and preparation for unseen assessment.

On completion of this module students will be able to:

1. Manage themselves more effectively at work or in another professional context.
2. Manage interpersonal relationships at work more effectively.
3. Make sound and justifiable decisions and solve problems more effectively.
4. Lead and influence others more effectively.
5. Interpret financial information and manage financial resources.
6. Demonstrate enhanced IT proficiency.
7. Demonstrate an essential people management skill-set.
8. Demonstrate competence in postgraduate study skills.

Staff/student contact – 45 hours
Workshops, tutorials, individual support
Student directed learning – 105 hours as directed by tutors/module guide

Work Based Learning delivery students will devise an agreed work plan with their Advisor to meet their individual learning needs to achieve the module learning outcomes

The Library Catalogue contains full details of the current reading list for this module. Further details may also be found in the Module Guide.