MSc International Employment Relations and Human Resource Management

About the MSc programme

MSc International Employment Relations and Human Resource Management provides a comparative and interdisciplinary perspective on employment. The compulsory courses give students the theoretical tools to understand the global diversity of employment relations and HRM, and to evaluate the practical implications of these cross-national differences. Students explore a variety of national employment systems for the core course in International Employment Relations, learning how to analyse and compare employment relations systems. Following this, the core course in Globalisation and Human Resource Management examines the way in which different legal, institutional and cultural settings influence HRM practices and outcomes, providing vital analytical tools for global managers and decision-makers. The wide range of options available on the programme allows students to explore different disciplinary approaches to analysing the employment relationship such as those of organisational behaviour, sociology and comparative politics. The programme also offers more specialised options in areas such as corporate social responsibility, negotiation analysis, and reward systems, as well as access to further comparative and international course options across the School.

The mixture of disciplinary rigour and international evidence provided by the programme  prepares students for future work in a variety of areas including management, trade unions, government, consultancy, and academic and policy research. It is taught by an outstanding group of comparative scholars whose research spans a range of different countries and organisational settings in North America, Europe and Asia.

The programme is based in the Employment Relations and Organisational Behaviour Group, within the Department of Management. Applicants normally require a first or upper second class honours degree (or the overseas equivalent) to be considered for a place. Appropriate work experience is useful, but not essential. If appropriate, applicants may also need an English language test score at the higher grade specified by the School.

In contrast to the MSc Management and Human Resources, this MSc offers students a wider range of disciplinary options and has a stronger emphasis on international and comparative work. The comparative employment relations course primarily covers Europe, East Asia and the United States; while available options and dissertation work give students the opportunity to study other countries in more depth. Further courses available offer discipline-based teaching in labour economics, industrial psychology, organisational behaviour, sociology and law.

Students can also extend their studies beyond the end of the MSc by way of the European Master's in Labour Studies|, which allows entry to around a dozen other participating universities.

Compulsory courses

(* half unit)

• International Employment Relations*
• Globalisation and Human Resource Management* 
• Dissertation

Options

Choose a total of two full units from:

Human Resource Management and Organisational Behaviour

• Management of Human Resources: Strategies and Policy*
• Leadership in Organisations: Theory and Practice*
• The Dark Side of the Organisation* 
• Organisational Behaviour*
• Organisational Change*
• Negotiation Analysis*
• Managing Diversity in Organisations*
• Organisational Theory*
• Reward Systems: Key Models and Practices* 
• Personnel Economics*
• Network Structures in Organisations and Markets*

International and Comparative Management

• International and Comparative Human Resource Management* 
• International Business and Governance*
• Cross Cultural Management*
• Leading Entrepreneurial Organisations in Global Markets*
• The Future of the Multinational Firm*
• Business in the Global Environment*

The Social, Legal and Political Context of Employment Relations and HRM

• Managing Globalisation*
• European Models of Capitalism*
• Interest Representation and Economic Policy-Making in Europe*
• Patterns of Economic Integration in Europe: Institutions and Politics of EMU*
• Human Resource Management and Employment Regulation*
• Public Policy Responses to International Migration*
• Employment Law*
• Corporate Social Responsibility and International Labour Standards*
• Human Rights in the Workplace*
• Sociology of Employment I: Social Relations at Work*
• Sociology of Employment II: Contemporary Management and Globalisation*
• An optional course from the others offered at MSc level within the School (subject to approval)