Module Summaries Advanced Level
Module Summaries Advanced Level
Module Summaries Advanced Level
Contents
HRM in context 3 Leading managing and developing people 4 Developing skills for business readership 5 Investigating a business issue from an HR perspective 6 Leadership and management development 7 Organisational design and development 8 Performance management 9 Reward management 10 Resourcing and talent management 11 Managing employment relations 12 Employment law 13 Employee engagement 14 Learning and talent development 15 Designing delivering and evaluating learning and development provision 16 Knowledge management and organisational learning 17 Understanding and implementing coaching and mentoring 18
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HRM in context
Purpose and aim of module Human resource (HR) professionals and managers operate within increasingly complex and changing organisational and contextual circumstances, whether in the market, public or third sectors and whatever the size of their organisations or the types of goods or services these enterprises produce for their customers or clients. This module provides learners, first, with an understanding of the principal internal and external environmental contexts of contemporary organisations, including the managerial and business context, within which managers, HR professionals and workers interact in conditions of environmental turbulence, change and uncertainty. Second, the module examines how those leading organisations respond to these dynamic environmental contexts. Third, the module indicates how leaders in organisations, and those in the HR function, and line managers with HR responsibilities, need to recognise and acknowledge that corporate decisions and HR choices are not always shaped by managers alone. They are also shaped by internal and external forces beyond their immediate control. Having studied this module, learners will be aware that managers and HR professionals in different types of organisation (small, large, national, global), in responding to their internal, business and external environmental contexts, not only have opportunities and choices when taking organisational and HR decisions but also face some constraints on their autonomy in determining their futures. This module explores the implications for professional practice and provides opportunities for applied learning and continuous professional development. Learning outcomes On completion of this module, learners will be able to understand, analyse and critically evaluate: 1 Contemporary organisations and their principal environments The managerial and business environment within which HR professionals work How organisational and HR strategies are shaped by and developed in response to internal and external environmental factors The market and competitive environments of organisations and how organisational leaders and the HR function respond to them Globalisation and international forces and how they shape and impact on organisational and HR strategies and HR practices Demographic, social and technological trends and how they shape and impact on organisational and HR strategies and HR practices Government policy and legal regulation and how these shape and impact on organisational and HR strategies and HR practices.
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Demonstrate an essential people management skill-set Demonstrate competence in postgraduate study skills.
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Performance management
Purpose and aim of module The performance management module provides learners with the knowledge and understanding of the role of performance management in supporting the strategic objectives of the organisation in different business environments; how the performance of people can be enhanced and inspired by leadership and direction and how it contributes to high-performance work organisations. The module examines the design of performance management systems that aim to transform organisational objectives and performance outcomes and identifies the knowledge and skills needed for effective performance review processes that are fair, ethical and improve people performance in modern organisations. It will equip learners with the necessary skills and a critical understanding of the performance review process that combines challenge and support and places a focus on personal, team and organisational learning and accountability. Furthermore, it recognises the importance of communication skills in the performance review process and evaluates the need for employee involvement as well as transparent, ethical and justifiable rewards for performance. The module requires learners to reflect critically on theory and practice from an ethical and professional standpoint and provides opportunities for applied learning and CPD. Learning outcomes On completion of this module, learners will be able to: 1 Systematically decide and communicate strategic performance aims, objectives, priorities and targets Plan effective performance management policies and practices to improve organisational and employee performance Devise and sustain arguments for using appropriate performance management techniques, rewards and sanctions to improve performance Demonstrate the communication skills required when managing achievement and underachievement Critically evaluate the effectiveness of performance management.
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Reward management
Purpose and aim of module This module examines total rewards in an organisational and international context and provides learners with the knowledge and understanding of environments in which reward professionals plan, implement and evaluate employee reward policies to support strategic organisational goals. They will acquire both theoretical and normative understanding of the diverse approaches to reward management and be able to critically reflect on the strengths and limitations of these approaches in promoting individual and organisational performance in a fair, reasonable and equitable way. The foundations for pay and benefits management in modern organisations in the private, public and third sectors and how these traditions can be integrated into appropriate strategic designs that provide considerations of relative value and worth, individual and collective contribution and labour markets is examined. Learners will be able to comprehend the relationship between traditional, contingent and developmental choices of rewards, the use of diagnostic and evaluative skills in designing flexible approaches to reward and the challenges of international and executive pay arrangements. Critical reflection on theory and practice from an ethical and professional standpoint and for continuous professional development is required. Learning outcomes On completion of this module, learners will be able to: 1 Analyse the relationship between the environment, strategy and systems of reward management Explore the conceptual apparatus and theoretical debates informing reward management Critically discuss traditional, contingent and knowledge bases for transactional and relational rewards Design internally consistent reward structures that recognise labour market and equity constraints Analyse executive and expatriate rewards in an international context Critically evaluate key issues in reward management.
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Employment law
Purpose and aim of module The purpose of this module is to provide learners with the knowledge, understanding and skills required to brief organisations on the consequences of current and future developments in employment law, and to give upto-date, timely and accurate advice concerning the practical application of legal principles at work in different jurisdictions. The module will provide learners with the key principles that underpin UK (or Irish) and EU employment law, their purpose, the major defences that employers are able to deploy when defending cases, and the potential organisational costs and reputational risks associated with losing them. Moreover, the focus is on situations that occur relatively regularly in workplaces rather than on more uncommon or obscure legal scenarios and on advanced knowledge of legislation or case law. Employment law continues to expand both in terms of volume and complexity and the amount of regulation covering the employment relationship and the workplace has grown substantially in recent years, including additional duties placed on public bodies to actively promote equality. While organisations can source specialist advice on more complex and unprecedented issues from legal advisers, senior human resource (HR) professionals need to be sufficiently aware of major, current and coming developments in the regulatory environment to ensure organisations are fully prepared and also able to anticipate legal problems associated with proposed decisions or plans before they are implemented. In the context of increasing numbers of claims to employment tribunals, they take a leading role in handling issues and disputes at work and in leading an organisation's response when a formal legal claim is contemplated or pursued, including preparing and presenting responses to employment tribunal claims and they need to fulfill each of these requirements to a professional standard. The module promotes critical reflection on theory and practice from an ethical and professional standpoint and provides opportunities for applied learning and continuous professional development. Learning outcomes On completion of this module learners will be able to: 1 Explain the core principles that underpin employment law as it applies in the UK (or Ireland), including common law, their purpose, origin and practical implications Advise colleagues about significant legal implications of decisions, plans or proposals in the employment field Advise about the appropriate action that should be taken in workplace scenarios where employment regulation applies Play a leading role in determining the appropriate organisational response when legal action on the part of a worker or employee is anticipated, threatened or taken Participate in the preparation, presentation and settling of employment tribunal cases Know how to keep their knowledge of developments in employment law up to date and advise about the impact of these developments on employment policy and practice in their organisations.
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Employee engagement
Purpose and aim of module Crucial to the delivery of superior organisational performance is the extent to which the employees of an organisation feel involved, committed and engaged. This module explores the different dimensions of employee engagement, that is, the cognitive, affective and behavioural dimensions. It examines and explores what is meant by engagement and why some organisations are better than others at creating authentic engagement among their employees, and what any organisation can do, with the aid of its human resource (HR) professionals, to create sustainably high levels of workforce engagement. The module will equip learners with a comprehensive understanding of the concept of engagement as applied in an organisational setting and explores the researchbased and philosophical connections between employee engagement and other related beliefs, values, leadership models and management practice. It provides learners with knowledge and understanding of the rationale for the emergence of employee engagement as a key priority for organisations with high-performance working (HPW) achievements or aspirations and will enable them to develop the knowledge and skills necessary to assess the research, experiential and anecdotal evidence surrounding both the processes that facilitate employee engagement and the outcomes that may follow. The module counsels caution in the assessment and interpretation of evidence about the processes and benefits of engagement and the need to guard against tendencies towards rhetoric, as many studies lack empirical detail and devote excessive attention to views of those with a vested interest in reporting progress and success. Employee engagement, if properly understood, carefully implemented and objectively measured, is a powerful tool for delivering positive reputational and bottom-line outcomes. Learners will explore techniques needed to measure engagement, take remedial action or embed engagement-enhancing cultural practices and to identify, prioritise and evaluate actions to promote high levels of engagement. The module requires critical reflection on theory and practice from an ethical and professional standpoint and provides opportunities for applied learning and CPD. Learning outcomes On completion of this module, learners will be able to: 1 Critically analyse the concept of employee engagement, both intrinsically and also as an instrument for facilitating high-level business purposes Explain the empirical and philosophical connections between employee engagement, managerial leadership, strategic aspirations and HR strategies focused on infrastructure maintenance and also the development of human resource management (HRM) competitive differentiators Explore the critical contribution of employee engagement as a route to strategic, reputational and competitive excellence within a high-performance working environment Design and undertake an analysis of the relationships, causal or correlational, between levels of employee engagement and organisational performance, measured by both process efficiencies and corporate outcomes Create justified, cost-effective and strategically defensible action plans for promoting employee engagement within their own organisations and elsewhere Systematically evaluate levels of employee engagement within organisations, functions and business units, and recommend or implement programmes designed to achieve remedial changes or embed levels of engagement already accomplished.
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Design and develop organisation-based knowledge management strategies and programmes that promote, facilitate and exploit processes of organisational learning, taking account of a range of contextual factors Manage the implementation of knowledge management strategies and processes to support and facilitate organisational learning with the engagement and support of other professionals and managers Act ethically and professionally with a demonstrated commitment to equality of opportunity and diversity and to continuous personal and professional development.
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Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development 151 The Broadway London SW19 1JQ Tel: 020 8612 6200 Fax: 020 8612 6201 Email: [email protected] Website: www.cipd.co.uk
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Issued: June 2010 Advanced level module summaries.docx Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development 2010