MSc Human Resource Management and Industrial Relations

Year of entry: 2024

Course unit details:
Human Resource Management in Asia

Course unit fact file
Unit code BMAN73302
Credit rating 15
Unit level FHEQ level 7 – master's degree or fourth year of an integrated master's degree
Teaching period(s) Semester 2
Available as a free choice unit? No

Overview

This course unit investigates several important and inter-related topics that support an understanding of practices for HRM and Industrial relations in Asia. First, the course introduces the comparative study of human resource management and industrial relations across different countries. It will discuss the internationalisation of business and trade but also discusses how the specific national character of employment in these countries remains. In accordance, the course shows how employment is shaped by other areas of society such as corporate governance, production systems, education and training, and welfare. Secondly, the course introduces the different practices for HRM and industrial relations in various Asian economies, including but not limited to the three major economies of Japan, China and India. This will refer to both the HRM practices within firms and the wider context of employment. Thirdly, the course discusses how the employment practices within these countries have been changing over recent years, in particular through the internationalization and growth of their economies, and to what extent we see important similarities in HRM and industrial relations across Asia. Finally, the course discusses the important lessons that can be learned on HRM and IRs by studying these topics in the Asian context. All these issues are explored through academic readings, group-work, presentations, and class debates

Pre/co-requisites

BMAN73302 Programme Req: BMAN73302 is only available as an elective to students on MSc HRM & IR and MSc IHRM & CIR

Aims

This course unit has the objectives of enabling students to understand and explain:

  • The various perspectives and theoretical challenges to the comparative study of employment practices across different national contexts
  • The characteristic features of country systems of HRM practices and industrial relations in various Asian countries, in particular in the dominant economies of Japan, China and India
  • The implications of the growing internationalization of business and trade both for the human resource policies of companies and for the organisation of labour and employers
  • The processes of change and continuity in Asian systems of HRM practices and industrial relations
  • The lessons offered on HRM and IRS by studying these topics in the Asian context

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course unit students will be able to:

  • Explain and use the different perspectives for the comparative study of national systems of HRM and industrial relations
  • Discuss and interpret the specific practices for human resource management and industrial relations across various Asian economies, in particular the dominant economies of Japan, China and India
  • Discuss and analyse the changes within these practices in response to the internationalisation of business and trade 

Assessment methods

Individual essay (80%)

Group presentation (20%)

 

Feedback methods

Informal advice and discussion during a lecture, seminar, workshop or lab.

Written and/or verbal comments on assessed or non-assessed coursework.

Written and/or verbal comments after students have given a group or individual presentation.

Recommended reading

  • Rubery, J. & Grimshaw, D. (2003) The Organization of Employment: An International Perspective, London: Palgrave.  
  • Keizer, A.B. (2010) Changes in Japanese Employment Practices, Routledge.
  • Cooke, F.L. (2011) Human Resource Management in China: New Trends and Practices, Routledge.
  • Varma, A. & Budhwar, P.S. (2013) Managing Human Resources in Asia-Pacific (2nd Edition), Routledge
  • Cooke, F.L. & Kim, S. (2017) Routledge Handbook of Human Resource Management in Asia, London: Routledge 
  • Various journal articles on (the changes in) HRM and industrial relations within specific Asian economies.  

 

Study hours

Scheduled activity hours
Assessment written exam 2
Lectures 20
Seminars 10
Independent study hours
Independent study 118

Teaching staff

Staff member Role
Arjan Keizer Unit coordinator

Additional notes

Informal Contact Method

Office hours: to be announced at the start of the semester

E-mail: Arjan.keizer@manchester.ac.uk

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