LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT - 2025/6

Module Overview

This module is designed to appeal to a range of students who may be considering a managerial HRM career. The unit is designated as core by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) making its successful completion a prerequisite for those seeking chartered membership. It is intended to provide students with a holistic understanding of the requirements for the successful management of people in an organization, with an emphasis on leadership and developmental opportunities. It is intended that this module will support students to develop a body of knowledge leading them to become effective managers as well as HR specialists. Hence the aims and objectives of HRM/HRD work, equality and diversity, business ethics, flexible working patterns, employee engagement and the effective management of change are studied.

Module provider

Surrey Business School

Module Leader

MASSARO Sebastiano (SBS)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 7

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 1

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

N/A

Module content

• aims and objectives of HR work


• key research into HRM


• HRD and the effective management of people


• equality and diversity


• motivating and engaging staff


• leadership flexibility and change


• business ethics, professionalism, and corporate social responsibility

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

Alternative assessment for the group presentation consists in a written essay related to a chosen case study.

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate a holistic understanding of contemporary HRM research and understanding of modern HRM management approaches for a variety of organisational contexts.

Thus, the summative assessment for this module consists of:

• one small-group project which is an in-class presentation, and


• one individual coursework.

In terms of formative assessment students will receive verbal feedback during seminars and by best practices of knowledge transfer such as constructive comments/highlights of specific cases and related common mistakes that students might encounter.

Module aims

• Enable students to identify core theoretical perspectives in the field of people management and the most influential contemporary research on HRM, effective leadership and positive organisational outcomes
• Enable students to reflect critically on what approaches constitute the most effective as far as people management is concerned
• Identify and assess the contribution made by HRM and HRD specialists in different types of organisations

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The learning and teaching strategy is designed to: give students the opportunity to gain knowledge and understanding of contemporary theoretical and managerial perspectives on people management. The teaching and learning methods include the delivery of lectures, business examples, mini-videos and independent-learning. The formal lectures are mainly designed to illustrate and explain the theoretical concepts of leadership and people management, change management, equality and diversity, business ethics and corporate social responsibility, among others, illuminating the theoretical concepts and models by reference to, and explanation of a range of business cases. Furthermore, practical examples will be shown via the adoption of business case studies. The critical and analytical evaluation of case studies will contribute to developing a practical and critical view of HRM/HRD practice. 

Teaching and learning methods include:

• Lectures


• Seminars


• Case study discussions


• Guided and Indpendent learning


• Reading

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: MANM484

Other information

This module promotes four of the main five Student Competency Framework Pillars as follows:

Global and Cultural Capabilities

Students on this module work together in groups on a real-life challenge posed by a case study. Each group is coached by an SBS member of academic staff throughout the module. The demographic distribution of our students is rich and diverse. Students acquire and develop global and cultural capabilities by interacting with each other in completing the assessments, as well as with the academic members of staff.

Employability

The module is designed to equip students with acquiring specialist knowledge, skills, and competencies - a fundamental requirement for a career in people management and leadership. Most importantly, by working with real-life case studies, students develop their opportunity to establish problem-solving skills with potential employers.

Resourcefulness & Resilience

Being faced with several, real organizational challenges touches the boundaries of imagination and resilience of our students. Students are randomly assigned to a group and they need to develop rapport with colleagues, adapting to different ways of working is a challenging environment in which students learn how to develop and deploy effective strategies in achieving the assigned task in a team. Members of the academic team provide the necessary support to both individual and groups of students, and tailor advice and guidance contingent on each situation.

Sustainability

Leadership and management is an area of HRM that is deeply grounded on sustainable people management. Aspects of fairness, justice, wellbeing, and so on are core elements of the module are tested against the theories and practical cases encoutnered throughout the module.

Digital capabilities

Students will work in digital teams, groups and projects to produce shared outcomes or meet shared goals for the group project. They will use collaborative digital tools to manage this workflow.

The module is designed to meet the Learning Outcomes of the CIPD unit 7CO02 People Management and Development Strategies for Performance

1. Understand the benefits of aligning people practices with organisational strategy and culture

- explain the major objective of people practice and the ways achieving these may benefit employers and employees

- explain the advantages associated with aligning people management policies with organisational strategy and risk

- evaluate ways in which organisations integrate people management practice within their culture, brand and values

- critically evaluate models of systemic thinking and how they underpin the interconnective nature of people practice work

2. Understand how the development of people practices improve organisational performance and employee experience

- examine the merits of different models of people practice management, linking them with effective business performance

- critically evaluate research that links people management practice in organisations with improved employer outcomes

- critically evaluate best practice, contingency and resource-based approaches to the development of people practices

- explain how high-performance work practices are associated with positive organisational and employee outcomes

3. Understand current practice in major areas of people management and development work

- discuss major areas of responsibility in people management work in organisations

- evaluate current developments in the fields of resourcing and performance management

- evaluate current developments in the fields of learning and development and organisational design and development

- evaluate current developments in the fields of employment relations, employee engagement and diversity and inclusion

4. Understand the role and influence of people professionals in different organisational settings

- examine the merits of the various ways in which people practice activities are organised, structured, and evaluated in different organisational settings

- critically assess the nature of professionalism in people practice and the role of the CIPD

- analyse the advantages of partnering with customers to understand their current and future needs from a people practice perspective

- assess the value of facilitation, coaching and mentoring, and consulting in different people practice contexts

- critically evaluate how data analytics and technological developments present practical and ethical challenges for people professionals

Programmes this module appears in

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2025/6 academic year.