MANAGING ORGANISATIONS AND HUMAN RESOURCES - 2026/7

Module Overview

The module introduces students to the fundamentals of human resources management and organisational behaviour.  It encourages them to identify the relevance of these knowledge and theories and apply them to address real-world challenges and contemporary issues. 

Module provider

Surrey Hospitality & Tourism Management

Module Leader

KNOX Dan (SII DUFE)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 5

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

Module Availability

Semester 1

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

None

Module content

1. Fundamentals of Human Resources Management
2. Organisational Environment and Organizational behaviour
3. Contemporary Issues that influence the people and organization process in THE

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

Students need to discuss with the module leader for a possible alternative assessment, if special consideration needs to be given due to individual needs. 

Assessment Strategy

Assessment 1Team-based PresentationDetails: You and your team members (about 5 students in a group) are recruiters of an organization from the THE sectors. You are attending an annual job fair in a university to represent your company, and you will give a 25-minute recruitment talk. You want to take this opportunity to introduce your company to potential employees, to inspire their interest and desire to work for you and recruit good quality candidates for the company. Some of the suggested contents that need to be covered in your presentation are:

• Background of the  organization (e.g., history, current scope, how people view this company, organizational culture, leadership team, diversity & inclusion policies, etc.)
• HR related policies (e.g. employee recruitment, on-boarding and retention policies, benefits & well-being, growth opportunities, motivating employees, etc. Please engage with key HR and OB theories in this part).
• Testimonies of employees (e.g., can include testimonies from Glassdoor or other channels, or informally interview someone who works for the company). 
• Job Openings---please share 4 job openings and include essential information of the job description, and information on the selection process. 
• Q&A from audience. 

 Assessment 2Individual ReportDetails:You are required to critically analyse a contemporary and critical human resources management or organizational behaviour issue/challenge that faces THE industry. A list of issues that have significant practical and theoretical importance has been provided below. You can also choose other issues if it carry important practical and theoretical implications, but please discuss with your instructor about your plan before proceeding with other topics. For each issue selected, you would need to justify the importance (practical and theoretical) of the issue, define and describe the issue, critically analyse the causes and consequences, and potential solutions/recommendations of the issue to different stakeholders. 

• The recruiting challenge
• The retention and employee turnover issue
• Motivate employees to go above and beyond
• AI and service robots¿ application to the workplace, and impact on employees and organizations, particularly the HR practice
• Utilize elderly employees and accommodate their workplace needs
• Gender equality in the workplace 
• Work-life balance/integration/boundary issues
• Supportive technologies and opportunities for disadvantaged employees (e.g. employees with disabilities, elder employees).

 Word count: 2000 (+/-10%) words not including referencesFormat: Times New Roman; Double-space, Font size 12Reference Styles: APA 6th edition of Harvard, at least 10 references from journal articles are required.        

Module aims

• To provide the foundational knowledge and theories on human resources management and organizational behaviors with a focus on THE contexts.
• To provide students with opportunities to critically analyze human resources and organizational behaviour issues that face the industry.
• To enhance students communication, team work, and critical thinking skills.

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The module will be delivered through lectures and workshops and a further interactive workshop via SurreyLearn.

Lectures will be made as interactive as possible  and learning will be reinforced and developed through a critical perspective, focusing particularly on the application of theoretical knowledge to practice. The workshops will be used to prepare students for their assessment and will include the development of critical thinking and in-depth research skills.  Opportunities to reflect upon their own behaviour and understanding of OBHR will also be provided via a problem-based, student centred approach to teaching and learning.

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: MAN2112

Other information

Digital Capabilities: This module aims to enhance students’ capabilities in evaluating and critiquing data and capturing business insights to develop strategic thinking and management practices in HR. Students will become familiar with comparing organisational level data using descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive analytics and data visualisation. Students will use the virtual learning environment (VLE),SurreyLearn, and perhaps video conferencing platforms such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams to facilitate learning.

 

Employability: The assessments are designed to develop key professional leadership skills desired by the sector. Students are required to individually apply strategic thinking skills, whilst recognising the challenges of a dynamic environmental context to critique theories of HR and organisational behaviour and evaluate their application across THE companies.

 

Global and Cultural Capabilities: The module has a global outlook both in terms of the international nature of THE companies, as well as the diversity across ethnicities within organisations. Students will look at a range of international THE companies with headquarters across continents. HR management will be discussed through examples across gender, ethnicity, age and other aspects of inclusion, and how national and organisational cultures intertwine to influence strategic thinking. 

 

Sustainability: Students will learn how CSR and Ethics influence THE businesses, and the different approaches to sustainability practices within the sector. They will become familiar with the practical challenges to achieve long term sustainability when managing the needs of diverse stakeholders, role of key supra national organisations like the UNWTO and evaluate innovative sustainability approaches adopted by projects across the world.

 

Resourcefulness and Resilience: Students will be required to use a range of sources to identify relevant datasets, conduct independent research, network with relevant companies/organisations, and work collaboratively with peers to extract patterns and critical insights from datasets. Finding solutions through unstructured problems is the key learning aspect of this module that will develop students’ resourcefulness and resilience.   

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 2026/7 academic year.