Human Resource Management (HRMT) 387
Strategic Human Resource Management

This version of HRMT 387 closed, June 27, 2002. To current version.

Delivery mode:  Individualized study or grouped study.
Credits: 3 - Applied Studies
Prerequisite: HRMT 386 or ORGB 386 is recommended but not required.
Centre: Centre for Work and Community Studies
Challenge for Credit: HRMT 387 has a Challenge for Credit option

>> Overview | Outline | Evaluation | Course Materials | Course Fees | Course Availability


Overview

HRMT 387 examines the management of all employment relationships in the work organization. Capitalist societies are characterized by constant change in response to innovation and to external market pressures. As a result, the past decade has witnessed a number of significant developments in work organizations. New technologies have radically altered the way work is performed and new structures have emerged—a process sometimes referred to as "reengineering."

In parallel with these changes has been the emergence of a new approach to the management of people at work: the "new" or "progressive" Human Resource Management (HRM) paradigm. The course examines and evaluates the nature and significance of the "new" HRM model for Canadian workplaces; the strategic issues, such as the relationship between HRM and trade unions; and the links between HRM and organizational performance. Some of the key techniques including recruitment and selection, appraisal, reward systems, training and development, and international aspects of HRM are examined fully.

The course is intended to provide a critical analysis of HRM models both for students of management from an academic perspective, and for those people who are involved in the human resource management area whether as human resource specialists, as managers, or as trade union representatives.

Outline

The course consists of four units:

  • Unit 1 The HRM Phenomenon
  • Unit 2 Strategic HRM, Trade Unions, and Organizational Performance
  • Unit 3 HRM Practices
  • Unit 4 International HRM

Evaluation

To receive credit for HRMT 387, students must achieve a course composite grade of at least 50 percent and a grade of at least 50 percent on the tutor-marked exercises. The weighting of the composite grade is as follows:

Exercise 1 Exercise 2 Exercise 3 Exercise 4 Total
25% 25% 25% 25% 100%

Course Materials

Textbooks

Story, J. 2001. Human resource management: A critical text. London and New York: Routledge.

Townley, B. 1994. Reframing human resource management: Power, ethics and the subject at work. London: Sage Publications.

Betcherman, G., McMullen, K., Leckie, N. & Caron, C. 1994. The Canadian workplace in transition. Kingston: Industrial Relations Centre Press.

Other Material

Course materials include a study guide, student manual, reading file, and forms.

Athabasca University reserves the right to amend course outlines occasionally and without notice.
Courses offered by other delivery methods may vary from their individualized-study counterparts.

[AU Home Page]
Athabasca University
1 University Drive
Athabasca, AB T9S 3A3
(780) 675-6111, (800) 788-9041
Ask AU
This page was updated by G. Zahara