Curriculum After 2016

Section 1: Common Programme related details

All undergraduate students enrolled in the B.Sc. HRM (Special) Degree Programme, are required to follow a common curriculum in management in the first year of study. This is intended to provide the core business knowledge by teaching basic concepts in all functional areas in business.The structure of the common programme is as follows:

Structure of the Common Programme

The structure for years II to IV of B.Sc. Human Resource Management (Special) Degree Programme is as follows:

Structure of the B.Sc. HRM (Special) Degree programme

First Year

HRM 1340: HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

An obvious interdependence exists between our society and organizations that produce goods and services in order to fulfil our needs. The standards of living and even survival of people in society depend on the goods and services of the organization. Thus, any society/nation wants organizations that need people to achieve organizational objectives. Human resource management (HRM) is managing these people in organizations. The main objective of this course is to provide a systematic and rational understanding of HRM, both conceptual understanding and job-oriented practical understanding. It focuses on a systematic and scientific approach to the analysis and handling of issues/problems in HRM with especial reference to the Sri Lankan context. The main areas covered are: introduction to HRM, organization of the HR department, job design, job analysis, human resource planning, recruitment, selection, hiring and induction, performance evaluation, pay management, training and development, employee movements, disciplinary administration, safety, health and welfare administration, grievances handling and management of labour relations.

Second Year

HRM 2340: HUMAN RESOURCE STAFFING

This is a specialized course, which provides theoretical and practical aspects of human resource planning and staffing in work organizations. The major topics covered include meaning, objectives and principles of human resource planning, forecasting techniques of human resource, techniques and approaches to job designing, job design and 5Ss, total quality management, quality circles and total confidence, techniques and approaches of job analysis, process of job analysis, issues in job analysis, recruitment and theories of recruitment, recruitment sources and techniques, selection and selection techniques, selection testing, selection process, placement and orientation, placement process, and orientation techniques.

HRM 2341: PERFORMANCE EVALUATION AND MANAGEMENT

The main objective of this specialized course is to provide a systematic and rational understanding of performance evaluation of human resources at work, both conceptual understanding and job-oriented practical understanding. It focuses on a systematic and scientific approach to the analysis and handling of issues/problems in PE with especial reference to the Sri Lankan context. Having completed this course, participants will have a firm foundation upon which to further the study of PE, and evaluate job performance of human resources in an organization in an efficient and effective way. Course contents are HRM and PE/PE context; definition, nature and significance of PE; purposes of PE; process of PE; PE policies; PE criteria and standards; PE methods; PE form and procedure; training of evaluators; PE discussion/feedback; review and renewal; some Issues of PE such as maintaining documentation, minimizing evaluator errors, group evaluation, top management support, strategic issues. etc., expatriate PE; development of a dynamic PE system; performance management and Sri Lankan PE practices.

HRM 2342: SELF AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

This course is a non-traditional course, which aims at developing self so as produce successful professionals. An active role is played by the student who will have to formulate several plans about his/her personal and professional life . Aspects of self and professional development of an undergraduate which will be covered during the course include understanding about life, death and life after death, comprehensive self evaluation, developing a personal life plan, developing a professional life plan, getting ready for the first job, preparing for professional advancement, and facing worries of life.

HRM 2343: PERSONAL AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Based on a primary goal of education, this course is designed to develop a person of good character. It is a deliberate and planned endeavour to develop virtues (while minimizing vices ) that are essentially good for the individual and society , where the individual will have values such as respect for humanity; loving first the native soil and then the rest of the global village; appreciation and tolerance of the diversity of human aspirations, norms, attitudes, experiences, education, and dreams for the future; and observing ethical principals in professional work and general social conduct. Therefore, the main objective of this course is to provide a systematic and rational understanding of personal and social responsibility through conceptual and application-oriented understanding. On completing this course, participants will have a firm foundation upon which to further study personal and social responsibility, and live as a personally and socially responsible citizen. This course addresses areas such as character development, time management, important aspects of industrial psychology, solutions for student conflicts, social responsibility, business ethics, anger management and positive thinking.

Third Year

HRM 3340/4349: WORK PSYCHOLOGY AND COUNSELLING

Industrial/work psychology (WS) is one of the major applied specialties in psychology worldwide. As WS is concerned with the workplace, its findings and principles are relevant to every employee in an organization. This is a specialized course that provides a sense of the science of mental life in work organizations. The contents of this course include the origin of the concept of work and work organizations, the nature of human nature, origins of work psychology, the psychological contract of work, personality factors at work, perceiving people in work organizations, attitudes and job satisfaction, learning in work organizations, techniques of job designing and redesigning, managing selection and assessment, the unconscious at work, ergonomics and equipment designing, managing discipline, managing minority groups and equal job opportunities, counselling in work organizations, work and mental health, managing occupational stress, the state of work, non-work and in-between, and managing occupational choices.

HRM 3341: Compensation Management

The objective of this course is to provide a systematic and rational approach to the analysis and handling of issues in compensation management with special reference to Sri Lanka. It focuses on three main aspects such as wages and salaries management, incentives management and welfare/benefits management. Its central question is how policies, procedures, rules, systems and guidelines of compensation can be developed to ensure pay equity, legal compliance, employee retention, citizenship behaviour, employee involvement, employee motivation and employee cost control.

HRM 3342: HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

The main objective of this specialized course is to provide a systematic and rational understanding of the development of human resources at work, both a conceptual understanding and job-oriented practical understanding. It focuses on a systematic and scientific approach to the analysis and handling of issues/problems in HRD with especial reference to the Sri Lankan context. Micro HRD topics include HRD context; training (T); definition, nature and significance (need and purposes); the psychology of learning (L): definition of L, functions of psychology of L, L curves, types of L, factors affecting L, theories of L, and L principles; orientation: T for new employees; methods of T; T process; identification of T needs and prioritizing T needs; establishment of T /instructional objectives; setting T evaluation criteria and standards; designing the T programme and implementation; evaluation of T; responsibilities for T; trainers and T styles; post training support for improved performance at work; T centres and like institutions; instructional technology; analysis of syllabus knowledge and skills; expatriate T; HR development today; the HR development process; development needs analysis and succession planning; planning and choosing a development approach; management development; careers and career planning: individual issues; and self development, some macro issues such as human resources and economic development, global trends and HRD environment, approaches in HRD, basic education, adult education, technical and vocational education, higher education, environmental education, entrepreneurial skills for the poor and unemployed, and the role of non-government organizations in HRD.

HRM 3343: EMPLOYEE HEALTH AND SAFETY MANAGEMENT

The success and progress of any organization largely depends on the quality of the human resources it has and managing soundly the health and safety of employees which ensure the constant availability of high quality human resources. This is a specialized course that provides theoretical knowledge and practical aspects of employee safety, health and well-being in an organizational context and the main objective of the course is to provide a deep conceptual understanding as well as a practical understanding with regard to employee health and safety management. This course covers important aspects such as occupational health and safety (OHS) in organizations, importance of improving OHS, linkage between OHS and HRM, hazards to OHS, occupational accidents, occupational diseases, occupational stress, low quality of work life, OHS strategies for improvement, legislation on workmen’s compensation, organizing and staffing for OHS, approaches to effective safety management, an effective safety management programme, an effective health management programme, poisoning, first aid, safe disposal of waste, in introduction to implementing good house keeping practices through 5S, safety audit, statistical analysis, assessment of the effectiveness of health and safety management, special issues of OHS in Sri Lanka and safety awards in Sri Lanka.

HRM 3344: BUDDHIST APPROACHES (ELECTIVE 01)

This is a newly introduced subject for the management field, specially Human Resource Management field aiming to discuss how the Buddhist philosophy, idealism, concepts and practices lead to manage human resources effectively and efficiently. The main objective of this course is to upgrade the student conceptual and practical ability of Buddhist philosophy, idealism, concepts and practices and use that knowledge in the Human Resource Management field.

HRM 3345: RELIGIOUS PERSPECTIVES (ELECTIVE 02)

This is a newly introduced subject for the management field, specially Human Resource Management field aiming to discuss how the philosophy, idealism, concepts and practices of different religious teaching lead to manage human resources effectively and efficiently. The main objective of this course is to upgrade the student conceptual and practical ability of the philosophy, idealism, concepts and practices of different religions and use that knowledge in the Human Resource Management field.

HRM 3346: International HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

The globalization of business is having a significant impact on HRM. It is more imperative than ever before for firms to be engaged in HRM on an international scale. This course is about the study of HRM from an international perspective. The main objective of the course is to provide a systematic and rational approach to the analysis and handling of issues/problems in international HRM. This is a course for those who specialise in HRM, and hence leads towards the achievement of the purpose of educating participants to become specialists rather than generalists. The course aims to address the following: overview of IHRM; internationalization and HRM; international HRM approaches; expatriate failure; management of expatriates; expatriate recruitment and selection; expatriate performance management; expatriate training and development; expatriate reward management; repatriation; international labour relations and other dimensions of IHRM.

HRM 3347/4350: LABOUR LAW AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS

Managing people at work needs to be done in compliance with all the relevant labour laws imposed by the government to better the employment relationship at work. This is a specialized course, which provides conceptual and practical aspects of employment law and employee relations with special reference to Sri Lankan business organizations, and human resource management policies and practices. The objective of this course is to impart to the student a right understanding of the legal obligations of a manager with respect to personnel and HR management. Major topics covered in this course include employee and independent contractor, the contract of employment, termination of the contract of employment, employees in shop and office, employees in factory and industrial undertakings, legal aspects of different types of leave, employment of women, young persons and children, employee provident fund, employee trust fund and gratuities, domestic inquiry procedure, industrial disputes, industrial and labour courts, historical evolution of employee relations, theories of employee relations, trade unions and employee relations, collective bargaining, negotiation and consultation, and role of the human resource manager in employee relations.

HRM 3348: HUMAN RESOURCE INFORMATION SYSTEM

The purpose of this course in Human Resource Information System is to provide an in-depth overview of essential Human Resource Information modern concepts and practices in organizational assessment, analysis and development of modern Human Resource Management System Technologies. The course will include fundamental relational database characteristics, information system and management process, system analysis and human resource management system needs assessment and change management. Topics include SHRM, Staffing System, Reward System, Human Resource Technology.

HRM 3349: HIGH PERFORMANCE WORK SYSTEMS (ELECTIVE 01)

The objectives of this course are to develop insight into the HRM-firm performance debate, acquire knowledge of the theories and elements of high performance work systems (HPWS) and develop skills to critically reflect on the literature and research on HPWS. The much-debated relationship between HRM-firm performance has moved beyond universal best practice, and in recent years academics tend to analyse the chain of links inside the ‘black box’ of HRM. However, this ‘black box’ issue is not decided and it is unclear how does HRM contribute to firm performance. The main questions for both academics and practitioners are: which work system performs in which context and why? How managers envisage HRM? How they interpret and enact? How it affects the psychological and social climate inside the organization and for whom it performed? This course focuses on the effects that high performance work principles, policies and practices have on various HR outcomes and on organizational performance. We consider the important construct of fit and try to conceptualize this and make it operational for research well as practice.

HRM 3350: INNOVATION AND CHANGE FOR HRM (ELECTIVE 02)

This course is designed with the aim of introducing the undergraduates a different way of thinking about the HRM practices and procedures. The innovations and change in a generic sense will be introduced at first to the students and encouraged to apply those themes and principles to the field of HRM. A further aim of this course is to equip students with the ability to question and critically evaluate the status quo, and learn to use various lateral thinking tools and techniques which will assist them in preparing for success in their chosen career.

Final Year

HRM 4340: CONTEMPORARY HRM

This course deals with current issues in HRM rather than those that existed in the past. Issues are non-traditional in nature compared with the traditional functional perspective. The main objective of this course is to enable the students to develop a systematic and rational approach to analyze contemporary issues of HRM. The main areas covered under this course are dual career couple issues, women managers in organizations, managing diversity, employee relations in small and medium-sized enterprise, sexual harassment, managing professional and managerial employees, human resources, technology and productivity, work ethics, work and leisure, quality of work life, knowledge creation and management, virtual organization and emerging HRM trends, HR in mergers and acquisitions and HR in IT organizations.

HRM4341: HUMAN RELATIONS: INTERPERSONAL COMPETENCIES

Based on the fundamental belief that the success of any job that involves interaction with people significantly depends on functional skills and generic skills, the main objective of this course has been formluated to provide a systematic and rational understanding of basic concepts in interpersonal relations in organizations. The course focuses on a systematic approach to the development and improvement of interpersonal skills through skill-builders, critical incidents, case studies and role-plays. The principal areas included in the course are understanding individual differences, interpersonal communication, resolving conflicts with others, developing team-work skills, group problem-solving, becoming an effective leader, motivating others, assisting others to develop, developing positive political skills, understanding cross-cultural relations and diversity, developing customer satisfaction skills and improving ethical behaviour.

HRM 4342: Research Methods in HRM

This course elucidates the nature of and processes involved in research with special reference to management of people at work. The main objective of the course is to offer a systematic and rational approach to the preparation and conduct of research in the management of employees, at B.Sc. level. The course leads to provide preparation for scholarship and systematic inquiry. Having completed this course, participants will be able to develop a firm foundation upon which to further study research methods in HRM or a related area, and to conduct and complete a scientific or systematic study within a limited period of time. The main topics covered are introduction to research in HRM, HRM research process, problem identification and formulation, literature review, development of a theoretical or conceptual framework, variables, hypotheses, conceptualisation and operationalisation, scientific research design, data collection methods, fundamentals of sampling, data analysis, writing research proposals and qualitative research.

HRM 4343: INTERNSHIP IN HRM – I

This course allows the student to go to an organization in the real world of work and acquire practical experience in various aspects of HRM. The student needs to be supervised by the head of the HR Department of the organization where the training is obtained. The students’ performance on this course will be assessed through a written evaluation form, oral test and quality and quantity of training record.

HRM 4344: ADVANCED HRM

The importance of HRM in relation to the overall effectiveness of an organization has increased considerably and over the last forty years or so, new techniques, activities, approaches to managing people have been developed as a result of the research and experiences in the field. The main objective of the course is to provide a systematic and rational approach to the analysis and handling of issues/problems in advanced HRM, and hence leads toward the achievement of the purpose of educating participants to become specialists rather than generalists. The course addresses two main areas of advanced HRM. First, management of HR strategically is examined. The main objective of this module is to provide a systematic and rational understanding of HRM from a strategic perspective. Secondly, the selected topics in HRM are discussed. The main objective of the module is to provide an in-depth knowledge as well as skills in some selected topics in HRM.

HRM 4345: SRI LANKAN APPLICATION IN HRM & IR

Placing the student in a simulated organizational situation and submitting him/her in the place of the manager or administrator who is required to resolve the problem(s) in HRM is very important for effective learning. Powerful learning takes place when the student is allowed to use theory within the context of the real world. Applications allow learners to utilize theory in practice. This course based on Sri Lankan applications in HRM and IR offers opportunities for students to gather learning experiences and improve analytical and operational problem solving skills. Rather than passive learning, active learning is promoted and the course is student-centred.

HRM 4346: INTERNSHIP IN HRM – II

HRM 4647: INDEPENDENT RESEARCH STUDY

Students are required to write an independent research report, selecting a topic pertaining to Human Resource Management. A separate research methodology course will be conducted to enable students to understand the ways in which systematic research can be conducted to describe, explain and predict phenomena of interest pertaining to various aspects of managing human resource in an organizational context. The student may conduct a survey, an audit, an evaluative study, causal comparative study or any systematic study under this subject.