HRMG201 - Strategic Human Resource Development

Year

Credit points

Campus offering

Prerequisites

Nil

Teaching organisation

150 hours over a twelve-week semester or equivalent study period

Unit rationale, description and aim

The implementation of effective Human Resource Development (HRD) systems is a critical factor in achieving sustainable organisational outcomes. To be a skilled human resource practitioner, it is important to understand the theories, perspectives and approaches to strategic human resource development including the relationship with performance management. This unit will explore human resource development and performance management at both a global and local context and within an ethical framework. The knowledge about performance management and human resource development as organisational systems will facilitate training and development needs analysis, design training and development programs to manage individual and team performances. This unit will develop skills in the analysis, design and implementation of solutions to performance management using HR development knowledge and extend with recent developments in the field by integrating sustainability to HRD practices.  

Learning outcomes

To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.

Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.

Explore the graduate capabilities.

On successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

LO1 - Interpret and analyse major theories, perspectives and approaches to human resource development and performance management (GA5, GA8)

LO2 - Explain, apply, and evaluate effective human resource development and performance management processes and techniques which deliver improved organisational performances (GA5, GA7)

LO3 - Utilise ethical and sustainability frameworks to analyse and appraise the processes and activities involved in needs analysis, designing development activities, delivering and evaluating human resource development programs at an individual, teams and organisational level (GA3, GA5)

LO4 -  Apply effective written and oral communication skills in the context of practical human resource development issues (GA5, GA9)

Graduate attributes

GA3 - Apply ethical perspectives in informed decision making

GA5 - Demonstrate values, knowledge, skills and attitudes appropriate to the discipline and/or profession 

GA7 - Work both autonomously and collaboratively 

GA8 - Locate, organise, analyse, synthesise and evaluate information 

GA9 - Demonstrate effective communication in oral and written English language and visual media 

Content

Topics will include:

• Overview of human resource development (HRD) and performance management 
• Theories and approaches to HRD and performance management 
• Managing individual and team performance management
• Relationship between HRD and performance management 
• Training and development needs analysis
• HRD design and methods of delivery
• Structured and unstructured approaches to implementation of HRD programs 
• Evaluating impacts of transferring HRD program learning to work and organisational performance 
• Integrating ethical and sustainability frameworks to HRD and performance management

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

This unit takes an active learning approach to guide students in the development of knowledge associated with HRD and performance management. Students are able to explore the knowledge base underpinning human resource development and performance management in a series of on campus workshops. These workshops are designed to support students to actively participate in the development of this knowledge both individually and in groups. By participating in these workshops, students will systematically develop their understanding of the critical aspects of HRD and performance management to designing solutions for various organisational and sustainability issues. This unit takes an experiential approach to support students in developing the skills required to effectively manage HRD and performance management by sharing stories and insights and reflecting on experiences. This approach is designed to interest students who prefer to learn within a social environment and builds in expert support for skills development.

ACU Online

This unit uses an active learning approach to support students in the exploration of knowledge essential to the discipline. Students are provided with choice and variety in how they learn. Students are encouraged to contribute to asynchronous weekly discussions. Active learning opportunities provide students with opportunities to practice and apply their learning in situations similar to their future professions. Activities encourage students to bring their own examples to demonstrate understanding, application and engage constructively with their peers. Students receive regular and timely feedback on their learning, which includes information on their progress.

Assessment strategy and rationale

In order to pass this unit, students are required to complete and submit three graded assessment tasks and achieve an aggregate mark of at least 50%. Marking will be in accordance with a rubric specifically developed to measure student levels of achievement of the learning outcomes for each item of assessment. Students will also be awarded a final grade which signifies their overall achievement in the unit. The assessment strategy for this unit allows students to sequentially develop their knowledge and skills to become workforce and workplace designer, influencer, and be credible and future oriented to engage with other professionals in an organisation to achieve organisational sustainability outcomes. To develop this level of capabilities and professional behaviour, students will demonstrate their knowledge of HRD and performance management through a reflective report by interviewing a manager/supervisor on performance management practices in an organisation. Subsequently, in the report students will interpret major theories and approaches of performance management using the interview data from a manager. The NLiC will provide a list of interview questions which students will use during their interview with a manager/supervisor. Further, students in groups will conduct a presentation on a topic that is relevant to organisational performance to demonstrate their capabilities in conducting a training program. Finally, students will demonstrate their capabilities and behaviours on their understanding of performance management and HRD to achieve organisational outcomes based on a reflective journal that focuses on exploring the link between performance management and HRD from the ethical and sustainability perspective.  

Overview of assessments

Representative texts and references

Boyle, B. and Boyle, B., 2017. Human resource development practices, managers and multinational enterprises in Australia: Thinking globally, acting locally. Education+ Training, 59(5), pp.483-501.

Dean, P.J. and Ripley, D.E., 2016. Richard A. Swanson, Ed. D.: The PLS Evaluation System. Performance Improvement, 55(8), pp.40-46.

Gorman, C.A., Meriac, J.P., Roch, S.G., Ray, J.L. and Gamble, J.S., 2017. An exploratory study of current performance management practices: Human resource executives’ perspectives. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 25(2), pp.193-202.

Kinicki, A. J., Jacobson, K. J., Peterson, S. J., & Prussia, G. E. (2013). Development and validation of the performance management behavior questionnaire. Personnel Psychology, 66(1), 1-45.

Murphy, K. R. (2020). Performance evaluation will not die, but it should. Human Resource Management Journal, 30(1), 13-31.

Qamar, A. and Asif, S., 2016. Performance Management: A Roadmap for Developing Implementing and Evaluating Performance Management Systems. South Asian Journal of Management, 23(2), p.150.

Saks, A.M., Haccoun, R.R. and Belcourt, M., 2016. 7th Edition. Managing performance through training and development. Cengage Learning.

Sablok, G., Stanton, P., Bartram, T., Burgess, J., & Boyle, B. 2017. Human resource development practices, managers and multinational enterprises in Australia. Education + Training, 59(5), 483–501.

Tseng, S. T., & Levy, P. E. 2019. A multilevel leadership process framework of performance management. Human Resource Management Review, 29(4), 100668.

Journals

Human Resource Management Review

Human Resource Management Journal

Personnel Psychology

Personnel Review