BA (Hons) Human Resource Management & Psychology

Course Overview

Arden University’s online BA (Hons) Human Resource Management & Psychology programme will provide you with the skills and knowledge to help you take your next professional step in your career. You’ll develop an understanding of current and emerging HR practices and the psychological principles behind their development.

Arden’s flexible study mode allows you to develop these skills around your existing commitments. This programme will equip you with a sound understanding of the relationship between these two exciting fields and help take you closer to your career goals.

The full range of programmes offered by Arden features a strong focus on employability, practical skills and career success. This programme has been developed to help you understand human resource management from a psychological perspective, and help give you the skills for a career in a wide range of sectors.

Course Modules

Level 4

Skills for Interdisciplinary Study
Develop your skills as a learner and look at problems from different perspectives. After an introduction to your online academic community and the key skills needed for the programme, you will improve the personal skills sought by employers.

English Legal System
Learn the differences between case law and legislation and analyse how Parliament and the legal system work in conjunction. You’ll also develop your legal vocabulary, in order to understand the judiciary, delegated legislation and categories of law in England and Wales.

Contract Law
In this module, you’ll begin to unravel the elements of English contract law, and how it came to be what it is today. You’ll develop the skills to apply principles of contract law to help solve legal problems.

Understanding the Business Environment
Get to grips with business structure and stakeholder responsibilities. You'll begin to understand core business concepts such as supply and demand, competition, markets, and government effects with this module.

Introduction to Social and Developmental Psychology
This branch of psychology examines the changes that occur throughout the human lifespan. During this module, you’ll cover a range of theories, including forming of identity, personality, ideas about the self, and language acquisition. You’ll look at how people’s thoughts and behaviours are influenced by the lens of social psychology.

Introduction to Biological and Cognitive Psychology
Discover the cognitive processes that are central to how we see, hear, and learn new skills. Learn how we grow and gain a sense of perception, attention, learning, memory, and decision-making abilities. In this module, you’ll learn about some of the biological processes and cognitive principles required to understand psychology, including the basic structure and functions of the nervous system.

Level 5

Research and Ethics in Action
This module gives you the chance to showcase your abilities through a piece of work of your own design. You’ll determine the methodology, develop a range of skills, and consider the ethical issues of the work you are undertaking. Later, you’ll include this in a practical way as you work towards your final project.

Personality and Intelligence
Learn about historical and contemporary approaches to personality and intelligence and their implications for society and education. You’ll discover the role of genes and environment, psychometric tests and cultural effects, and with several substantial topics to engage with, you’ll get the chance to debate key aspects of personality and intelligence in this module - from behavioural to biological.

Social Psychology
Gain an understanding of human behaviour as you explore conceptual and historical issues in social psychology. Using traditional and critical research methods, you will practically apply a range of theories to real-world issues and explore social constructionism, culture, language, identity and more.

Planning Human Resources
Learn to plan for an organisation’s people element, including those international factors affecting global business. You’ll develop the skills to plan for the expense of hiring new staff, taking into account when and how this is necessary.

Managing Across Cultures
Global business requires us to take into account national cultures. This module asks how our products will work in different markets, how to facilitate a multicultural workforce, and other issues critical to modern business.

Managing Change in Organisations
This module goes into greater detail on team development and the ways an organisation can support and encourage staff, ensuring their fulfilment and effectiveness.

Level 6

Occupational Psychology
You’ll explore the dynamic branch of psychology that examines how to improve job satisfaction and get the most out of employees. Discover the latest thinking about leadership, teamwork, motivation and personality types, combined with organisational development. This module also considers how social and political influences, alongside technology and the economy, affect organisations and those working with them.

Employment Law
This module looks at the delicate balance between employee, employer, trade unions, the government and the EU. You’ll explore worker’s rights, global downturn, employee and child protection, and build plenty of transferable skills for the workplace.

Strategic Issues in HRM
Get to grips with business trends affecting HR management both domestically and internationally. You’ll encounter emotional and aesthetic labour, equal opportunities, diversity, and ethics in this module.

Cross-Cultural Psychology
Because most psychological research has been conducted amongst Western society, it mostly applies to a limited population. As cultural borders blur, this module looks at the similarities and differences between cultures, and how we understand and act towards each other. You’ll learn how these studies are done and have a chance to exercise your critical and analytical skills through a case study approach.

Research Planning & Project
This final module gives you the opportunity to specialise in an area of the programme that has most interested you. With your supervising tutor, you will determine an interdisciplinary area related to your degree to research. You will need to incorporate all the skills acquired in the programme to complete this major work.

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Eligibility Requirements

To be eligible for this course you must normally have:

• Two subjects at GCE A-Level or equivalent, plus passes at grade C or above in three subjects at GCSE level or equivalent; OR
• Completed a recognised Access Programme or equivalent
• For students whose prior learning was not taught in English: IELTS 6.0 or equivalent (no less than 5.5 in any element).

If you have work experience

We positively encourage applications from those able to demonstrate their motivation to study the programme. We will ask for your personal statement, along with your CV and references in support of your application.

Fees

£13,500 (UK & EU), £13,150 (International)