MA Human Resource Management (Work Psychology)

Why choose Herts?

A bang-up to date, market leading programme, taught by expert HR practitioners and researchers
CIPD accredited graduates can become Chartered member with relevant experience.
Industry led and informed, vocational, skill based teaching

People are the lifeblood in any business and Human Resource Management (HRM) plays a pivotal role in helping companies, large and small, get the most out of this most important asset.

The Hertfordshire HR MA programme will develop your HR practitioner skills and know-how to nurture and maintain a happy, fulfilled, effective and responsible workforce.

Full or Part time study options available. Full time study takes one year and part time study in bite-sized modules takes two years.

Develop professional accreditations. Accredited by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and provides associate membership.

Learn from supportive, experienced HR specialists. With the benefit of first-hand knowledge, your teaching team help you develop an expert understanding of the role human resources plays in modern organisations.

Enhance your employment prospects. A dual accredited postgraduate and professional qualification is the gold standard ‘expert’ qualification that will boost your career. CIPD membership opens up opportunities for professional development and Chartered membership.

Build Industry Connections. At Hertfordshire Business School you can attend business networking events, meet HR keynote speakers, and form your own life-long industry peer group with fellow students.

Work placements offered

Funding available*

Students need to have an honours degree with classification 2.2 or better in any subject from a UK university or the equivalent from a recognised university overseas

a CIPD level 5 qualification and two years Human Resource Management experience


Institution code	H36
School of study	Hertfordshire Business School
Course length	Full Time, 1 Years
Location	University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield

Employability
Careers

Get everything you need to become an impactful and inclusive people manager. With a strong balance of theory and real-world knowledge, this course levels up your skills, knowledge and expertise as a general HRM practitioner or specialist consultant.

This CIPD-accredited course offers a comprehensive curriculum enabling you to step up to a wide range of HRM related roles including:
- Employee experience consultant
- Diversity and inclusion lead
- Employee relations manager
- Human Resources manager
- Recruitment specialist
- Talent consultant
- Change management consultant
Graduates have enjoyed successful careers in organisations such as KPMG, Tesco, Roche, World Bank and Ocado, as well as becoming independent HR consultants.

What job can I get?

The course will develop your HRM expertise and facilitate real-world HRM skills. When you graduate you could work as an HRM practitioner in fields as varied as general HRM, learning and development, change management and talent management. This course sets you on a path to become an HRM practitioner or consultant in areas of people management.

Professional Accreditations

Our Hertfordshire MA Human Resource Management degree is accredited by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), ensuring it is industry-led and remains current.

Successful completion of the MA or PG Diploma, as awarded by the CIPD, means you are eligible to apply for CIPD Associate Membership (allowing you to use the designatory letters Assoc CIPD after your name).

You can apply to upgrade to Chartered Member if you have the relevant experience.

About the course

As a Human Resource (HR) practitioner, you will need to find solutions to critical issues. The course combines Human Resource Management (HRM) theory with psychology to develop a deeper understanding of people management. Having psychological knowledge provides a deeper insight into why people behave the way they do and how we may attempt to change or influence this in the workplace.

If you love managing, helping and developing people, you’ll thrive on this contemporary and relevant post-graduate course. Learn how to manage employees effectively, recruit and motivate talent to ensure success and reward your best performers.

With technology increasing our connectivity across nations and cultures, workforces are increasingly global, diverse and more remote than ever. Attracting the best talent from an international pool has raised new opportunities and challenges for HR managers.

Central to this course are the themes of how to manage such change across personnel development, addressing real issues facing businesses such as equality, diversity and climate organisational change.

Explore the role human resources plays in modern organisations, developing both theoretical knowledge and practical skills, which you can apply to your current role from the start.

Understand how progressive organisations can, and do, respond to challenges arising from today's changing work environment embracing an innovative, forward-thinking approach.

Learn to think in radical ways to manage diverse attitudes and motivations of people entering the labour market. Discover how to work across departments to promote inclusive and productive environments, enabling your employees and organisation to thrive.

The intrinsic link between HR management, an organisation’s strategic and operational requirements, and the impact on society, can be powerful. Embrace relevant and practical tools needed to respond to a range of HRM issues.

Freshen your perspective with new ways of thinking about work and the role organisations play in the world, as you build the foundations needed to become a critical, inspiring leader of the future.

Full-time study – this study route is available to all prospective students

The full-time course, taught on campus and with some online teaching, can be completed in one year.

The sandwich and advanced research pathways are two years full time.

Part-time study – this study route is not available to students requiring a visa to study

A course designed to fit around work and family.

Classes are one evening a week for two academic years from a September start date, and two and a half academic years from a January start date.

You can also select a flexible mode option with online delivery. This is a combination of live online sessions once a week with supporting online material.

Tailor your path

We offer a variety of pathways so you can specialise in your area of interest. The below pathways can be combined e.g. Global Sandwich or Global Advanced Research. For any questions about our pathways please email Adrian Thornley, Programme Leader.

Why choose this course?

Our Postgraduate studies are sector leading amongst over 100 Higher Education Institutions in the UK as evidenced by our extraordinary achievement:

6th in Business and Management in the Postgraduate Taught Experience Survey (PTES, 2024)
1st for Skills Development, 2nd for Support, Resources, Community and Assessment (Advance HE, 2023)

Our course is well suited to those in the early stages of their HR career who want to delve deeper into HRM. Focus on key areas such as strategy, talent resourcing, employee relations, reward management and leadership.

Professional Body accreditation through the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) means you also benefit from associate CIPD membership.

Strengthen your personal learning to discover how to help others reach their potential, adding value to organisations and make a positive impact on society

Appreciate the real-life application of theory, with a fresh hands-on approach to teaching and learning, focused on applied practice and experiential learning.

Enjoy a flexible programme that gives you options to focus on areas on interest, such as specialising in global human resource management or work psychology.

Study alongside inspiring peers, expanding your learning opportunity and widening your perspective. Cohorts can include personnel and human resource managers, line managers, trade unionists and equal opportunity officers from a variety of backgrounds.

Learn from approachable, supportive HR practitioners, researchers and academics with first-hand experience and in-depth knowledge.

The world of human resource management is complex and unpredictable. By studying at Herts, you’ll gain the skills and strategies you need to help individuals, organisations and your own career thrive.

Meet Deans Award Rising Star 2022, Anusuya Sharma

A student on MA Human Resources Management

Anusuya proved to be a highly motivated student during her studies at Herts. She was a Student Representative on behalf of her peers and was awarded a Go Herts Award. As a dedicated and highly conscientious student, she was engaged in class and a great listener, often wanting to explore topics and issues further.

Recently, Anusuya been successful in her applications to become a Lecturer in Human Resource Management at Abingdon and Witney College, teaching a CIPD Level 3 course.

This is a fantastic achievement, Anusuya! Good luck in your new role and we can't wait to see what the future brings for you.

How will I learn?

Analyse the building blocks of human resource management at an individual, organisational, national and international level. Explore complex issues arising from research, practices and current debates.

Learn to recognise ethical dilemmas and corporate responsibility issues to ensure that the organisations you work with are sustainable.

Develop an inquiry practice-orientated mindset, expert problem-solving, evidence based decision making and evaluation skills.

Hone your practical skills with experiential real-life learning, where you’ll be immersed in activities that bridge the gap between theory and practice. For example, our tutors will facilitate and role model human resource management practice.

Experience a blended learning approach, including individual and group work, one-to-one sessions, workshops, guest speakers and live projects/case studies.

Assessments will provide you with academic and real-life practical skills to enhance your career. For example, you could carry out small consultancy work, deliver a presentation or write a brief to the board of directors to evidence your knowledge. This means you'll be able to immediately apply your learning to the workplace.

What will I study?

We offer a problem-based learning approach to our teaching so you can gain real life skills for the workplace. Together we’ll explore complex issues arising from research, practices and current debates. You’ll analyse HRM at an individual, organisational, national and international level. We’ll teach you how to recognise ethical dilemmas and corporate responsibility issues to ensure that the organisations you work with are sustainable. You’ll develop an inquiry practice-orientated mindset, showing expert problem-solving, decision making and evaluation skills

The psychology pathway provides an overview of the application of psychological theory and research to understanding, predicting and influencing behaviour at work. You'll gain an understanding of how work psychology theories can inform contemporary business issues. By identifying and exploring these issues in relation to psychology, you'll be equipped to find innovative solutions.

We offer a blended learning approach, including individual and group work, one-to-one sessions, workshops, study trips, guest speakers and live projects/case studies. Formal lectures will be kept to a minimum (and available online if you can’t be with us in person or want to review later).

We value our students as HR practitioners in training. At Herts, you start or continue your professional development in the classroom. To reflect this, our teaching, learning and assessment share this core value. For example, our tutors will facilitate and role model HRM practice. Plus, we'll encourage you to apply your learning to HRM problems and issues in the class and during assessments.

Our focus is on experiential real-life learning, where you’ll be immersed in activities that bridge the gap between theory and practice. You’ll be assessed in this way too, with each assessment having two sections: a critical review of theory and application of that theory to practice. For example, you could carry out small consultancy work, deliver a presentation or write a brief to the board of directors to evidence your knowledge.

The world of human resource management is complex and unpredictable. By studying at Herts, you’ll gain the personal development, skills and strategies you need to help individuals, organisations and your own career thrive.

Level 7

Module	Credits	Compulsory/optional
Employment Law	15 Credits	Optional
This module examines a range of aspects of employment law. It analyses the rights and duties of employers and employees, and examines the role of law in regulating the employment relationship. The module considers sources from which employment law is derived and the institutions, in which it is administered, and the significance and content of the contract of employment. The module then progresses to consider individual employment law topics: equal pay, legislation regulating discrimination on the grounds of sex and race, wrongful dismissal, unfair dismissal, and redundancy. The collective employment issues of trade union membership, activities and industrial action are also dealt with.
Working lives in a changing environment	15 Credits	Compulsory
To address the module aims, indicative content includes an analysis of labour market trends, changing demographics regarding diversity and ageing population and skills gaps; the impact of digital working and flexible working on working lives; the ways that flexible employment, the gig economy and non-standard, atypical contracts affect working lives; how developments in public policy and societal pressures affect people practice; the impact of technology and new organisational forms and ways of working on the way people experience their work; and equity and distributive justice in organisations.
Strategic People Management and Development	15 Credits	Compulsory
The module examines the development of contemporary people management with reference to relevant theory of HRM and strategy models. It considers the benefits and challenges of aligning people management with organisational strategy, culture and values, the integration of different components of HRM practice and application of systemic thinking. The module also looks at the impact of people management practices on organisational performance and employee experience, whilst considering the key issues and debates concerning the contribution of people management to organisational success.
Business Research in People Practice	15 Credits	Compulsory
In this module students will discover how to answer important people related questions using business research. The module content will reflect contemporary practices and lay the foundation for exploration of future developments in people-related business research. Students will learn about the importance of context, data quality, ethical considerations, data analysis, developing insights and communication with data. The course will cover quantitative approaches, including descriptive, predictive, and prescriptive analytics and qualitative research techniques to gather and analyse people practice data.
Personal Effectiveness and Leadership	15 Credits	Compulsory
The module provides an overview of the main principles and behaviours that support personal effectiveness and leadership key skills such as valuing people, ethical practice, professional courage, critical thinking, team-working and evidence based decision making. Through an exploration of the CIPD profession map students develop their reflective practitioner skills to become more insightful of their own influence and effectiveness in areas such as influence, decision-making and leadership.
Contemporary Employment relations	15 Credits	Optional
This module aims to develop an understanding of Employment Relations by looking at the different approaches of key actors including government and the state, employers and trade unions. It provides an understanding of the historical, political and institutional context to the employment relationship, and addresses the key changes in work and employment which have characterised globalisation and particularly in the 21st century, such as flexibility and precarity. It also looks at equality at work and assesses the role of legislation in achieving this.
Sustainable Organisational Change and Development	15 Credits	Optional
The module seeks to explore experientially how change and organisational development theories can be applied in work settings and to develop diagnostic, facilitation, intervention strategies and associated skills. Key theories may include OD approaches, Lewin, processual views, Psychodynamic views, post-modern critic and client centred theories. Diagnostic, design/interventions and evaluation models will be explored. Situational decision making, ethical practice, insights focused, valuing people will be emphasised.
Strategic Reward	15 Credits	Optional
The module is designed to provide an in-depth understanding of perspectives and approaches to reward. Key topics include principles of strategic reward, return on reward investment and the impact on attraction, motivation and retention; the centrality of conceptual and theoretical frameworks in informing reward design and efficacy; grading and base pay structures; pay setting, composition and progression; performance and reward; variable/contingent pay; employee benefits; non-financial reward; and international reward.
People Resourcing	15 Credits	Optional
The module aims to develop a critical knowledge and understanding of key talent resourcing strategies within the wider national and international employment market. It covers current resourcing issues and contemporary HR developments in the field of resourcing in a global context. The module enables students to develop a range of skills to perform effectively in a professional resourcing or line managerial role and to provide opportunities for related continuous personal and professional development.
Strategic Learning and Development	15 Credits	Optional
The module explores how learning and development theories can be applied in the workplace. The module will consider how to develop a culture and environment for individuals and organisations to learn and grow, and to understand the current and future capability needs of an organisation, as well as how to develop a learning culture that drives engagement and embraces continuous development. Module content will include research around learning, training design and delivery and include a blend of learning approaches.
Ethics In Business: A Global Perspective	15 Credits	Optional
The module will cover issues related to ethics in business, sustainable organisational development and behaviour, and corporate social responsibility in a global context. Content includes: ethical theory, sustainability (economic, social and environmental), global and national inequalities. These issues will be examined in the context of globalisation and across the supply chains of multinational companies and the historical perspective of colonisation.
Global HRM	15 Credits	Optional
This module is designed to provide an in-depth and theoretically informed exposition of the human resource complexities in managing across borders as a primary strategic concern of multinational corporations (MNCs). It is organised around international and comparative themes on an integrated basis. In exploring international HRM themes, students examine the challenges of managing staff in home and host localities, including the selection, training and rewarding of expatriates. Cultural awareness is explored through the examination of diverse institutional and cultural environments in host destinations for MNCs.
People Management Across Cultures	15 Credits	Optional
This module is designed to provide an in-depth and theoretically informed consideration of the complexities of managing across cultures within the context of people management practices. It draws upon cultural theorists in order to explore cultural dimensions related to time, space and change; cross-cultural communication; co-operation in multicultural teams; ethics; and research on cultural differences on constructs such as motivation and leadership. It allows for an exploration and understanding of how cultural differences are, and can be, addressed by individuals involved in managing across cultures.
Effective Work Psychology	15 Credits	Compulsory
The module provides an overview of the application of psychological theory and research to understanding, predicting and influencing behaviour at work. A broad overview of key theories and concepts are investigated and evaluated. The module covers research perspectives and methods for analysis and investigation in understanding behaviour in a variety of work contexts and situations. Topics will include: motivation, attitudes at work, change & culture, individual differences, stress, and training & development.
Contemporary Issues in Work Psychology	15 Credits	Compulsory
The module will apply relevant work psychology literature to both current and future organisational themes with a view to inform and develop contemporary human resource management practices. Contemporary business issues will be identified and explored, and work psychology theories which could potentially aid understanding of the resulting human behaviour in the workplace will be evaluated. Content includes: technology in the workplace, virtual and dispersed working, wellbeing and work-life balance in the workplace, employee engagement and burnout, motivation and job crafting.
PG HRM Dissertation/Management Research Project (CIPD)	60 Credits	Compulsory
The dissertation provides the opportunity for students to develop and apply postgraduate level skills of independent research, analysis, evaluation, writing and presentation; and to deepen students' knowledge and understanding of a specific subject and its location within the HRM discipline as a whole. Further, it is to provide the student with the opportunity to concurrently prepare a management research report containing costed recommendations based on their research and an appropriate action plan for a specific organisation(s).

Key staff

Adrian Thornley, Ch MCIPD, SFHEA (Programme leader)
A seasoned HR professional with including Board level and at UK and international operations, with over 10 years HE experience. Practised in both strategy and operations, specialisms include Reward, Global Mobility, Recruitment and Change Management.
Find out more about Adrian Thornley, Ch MCIPD, SFHEA (Programme leader)

Jo Cartwright (Deputy programme leader)
A seasoned HE professional and researcher, Jo has published Dr Jo Cartwright is a Senior Lecturer in Human Resource Management at the University of Hertfordshire. Prior to that she worked at London Metropolitan University and the University of Manchester

Further course information

Course fact sheets
MA Human Resource Management (Work Psychology)	Download

Programme specifications
MA Human Resource Management (Work Psychology)	Download

Additional information
Sandwich placement or study abroad year	n/a
Applications open to international and EU students	Yes

Student experience

At the University of Hertfordshire, we want to make sure your time studying with us is as stress-free and rewarding as possible. We offer a range of support services including; student wellbeing, academic support, accommodation and childcare to ensure that you make the most of your time at Herts and can focus on studying and having fun.

Find out about how we support our students

You can also read our student blogs to find out about life at Herts.

Funding and fees
Other financial support

Find out more about other financial support available to UK and EU students

Fees 2024
UK Students
Full time
- £13545 for the 2024/2025 academic year
EU Students
Full time
- £16450 for the 2024/2025 academic year
International Students
Full time
- £16450 for the 2024/2025 academic year
Fees 2025
UK Students
Full time
- £14400 for the 2025/2026 academic year
EU Students
Full time
- £17250 for the 2025/2026 academic year
International Students
Full time
- £17250 for the 2025/2026 academic year
*Tuition fees are charged annually. The fees quoted above are for the specified year(s) only. Fees may be higher in future years, for both new and continuing students. Please see the University's Fees and Finance Policy (and in particular the section headed "When tuition fees change"), for further information about when and by how much the University may increase its fees for future years.

View detailed information about tuition fees

Living costs / accommodation

The University of Hertfordshire offers a great choice of student accommodation, on campus or nearby in the local area, to suit every student budget.

View detailed information about our accommodation

Read more about additional fees in the course fact sheet
How to apply

International/EU applicants without pre-settled status in the UK

Apply through our international/EU application portal

Home and EU applicants with pre-settled/settled status in the UK

2025
Start Date End Date Year Location Link
25/09/2025 30/09/2026 1 UH Hatfield Campus Apply online (Full Time)
2026
Start Date End Date Year Location Link
25/09/2026 30/09/2027 1 UH Hatfield Campus Apply online (Full Time)

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Apply now

MA Human Resource Management (Work Psychology)

Why choose Herts?

Work placements offered

Funding available*

Careers

What job can I get?

Professional Accreditations

About the course

Full-time study – this study route is available to all prospective students

Part-time study – this study route is not available to students requiring a visa to study

Tailor your path

Why choose this course?

Meet Deans Award Rising Star 2022, Anusuya Sharma

How will I learn?

What will I study?

Key staff

Further course information

Student experience

Other financial support

Fees 2024

UK Students

Full time

EU Students

Full time

International Students

Full time

Fees 2025

UK Students

Full time

EU Students

Full time

International Students

Full time

Living costs / accommodation

International/EU applicants without pre-settled status in the UK

Home and EU applicants with pre-settled/settled status in the UK

2025

2026