Business Management and the Human Resource

Our degrees have a modular structure. This means that compulsory modules provide you with the core knowledge and skills that you need, while optional and discovery modules allow you to shape your course to suit your personal interests and career aspirations.

Compulsory modules in your first year will give you the broad foundation you need to study management at this level, and specifically HRM. You’ll gain an understanding of basic accounting practices and economic principles, as well as organisational behaviour and the environment in which contemporary businesses operate. In addition, you’ll learn about the theory and practice of setting up a business of your own and examine the relationships between business and societies.

You’ll build on this in Year 2, where you’ll examine how the theories of organisational behaviour relate to real-world situations and learn more about the research and analytical methods used in HRM research. At the same time, you’ll study industrial relations and labour economics, as well as business topics such as decision-making, the legal environment for businesses, corporate social responsibility and marketing. An optional module will allow you to focus on a topic such as usage of information or supply chain management.

When you reach your final year, you’ll develop your management skills with compulsory modules in strategic management and leadership as well as gaining a firm grasp of employment law. You could explore topics such as managing innovation or take the Contemporary Management Consulting module, which gives you the opportunity to register with the Chartered Management Institute. If you successfully complete the module after this, you’ll gain the CMI Level 5 Certificate in Professional Consulting.

The course culminates with your dissertation, an independently researched project that you submit in your final year, allowing you to apply your research and analysis skills to a topic of your choice.

Course structure

These are typical modules/components studied and may change from time to time. Read more in our Terms and conditions.

Modules Year 1

Compulsory modules

• Leadership in Business 10 credits
• Personal Tutorials for HRM 10 credits
• Economic Institutions (Labour) 10 credits
• Accounting for Managers 10 credits
• Economic Institutions (Industry) 10 credits
• Business and Society (Combined) 20 credits
• Organisational Behaviour 20 credits
• Starting Your Own Business 10 credits
• Economics for Management 20 credits

Year 2

Compulsory modules

• Contemporary Industrial Relations 10 credits
• Principles of Marketing 10 credits
• Labour Economics 10 credits
• How Managers Make Decisions 10 credits
• Business and the Legal Environment 20 credits
• HRM Research Practice and personal tutorials 20 credits
• Organisational Behaviour in Practice 10 credits
• Corporate Social Responsibility 10 credits

Year 3

Compulsory modules

• Strategic Management 20 credits
• Human Resource Management Dissertation 40 credits
• Strategic Human Resource Management 20 credits
• Employment Law 20 credits

For more information on typical modules, read Business Management and the Human Resource BA in the course catalogue

Broadening your academic horizons

At Leeds we want you to benefit from the depth and breadth of the University's expertise, to prepare you for success in an ever-changing and challenging world. This course gives you the opportunity to broaden your learning by studying discovery modules. Find out more on the Broadening webpages.

Learning and teaching.

You’ll be taught using a range of methods including lectures, tutorials, seminars and workshops. The rest of your time will be spent in independent learning, which allows you to develop your skills in research and analysis