- Choose one topic from the following:
1. What is the role of an HR practitioner within an international context?
Provide organisational examples to support your arguments.
2. How can cultural and institutional factors influence the adoption of HRM in SMEs?
Critically discuss based on relevant theories and organisational examples.
3. ‘It is important that any HRM system in emerging market should be context based.’
Critically analyse this statement and provide organisational examples to support your
arguments.
4. How does HRM in developing country SMEs differ from HRM in SMEs in more developed
economies? Critically discuss based on relevant theories and organisational examples.
5. How can cultural diversity in MNCs be improved? Critically discuss in the light of relevant
theories and organisational examples.
Overall, we will be looking for the following:
1. Critical engagement with a solid range of relevant high quality academic journal articles,
with insights synthesized not merely summarised.
2. A well written, professionally presented, clearly structured assignment (cover page, table of
contents, subheadings, numbered pages).
3. A well argued and accurately cited piece of work. You must take considerable time planning
and editing your work.
4. Demonstration that you have understood and applied relevant theories in your answer.
5. Evidence that you have drawn on real organisational examples to illustrate the theories
under discussion. It is preferable to present a minimum of three different organisational
examples in your essay. It is important that you refer to the sources of these examples and
explain their relevance, with comparisons made as appropriate.
6. The essay must comprise at least 30-40% theoretical review and 30-40% organisational
examples with the rest dedicated to introduction, method (if applicable), conclusion and
recommendations.
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7. The essay’s introductory section must clearly state the aims and objectives of the essay, a
brief overview of the theoretical framework and organisational examples provided with an
overview of the essay’s structure or outline.
8. Critical analysis and insight. It is important not to just describe your views, but rather you
need to weigh up one argument against another, using academic sources, and then come to
a considered view based on the available evidence.
9. Evidence that you have read and understood a range of academic journal articles. It is not
enough to rely solely on textbooks or web sites for your master’s level assignment
assignment. We are expecting you to carry out independent research to find relevant
articles using Summon/Google Scholar.
10. The assignment should have a clear, logical structure, a competent level of English and full
APA-style referencing.
11. On the cover page of the essay, write the full title of the essay, date of submission, your full
name and student login/ID, title and code of the module.
12. Provide in text citations on every page and paragraph (where possible and needed) and
references at the end. Refer to the latest academic journal articles published in the last
three years. Do not provide references as footnotes.
13. Use some but not too many internet resources as well as company and research reports
from professional bodies, e.g. CIPD, SHRM, company reports and grey literature, e.g. The
Financial Times, The Economist. The citation of relevant academic journals is very important.
14. Take a view on your argument. What do YOU think? A clear argument and engagement with
debates in the literature is far better than a comprehensive description of key points – this is
not what we are looking for.
