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Resourcing and Talent Development

Module description

Recruiting, selecting, and developing individuals are key tasks for successful human resource managers.  It is often said that inimitable competitive advantage is created through people, and hence our ability to recruit, retain, and continuously improve our stocks of human capital inside organisations is key to our collective success.  In this module we therefore introduce some of the most significant areas of human resource management responsibility.

Our focus within this module is on how organisations achieve the most fundamental HRM aim of mobilising a workforce. We will therefore explore how organisations ensure that they have the right individuals in the right jobs, and how they develop them successfully for personal and organisational success.  This module is therefore key for anyone seeking to develop a career in HR, in the UK or globally.

Module aims - intentions of the module

Our core aim within this module is to help you to develop the skills and knowledge you will need to manage staffing and talent management activities to the highest possible standards within an organisational context.  Allied to this we aim to introduce you to the most significant contemporary debates within this field, and debate developments that are likely to influence the future evolution of resourcing and development functions.

Skill Acquisition

During this module you will develop a number of transferrable skills including those connected with: human resource planning and succession planning, recruitment and selection techniques, induction, employee retention, employer branding, leadership and management development, career management.

Research in Teaching

This module builds fundamentally on key research and scholarship activity within the human resource management and human resource development fields. It will specifically introduce students to key theory concerning talent planning and in particular recruitment and selection, alongside employer branding research, and contemporary research exploring the role of data and artificial intelligence within talent planning.  The module will also introduce students to learning theory and well as studies that explore the evolution of leadership and management development techniques and succession/career planning.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Evaluate the elements that make up strategic workforce planning, such as talent management, succession planning and resourcing.
• 2. Evaluate ways in which technology supports the delivery of people practice and enables collaboration and the risks, opportunities and impact of technology on ways of working, both in the wider organisation and in the people profession.

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 3. Develop people plans and integrated people practices in line with organisational and people strategy.
• 4. Evaluate, identify and where appropriate select a technological/digital solution that will enhance current ways of working within resourcing and talent development activities..

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 5. Select and apply a range of consulting processes, styles and diagnostic tools appropriate to the role of the resourcing and talent development professional.

Syllabus plan

• human resource planning and job design
• recruitment and selection
• the use of technology and analytics within resourcing and talent development
• employer branding
• induction and socialization
• employee retention
• employee exit: problematic talent, retirement, and redundancy
• leadership and management development
• career management
• managing talent in global organisations

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

All passed components of the module will be rolled forward and will not be reassessed in the event of module failure.

Defer – as first time

Refer – capped at 50%

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• Berger, L. & Berger, D. (2018). The Talent Management Handbook, Third Edition: Making Culture a Competitive Advantage by Acquiring, Identifying, Developing, and Promoting the Best People. New York, NY: McGraw Hill.
• Gold, J., Holden, R., Iles, P., Stewart, J. & Beardwell, J. (2013) Human Resource Development: Theory and Practice. 2nd Edition.  Basingstoke: Palgrave
• McGuire, D. (2014) Human Resource Development.  2nd Edition.  Sage: London.
• Taylor, S. (2019) Resourcing and Talent Management. 7th Edition. London: CIPD

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• The module will have a dedicated page available on ELE.

Indicative learning resources - Other resources

• As an associate member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development you will also have access to the entirety of the Institute's website, including all published research reports, archived articles from 'People Management', fact sheets, discussion papers and briefings. 

Key words search

Resourcing, Recruitment, Selection, Development, Learning and Development, Human Resource Development