Minor content

The aim of the minor is to introduce and expose students to the IHRM context where they can observe the interaction of the factors that coexist in the international and domestic environment of organisations (e.g. labour markets, legislations, unions, culture, political, economic and legal systems, internationalisation strategies and goals of organisations, good practices in reaching these goals, key issues of human interaction and reaction, HRM instruments, intercultural diversity at work, sustainability, work trends). Applying the learnt theories is very important, and therefore, students will cooperate in a student research project group and solve HRM-related problems of a company (the client) and apply management and business and/or design-based research approaches and analyse the issues form IHRM, Work-Psychology, Sustainability and Intercultural Diversity for IHRM perspectives.

This minor is offered by the study program Human Resource Management.

Structure of the minor

The main focus in this minor is on HRM in an international context. More exactly, it focuses on IHRM from an organisational perspective like: its markets, company strategy, structure and alignment of HRM with the internal structure and processes and as well as external ones. 

Some of the topics tackled in this minor are: introduction to IHRM; strategic HRM, internationalisation and IHRM; managing knowledge in multinational firms; leadership in the international context; global performance rating; international recruitment; assessment and rewarding in international companies; communication in organisations; and sustainability. Because the HRM field deals with people and people are complex entities, work psychology and a training in intercultural sensitivity for HRM purposes will be offered.

There is an assumption that you hold the propaedeutic year of your bachelor's programme. Furthermore, we advise you to make sure that you have also completed at least 30 credits in year 2 and/or 3 so that you have just a slightly more solid foundation to participate in the minor. To obtain the pre-master certificate for the Sustainability Master, at the RUG, Campus Friesland, the student needs to: (1) successfully finish the minor at NHL Stenden campus Leeuwarden, (2) obtain at least a grade of 7 for the research project, and (3) individually write an extra page (or two) as an addendum to the research project, and elaborate on the relevance of your research project for current (business) sustainability challenges. 

To assess whether the learning objectives for this minor are reached, five different assessment methods are used:

• Active participation in topic exploration sessions
• Company consultancy group assignments
• IHRM Topic Exploration
• Student led seminars
• Reflective Learner Repor