MSc HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT DISSERTATION

MSc HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PROGRAMME

BIRMINGHAM BUSINESS SCHOOL

1. INTRODUCTION
留學生dissertation網The Introduction to Research Methods and Researching Work, Employment and Employee Relations modules have been designed to equip you with the knowledge and skills you will require to successfully carry out research for your dissertation. The dissertation is your opportunity to apply what you have learned from these modules and from the other modules you have taken on the programme. Research for the dissertation is carried out over the summer months. The dissertation is a substantial piece of work and is worth 60 credits.

2. CHOOSING A TOPIC
The first step of the dissertation process is the selection of a research topic. You will be asked to complete a Dissertation Topic form (a copy of which is included in the Programme Handbook’s forms section) and return it to Ms. Leah Cliffe. On the form you should specify two clearly-identified topics. Here are some hypothetical examples:

• Senior Management Development in Multinational Corporations
• UK Employers’ Responses to the Regulations on Information and Consultation
• Union-Employer Partnerships in the Public Sector
• Training Expatriate Managers
• The Implications of Performance Related Pay for Employee Motivation

You should also provide some additional information about your aims and objectives and your initial thoughts regarding your research approach (e.g. you might wish to develop case studies of a number of organisations or conduct a survey).

The information you supply will help the programme team to identify an appropriate supervisor for you.

When choosing a topic, you should bear in mind that you will be working on it for a number of months. It is therefore important that you choose a topic that interests you.

You should bear in mind that the time and resources available to you are relatively limited. You should therefore avoid being overly ambitious in your plans.

If you are seeking CIPD Graduate Membership, please bear in mind that you will be required to submit a 3,000-word management report (please refer to the CIPD handbook you were given at the beginning of the year). You should pick a topic that will enable you to meet the requirements associated with the Management Report.

Access to organisations: The Business School will not normally be able to assist students in gaining access to organisations. If you will require access, the advice is to start approaching organisations at an early stage and approach more than you will need (anticipating that some organisations will say ‘no’ to your request). Some students conduct research on an organisation for which they work. This can be fraught with difficulties (can you remain objective? Can you afford to be critical if the dissertation findings are going to be made available to the organisations? Is there a risk that your organisations will interfere in the research process in some way?). Other students might rely on friends or family to provide access. This can also be problematic: sometimes friends are unable to secure the level of access required; friends and family members might be placed in an uncomfortable position if the findings are highly critical of the organisation and so on. A more general problem is that students use friends and family or other personal contacts because they think it will make their lives easier and save them effort. This might be the case, but it can also result in the objectives of your dissertation being shaped by the access opportunities rather than by your academic interests. Please note, we are not saying that you should not make use of your personal contacts, but you should not begin your dissertation by simply assuming it will be okay to conduct the fieldwork at (for example) ‘my Mum’s office’, ‘the place where my friend works’ etc. Your access strategy requires thought and you should examine all of the options before making a decision.#p#分頁標題#e#

3. THE ROLE OF THE SUPERVISOR
Once you have chosen a topic you will be allocated an academic member of staff to act as your supervisor. Your supervisor will be able to advise you during each stage of the research process. Generally, your supervisor will discuss the following matters with you:

1. Your choice of topic (including research questions and/or hypotheses, aims and objectives)
2. Research design (including research methods, access and ethics)
3. Sources of information (e.g. secondary data, academic literature)
4. Approaches to analysing your data
5. The structure of your dissertation
5. Referencing and how to comply with the University’s rules on plagiarism.

Once you have been allocated a supervisor, you should arrange to meet him or her at the earliest opportunity. The number of meetings to be held is not fixed and should be agreed by you and your supervisor. It is your responsibility to make arrangements for the supervision of your dissertation with your supervisor. Please bear in mind that your supervisor may not be available for periods of time (they may, for example, be on vacation for part of the summer). It is your responsibility to find out if and when your supervisor will not be contactable. You should also let your supervisor know immediately if you become ill or begin to experience other difficulties that may slow your progress.

If you wish, your supervisor will read one or two early draft chapters of your dissertation in order to be able to advise you on style and presentation. Your supervisor will also offer to read a draft of the complete dissertation before you submit it. However, you will need to ensure that you allow your supervisor sufficient time to read the draft and supply feedback to you.

Students can more successfully complete the dissertation by taking a systematic approach. The following practices are recommended:

• Taking notes of the meetings.
• Progress reports. A short written note on progress helps the supervisor to assess the student’s development and avoids the student taking decisions which may not be agreed by the supervisor.
• You should also agree with your supervisor the appropriate timing for data collection. If this involves collecting data in a country other than the UK, the timing and the duration of this stage should be agreed with your supervisor.

4. REQUIREMENTS OF THE DISSERTATION

According to University Regulations and current practice, your dissertation should satisfy the following criteria:

Originality and Independence: Your dissertation should make a distinctive and original contribution to the literature. It should do more than report other researcher’s findings (i.e. it should be more than an extended literature review). You will be expected to identify a research topic, develop an appropriate research design, and generate and analyse data.

Comprehensibility: Your dissertation should be written in good English. The examiners may fail a dissertation if it is not comprehensible.#p#分頁標題#e#

Word Limit: Your dissertation should normally contain a maximum of 12,000 words, not including appendices and the bibliography. A margin of 5% is allowed in either direction.

Layout:
• The dissertation should be typed and double-spaced on A4 paper.
• It should have an abstract and a table of contents, but no index.
• It should follow the conventions of the Harvard System (copies of which are available in the Library) when inserting quotations and footnotes.
• Thttp://www.ttc-switch.com/Thesis_Tips/Handbook/ables and diagrams may be put in appendices, or in the text, as desired.
• Footnotes should be kept to a minimum and be placed at the end of chapters.
• Pages should be numbered.

5. SUGGESTED TIMETABLE

The following is a suggested rough timetable for completing the dissertation:

1. Finalise the focus of your dissertation by early May.
2. Prepare a preliminary reading list for your dissertation and submit it to your supervisor by the end of May.
3. Finish the first draft of your dissertation by mid-August and give it to your supervisor.
4. Make the changes and corrections requested by your supervisor and submit the dissertation by the deadline (please refer to Section 10).

Please note: the above represents general guidance - the timescales should be agreed by you and your supervisor.

6. ELEMENTS OF THE DISSERTATION
The dissertation can be structured in different ways. However, dissertations will normally include the following elements:

6.1. Abstract
The abstract should contain a brief description of the aims and objectives of the research and a short summary of the research approach and main findings. The abstract should be no longer than 200 words.

6.2. Introduction
The introduction should ‘set the scene’ for your research. It should clearly identify the research topic and include a statement of the aims and objectives of the dissertation. If your research has a strong theoretical orientation, is seeking to engage with particular contributions to the literature, or is seeking to fill a gap in the literature, you can highlight this in the introduction. You should also provide information about the research methods that you have used as well as information about the structure of the dissertation.

6.3. The Literature Review
Throughout the programme you have been encouraged to take a critical approach when reading contributions to the literature. This approach should also be followed in your literature review. You should aim to do more than simply report the findings contained in journal articles, book chapters and so forth, although this is often a necessary and important task. In addition, however, you might seek to highlight the limitations or contentious aspects of particular studies (in respect of, for example, their theoretical or conceptual underpinnings, research design and interpretation of findings) or identify gaps in the literature (i.e. issues or phenomena that have not been investigated or that have received only limited attention). The latter may provide a rationale for your own study. However you organise the literature review, it should identify and discuss the key themes and contributions with which you are engaging.#p#分頁標題#e#

Some issues have received a great deal of attention from researchers. Others have received far less attention, perhaps because their origins are relatively recent or because they have simply been neglected. It therefore stands to reason that the number and quality of research studies that will be available to you will depend on your research topic.

Where an issue has received a lot of attention, the number of studies available to you may seem overwhelming. However, it is rarely necessary or desirable to review every single contribution to the literature. You should focus on those contributions which have been most influential or revealing and those that are most relevant to your own research.

When reading the literature, it is a very good idea to take detailed notes. This will save you time when it comes to writing the literature review. It will also enable you to more easily identify themes and issues. When making notes, you should record information about the objectives of the study, its key findings, the research methods that were used in generating those findings and the conceptual and theoretical orientation of the study (where this is apparent). As mentioned above, you should seek to develop a critical analytical perspective on these issues. You should therefore record your own views on the study (for example, what you consider its strengths, limitations and contribution to be).

6.4. Research Methods
You should provide a detailed description of, and justification for, the research methods used in your study. This section should include sufficient information for the examiner to make an informed judgement about the appropriateness of your research design, its strengths and its limitations. Please bear in mind that you will not be expected to have developed a ‘perfect’ research design. The most important thing is that you reveal the steps you have taken in arriving at your findings. This section should include:

• A description of the methods and how they have been used
• A consideration of broader methodological issues (e.g. epistemology)
• A justification of the research design (i.e. why it should be considered appropriate, and perhaps more appropriate than alternative approaches)
• An analysis of the strengths and limitations of the design (e.g. in terms of validity and reliability)
• A discussion of the ethical implications of your research design and the manner in which your research findings are reported (e.g. can individuals be identified and, if so, should this be considered a matter for concern?)

If you have conducted a survey, you should provide information about the following:

• The survey approach (e.g. postal survey, telephone survey, interviews)
• Questionnaire design
• Sampling strategy
• The response rate
• A discussion of the representativeness of the sample and potential sources of bias
• How your data have been analysed#p#分頁標題#e#

If you have taken a case study approach, you should provide information about the following:

• How the cases were identified
• How access was negotiated
• The extent of access and any resulting implications for the study
• What sort of information you collected and how it was collected
• How your data have been analysed

If you have drawn on secondary data, you should discuss:

• The nature of the information
• The reliability of the source
• The manner in which concepts have been operationalised
• Measurement issues
• The strengths and limitations of the data

The above lists should not be regarded as exhaustive. Additional information should be provided, as required.

The research methods section of the dissertation should include evidence of reading: in other words it should include references to the academic research (as in the literature review) and research methods literatures.

6.5. Findings
This section will include a presentation of your research findings. How the findings are presented will depend on your research approach. If your approach has been mainly quantitative, you will probably wish to include tables and figures. In this case, you should try to ensure that there is a suitable balance between the information in the text and the information in the tables. The information in the tables and figures should not, in most cases, be left to ‘speak for itself’: further interpretation and elaboration should be provided in the main text. Tables containing less important information can be included in the appendices. All tables and figures should be numbered and given a title (please refer to journals for examples).

If your approach has been mainly qualitative, you will typically include fewer tables and figures, although this will depend on how your data have been analysed. If you have taken a case study approach you might choose to organise your findings on a case-by-case basis. Alternatively, you might decide to organise your findings on a thematic basis. There are other possibilities and which you select will depend partly on the nature of your findings and partly on your personal preferences (i.e. there is not always an obvious ‘best way’).

6.6. Conclusions
In addition to summarising your research findings, you can use the conclusion to do a number of other things. For example, you might discuss the implications of your findings for managers, employees, trade unions and policy makers, as appropriate. You might also re-evaluate the literature in light of your research findings (e.g. do your findings support or challenge the findings of previous studies?). Your research may have uncovered issues that would benefit from further study, if so, these should be highlighted.

7. WRITING UP
You should start writing early, even if what you write represents a provisional draft which may be considerably revised at a later stage. It is not advisable to leave all writing until close to the deadline date. It is a good idea to start your literature review at an early stage as additional ideas and research themes will emerge from your engagement with the literature. Your research design (e.g. the questions that you ask) will be stronger as a result. You may decide to finish writing your literature review and parts of the methodology section while you are waiting for your questionnaires to be returned (if you are conducting a survey). However you choose to organise your time, it is up to you to manage the process effectively.#p#分頁標題#e#

Bear in mind the date on which your housing contract expires. Most University tenancies end in the middle of September rather than the last day of the month. If you need accommodation for a short term at the end of your study, you should arrange this well in advance of the time that it is needed.

8. REFERENCING AND AVOIDING PLAGIARISM
8.1. Plagiarism

The University statement on plagiarism is as follows:

‘Plagiarism is a form of cheating in which the student tries to pass off someone else’s work as his or her own. When it occurs it is usually found in dissertations, theses or assessed essays. Typically, substantial passages are ‘lifted’ verbatim from a particular source without proper attribution having been made. To avoid suspicion of plagiarism, students should make appropriate use of references and footnotes. If you are in any doubt as to what this requirement entails, you should consult your tutor or another relevant member of the academic staff. The University takes a very serious view of this particular kind of dishonesty and Boards of Examiners have discretion to adjust marks and results to reflect the amount of the plagiarism. Where the extent of the alleged dishonesty is such that punishment over and above the disallowance of work is called for, the matter is reported to the Pro-Vice-Chancellor’s Investigating Committee for Examination Irregularities.’

The University views plagiarism as a very serious offence. An attempt to present the work of someone else as your own may lead to your dissertation being awarded a mark of zero. Quotations should be used sparingly. If quotations are included, they must be placed in quotation marks and explicitly and fully referenced. Page numbers must be given. You may be penalised very severely if examiners find that you have included a section of a book, an article or a paper without appropriate referencing. If in doubt, please seek the advice of your supervisor.

PLEASE NOTE: When you submit your dissertation, you will be asked to sign a declaration stating that your dissertation is your own work and that, where the work of others has been used, you have included appropriate referencing .

8.2. Referencing
All citations in the text should consist solely of the author’s surname followed by the year of publication in brackets. Here are some examples:

Example 1:

While the ‘ageism’ debate has tended to focus on older workers, it is increasingly recognised that younger workers also experience age discrimination in the labour market (Ahier and Moore 1999, Loretto et al. 2000, Snape and Redman 2003).

Example 2:
Gilman et al. (2002) similarly found that informal methods of pay setting had enabled the small firms in their study to accommodate the national minimum wage without needing to attempt to offset its impact through an intensification of work effort.

Example 3:

There is evidence that some employers choose to employ students at the expense of unqualified school leavers (Furlong and Cartmel 1997, Williamson 1997) and that employers may view students as particularly suitable for positions requiring ‘aesthetic labour’ (Nickson et al. 2003).#p#分頁標題#e#

At the end of the dissertation you should include a bibliography in which all of your sources are listed. This list should be in alphabetical order according to the surname of the first named author. You should include the following information:

• Author’s surname and initials (or the name of the organisation in the case of official publications where no other author information is given)
• Year of publication
• The title of the article, chapter, book or report
• When referencing journal articles and book chapters, you should provide the title of the journal or book in which the piece was published. The title should be printed in italics
• In the case of journals, you should also provide the volume and number in which the piece was published and the page numbers.

Here are some examples:

Aston, D. and Green, F. (1998) Education, Training and the Global Economy. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

Auer, P. and Cazes, S. (2000) ‘The resilience of the long-term employment relationship: evidence from industrialized countries’, International Labour Review, 139, 4: 379-408.

EIRO (1998) Collective Bargaining and Continuing Vocational Training in Europe. http://www.eiro.eurofound.ie/print/1998/04/study/TN9804201s.html

European Commission (2001) Employment Trends in Europe 2001: Recent Trends and Prospects. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications on the European Communities.

Furlong, A. and Cartmel, F. (1999) ‘Social change and labour market transitions’, in J. Ahier and G. Esland (eds.) Education, Training and the Future of Work 1: Social, Political and Economic Contexts of Policy Development. London: Routledge.

Keller, B. and Bansbach, M. (2000) ‘Social dialogues: an interim report on recent results and prospects’, Industrial Relations Journal, 31, 4: 291-307.

Let us take one of the above examples and break it down into the different elements:

Auer, P. and Cazes, S. (2000) ‘The resilience of the long-term employment relationship: evidence from industrialized countries’, International Labour Review, 139, 4: 379-408.

Auer is the surname of the first named author. ‘The resilience of the long-term employment relationship etc.’ is the title of the article. The International Labour Review is the title of the journal in which the article appeared. 139 is the volume number. The number 4 indicates that this edition of the journal is the 4th of volume 139. The number 379 is the first page of the article, 408 is the last page of the article.

9. ASSESSMENT OF YOUR DISSERTATION: WHAT THE EXAMINERS ARE LOOKING FOR

The examiners will consider the following points when assessing your dissertation:-

• The extent to which your dissertation sets out to pose and answer coherent research questions.
• The extent to which you bring relevant evidence to bear on the question that you pose.#p#分頁標題#e#
• Your knowledge and understanding of the relevant literature.
• A logical structure and the strength of your argument.
• Your ability to look critically at arguments and published “facts”.
• Originality in criticising other peoples’ work and in your own argument.
• The clarity of your presentation: English should be grammatically accurate; arguments should be clearly stated; diagrams and tables should be relevant and discussed in the dissertation.
• The accuracy of your presentation. Spelling and paragraphing should be correct and bibliographical information should be accurate and uniformly presented. Tables and diagrams should be neat and properly numbered and labelled.

10. SUBMISSION

Two copies of the dissertation should be submitted to Ms. Leah Cliffe in Room G31, Ground Floor of University House, before 12 noon on Wednesday the 1st of September, 2010.

Binding: the dissertation should have a clear (i.e. transparent) front and be channel bound.

Penalty for Late Submission: Dissertations submitted after the deadline stated above will not be accepted unless an extension has been granted or their lateness is due to a medical reason. Any dissertation that is submitted late because of medical reasons must be accompanied by a medical certificate that states the reason for the late submission. Even then, acceptance is not guaranteed. The decision as to whether to accept or reject a late dissertation will be made by the Board of Examiners.

11. EXTENSIONS

Extensions may be granted by the Programme Director but will usually only be given in cases of serious medical hardships or personal problems, and will need to be supported by official certification.留學生dissertation網Please collect an Extension Form from Ms. Leah Cliffe in the MSc Programme Office (Room G31, Ground Floor of University House), who will pass on your form to the Programme Director for consideration. You will then be informed when a decision has been made.

The programme is full-time and although there are teaching breaks you will be expected to work on revision and assignments in these breaks. They are not ‘holidays’. Similarly, you are expected to complete your dissertation between June and the end of August here in Birmingham. Do not anticipate leaving the UK to write the dissertation unless you have explicit agreement from your supervisor and the Programme Director.