Curious about studying Business and Human Resource Management - BSc (Hons)at University of Essex? We've gathered all the key details—entry requirements, modules, fees, and more. Hear from real students by checking out reviews, or take the next step by booking an open day to explore it for yourself.
Bachelor of Science (with Honours) - BSc (Hons)
University of Essex
Full Time
Oct 2026
3 Year
A successful business is the product of its parts, and effective human resource management is a key element. Professional and responsible management of human resources (HRM) is a vital component of managing any business: facilitating the wellbeing of its employees, supporting senior management and helping staff achieve personal and business objectives. By studying BSc Business and Human Resource Management at Essex Business School, you will develop the knowledge and skills to become a successful and progressive Human Resource professional. As well as covering a range of general management topics such as business strategy, marketing, accounting and operations and supply chain management, you will also cover topical human resources management issues. For example, you will explore: - The foundations of HRM - Strategic human resource management - Diversity and inclusion - Ethical business - International HRM Not only will you gain an academic understanding of how business and human resource management are interconnected, you will also develop your communication, team-working and analytic skills, which will be directly transferable into the world of work and employment. During your final year of study, you will be able to undertake an independent research project into a contemporary human resource management topic of your choice, allowing you to put your knowledge into practice and further develop employment skills. It is expected that this course will be accredited by the Chartered Institute of People Development (CIPD). Studying for an accredited degree gives your career a head-start by allowing you to move into a professional role faster once you’ve graduated.
ModulesYou can tailor your learning experience to your future career with a choice of optional modules. More information about these can be found on the University of Essex website.
Introduction to Management is a broad-ranging module intended to provide a foundation in the most significant issues in management theory and practice, as well as to prepare you for related modules in subsequent years of your course. Because theoretical explanations, i.e. academic interpretations of what managers do and even of what they say they do, and what managers actually do in real organisations on a day-to-day basis, may differ, we will also draw out some of the connections and disjunctures between management theory and management practice. Our teaching also emphasises the ethics of managing and how to balance the bottom line of the business with the organisation's wider responsibilities to society and other stakeholders. The module also looks to explore how AI is being employed by managers and how this is changing the roles and responsibilities of the managers across sectors whilst also creating new risks and challenges.
A key module across all our Business, Management, and Marketing courses Introduction to Marketing sets out the fundamental principles of marketing and covers the core elements of marketing management. The module explores marketing planning; the segmentation, targeting and positioning (STP) process; and the extended marketing mix (product, price, promotion, place, people, process, and physical environment). The module aims to help students develop marketing knowledge and skills that are important for future modules as well as the workplace.
It’s essential that every aspiring entrepreneur, manager and leader understands the basics of accounting and finance. In this introductory module you’ll explore the principles of financial and management accounting; the recording of transactions; the preparation of financial statements and their analysis; the principles of cost accumulation and decision making in businesses; techniques of cost control; the management of working capital; the sources of funding and investment appraisal. You’ll explore the key theories, carry out problem-solving exercises and learn how to apply these within companies.
If you’re looking to start your own business, or to help an existing business to grow, then this module provides the essential knowledge you’ll need. You develop a greater understanding of the various aspects involved in new venture creation and growth, from opportunity identification, evaluation and implementation through to continued growth and management. Using practical exercises, case studies and videos, you learn about the business life cycle from start-up to growth and maturity and explore business development from economic and behavioural perspectives.
This module introduces you to key economic theories and concepts, covering highly topical issues affecting the business world. Using real-life case studies, you explore the key microeconomics principles and concepts that can help to explain why economic activities occur and explore whether it is possible to improve economic situations for society.
At Essex Business School we’re proud of our international community, bringing international expertise into the classroom. In this module you are introduced to the global business environment and how this impacts upon corporations and their decision to operate internationally. You explore the different strategies organisations can adopt when entering international markets and examine aspects of managing multinational corporations, such as marketing, human resource management and global supply chain management.
Introduction to Business Analytics will allow you to develop core knowledge and skills in the domain of business analytics and data science. You’ll focus on different tools and approaches to support data analysis and decision making in business environment. The module is designed to enhance your ability of data analysis to uncover embedded information useful for decision making.Learn how to valuate the potential of data analytics in supporting complex decision making in real-world business environment.
This Professional and Academic Development module helps you build a foundation in core academic skill requirements to further improve the standard of your academic work across all of your first-year modules. This module also introduces you to the themes of career planning, employability skills, and awareness of career paths.
Management accounting enables you to provide three key areas of information to any business: costing, decision-making, and planning and control. In this module you focus on costing, but also see how this area overlaps with the other two, as all three areas always interact. You also develop your knowledge and understanding of management accounting and the context in which it operates.
This module builds on your understanding of management, work and organisation, exploring how these concepts have evolved over time and how they are understood now. You look at how management theory relates to organisational practice, examine the social dynamics underpinning the field of organisation studies and analyse some of the most important themes affecting management today.
The business world is increasingly global, complex and fast changing. While some organisations are consistently successful over a long period of time, many fail and are forgotten forever. In theory it should become consecutively easier to imitate the strategies of winning companies and dissipate their profits. In practice, however, only a few firms become long-term leaders. In this course, you explore why that is.
Explore the foundations of Human Resource Management and its role in shaping today’s organisations. This module introduces the origins and development of HRM, tracing the evolution of HR practice from welfare and personnel management to its strategic role in contemporary workplaces. You’ll gain a clear understanding of how HR policies and practices have developed and how they continue to influence organisational performance and employee wellbeing.
The Principles of Operations and Supply Chain Management module integrates topics from manufacturing-operations, process design, capacity and inventory planning, and supply chain management. This module will give you an opportunity to develop knowledge and skills to manage business operations and supply chain effectively in a real-world environment. The aim of this module is to provide comprehensive understanding of key principles, concepts and approaches used to ensure effective management of business operations and supply chain management. The module covers an extensive range of issues including structure and scope of operations, process design, capacity and inventory management, supply chain management and quality management.
This module outlines the stages involved in creating a marketing plan and explains the tools and concepts used by marketing managers when developing strategies. To apply your learning, you undertake a consultancy project for a real-world business in response to a marketing brief. You demonstrate your grasp of segmentation, targeting and positioning, as well as a range of marketing communications tools.
The module aims to develop your understanding of leadership in organisations. You explore a range of traditional and current leadership theories and relate these to business and managerial practice. You also examine business ethics and develop your teamwork, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills.
This module introduces a number of business and management research methods, with a particular focus on entrepreneurship and small business. You explore philosophical research issues, such as selecting appropriate research methods and judging the quality and value of findings. You learn how to write a research proposal and design and plan quantitative and qualitative research. This includes collecting data, analysing findings and presenting results.
Bring together your learning and research skills in a final-year capstone focused on contemporary issues in Human Resource Management. This module enables you to independently investigate a critical HRM topic, applying theory and research methods to real-world or academic challenges. You’ll design and complete either a consultancy-based project or an independent research study, developing advanced analytical, problem-solving and project management skills aligned with your academic and career goals.
This module builds on your understanding of management and organisation by considering the ethics of business activity. You are introduced to the origins, practice and theory of business ethics and corporate social responsibility (CSR). You consider a range of perspectives and use business literature to critically examine organisational ethics and analyse its constraints. This module has been designed to enable students to integrate their subject knowledge with an understanding of sustainable development, acquiring the skills and competencies essential for addressing the urgent sustainability challenges of the 21st century.
Political, economic, and socio-cultural changes have culminated in the emergence of Human Resource Management (HRM) as a distinct function within many organisations. In particular, HRM has taken an increasingly strategic view of the organisations' employees as drivers of competitive advantage with primary HRM functions including recruitment and selection, performance and reward management, and training and development, which are correspondingly aligned with this aim. This is also accompanied by an increasing emphasis being placed on a host of new devolvement's including the use of digitised employee management systems and an emphasis on promoting organisational sustainability. This module will explore existing theories and approaches to contemporary strategic HRM, while also adopting a critical perspective on their impact and implementation. In doing so, it will consider how institutional and cultural contexts shape the ways in which employer-employee relationships are constructed, enforced, and normalised and will seek to highlight and explain the oft-observed gaps between theory and practice. This will enable you to develop a critical appreciation of strategic HRM challenges and an understanding of its potential impact on individuals, organisations, and the wider society.
Discover how digital technologies and people analytics are transforming Human Resource Management. This module explores the use of digital HRM systems, artificial intelligence and data analytics to measure and enhance people performance in modern organisations. You’ll examine how people data is collected and analysed to support decision-making, while critically engaging with ethical, sustainability and employee-consultation issues surrounding the use of digital HR technologies.
This module focuses on the evolving ways in which organisations manage equality and difference, considering this evolution within the wider context of relevant theoretical, demographic, legislative and political developments. You will be introduced to inequality as an organisational issue and the evolution and practice of differing approaches to managing it, promoting an openness amongst students to a range of possible alternative approaches. While the focus is largely on the UK, the module will draw on case study examples, research, and literature from international contexts, including post-colonial contexts.
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