HR9536 - Reward and Performance

Activity and simulation are the main features of learning on this module which will enable you to develop key graduate employability, enterprise and/or entrepreneurial acumen. Employee rewards are fascinating, complex games of power and conflict, with astonishing influence and reach across organisations. You will experience this complexity through a module-long simulation in which you will take on a key role in the design and negotiation of a new reward system for an organisation. You will learn by doing – creating a comprehensive reward system with all of the features and complexity that you would find in a real-life organisation. Along the way you will be responsible for persuading organisational leaders of your preferred solutions. As such, there is a strong emphasis on professional skill development – learning and practicing valuable skills, underpinned by relevant theory.
You will experience a fully ‘flipped’ classroom – tutors will be on hand to assist, guide and advise, but you will find your own solutions to the challenges that you face, supported by a wide range of technologies.

In order to provide as much space as possible for you to explore the facets of this module, most of the academic support will be provided outside of the classroom. Short videos will largely replace the traditional lectures in order to signpost the key areas of theory and insight that will enable you to succeed. Cooperation and collaboration are important features of the module both within and without the classroom, you will be supported to do this through the use of appropriate technologies. The core of the module will be concerned with making realistic choices about strategy, policies practices and tactics – utilising simulated organisational and labour market data in order to model the effects of your decisions, to argue for and achieve your objectives, and to compromise where necessary.

All modules at Northumbria include a range of reading materials that students are expected to engage with. Online reading lists (provided after enrolment) give you access to your reading material for your modules. The Library works in partnership with your module tutors to ensure you have access to the material that you need.

Knowledge & Understanding:

• To develop a systematic and coherent body of knowledge concerning the role and function of reward and performance management [MLO 1]

Intellectual / Professional skills & abilities:

• To develop core skills in the design and implementation of rewards and relations strategies, matched by the consideration of competing imperatives [MLO 2]
• To work collaboratively in teams [MLO3]

Personal Values Attributes (Global / Cultural awareness, Ethics, Curiosity) (PVA):

• To explicitly consider competing values, interests and objectives and to find imaginative solutions to conflicts and dilemmas [MLO 4]

Formative assessment and feedback
You will receive on-going feedback throughout the module. All of the workshops are entirely focussed upon the main module project.
Tutors will facilitate, guide and support you towards this goal. As you work in your teams you will test your understanding by making choices and taking decisions – the activity will, itself provide feedback. At key points you will present your progress in role play to tutors acting as organisational leaders. They will challenge you to defend your decisions and, particularly, your compromises – this will require you to develop sophisticated bargaining skills and capabilities.

Summative assessment
Project milestones: Group Presentation of agreed project milestones (20%)
Individual report: Will detail the creation of a new reward system for a simulated organisation, but it’s not just about what you decided to do, it’s about how and why you decided. We are interested in how you negotiated the complexities and conflicts of rewards performance management (80%) [MLO 1,2,3,4]

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Employee rewards and the management of performance lie at the heart of managing people in all organisations. However, rewards are incredibly expensive and the fundamental cause of conflict at work and so represent an enormous risk to be managed. In this module you will build a reward system with all of the complexity that entails: setting objectives, pursuing interests, overcoming resistance and finding creative resolutions to conflict. Building on your knowledge of motivation gained at level 4, you’ll develop your understanding of the process that organisations need to go through to build an effective reward and performance system. The skills learned here have had a direct impact on graduate employment opportunities and provide access to career paths in the most lucrative area of people management.