Online MBA in Human Resources
21-33 months
Online
Tuition: GBP 13,200
Paid Monthly: GBP 520
Intakes: May 2026
Deadline: 4 May 2026
Course overview
The globally-recognised AACSB Accredited Online MBA in Human Resource Management introduces current HRM models and developing theory to provide a framework of key operational areas: human development, resourcing, performance management and crucially – how to manage employer-employee relationships to encourage engagement and minimise conflicts.
The Online MBA in Human Resource Management covers current hot-button workplace issues such as work life balance, diversity management and International HRM practices. Understand national culture and its impact across borders and within multi-cultural workforces. Explore cases to develop a comprehensive understanding of Human Resource Management strategies as it relates to Planning, Recruitment, Conflict Management, Employee voice and ethical considerations relating to rules and regulations.
Learning Outcomes Online MBA Human Resources
- Evaluate the contribution of HRM activities to organisational effectiveness and the impact of the changing context of work on HRM
- Demonstrate an understanding of the key HR activities and the way in which these integrate to achieve organisational objectives and a critical insight into the current developments impacting on these
- Identify HR strategies, policies & practice appropriate to the needs of different organisations
- Have a comprehensive understanding and critical awareness of the requirements and implications of HRM activity as it relates to organisations in an international context
- Have a critical appreciation of the ways an HRM function can contribute to global organisational effectiveness
- Contribute to the determination of an international HRM strategy, policy and practice appropriate to differentiate national contexts and the needs of MNCs
Why choose Edinburgh Napier University Online MBA
- AACSB accredited
- Top 4% of universities across the world
- Normal study route of 33 months and accelerated study route of 21 months available
- 11 specialist routes to choose from
- Assignments only. No exams.
- Flexible monthly payment plan
- Earn the same MBA as on-campus students and graduate in the UK
- Taught using the latest Virtual Learning Environment (VLE)
- Study from anywhere, anytime – 24/7 access to study materials
- Personal UK tutor for academic support
- Earn a globally recognized UK MBA without the need to leave work or sacrifice career progress
View all available Marketing & HR courses, all UK Online Degree Courses or talk to a Higher Education Consultant for guidance on your degree selection.
Online MBA in Human Resources
Online MBA in Human Resources
Accreditation
AACSB – The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business – is a professional accreditation organization in the USA. It was founded in 1916 to set a standard of excellence for the best business schools. Only 6% of the world’s leading business schools are AACSB accredited. AACSB is recognized worldwide as the highest standard of quality and AACSB-accredited schools, and graduates from these business schools are trailblazers in leadership, research and societal impact.
Assessment
All assessments are undertaken and submitted online. These vary for each module and may include:
- Reports/Essays/Case Studies
- End of Unit Progress Tests
- Data Analysis Reports (Data Analysis for Business Decision-making module)
- MBA Project
Within each trimester, whilst there is flexibility to work through the material at your own pace you need to be aware of the assessment dates as there is no flexibility in these.
Benefits
The Online MBA in Human Resource Management will teach you to evaluate HRM activities, their organisational effectives within the changing context of today’s global workplace. Understand key Human Resource Management activities, contemporary developments that impact them and the way they integrate into organisational objectives to achieve business goals.
The Online MBA in Human Resource Management will allow you to appreciate how HRM functions contribute to global organisational effectiveness, developing a critical awareness of HRM activities in a business context along the way. Develop HR strategies in line with best practices to improve the overall efficiency and effectiveness of an organisation.
Career path
Graduates from the Online MBA in Human Resource Management have gained successful employment across range of industries in the public, private, government and non-profit sectors. Learnt skills will make you suitable for managerial and directorial HR roles in any organisation.
Academic Progression
- PhD – Doctorate programme
- Doctorate Degree in Social Sciences – DSoc
- DBA – Doctorate of Business Administration Degree
Eligibility
- The entry requirement for this course is a Bachelor (Honours) Degree at 2:2 or above plus 2 years work experience order to be eligible for this programme.
- We may also consider lesser qualifications if you have sufficient relevant work experience within the industry.
- If English is not your first language, you may need to undertake an approved English language test. You can discuss the available options with your personal academic consultant.
Core module
The module introduces a number of tools that can be used to measure the success, or otherwise, of an organisation – focusing on operations, supply chains and marketing strategy. Kaplan and Norton’s Balanced Scorecard model will be the key model explored. This is a set of measures that gives a fast but comprehensive view of the business. The Balanced Scorecard endeavours to collate important elements that reflect a business’s strategic position e.g. product and service quality measures, product and service development time, customer satisfaction, productivity and so on.
Overall the module emphasises the concept of integrative nature of business across key areas and what matters most in the need and desire to build high performing organisations that can endure in the complex, global business environment.
The large majority of businesses today operate in a variety of economic environments and their leaders must make economic decisions taking into account market specific information. This module covers the most essential analytical tools required for economic decision making such as: the concepts of economic systems, profit and utility maximisation, demand elasticity, market equilibrium, market structures, macroeconomic objectives, government policies’ (monetary, fiscal and trade policies) tools and their impact on businesses etc.
Businesses also require funding from shareholders and lenders at the outset and subsequently need to profits and positive cash flows for investment. They are in competition with other businesses for funding, just as much as they are competition for labour and market share. On this course, you will learn to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages to the business of a range of sources of finance. You will also learn how managers’ report on the financial affairs and financial position of the business and how financial reports can be analysed to evaluate business performance.
The module will cover the following topics:
- Organisation Strategy and strategic Leadership
- Determining the strategic Direction: Mission Vision and Values
- Strategic decision-making in Practice
- Transformational Leadership Approaches and Emotional Intelligence
- The Leader-Follower Relationship
- Team Leadership
- Strategic decision-making in Innovative Contexts
- Creating Systemic Innovation
- Authentic and Sustainable Leadership
- Current Trends in strategic Leadership
Learning outcomes of the module
Upon completion of this module you will be able to:
- Examine and critique the underlying principles of key leadership theories
- Critically review how effective leaders foster an innovation culture in organisations
- Explore the dynamics underpinning the leader-follower relationship in organisations
- Review and critically the strategic role of leaders within organisations
The material covered in the module relates to two broad areas of study: the examination of organisational behaviour, including attitudes, perception, motivation, groups, teams and leadership; and understanding managerial processes, and the development of skills important in the management of people and processes – such as corporate social responsibility. Change management is increasingly important and therefore you will examine the topic by looking at both incremental and transformational change, and the importance of power, politics and conflict.
Focusing on the behaviour of people in a work environment, the module places an emphasis on understanding the vital role and importance of people in the change management process. You will develop an understanding of the dynamics of working organisations in a rapidly evolving business environment, specifically the significance of organisational culture. This in turn develops your ability to plan and carry forward sustainable system-wide change programmes.
Learning outcomes of the module
Upon completion of this module you will be able to:
- Apply organisational behaviour theory to the business context
- Critically analyse the factors influencing individual behaviour in organisations
- Evaluate the nature, role and tasks of people management and identify effective management practice and skills
- Identify and analyse trends in transformational change management in organisations
- Illustrate through analysis and synthesis a robust understanding of International Leadership, management theories and concepts
Data literacy and the ability to critically evaluate information are crucial skills for responsible business management. Data analysis is a process that involves the formulation of a research question and the acquisition and analysis of the data that is needed to help answer that question. In this module, you will be taken through the practicalities of developing a business research question and acquiring and analysing data to answer that question. You will learn about the key sources of business data and information and about how data is created for specific project purposes through survey design. You will learn about the practical steps that researchers must take to create useful business information from data and how to visualize this information in an understandable way. You will be equipped with the tools, methods, and skills required for acquiring, exploring, and analysing both quantitative and qualitive data.
This module will cover the following topics:
- Introduction to data for business & sources of data (primary and secondary),
- Developing business research questions (descriptive, normative and cause/effect),
- Primary and secondary data,
- Ethical aspects of primary data collection,
- Survey design and measuring concepts Quantitative Methods,
- Introduction to The Data Problem Solving Cycle (PPDAC),
- Sampling and data quality (validity, reliability, comparability etc.),
- Data cleaning and preparation,
- Exploring and analysing quantitative data (with excel or SPSS),
- Visualizing data to communicate business information Qualitative Methods,
- Deconstruction and reconstruction of Discourse,
- Thematic Analysis
- Critical Reflection on qualitative analysis.
The purpose of this module is to develop your ability to develop and implement a management report in the field of business management. Completing the management report will provide you with the opportunity to apply the knowledge, research skills, and analytical and conceptual tools that you have acquired while taking your taught modules. Your learning on this module is experiential and problem-based, with a focus upon you discovering, questioning, and critically reflecting upon a business problem. You are required to identify a business problem for one organisation, and to conduct an analysis of the organisation’s positioning in relation to that problem and to develop actionable recommendations to be presented to the executive board that are based on the findings from their analysis. You will be guided through the process in groups by experienced tutors, you will also be assigned to groups with other students that have chosen the same organisation.
Optional Module
The module starts with a brief introduction to developing theory and current models of HRM, providing a framework for more detailed consideration of key operational areas: resourcing, development, performance management & reward, and the management of the employment relationship to minimise conflict and encourage employee engagement. Current issues such as work life balance, the management of diversity and International HRM are given particular focus
Learning outcomes of the module
Upon completion of this module you will be able to:
- Evaluate the contribution of HRM activities to organisational effectiveness and the impact of the changing context of work on HRM
- Demonstrate an understanding of the key HR activities and the way in which these integrate to achieve organisational objectives and a critical insight into the current developments impacting on these
- Identify HR strategies, policies & practice appropriate to the needs of different organisations
After a brief background introduction to models of national culture, the focus of the module is the HR issues and practices of organisations operational background across national boundaries with a multi-cultural workforce. It covers a range of key HRM areas: global manpower, planning, recruitment & selection, international performance and development, comparative employment regulation, employee voice and the management of conflict, the ethical considerations specific to international operations. These are explored through the use of examples and cases drawn from a range of an international context and MNC practice. Students are encouraged to reflect on the approach to HRM in their own culture/country and contribute to the consideration of similarity and difference.
Learning outcomes of the module
Upon completion of this module you will be able to:
- Have a comprehensive understanding and critical awareness of the requirements and implications of HRM activity as it relates to organisations in an international context
- Have a critical appreciation of the ways an HRM function can contribute to global organisational effectiveness
- Contribute to the determination of an international HRM strategy, policy and practice appropriate to differentiate national contexts and the needs of MNCs
Course fee
Global:
- Course Fee: GBP 13,200
- Monthly Fee**: GBP 520
Africa & Emerging Market*:
- Course Fee: GBP 13,200
- Stafford Grant: GBP 2,700
- Net Course Fee: GBP 10,500
- Monthly Fee**: GBP 375
Canada Currency Options:
- Course Fee: CAD 24,680 / GBP 13,200
- Monthly Fee**: CAD 970/ GBP 520
+VAT if applicable
*Africa & Emerging Market : India, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, Botswana, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, Mauritius, Egypt, Nigeria, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, South Sudan, Libya, Zambia, Algeria, Tunisia, Angola, Gabon, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Morocco, Ethiopia, Iraq, Yemen, and other African countries.
**Monthly instalments calculated based on the Course fee minus the Stafford Grant
Fees are determined by where applicants are currently working and residing
GBP is Great Britain Pounds
Academics
Refaat Kazoun
Philippe Riewer
Ajith Kumar
What our students say
Deborah Ann Crawford
Edinburgh Napier University
MBA
The application process was smooth from start to finish and I felt 100% supported by the Stafford team. They provided guidance with every step of the way and we’re always available to answer questions. Couldn’t have asked for a better experience. Thanks, Ashleigh Payne for everything.
