Human Resource Management (HRM) has been in vogue for ...

any particular view. Strathclyde University is a CIPD-recognised Centre of Research
Excellence and students are presented with a range of perspectives of HRM through
research-led teaching that has been accredited by CIPD as meeting their Professional
Standards. It is unlikely therefore that any strong bias could have been introduced
which would skew the students‟ perceptions of HRM, other than that of encouraging a
more complete knowledge of the CIPD-accredited academic syllabus. Moreover, all
students are required to complete a work placement and management report based on
an applied problem in the placement organisation during the course, and which
supplements the academic content with a practitioner perspective. Thus, for those
students who may have been described as „naïve‟ with respect to HRM on entry to the
course, we would expect to detect a gradually crystallising view of HR, though the
direction of this view cannot be predicted.
At the final stage of the study, structured in-work interviews (n=6) were undertaken
with graduates from the 2005/06 cohort eight months after exiting the course as they
entered the profession. The respondents for the in-work interviews were employed in
a range of roles. Two respondents were on graduate trainee schemes, one was
employed as a personnel manager, whilst the remaining three respondents were
employed as an HR advisor, HR assistant and HR administrator respectively. These
interviews aimed to evaluate the alumnis‟ experience of HRM as practice, and how
they then perceived the relationship between that practice and pedagogy. In addition,
the interviews gathered information about the employing organisation (size, location),
the alumni‟s position and tenure, the perceived importance of the HRM qualification
for finding and performing the job and future career goals, ongoing continuous
professional development, and interaction with the CIPD. To-date, the entry and in-