Human Resource Management, MS

The Master of Science in Human Resource Management (HRM) is a distinctive, flexible program that is designed for both recent graduates and full-time working professionals who want to enhance their careers as organizational strategic partners. Students will study how business issues and social, regulatory, and technical changes affect HR requirements and costs, learning to apply best HR management practices to create an attractive organizational culture that supports thriving employees and flourishing organizations. The MSHRM program provides the crucial analytical skills and design tools that prepare you to identify issues in human resources management and strategic solutions.

The program seeks students who have strong leadership ability or show the potential for strong leadership ability in order to be successful strategic business partners in their organizations.

The HRM program is offered throughout the academic year. Semesters are divided into two modules, each eight weeks in length. Courses are offered evenings and weekends to accomodate busy working professionals.

GPA Policy. The University’s policy on Satisfactory Academic Progress applies. For students who do not maintain the 3.0 grade point average (GPA) requirement, the HRM Program permits enrollment in only one semester of coursework for the student to raise the GPA.

University Policies. Policies detailed in the current Policies and General Information Bulletin apply.

Admission. Admission requirements are detailed in the Admissions section of the current Policies and General Information Bulletin.

Program Schedule

The program requires successful completion of 36 - 40* units. The curriculum is divided into core courses and electives:

*Prerequisite (4 units)
Core courses (32 units)
Electives (4 units)

Upon approval by the Program Committee, students with more than 5 years of relevant work experience in the human resources profession are not required to take the 4-unit prerequisite course, HRM 300 - Principles of Human Resource Management. All other students must take the 4-unit prerequisite course during the first Fall semester of their program (not counted towards the 36 units required for the degree).

First Semester (Fall)

*HRM 300 - Principles of HR Management

HRM 301 - Organizational Behavior

HRM 342 - Job Analysis, Job Design

HRM 352 - Analytics, Metrics and Measurement

HRM 346 - Training & Development

Second Semester (Spring)

HRM 357 - Workforce Planning, Talent Management

HRM 303 - Organizational Development

HRM 320 - Planned Change Management

HRM 358 - Staffing: Recruitment and Selection

Third Semester (Fall)

HRM 324 - Global HR & Diversity

HRM 347 - Employee and Labor Relations Management

HRM 325 - Compensation, Benefits & Total Rewards

HRM 344 - Performance Management

Fourth Semester (Spring)

HRM 327 - Ethical Issues in HR

HRM 348 - Consulting

HRM 323 - Legal Issues in HR

HRM 329 - HR Strategic Planning (Capstone)

Electives (4 units)

To fulfill the 4 elective units, students may take non-core courses through the HRM program. Students may also petition to take courses through the Psychology Department or Drucker Business School, transfer units from a previous graduate-level degree, or complete an approved internship or independent study to meet the electives requirement. Courses offered outside of DBOS and Drucker may also count as electives on a case-by-case basis. Fulfillment of the elective requirement is ultimately up to the discretion of your academic advisor and/or the HRM Program Director.

HRM 356: Introduction to Positive Human Resource Management

Prerequisite (4 units)

Students with less than 5 years of relevant HR work experience are required to complete HRM 300 in their first Fall semester in the program.

HRM 300 - Principles of Human Resource Management

Core Courses (32 units)

HRM 329 is considered the capstone course and is generally taken during the student’s final semester in the program.

Electives (4 units)

With approval, students may schedule appropriate courses from other CGU disciplines, or may take classes from the Positive Human Resource Concentration.

HRM 326 - Crisis Management: 2.00 units
Crisis Management focuses on skills and protocols for preventing and responding to disruptive negative events in organizations. Topics include crisis audits, risk management, crisis preparation, crisis containment, media engagement, and crisis recovery. Particular attention is given to the role of HR in managing individual and organizational crises.

HRM 356 – Introduction to Positive Human Resource Management: 2.00 units
This course will introduce the positive psychological and strengths-first perspectives, theories and methods that have been revolutionizing HR practice over the last few years. While historically, scholars and practitioners have been primarily concerned with what goes wrong in organizations and how to remedy problems, the positive approach focuses on what works, and how to capitalize on strengths. Accordingly, this course will provide an overview of topics such as strengths-first and positive approaches to recruiting and selection, talent management, performance management, training and development, fostering high quality work relationships, job design and job crafting, employee empowerment and job satisfaction and engagement. This is a hands-on course and will involve active participation and discussion.

HRM 326 - Crisis Management

Concentration in Positive Human Resource Development

Students in the HRM program may add the 8 unit concentration in Positive Human Resource Development, 4 units of which could be counted toward electives in the M.S. in Human Resource Management program. Students can, therefore, earn the M.S. in Human Resource Management with Concentration in Positive Human Resource Development in as few as 40 units (44 units if pre-requisite is necessary), equivalent to 2 years of coursework.

A sample of courses that can be taken towards the Positive HRM concentration are as follows:

HRM 356 – Intro to Positive Human Resource Development (2 units)
HRM 360p – Positive Careers and Coaching (2 units)
PSYCH 350pp – Positive Leadership (2 units)
PSYCH 329 – Foundations of Positive Psychology (4 units)
PSYCH 319 – Organizational Behavior (4 units)
PSYCH 305kk – Positive Organizational Psychology (4 units)
PSYCH 354p – Positive Education (4 units)