Tag Archive for: human resources

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DCU Business School academic awarded prestigious international visiting professorship

Dr Janine Bosak, Senior Lecturer in the HRM and Organisational Psychology Group at Dublin City University Business School, has been awarded the prestigious James M. Flaherty Visiting Professorship by the Ireland Canada University Foundation (ICUF).

Dr Bosak will teach and conduct research together with Professor Denis Chênevert at HEC Montréal, one of the leading Business Schools in Canada, on the topic of reducing costs of burnout for individuals, patientcare and hospital performance using evidence from Canadian and Irish hospitals.

The ICUF aims to encourage and facilitate links between scholars in Ireland and Canada. As part of this the ICUF supports up to two Irish professors of any academic discipline travelling to Canada and up to two Canadian professors of any academic discipline travelling to Ireland.

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Employee Engagement Roundtable held in DCU Business School

On May, 28th 2015 DCU Business School hosted the first of three ‘Employee Engagement Roundtables’ which will be spread out over the course of a year.

The roundtable was organized and led by academic experts in the field of HR and engagement, Professor Kathy Monks, Dr Edel Conway, Dr Yseult Freeney and Dr Janine Bosak (all DCU Business School staff members). It brought 17 HR directors and managers from a range of non-competitive organizations together in order to explore the concept of employee engagement and the various definitions that are being used by practitioners, discuss best practices in assessing engagement and jointly tackle issues of employee engagement using an evidence-based approach.

The first roundtable was a great success; the second part of this exclusive event will be held on September, 17th 2015 in DCU Business School with over 20 HR directors and managers expressing interest already.

You can find out more about research in HR and Organisational Behaviour at DCU Business School here.

Details of our part-time executive Masters in Work and Organisational Psychology/Behaviour can be found here.

“The secret of getting ahead is getting started” – Diary of an MBA Participant

[pullquote]“The secret of getting ahead is getting started”. (Mark Twain)[/pullquote]

Wow! It’s hard to believe that we’ve managed to find our way through semester one of year one of our Executive MBA in DCU Business School.

Three months ago the thoughts of returning to college on a part-time basis was a quite daunting prospect, not only from a work-life balance perspective, which was among the predominant concerns of my fellow MBA classmates, but from an academic point of view, where the very thoughts of “Harvard referencing” sent a shiver down my spine.

Despite the significant consideration that went into applying to commence the programme, the reality is that nothing can prepare you for that first term, when work and college commitments collide, forcing you in the early hours of a Monday evening to question the very reasons you took on the challenge.

A colleague on the course tells a story about how, when he was considering applying, everyone he spoke to including past graduates, spoke in glowing terms about the Executive MBA and recommended without hesitation that he sign-up to the class.

Once enrolled however, the tune changed, where those very same advocates of the course told him that he was beginning a process that may well prove to be the toughest two years of his life!

On both fronts, arguably his advisors got it right. For sure the last 12 weeks of lectures and assignments have tested the staying power, and the Christmas break was like the proverbial calm before the storm, as the January exam schedule loomed large on the horizon and DCU library became almost like a second home for close on three weeks.

But the flip side of these stresses and strains, and quiet clearly why any past graduate would recommend an Executive MBA, has its foundations in the relevance of the modules that we completed during our first semester.

Week on week the professionalism and depth of expert lecturing meant that the theory presented every Thursday evening was almost immediately transferable to the work place first thing Friday morning.

Working in financial services the Accounting for Decision-Making module offered the most relevance from a practical point of view, and provided me with a significant amount of detail on hot topics in business lending and financial ratios. This led to an early morning training session with one of the business teams in North Dublin.

In conjunction with this a number of the assignments were based on delving into past events or assessing current work practices and forced us, both individually and within groups, to apply our learning in the most practical sense. The Organisational Behaviour module opened my eyes to the fact that great leaders aren’t born, but are effectively a continual work in progress who strive to get the best from their people, a simple concept perhaps, but clearly one that is extremely difficult to nail down.

The satisfaction from these submissions (though the process was daunting) lies in the fact that by stretching ourselves to understand a particular event or practice we are in fact responding to what is essentially the underlying current of the Executive MBA; personal development.

So with one semester down and three to go we can approach our second semester in DCU Business School with a little less fear and perhaps a mild sense of calm!

This post was written by Coman Goggins, a first year Executive MBA participant. To download the MBA brochure, fill in your details below:

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DCU MSc in Human Resource Management Student awarded Prestigious Scholarship

On Wednesday the 15th of October Ms Shuo Han a student on the MSc in Human Resource Management was recognised at an International Student Scholarship Reception hosted by DCU President Brian MacCraith. Shuo Han was recognised as a recipient of a Government of Ireland Scholarship in support of her studies at DCU.

Shuo Han completed her undergraduate Bachelor of Management degree at the Capital University of Economics Beijing (CUEB) (a partner Institution of DCU) and previously spent a year visiting DCU as an exchange student. Dr Brian Harney Chair of the MSc in HRM who has also visited CUEB as a guest lecturer commented “this is a fantastic achievement for Shuo in a personal capacity and  a manifestation of the strong institutional relationship between DCU and CUEB”

Pictured at the International Student Scholarship Reception (L-R) are Emeritus Professor Bernard Pierce (former Dean, DCU Business School, International Committee), Dr Yuhui Gao (Lecturer in Marketing, International Committee), Shuo Han and Dr Brian Harney (Programme Chair, MSc in Human Resource Management).

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MSc HR Strategies – Information Session This Wednesday

We are delighted to announce that we are holding an Information Session for our leading part-time Postgraduate Programme in Human Resource Strategies, this Wednesday at 5.45pm. This is a great opportunity to meet with current students and graduates of the course and DCU Business School faculty. You will also have the opportunity to attend a taster session on ‘Leadership challenges for HR Managers‘ delivered by Professor Patrick Flood.

The Irish HR landscape has dramatically changed over the past few years, so for this reason, DCU Business School has extensively updated the MSc in Human Resource Strategies programme.  The programme, which has been running since 1997, has established a reputation as the leading programme in Ireland for managers and professionals who are interested in pursuing a strategic approach to human resource issues in their organisations. It has attracted a wide variety of participants including human resource professionals and consultants, training and development professional, and employee relations specialists, in addition to line managers and those involved in managing their own companies.

The focus of the programme is closely aligned with CIPD’s HR professional map and contributes towards the development of the behaviours required to undertake key leadership roles in organisations. This will be achieved by a focus on the following areas:

  • Organisational Behaviour and Change
  • Talent Management
  • Strategic Human Resource Management and Employee Engagement
  • Employee Relations and Employment Law
  • Strategic Management
  • International HRM
  • Strategic Leadership
  • Coaching and Mentoring
  • Research and Consulting Project

The tools and techniques that are used during the programme enable participants to gain insights into, and feedback on, their strengths and weaknesses in an environment that is removed from the political issues that may predominate in their own work organisations. These tools many include methods to explore learning styles, creativity and innovation, systems thinking, leadership profiles and team-working.

The MSc in Human Resource Strategies programme equips managers and professionals with the competencies needed to take on challenging roles in turbulent times. These competencies drive other skills and abilities including creativity, mental agility, balanced learning habits and self-knowledge. These higher level competencies are particularly critical for success at senior management level and are crucial to establishing personal credibility. A participant in the programme is therefore not only embarking on an education programme but is also engaging in a management development process that is designed to enhance personal learning and development.

If you would like more information about the course and our upcoming Information Session, just complete the form below:

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DCUBS Insight – Managerial Lessons from the Trapattoni Reign

While Ireland will not grace the stage at the world cup in Brazil, there is still an air of optimism around the prospects for the national team. This has been reinforced by the recent performance against Italy and Roy Keane’s apparent commitment to the cause. In building a solid foundation for the future, Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane could do worse than learning from some key managerial faux pas of the Giovanni Trapattoni reign.

Utilise the full pool of talent available to the best of its ability

There was a growing sense that Trapattoni did not fully engage the talent that was available to him (this included the likes of Wes Hoolahan, Keiran Westwood, James McCarthy, and Darren Gibson who warmed the bench for the entire Euro 2012 tournament). Even where he did pick different players he did not exploit their strengths by deploying them in their best positions. This oversight becomes all the more severe in the context of a small football country like Ireland, where the initial talent pool is already severely limited

Pay attention to detail and keep close to the action

Trapattoni was apparently fond of saying “they are little details, but the little details are very important”. Despite this rhetoric his lack of enthusiasm for attending premiership games and visiting football grounds was frequently commented upon.  Understanding the ebb and flow of a player’s performance in the full context of a game cannot be done remotely via DVDs; there is simply no substitute for being close to the action. Many will recollect the story of Jack Charlton visiting Oxford United to see John Aldridge play and being introduced to a player previously not on the radar called Ray Houghton.

Foster inclusiveness accompanied by a unified sense of purpose

From the early guitar incident with Andy Reid, Trapattoni’s reign was characterized by a growing tension, distance and frequent falling out with his own players. Man management was not Trapattoni’s forte. With the legacy of Saipan as the media benchmark for football bust-ups Trapattoni’s failures in player relations might at first seem trivial. However, the list known to have run-ins with Trapattoni’s suggests otherwise (Kevin Doyle, Stephen Ireland, Stephen Kelly, Marc Wilson, Stephen Hunt Kevin Foley, Darron Gibson, and Shane Long). Rather than constructively engage players for the Irish cause, Trapattoni frequently pursued destructive vendettas which fragmented relations. Stephen Reid was an early regular in Trapattoni’s line-ups but on-going injury problems led to his career being dismissed off hand by the Italian who commented publicly that it would be ‘very, very difficult’, for Reid to return to his best following a knee injury. There also appeared to be limited reward for loyalty or recognition of player’s allegiance and pride in playing for Ireland. Present for over 7 years in every squad when he was fit to play, Kevin Doyle received news of his omission from the squad for the double-header with Sweden and Austria via text message.

Understand the significance of the top management team

It is perhaps no coincidence that the successful years of the Trapattoni reign were those where Liam Brady held the position of Assistant Manager. With expertise on the workings of the FAI and Irish football, vast insights and experience into the English Premier league, coupled with an extensive football network Brady’s value to Trapattoni cannot be underestimated. Indeed, one wonders if in picking Roy Keane as an assistant Martin O’Neill is also attempting to leverage something similar by way of Irish expertise and public association.

Be open to change when required

Trapattoni remained committed to his cautious approach and tactics even when most commentators and fans called for, and ultimately the results mandated, change. He likewise remained loyal to players like Darren O’Dea, Glen Whelan and Paul McShane when their performances at international level were not always deserving of it. More often than not key tactical or player changes were the result of injury or retirements rather than a change in mindset. Notably, in those performances best remembered, including against Italy and France, it has been suggested that the players pursued their own desired approach rather than rigidly adhering to the Trapattoni prescription. Overall, Trapattoni cast a technical shadow over Ireland’s play which served to inhibit creativity and suggested a distrust of his players.

Of course there is an argument that the distance, or even arrogance, of Trapattoni may have been a reflection of a Keanite type quest for professionalism. There are cultural differences likely to be at play here also; Italian football is a patient, technical and slow burning candle, only intermittently lit with the type of gung-ho frenzied excitement or action that Irish fans might expect. Trapattoni also inherited one of the weaker teams of current times, while Thierry Henry had a huge hand in ensuring lady luck was not on his side. In years and in past success Trapattoni is clearly deserving of respect. Nonetheless his desired approach did not result in Irish glory and may have ultimately been self-defeating. For the fledging dynamic duo of Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane the challenge is to embrace the key lessons from the Trapattoni reign by managing efficiently while also leading effectively.

Brian Harney is a Lecturer in Strategy and HRM at DCU Business School and Deputy Director (Knowledge) of the LInK research centre 

To learn more about our courses in Strategy and HRM please fill in the form below:

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