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52 Human Resources Management Topics for Research Paper

Non-trivial human resource research topics to use for your own project.

A Bit About Human Resource Management Research Topics

Human resource management is focused on hiring, training, and managing staff. Another important goal of the human resources (HR) department is to make sure the best working practices are implemented in the company. The choice of human resource management research topics is broad. It may vary from the analysis of workplace conditions and the problem of equal employment opportunities in the future to the solutions & proposals for talent management and career development.

The challenges with research proposals are also vast, starting from choosing human resources management topics for research and ending with writing the research paper itself. Even though you were given a prompt with detailed instructions or someone who continually reminds us of basic things, it’s still not easy. Nevertheless, the most effective hack is to narrow a more expansive research direction down and focus on providing your target audience with the results addressing set goals.

How to Choose the Best Human Resource Research Topics

The human resource subject is very broad as it targets lots of areas. It means students can work with proposals about various hiring approaches and modern recruiting practices used in big companies or discuss hybrid work structures in various contexts. And these are just a few concepts of human resources research topics, as there are dozens of other topics to cover. For example, you can delve deeper what is human resources to find more promising study areas. Still, how to ensure your choice is good? It’s easy to understand when you follow these tips to select a proposal.

Ensure the topic is interesting to you. Nobody will write about something boring or cliched. Just like with the business proposal topics , where you should be passionate about the issue to cover it well.
Choose areas that you know well or want to explore further. The better you understand the selected human resource management research paper topics, the less time and effort you spend on your proposal.
Avoid generalizations and being too broad. If you investigate the wide research topics in human resource management, narrow it down and select the most valuable theme. Ensure the proposal will also be informative and engage readers.
Apply the latest trends effectively. Also, ensure the proposal topic allows you to conduct extensive research with a narrow focus. For example, you may apply trending themes to investigate some local cases.

Add these points to your proposal checklist, making identifying valuable human resource topics for research paper simpler. Even if you already received a prompt from your professor, you can still correct it a bit. Also, it all makes easier when you acquire help from professional proposal writing services , and the expert suggests the topics addressing these points 100%.

Compelling Human Resources Management Topics for Research Paper

Today, human resources is a proper science distinct into specific areas. Using various tools and innovations allows one to expand the academic scope and bring up complex business outcomes. It would be impossible without research. However, proper research is possible only when choosing an appropriate direction. Below are some interesting human resources research paper topics you might want to cover:

Why Is Job Analysis Important
How to Handle Overqualified Employees
Identifying Strengths and Weaknesses During an Employment Interview
The Effectiveness of Social Media in Human Resource Management
Should Human Resource Managers Hire Students
How Important Are Soft Skills
Using Virtual Reality to Train Employees
The Significance of HR KPIs in Employee Performance
Job Rotation and Job Redesign: What’s the Difference?
Are Online Video Courses Efficient to Train Stuff?
Significance of Corporate Universities
Effective Disciplining Methods
360 Degree Feedback: Advantages and Disadvantages
Advantages of a Multigenerational Workforce
How Performance Assessments Impact Employee Productivity
Career Development and Employee Morale
Maintaining Work-Life Balance
Employee Motivation and Workplace Stress Management
How Can Human Resource Managers Establish Successful Communication During Remote Work
Identifying Workplace Bullying in Multiple Ways
How to Prevent Employees From Emotional Burnout
The Rise of the Global Labor Market
The Diversity Gap at the Workplace
Effective Methods of Workplace Monitoring
Facts Affecting Employee Retention

As you can see, research proposal topics in human resource management vary, and you can approach the problem from different angles and create proposals about the points that interest you the most. Choose ones that inspire you to research in-depth and create captivating proposals.

Unusual Research Proposals on Human Resource Management

If you want to move away from default proposal concepts and cover competitive human resource research topics, you may need a more comprehensive look at the whole area. Think about HR in the context of social and ethical issues, or try to seek through psychology research proposal topics. Employees, managers, and recruiters often face difficulties based on such matters.

This way, combining the HR area with other fields of knowledge may open new horizons for your investigations. Check out issue-based human resources management research paper topics.

Identifying Workplace Bullying
The Main Challenges of Human Resource Managers
Religious and Sexual Discrimination in the Workplace
Dealing With Sexual Harassment at the Workplace
How to Control Employees Following Safety Protocols
What Happens if Not Following Workplace Safety
Cases When HR Should Take Legal Action
Ways the Human Resource Specialist Protects the Employees or the Company
Preventing Osha Violations at Work
Training the Workplace to Minimize Potential Risks
The Role of Human Resources in Risk Management
What to Do When an Employee Is Assaulted at Work?
Ethical Considerations Regarding Monitoring Employees During Remote Work
The Importance of Having Equal Employment Opportunities
Direct and Indirect Workplace Discrimination
How to Report About Workplace Harassment
Consequences of Violating Safety Rules at the Workplace

It’s also essential to find appropriate sample research papers on human resource management that help you understand what a good proposal should look like. It will give you numerous insights on the proper structure, formatting, as well as approaches to inspire readers and motivate them to look forward.

DOWNLOAD Here More Research Proposal Topic Ideas in Human Resource Management!

Need assistance with human resources management research paper topics.

With so many human resource management topics for research paper, you can take one to cover or develop your own using available examples. However, if you still don’t feel confident about choosing an appropriate topic or composing a proposal yourself, turn to our specialized and professional services. We are always ready to assist you regardless of project complexity and deadlines.

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Sample PHD HRM Dissertation Proposal

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Challenges of Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM)

Research focus: project based public organisations in trade and industry sectors of uk.

The proposed research will be based on an exploratory and interpretive paradigm to understand the challenges faced in strategic human resource management (SHRM), with a particular focus on public organisations of the UK in trade and industry divisions of the UK government.

The reviewed literature depicted that in a project-based organisation (PBO), the achievement of long term competitive advantage is one of the essential goals in large public and private organisations that lead to the modifications in management practices of new modes of operations. The transition from traditional to optimised project management techniques in government organisation not only involves the management’s change of mindsets, but it also requires changes in operational compatibilities of human resources.

Proposed Title

Challenges of Strategic Human Resource management (SHRM) in Project based public organisations in trade and industry sectors of UK

Introduction

The successful progress of any organisation requires the adequate performance of Human resources as an integral component of organisational resources and capabilities. The studies of Hayton (2005), Peiseniece and Volkova (2010), and others have convincingly declared human resource management (HRM) as one of the most critical management functions as a driver of the value chain.

Project management is one of the contemporary management approaches with more concentration on achieving a single objective. With the increase in dynamics and complexity of the external business environment, the change management and project management approaches are widely used in public organisations (Kaufman and Miller, 2011).

This research proposal is based on analysing human resource challenges posed in the public PBOs during the transition phase. The literature is reviewed concerning the critical perspectives of studies about challenges in achieving the dynamic performance of HR in PBOs. Further, the discussion on research methodology is part of this proposal.

Rationale of Research

According to Mathis and Jackson (2011), strategic human resources management (SHRM) is one of the essential differentiation functions of a traditional management based organisation and a project-based organisation (PBO).

Pronjogo and McDermott (2011) argued the limitations of human resource management in public organisations project management approaches. Because of the traditional approaches followed in the bureaucratic setup of government or public departments, the transition towards PBO has specific challenges related to performance and skills management, adaptation to change, and modifications of operational strategies. Therefore, it is essential to analyse these challenges given the theoretical frameworks for HRM in public sector PBOs in the United Kingdom (UK).

Research Aim

This research aims to cover the essential aspects of SHRM to explore SHRM challenges in increasing the HR capacity and adaptation to change resulting from the transition of public sector project-based organisations (PBO) from the traditional public sector in the UK.

The proposed research will be related to the achievement of the following research objectives;

1. To understand the changing role of employees in a public organisation in context to PBO requirements in the UK.

2. To identify the modifications required in the HRM policies, practices, and designing of project teams in public sector PBOs.

3. To assess the capabilities and adaptation to transitional changes in human resources of selected PBOs in the UK

Research Questions

Given the complexities involved in the transition process faced by public sector organisations due to their size and diversity in human resource characteristics, the research will endeavour to answer the following questions;

1. What are the main challenges posed during the transition of a traditional public organisation to a PBO in the UK, and how do these challenges affect the modifications of HR practices to the new design of HRM in PBOs?

2. How do the roles and capabilities of HRM modify given the designing and management of project teams in public sector PBOs in the UK?

3. What is the consequence of the transition from a traditional to PBO on HR development and employees adapting to the new project environment in the context of public organisations?

Literature Review

This section reviews the relevant literature of project organisations and the challenges to HRM during the transition from traditional to project-based organisations (PBOs).

Transition to Project Based Organization (PBO)

The switching of traditional organisations to project-based, process-based, and change management-oriented organisations are pretty standard in the private sector. Similarly, public organisations also face the challenges of attaining the required performance in project-based settings. According to the proposed notion of Garies (2010), more frequent changes have been observed in recent eras due to the increased complexity and dynamic environment in consumers and business environments. Therefore, Turner (2009) declared the transition to a project-based organisational setup is essential to attain strategic organisational goals with a more focused approach. In contrast to the private organisations, the activities of PBO require a more focused and dynamic approach from public organisations due to their bureaucratic structure with less flexibility and large employee base to control HRM activities (Young and Howard, 2012).

Characteristics of PBOs in Public Sector

The category of the government sector in the UK is considered as Projectified organisations due to the transition made from traditional organisations to a more flexible and dynamic delivery of custom designs given the changes in the business environment.

Further, Gurbuz and Mert (2011) argued that the public organisations offered objectification to specific departments and service areas because of specified requirements of government projects, and the other sections and departments are governed through traditional management approaches. Hence, the requirement of practical human resources is one of the preliminary requirements in PBOs.

In view of the research of Perkins and White (2010) and Turner (2009), the changes in HR practices in PBOs are essential to address as the project’s development is associated with the designing of a new work environment on Projectified organisations. Jalocha et al. (2014) emphasise the development of critical competencies in project managers of Public organisations.

SHRM Challenges in the Public PBO

In addition, the increased requirements of soaring performance are difficult to achieve in view of the work concept in public organisation employees.

The other essential factors identified by the studies of Li-Yun, and Pan (2011) and Muller and Turner (2010) are linked to the development of career opportunities, flexibility in work routines and consistency in performance appraisal system for various projects in a single organisation are some important issues to be addressed.

Research Methodology

The exploratory research methodology governed by an interpretivist paradigm is selected for this research. The application of theoretical constructs of a PBO on the public organisational project settings needs a detailed and comprehensive study to align the concepts to the actual life practices of these PBOs.

The main areas of exploration are the development of SHRM practices in view of the challenges in current project-based working scenarios of public organisations in the UK. The studies of Li-Yun, and Pan (2011) and Jalocha et al. (2014) provided the necessary literature base for the HR settings in PBOs.

Further, the works of Crawford et al. (2013) and Snape and Redman (2010) will assist in determining the crucial variables of HR performance development in SHRM planning and HR linkages in PBOs.

The empirical research will be based on detailed personal and group interviews in five selected public organisations in the UK. The government departments operating in trade and industry are the main focus of the proposed research.

The nature of this longitudinal study will use an inductive approach in the collection of and qualitative data from interviews of project managers and HR managers in selected public organisations in the UK. Coding of data collected from interviews will be done by feeding qualitative data of interviews in RDA/QDA or ATLAS to convert qualitative data to quantitative.

The evidence in qualitative data will be collected through brainstorming, interviews, and focus group discussions with the project planners and HR managers in public sector organisations.

Summary and Conclusions

The changes in the environment and practices of individual employees in a public sector PBO are the most challenging aspects. The employees’ integration with project tasks needs a shift in mindset from traditional to task-based operations. The proposed research is expected to explore essential insights in the major transformations in public organisation SHRM to match the requirement of dynamic environments.

Proposed Work Plan

The span of the study is tentatively planned to three years, and a detailed plan is attached in Appendix.

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Gareis, R. (2010). Designing changes or permanent organizations by processes and projects. International Journal of Project Management, 28, 4, 314-327.

Gurbuz, S. and Mert, I. (2011) Impact of the Strategic Human Resource Management on Organisational Performance: Evidence from Turkey. The International of Human Resource Management. 22(8), pp.1803-1822

Hayton, J. C. (2005). Promoting corporate entrepreneurship through human resource management practice: A review of empirical research. Human Resource Management Review, 15, 21–41.

Ingason, H. T. & Jónasson, H. I. (2009). Contemporary knowledge and skill requirements in project management, Project Management Journal, Vol. 40, No. 2.

Kaufman, B. and Miller, B. (2011) The Firms Choice of HRM practices: Economics meets Strategic Human Resource Management. Industrial & Labor Relations Review. 64(3), pp.423-626.

Li-Yun, S. and Pan, W. (2011) Differentiation Strategy, High -Performance Human Resource Practices, and Firm Performance: Moderation by Employee Commitment. The International Journal of Human Resource Management. 22(15), pp.3068-3079.

Mathis, R.L., & Jackson, J.H. (2011). Human Resource Management (14th ed.). South-Western: Thomson. 592 p.

Müller, R. & Turner, R. (2010) Leadership competency profiles of successful project managers, International Journal of Project Management, Vol. 28. Peiseniece, L., & Volkova, T. (2010). The necessity to evaluate human resource management in companies of Latvia. Economics and management, 15, 698-703.

Perkins, S. White G. (2010) Modernising Pay in the UK Public Services: Trends and Implications. Human Resource Management Journal. 20(3), pp. 244-257

Pronjogo, D. and McDermott, C. (2011). The Relationship between multidimensional Organisational Culture and Performance. International Journal of Operations and Production Management.31(7), pp. 712-735.

Shaw, J., Park, T. and Kim, E. (2013) A Resource-based Perspective on Human Capital Loses, HRM Investments, and Organizational Performance. Strategic Management Journal. 34(5) pp. 572-589.

Snape, E. and Redman, T. (2010) HRM Practices, Organizational Citizenship Behaviour, and Performance: a Multi-level Analysis. Journal of Management Studies.47(7), pp.1219-1249.

Turner, J. R. (2009). The Handbook of Project-based Management. Third ed. McGraw-Hill, New York and London. Van Jaarssveld, D. and Yanadori, Y. (2011) Compensation Management in Outsources Service Organisations and its Implications for Quit rates,

Absenteeism and Workforce Performance: Evidence from Canadian Call Centres. British Journal of Industrial Relations. 49(s1), pp.s1-s26

Young, Y. and Howard, B. (2012) Financial Incentives, Professional Values and Performance: a Case Study of Pay-for-performance in a Professional Organization. Journal of Organizational Behaviour. 33(7), pp. 964-983.