M.A. in Human Resources Management & Labour Relations

The M.A. in Human Resources Management and Labour Relations (HRM & LR), programme (formerly known as M.A. in Personnel Management and Industrial Relations), offered by the School of Management and Labour Studies, is designed to develop students into professionally competent and socially sensitive management graduates, fully equipped to take on the challenges of the corporate world. This programme presents an outstanding prospect to explore the critical areas of contemporary human resources management, in concert with a comprehensive knowledge and understanding of the key functions of management and business. The broad objectives of this M.A. programme are to sensitise students to the social, political, economic, and ecological environments of the society; to enable students to become effective business leaders and decision-makers to contribute to organisational effectiveness; to facilitate the use of systems thinking among the students to evolve possibilities while addressing various personal and organisational challenges; to develop a global perspective among students to respond to global challenges; and to impart values of intellectual honesty, justice and fairness. The School has undertaken a major restructuring of its curriculum to realise these objectives while responding to the changes in the external environment and in consonance with the mission of the Institute.

The programme places importance on both theoretical and hands-on learning. While classroom learning through participation in the forms of discussions and case studies, presentations, simulation games, assignments, etc., emphasises conceptual clarity, practical inputs are provided through the rigorous field work system, which complements the classroom inputs by throwing light on the practical dimension of the profession. The insights that emerge out of such an experience make students conceptually strong and successful in practice of the profession. All these, coupled with the focused attention that students get owing to the small size of the batch, makes personal learning highly effective. Field work is a continuous process, which seeks to facilitate student's exposure to varied industry sectors. Besides field work, students also undertake internships with organisations for a period ranging from 6-8 weeks, which is seen as an opportunity for the student to learn significantly from, and contribute meaningfully to organisations.

In brief, the M.A. in HRM & LR programme, which benefits from over 4 decades of teaching and research in the same area, is a challenging teaching-learning experience that blends cutting edge theory with innovative practice to develop business leaders for the global industry. The TISS HRM & LR post-graduates are amongst the most sought after in global industry today. They occupy positions of leadership across a wide spectrum of industries and sectors including, IT/ITeS, banking and finance, telecom, manufacturing, public sector, pharmaceutical, retail and management consultancy.