Abstract:

Increasingly postgraduate students in the UK, undertake their Human Resource (HR) studies having never experienced employment, paid or voluntary, before coming to University. As such their appreciation of organisational life can be limited. This in turn curtails students’ understanding of the influence theoretical debates have on the application of HR in different organisational settings. From the perspective of teaching Human Resource Management (HRM) at postgraduate level, much is focused upon students having some semblance of working with others in an employment context. This is all the more imperative when seeking to expose students to the art of handling sensitive employment conversations, such as those held during a performance appraisal meeting. While guest speakers and company visits can be excellent in aiding student learning on many HR matters in Higher Education, these approaches fall short in providing students with an experience of how to handle matters which must remain confidential for legal reason, .e.g. explaining to a staff member why they will not receive their performance reward. As the next generation of HR practitioners there are vital conversations which HR graduates will be faced with handling as they progress in their careers. As such this article aims to present the case for creating a more innovative way of teaching students the art of handling difficult manager / employee conversations by working with a dramatic arts organisation, and HR practitioners, to heighten the student experience on a postgraduate (PG) HRM module. The approach seeks to build on the work advanced at the Theatre of the Oppressed in Brazil, in order to enhance and fast-track postgraduate student learning within a multicultural cohort. The approach also seeks to prepare students for the challenging world of work in contemporary organisations today, through an innovative, practical and intuitive dramatic approach.

Keywords:

Postgraduate education, Drama, Multicultural learning, Human Resource Management, Difficult manager employee conversations, fast-track student learning.