Curriculum Information

This module focuses on the most important and unpredictable element of any business: its people. Students will critically explore how work and management have evolved: from the rigid hierarchies of the factory system to the fragmented realities of the gig economy and the invisible realm of ghost work that powers today’s digital platforms. 

Throughout, students will grapple with the question: “Have we really travelled that far?” Are modern workplaces more ethical and humane than those at the dawn of the industrial revolution, or do today’s practices simply echo old patterns of control and exploitation, repackaged through new technologies? 

Students will examine the ethical implications of managing people for profit, recognising that decisions made in the boardroom reverberate beyond the workplace, shaping lives, communities, and society. Concepts such as aesthetic labour and emotional work will highlight how workers are required to commodify their appearance, personality, and emotions, raising challenging questions about dignity, wellbeing, and justice. 

With insights from the trade union movement, supported by contributions from UCU, and the Chartered Institute for Personal and Development (CIPD) students will engage in case studies, AI-augmented reflection, and Socratic questioning to evaluate how ethical, inclusive, and sustainable practices can be developed to shape the future of work. 

Learning is deliberately?dialogic and applied: students conduct structured interviews with AI-personas of key theorists to surface assumptions, then?triangulate?all claims using credible sources (AI for ideation, not citation). Weekly activities build questioning skill, evidence discipline, and ethical judgement (bias-checks across tools, negotiation simulations, futures wheels). Assessment culminates in a concise?People Charter?and an in-class?Hearing?(viva) where students defend decisions before a stakeholder panel, translating theory into action. By the end, learners can diagnose people problems, justify interventions with evidence, and communicate persuasively and responsibly in professional settings. 

Positioned between core business fundamentals and their first entrepreneurial project, this module ensures students appreciate that every business challenge is, at its heart, a people challenge.