Master of Science in Strategic Human Resource Management

What does an organization need to do in order to perform well? And what qualifies as ‘good performance’ by a public organization? Recruiting the best employees, investing in training and development, applying a supportive leadership style, giving employees autonomy, providing suitable remuneration – or a smart combination of all these elements? Who is responsible for putting personnel policy into practice? How can you encourage effective implementation to be encouraged? How do organizations engage with their social environment, and how do they fulfill their social responsibility? What is the public dimension of strategic Human Resource Management? What impact does internationalization have on an organization’s Human Resource Management practices? If these questions spark your interest, then we invite you to learn more about this MSc at Utrecht University.

Strategic HRM: Working in a Changing Environment

This Master’s program focuses on Human Resource Management (HRM), and its effects on organizational goals (good performance) employee well-being (for example, satisfaction and motivation), and social legitimacy. We study HRM in the context of societal developments such as an aging population, internationalization, and technological change. This means we don’t see HR policy as a stand-alone policy domain, but rather as a domain in which developments within the organization and within society as a whole are incorporated and integrated into management. What makes HR policies strategic is their coherence, their alignment with the organization’s strategic goals, and with internal and external developments.

Organizations have to deal with government regulations in the area of labor and personnel. Public and private sector organizations have to take economic and social policies at both the national and EU levels into account. This applies to their personnel policy too. These are not the only developments that organizations have to face. There is also social diversity, individualization, internationalization, the declining numbers of young people (dejuvenation), and an aging population. In view of this, organizations need to work on sustainable employability, diversity management, and an age-conscious personnel policy. The reality of having to operate in a changing environment has prompted many organizations to make internal changes, both structural and functional in nature.

This Master’s program involves gaining an understanding of the theory and research in this area, you will learn how to apply this knowledge when analyzing policy issues that organizations have to deal with in their environment.

"I have developed a strategic view of organizations and processes".



Teun Smits, Key Account Manager Benelux at Danerolles

Why in Utrecht

In Utrecht, Strategic Human Resource Management is a broad program focusing on Human Resource Management issues that are important to an organization’s strategy.

The program’s other distinctive features include:

• strategic HRM issues with a public dimension
• current cases, and the development of competencies for application in everyday practice
• small-scale teaching

The Master’s program in Strategic Human Resource Management is offered as part of the Public Administration and Organisation Science program. This involves a combination of public administration and organizational science insights. Understanding public management and organizational science is a fundamental part of the program. There is a special focus on the public dimension of HRM. This public dimension can either be related to the HRM issue itself (e.g. attracting and retaining vulnerable employees such as disabled people) and/or the public organization in which you study this issue.