It studies what many regard as the core of any successful organisation, whether private or public - namely people. Its interdisciplinary approach combines well with a wide range of subjects in both the Strathclyde Business School and The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences . Most people spend a great deal of their lives working in organisations and being managed. What happens to them in these contexts has important effects on their experience of work and their sense of their own identity and well-being. The quality of management in these organisations is generally thought to influence the efficiency and effectiveness with which the service is delivered or the product produced.
Poor management can lead to poor performance, inefficiency, bad relationships and expensive failure.
Good management, on the other hand, can result in good quality work being done in circumstances where people can enjoy their work and develop useful work and personal skills. The success organisations have in adapting to changes often depends on how well and how quickly their employees and managers can adapt. Human Resource Management as a subject is in part a response to these changes. Most managers have at some point to manage other people and hence need to develop appropriate people-management skills. A great many students will, in the natural course of events, take up managerial posts or administrative posts whether in business or in the health service, in social work or in education.