Introduction: Professionalising education in Organisation Studies and Human Resource Management

This introductory chapter examines the changing nature of higher education in general and Organisation Studies and Human Resource Management (OSHRM) education in particular, over the past decade, and especially over these past 18 months, where shifts that might previously have unfolded over decades have been implemented within weeks. As the chapters in the text will demonstrate, the future is full of pedagogic possibilities.

First, the scene is set through an examination of the meaning and scope of OSHRM to, second, discern the factors that have constrained educational innovation in OSHRM. It is argued that one of these constraints is a prevailing but outdated and restricted conception of the educational outcomes, in terms of knowledge and knowing, that OSHRM might, without reflection, aim to enable. Third, the changing nature of the educational outcomes needed for learners to have successful careers and worthwhile lives in the contemporary world is considered. Finally, it is shown how the chapters in the text provide bridges to enable learners to achieve these new educational outcomes.