King's College London

This course introduces students to theories and practices of international human resource management (IHRM). The course helps students critically examine the influence of national institutions and culture on the choice and effectiveness of HRM practices. Building on a discussion of the challenges and opportunities firms face in managing people and workplaces at the global level, the course helps students reflect about the role of HRM policies and practices - including global hiring, training, performance, and reward management - in achieving desired employee and organizational outcomes.

This course offers a theoretical and practice-based approach to exploring the nature of digital gaming. It is eclectic in scope and students are guided to make their own digital games and to critically reflect upon what their games are able to achieve. Students then explore the relationship between games, narratives, and stories, including the famous ludology versus narratology debate that characterized the birth pangs of game studies as a field. Can games tell stories? If so, what kind of stories are they most suited to telling? Next, students consider the distinctive but also varied practices that characterize gaming. These include counterplay, transgressive play, casual play, competitive play, speedruns, etc. Games are also considered as philosophical texts that can prompt us to rethink and question reality, agency, time, and our relationships with our in-game avatars. 

This course engages with some of the key theories that explore how language and social interaction underpin organizational life. It draws on an interdisciplinary research field to interrogate the unique properties of "organizational discourse" and "institutional talk." The course is structured around studies of organizational texts (e.g. recruitment brochures, mission statements, websites, and adverts), as well as studies of social interaction in organizational settings (e.g. business meetings, call centers, healthcare delivery, and sales encounters). 

This course teaches students to model and analyze typical mechatronic devices and their implementation using digital computers, with particular emphasis on robotic systems. Students develop kinematics and dynamic models of robots and examine the electro-mechanical design aspects of mechatronic systems. The course investigates intelligent methods for robotic navigation as well as trajectory and path planning.

This course raises questions about state powers to coerce, to intrude into people’s private lives, and to inflict the pains of punishment. In recent years, there has been a radical shift from “just deserts” to “public protection” and prevention of re-offending. Criminal justice policies determined to be “tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime” have led to an astonishing increase in the use of imprisonment. The female prison population, for example, has more than tripled in two decades. The course covers all the major issues including patterns of crime and criminological theories of the causes of, and responses to, criminal behavior. Students examine policing, prosecution, sentencing, and the purpose and effects of imprisonment. Students consider special categories of offender – including children and young people, women, and those considered dangerous. Students examine how political ideology informs and shapes criminal justice policy. At all stages, they consider race, class, and gender and whether the system provides equal rights and protection to defendants, victims, and wider society.

This course covers the history of war from as far back as the 13th century right up to the height of large-scale, industrialized warfare in World War Two and the global, colonial violence of the 20th century. It does not strive to provide what would end up inevitably being a superficial coverage of all wars in all regions of the world. Rather, different, select periods or conflicts are considered as illustrations to help us explore the central theme of escalation over time and the emergence globally of modern war and violence. This is the fall-only version of the course.

This course introduces students to theories and practices involved in the management of diversity and inclusion, and equips students with the knowledge and skills to build and sustain diverse and inclusive workplaces. In the first half of the course, students explore the sociological and psychological theories that underpin the notions of diversity and inclusion. The course focuses on key dimensions of inequality including race, age, disability, gender, and sex, and situates this discussion within the wider context of intersectionality. In the second half of the course, the course moves on to explore organizational policies, practices, leadership styles, behaviors, and cultures that serve to promote or, conversely, inhibit, diversity and inclusion. 

This course explores both theoretical and practical aspects of cryptography, authentication, and information security. Students learn the relevant mathematical techniques associated with cryptography, the principles of cryptographic techniques and how to perform implementations of selected algorithms in this area, and explore the application of security techniques in solving real-life security problems in practical systems.