November 2013 NUI Galway Seminar Explores Role of HR in Supporting Innovation

Event celebrates 10 years of Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD) accreditation of NUI Galway’s Masters of Industrial Relations and Human Resource Management

Dr John McGurk, Head of CIPD, addressed HR professionals, Western Region CIPD branch members, NUI Galway students, staff and alumni and spoke about the importance of human resource management in supporting organizational innovation. The event, sponsored by Medtronic, was jointly organised by the Discipline of Management and the Western Region CIPD branch and was held the Aula Maxima in NUI Galway.

Dr McGurk, explaining the people aspect of innovation, said “innovation is essentially about people connecting using their skills and sharing and combining knowledge. HR can play a critical role in supporting that effort.“

Martin Conroy, Senior Director of Continuous Improvement for Medtronic, also addressing the conference, agreed that product and process advances are not simply technological outcomes and require unlocking the potential of organisation’s employees. Mr. Conroy, who trained as an engineer, explained that value was added by HR policies that supported employee empowerment.

Tom Ryan, Associate HR Director at Alkermes and Annette Murphy, Assistant Principal, Department of Social Protection, course alumni, described the role of HR in supporting innovation in private and public sector organisations. The event was chaired by alumnus Geraldine Grady, Chairperson of the Western Region branch of CIPD.

Maureen Maloney, Programme Director for the Masters in Industrial Relations and Human Resource Management at NUI Galway said, “It was fantastic to assemble such a group of high quality participants to speak about an important and timely topic.  Of course, we were delighted to reunite with our alumni and friends from the HR community.”

This seminar was organised to celebrate 10 years of CIPD accreditation of the Master in Industrial Relations and Human Resource Management at NUI Galway.  Over 200 alumni of the programme are working as professional HR managers in Ireland, the UK, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, China, Australia, the United States and other countries.