The central problem facing each candidate on the Apprentice can be seen to relate the key HR issues of the appraisal and subjective measurement of performance. While it is the performance of the team in each weekly task that is initially assessed, there is also a second round individual assessment of the candidates within the losing team. Sir Alan's decision to fire a candidate is based, essentially, on second hand subjective appraisals of his advisers and the candidates. Having studied the application of such procedures in the workplace arenas of recruitment and pay systems, Paula should be aware of the potential pitfalls of subjective selection and performance management and this should inform her behaviour.

A second area where Paula may draw upon her studies is in the case of working in teams. Again her experiences from the course she did at Keele will be of the need to work effectively in small teams to undertake tutorial work (while being assessed individually), linked with her studies of negotiations, conflict and compromise. Identifying the different strengths and weaknesses of fellow candidates during each task, the degree of control they can exert over other team members, the personal conflict between team members and the tensions between shared and individual goals can all be related to the study of individualised and collective negotiations at work.

A third area where Paula will hopefully be aided by her academic background relates to placing individual activities in a wider context. She will have learned on her Masters how the decisions of managers and workers are not made in isolation, but depend upon a complex interplay of political and economic factors which shape the workplace context. Thus, although one of Paula's major strengths might be as a skilled HR professional who helps facilitate team working, she will also be able to link the operation and management of teams with the wider market based demands of task to generate profit.  

But perhaps the most important knowledge Paula should have gained from her studies is into the corrosive nature of arbitrary management and the alternative approaches to management. The process of intense individual competition between candidates, the subjective process of assessment and dismissal without recourse to appeal are all characteristic of a culture of macho management based upon fear. It is to be hoped that if Paula is to be successful, the main attributes that she could bring from her background in HRM and Industrial Relations at Keele would be the need for meaningful employee rights to participation in decision making, procedural justice and a management approach which seeks to strengthen and support workers' activities, rather than cajole through policies of divide and rule.

Paula was plucked from the shadows of her previous performances by Sir Alan to lead her team, Empire, in the beauty and body care task.

The premise was simple: make a beauty product using natural ingredients and sell it. Thrilled Paula, immediately popped on her motivation hat, exclaiming: "I'm really glad I'm here. I'm really chuffed with my team. I couldn't have picked better."

Coming from a local council HR role in her home town of Walsall in the West Midlands, Paula claimed: "People from the public sector often don't get the respect they deserve but there is absolutely no reason why I can't stand shoulder to shoulder with anyone else from the business world."

Paula took charge right from the beginning coming up with the name of the product (Rock Poole) and after dispatching three of her minions to gather seaweed from rock pools (in Poole) to make soap, she and Yasmina set to the task of sniffing perfumes to mix into the soap ("This one smells like Tequila and dog").

Unfortunately, it was at this early stage our girl made the teeny, tiny, barely noticeable oversight of confusing cedarwood oil (costing £26 per kilogram) with sandalwood oil (coming in at £1,200 per kilogram). Whoops.

The girls poured generous amounts of the latter into their soapy concoction and Paula -  who had made it clear from the start she didn't know much about costs - estimated the production costs to be "about a fiver" when in fact she had incurred a spend of £700.

The product sell went well. At Portobello Road market Paula - decked out in designer sunglasses, motivating and encouraging her team throughout - flogged all her soap and even hiked up the prices due to demand, despite the fact the team had been giving a stall right next to a stinky, fast food van selling bratwurst. ("Sniff some shower gel to cover the smell of onions, anyone?")

But by this stage it was too late and the massive production costs incurred put the team into a deficit of £68 and they lost the task.

Paula and her team were dispatched to some greasy spoon to lick their wounds and apportion blame, while the other team and their ‘flukey' leader Nural were sent to a Japanese sushi bar to drink cocktails and contemplate who would get the ‘sake'.

But as the nation's HR professionals sat on the edges of their seats and Sir Alan's finger pointed towards Paula, and Ben ‘I got a scholarship to Sandhurst' Clarke prepared to "rip her to shreds", the age-old debate of the role of HR in the workplace came into play.

Sir Alan said: "You are a human resources manager - but you can't say you can't do numbers, you can't do this or you can't do that. You know how to work out a redundancy package on a calculator, don't you?

"You made a fatal mistake. You're fired!"

A lesson to us all: Paula was up for the challenge: she created and designed a great product, she had a strategy and she motivated and engaged her team - great HR traits. But when it came to cost she took her eye off the ball and it led to her downfall.

Paula Jones was fired just as she was coming into her own. It seems she had more to give to the competition. She may have lost this battle, but she has proved to the business world HR can be a strategic business function and I doubt we have seen the last of HR's own Apprentice.