MBAO 6030: Human Resource Management
Course Description
People are the fundamental building blocks of any organization, and effectively managing human resources can be the most challenging aspect of developing an effective organization. MBAC 6040 (Organizational Behavior) provided a foundation for understanding human behavior in organizations, with an emphasis on the knowledge and skills needed by individual managers. MBAO 6030 builds on that foundation by exploring more of the challenges faced by managers, and reviews a variety of organizational procedures used to increase individual and organizational performance. Its target audience is twofold: (1) students interested in broadening their consulting skills to include human resource practices, and (2) general managers who want to be more conversant with the state of the art in human resource practices.
Our approach will be to first review the significant challenges faced by modern organizations: a global marketplace; the need to adapt to continuous change; greater emphasis on quality; a workforce that is more diverse, often less well trained and that has increasing expectations. We will then focus our discussion of human resource practices around both "strategic" issues and the everyday problems encountered by managers, but always with a general reference back to these fundamental challenges. Throughout our focus will be that of an organizational change agent, either internal or external to the organization (rather than that of a functional specialist in HR).
The course will consist of two parallel sets of activities. The first set includes traditional classroom activities, such as reading and discussing assigned materials and case analysis. We will use these activities to review the major functional areas of human resource management, and seek to answer such questions as:
How can integrating HRM practices with the strategic mission of the firm increase effectiveness?
What are the legal and social requirements facing employers?
How can organizations develop a system for hiring the "right" employees?
What is involved in conducting a fair and accurate performance appraisal?
What are the elements of a fair and effective compensation system?
The second section of the course will be a "practicuum" in applying your developing knowledge of HRM to a particular client company. The members of the class will act as consultants in dealing with a problem or question raised by the client firm(s), with the instructor acting as a supervisor of the consultant team(s). Through multiple meetings with the client, the class will develop a proposal and timetable, conduct background research, and present their analyses and recommendations to the client.
Course Objectives
To develop an understanding of the role of Strategic HRM in modern organizations.
To practice applying a general model of problem solving to management problems, through individual and group analysis of cases and readings.
To hone skills in working with a firm as a consultant.
To practice oral and written presentation of information.