Advanced Human Resource and Organisation Management (Names from L to Z)

Teacher(s)

Bonny Gaëtan; Jammaers Eline;

Language

English

Prerequisites

Practical aspects:
The course, the supporting material and the references will be in English, students' interactions and productions (written, oral) are expected to be in English - so it's a must have to have more than a basic
understanding of English.
The course will be delivered for 150+ students and will require to work in team - so ability to speak in public and to partner/contribute in team work will be key.

Functional prerequisites:
Basic understanding of:
- Human Resource - as a support function,
- Organization theory & management - Mintzberg configurations, Schein's cultural model,
- Convention theory
- Basics of Change Management - is a nice to have.
- Basic understanding of Process and Process design.

The course will provide a crash class on the previous items (either during the introduction or via some notes).

Main themes

Purpose and Philosophy of the course:
The course Advanced Human Resource & Organization Management (AHROM) has two targets: the future Operational (or line) managers, and the future Human Resource generalist practioner. To the future
line manager, the course will bring an understanding of the HR function and its interactions with the business - it will answer questions such as: "how does HR help me ; to the future HR practioner, it will
provide a framework and methodology to deliver value. To the future HR generalist or manager, the course will provide a strong framework and introduction in the core of the HR "business". It will answer
questions such as: "how does HR create value in an organization?", "how do i create an HR strategy aligned with the business?"; "what are the roles HR should organize?".... and much more.
The course is designed to confront students with real cases (incl. testimonials) where operations and HR/Organization specialists teams up to face organization transformation challenges.
The course is rooted in the contemporary managerial context where the following (non exhaustive) trends can be easily spotted:
- typical organizational lifecyle events: merger, acquisition, downsizing, restructuring, transformation, ...
- organizations are challenged: flat organizations, "entreprise libérée/liberated company" holocracy, ...,
- the role of manager is equally challenged: from a command-control perspective to a mentoring, coaching approach ...still delivering results;
- organization of the work is challenged: new ways of working, "happiness at work", remote working, outsourcing, ...
- leadership: new mandate for the leaders, ie to inspire, communicate, to impersonate the firm and not (only) "to tell" people...
and for which a theoretical framework will be provided, in the form of keys to understand the role and value-add of an "HR/Business manager".
Course assumptions:
In this program, we assume that:
- HR (and organization management) are in the business not side to the business; the strategic alignment between what is typically described as "supporting" functions is key to business success;
- HR processes and practices are not the preserve of HR professionals; the effective management of people and organization is a combined responsibility of line manager, HR and employee (in generic term);
- knowledge on HRM and Organisation Design and Development (how to organize work) are key to any manager, and learning how HR (must) create value and/or how to interact with HR Professionals is
essential to line manager and leaders;
Main topics covered:
- Formal components of organizations,
- Organization transformation,
- Business & HR Value Proposition,

Aims

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :
1	Upon successful completion of the course, each student must acquire the following knowledge, skills and aptitude: - recognize the importance of aligning HR and Business strategy, - understand the components of an HR strategy embedded in a business context, - understand the role(s) of HR professionals, - mastery of key HR processes/services and their interdependancies, - understanding of the breakdown of HR & Org. management btw HR professionnals and Line Managers, - capacity to assess the impact of an organisational transformation on HR services/processes, - capacity to structure a strategy for a "supporting" funtion.

The contribution of this Teaching Unit to the development and command of the skills and learning outcomes of the programme(s) can be accessed at the end of this sheet, in the section entitled “Programmes/courses offering this Teaching Unit”.

Content

This course consists of three parts. In the first part, a general introduction to HRM and strategic HRM will be given. In the second part, a zoom-in on diversity management theory, as a form of advanced human resource management, will be offered. In the third part, students are expected to practically engage with an HR or organizational issue through a group presentation and group essay. Details of the course are provided in the course descriptive.

Teaching methods

• Interactive seminars;
• Guest lectures;
• Coaching sessions for the group assignment;
• Presentations by students.

Evaluation methods

Continuous evaluation:

• students will do an oral presentation and hand in a written essay (group assignment);
• the group assignment will make up 30% of the total grade;
• the group assignment is partly peer-evaluated (within groups and between groups);
• students can enjoy individual coaching sessions for the group assignment.

Evaluation week:

• during evaluation week, students have to individually take a written exam based on multiple-choice questions;
• the individual exam will make up 70% of the total grade.

Second examination period:

• students whose total score is below 10/20 will have to redo either the individual exam, the group assignment or both in the case where they failed for both parts;
• the individual exam in the second examination period will be orally with open questions or written with multiple choice questions depending on the number of students who have to retake this exam;
• the group assignment will take the form of an individual improvement of the written essay, complemented with an individual reflection paper.

Online resources

Moodle

Bibliography

• The course is based on scientific articles that will be made available on Moodle.

Selected book chapters and academic articles make up the material for this course. All articles and book chapters will be made available to the students on Moodle.
Here are some indicative references:

• Bratton, J., & Gold, J. (2017). Human resource management: theory and practice. Palgrave.
• Leopold, J., & Harris, L. (Eds.). (2009). The strategic managing of human resources. Pearson Education.
• Kelly, E., & Dobbin, F. (1998). How affirmative action became diversity management: Employer response to antidiscrimination law, 1961 to 1996. American Behavioral Scientist, 41(7), 960-984.
• Robinson, G., & Dechant, K. (1997). Building a business case for diversity. Academy of Management Perspectives, 11(3), 21-31.
• Ely, R. J., & Thomas, D. A. (2001). Cultural diversity at work: The effects of diversity perspectives on work group processes and outcomes. Administrative science quarterly, 46(2), 229-273.
• Noon, M. (2010). The shackled runner: time to rethink positive discrimination?. Work, Employment and Society, 24(4), 728-739.
• Kalev, A., Dobbin, F., & Kelly, E. (2006). Best practices or best guesses? Assessing the efficacy of corporate affirmative action and diversity policies. American sociological review, 71(4), 589-617.

Teaching materials

• The course is based on scientific articles that will be made available on Moodle.

Faculty or entity

CLSM