Course info

BEL-HRM / Human Resource Management

 Introduction

This course introduces HRM as a fundamental component of the competitiveness, effectiveness, and sustainability of an organization. HRM plays crucial role in predicting employee behavior, attitudes, and performance. It is a central function of any organization.  Managers, irrespective of their functional specialization, need to effectively utilize human resources to be successful.

This course aims to provide a context for HRM in organizations, an introduction to various functions of HRM and help managers of today and tomorrow to appreciate, understand and apply principles of HRM effectively.  This course combines two parts: first, we examine the strategic view on HRM, and understand how strategies of HR are developed and implemented in contemporary organizations. Second, special emphasis is made on HR practices including recruitment and selection, performance management, employee training and development and employee relations These parts allow learners to be able to analyze an actual situation with human resources in the company and achieve HR goals at the level of the department.

 

 Course Goals

• The course aims at facilitating executive learners of postgraduate program in management to:
• Develop decision making skills concerning HRM issues at the department level.
• Sharpen specific HR competencies applicable to line managers
• Implement HR strategy of the organization

Textbooks / Cases

They will be made available to the participants before the course begins.

 

Pedagogy/Learning Process

This course follows the method of education and not training (O'Toole, 1999^[1]); emphasis will be on 'why' and not 'how'. Training focuses on how to do something, providing cookbook recipes for achieving specific predictable outcomes. Education, on the other hand, focuses on why people do something, helping you learn to ponder why people like to achieve various outcomes, so that you can yourself identify, if and when needed, the appropriate means for achieving those outcomes. Education is thus not application-oriented and immediate usefulness is not the main objective. It focuses on developing your capacity to think independently and thereby reach your own solutions to various problems^[2].

The learning method shall involve interactive discussions that evolve out of questions and answers drawn from a thorough reading of the assigned materials for every session. In an e-classroom context where the visual access between the instructor and the participants is limited, it thus becomes everybody’s responsibility to get into a constructive dialogue instead of expecting a particular individual to be the provider of ‘solutions’. Skimming through the readings in a superficial manner will not help in this regard. It is expected that you will come fully prepared to every session to engage in a fruitful deliberation. My role in this interaction is that of a guide and facilitator, inserting useful additional material at times, but seldom interpreting the readings for you or lecturing about them.

Additional Instructions:

I expect that the necessary reading materials and cases are read before the class in order to have a superior learning experience. Also, all are suggested to allocate the following time for each session of 3.75 hours  

• 2 hours prior preparation for class (taking notes whilst completing readings, exercises, previewing lecture notes and the like)
• 2 hours completing post-class assignments (re-evaluating the discussion with that of the preparation, reflecting on the case discussed, and summarizing the acquired learning)
• 1 hour reflection on translating the learning to professional practice.

Evaluation Components (Assessment of Learning)