Advanced Human Resource and Organisation Management

Teacher(s)

Bonny Gaëtan;

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 target audiences: the future Operational (or line or business) managers, and the future Human Resource professionals and practioners. To the future line manager, the course will bring an understanding of the HR function and its interactions with the business - it will answer question such as: "how does HR help me" ; to the future HR practioner, it will provide a framework and a methodology to deliver value to the business and the HR community. 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, agile working, remote working, outsourcing, ...
  - leadership: new mandate for the leaders, i.e. 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.

Learning outcomes

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.

Content

The following elements are indicative of the backbone of the course, the details are provided in the course descriptif (see: XXXX)
- Organization Analysis,
- HR Strategy
- HR service catalog,
- Business Stakeholders,
- HR Roles & Service Delivery model (Target operating model),
- HR & Business governance,
- HR Performance.

 

Teaching methods

• - Interactive courses with preliminay readings,
  - Case-based discussions - where students are expected to enrich with their readings, research and to confront viewpoints,
  - Group/team work and review - where students are asked to "solve" in group a case in an orginal way, using course materals, knowledge and research (and testimonials),
  - Coaching session - where students can discuss the progress of their case either in peer review mode and/or with counseling from the faculty team.

Evaluation methods

Assessment of learning outcomes combines individual and team performance:
1. individual production (assignment 1 - Concept definition) - due March 11;
2. team project on a given case and participation to coaching sessions (assignment #2 - HR strategy case resolution) - due March 18.
Details of the scoring breakdown will be given in the course's pedagogical contract - see Moodle.
Students failing to succeed in first session (in March), will have to take a written examination in second session (August – September 2022) to solve a business case and answer questionnaire (open books).
Important : In order to preserve fairness, the spirit of the course and the collective effort to resolve the case, the results of the second session will be capped to a maximum of 65% of the maximum points obtainable for the resolution of the case in first session.
In addition, the points obtained in the individual work (definition) are maintained as they are and taken into account for the second session.

Other information

Powerpoint slides will be made available to the students before the beginning of each seminar. These slides often only contain key concepts and ideas. Students are adviced to take notes during class to help them render the slide more comprehensive. The slides, along with a selection of book chapters and scientific articles form the core material to study for the exam. 

Online resources

- Open classes,
- Moodle,
- Case material and data pack,
- Faculty assistant: Mrs Ann Verbeke (appointment only)

Bibliography

- For each topic covered there will be a data pack provided on Moodle.
- Bratton, J., Gold, J., Human Resource Management, 6th edition: Theory and Practice Paperback – 1. March 2017
- Leopold, J., Harris, L., The Strategic Managing of Human Resources, 2nd Edition, Prentice Hall (FT) - 2009.
- Texts from Dave Ulrich (e.g. Human Resource Champion, HR Value Proposition, HR from the outside in), Marie-Jo Hatch (Organization Theory), and other academic references.

Faculty or entity

CLSM