MBA and Sloan Elective Courses: Human Resources Management
HRMGT 280. Human Resource Management
Many managers and organizations now recognize that a critical source of competitive advantage often comes not from having the most ingenious product design, the best marketing strategy, or the most state-of-the-art production technology, but rather from having an effective system for obtaining, mobilizing, and managing the organization's human assets. A number of recent developments including demographic changes in the labor force, rapid technological change, increased global competition, tight labor markets in many sectors, experiments with new organizational arrangements, and public policy attention to work force issues are making human resource management (HRM) increasingly important for senior managers in organizations and for entrepreneurs. Indeed, some commentators contend that in today's economy with such open access to information, technology, capital, and other resources adroit human resource management may be one of the few remaining sustainable sources of competitive advantage. This course has two central themes: (1) How to think systematically and strategically about aspects of managing the organization's human assets, and (2) What needs to be done to implement these policies and, if appropriate for a given organization, to achieve competitive advantage through people.
HRMGT 281. Human Resource Management—Extended
The management of talent, both our own personal talent and that of our employees, is a primary source of competitive advantage today. This course addresses ways of attracting, motivating, and retaining talented workers so that the firm can differentiate itself from its competitors. We develop a framework for thinking strategically about employment relations and the management of human resources in organizations. The course draws on insights from the social sciences to explore how employment relations are influenced by economic, social, psychological, legal, and cultural forces. Cases and mini-cases are used to illuminate and deepen our understanding of the specific topics of recruitment and selection; performance evaluation; compensation and benefits; promotion, job design; training; layoffs; retention and turnover; and the human resource implications of various strategies. Not taught in 2009-10.
HRMGT 288. Managing People for Competitive Advantage
Many managers and organizations now recognize that a critical source of competitive advantage often comes not from having the most ingenious product design, the best marketing strategy, or the most state-of-the-art production technology, but rather from having an effective system for obtaining, mobilizing, and managing the organization's human assets. A number of recent developments including demographic changes in the labor force, rapid technological change, increased global competition, tight labor markets in many sectors, experiments with new organizational arrangements, and public policy attention to work force issues are making human resource management (HRM) increasingly important for senior managers in organizations and for entrepreneurs.This course has two central themes: (1) How to think systematically and strategically about aspects of managing the organization's human assets, and (2) What needs to be done to implement these policies and, if appropriate for a given organization, to achieve competitive advantage through people. Not taught in 2009-10.
HRMGT 302. Incentives and Productivity
This course studies the motivation of workers within the firm. A large amount of emphasis is placed on compensation and incentives. The course studies the choice of hiring rules, recruitment policies, layoff strategies, and different forms of pay. Non-pecuniary aspects of the job, such as status and pleasantness of work, are analyzed. The course also examines the interaction of labor relations with legal institutions and unions. This course studies promotion, recruiting and retention, pay methods, and internal labor markets with some attention paid to issues of health and safety and worker empowerment.
HRMGT 361. Data Driven Human Resource Management
In this course, students will cover basic concepts in Human Resource Management and then undertake the analysis of HR systems and practices using relatively sophisticated statistical techniques. Topics include recruitment and selection; performance evaluation; compensation and benefits; promotion; job design; training; layoffs; retention and turnover; and the human resource implications of various strategies. Assignments will include using data from companies to analyze the best selection policies and the effect of the implementation of a new incentive pay system. Note that this 4-unit course, if successfully completed, counts for both the Data Analysis and the HRM foundations requirements.
HRMGMT 521. International Human Resource Management
This is a Bass Seminar. This course examines the design and implementation of human resource (HR) management systems in multinational companies. The course will focus on four major issues faced by such companies: (1) the recruitment, selection, compensation and career management of global employees; (2) the integration of expatriate and local employees into global organizations; (3) adjusting HR practice to the external environment of the employment relationship (including legal and cultural variations in HR practice); and (4) the use of HR to develop global organizational learning systems. The course will draw on the experience of U.S., Japanese, and European corporations establishing HRM systems in industrialized, transition and developing economies. Not taught in 2009-10.
HRMGT 525. Hiring and Selection
We will study issues related to employee selection and hiring at all types of firms. The class will evolve in the following four steps over the week, moving from broad frameworks to very specific and practical exercises: 1) Focus on frameworks (largely from economics) related to employee selection; 2) A review the empirical evidence on such topics as the value of selecting the right employees and the usefulness of interviews; 3) Discussion on hiring issues using cases focusing on a variety of types of employees and companies; and 4) Role-playing exercises, sometimes involving guests with interviewing expertise. Not taught in 2009-10.
HRMGT 581. Personal Economics
No description available.