B1790 - Service-Oriented Human Resource Management and Leadership

Learning outcomes

At the end of this course students know how to examine roles and functions of human resource management (HRM) and leadership in service organizations. The course specifically examines how HRM functions and techniques to help organizations perform and innovate effectively and to gain a competitive advantage through the "service people". The course also highlights the core leadership skills and characteristics that are instrumental to effectively manage high-performing and innovative individuals and teams to deliver service excellence.

Course contents

• HRM Introduction: Job description (HR tool); Tactics, techniques and sources of recruitment, local and global; Importance of attracting qualified candidates; Selection techniques, tests and interviews; Headhunters.

• Personality & Values, Attitudes & Job satisfaction: Big five model; Positive and negative personality traits; Models of fit; Values. Types of work attitudes; Job satisfaction and job dissatisfaction; Theory of cognitive dissonance.

• Developing People: Training; Development; Learning organization; On the job training and developing people’s potential; Appraisal performance; Feedback skills; Careers.

• Motivation: Motivational theories; Organizational justice; Goals.

• Rewarding People: Remuneration elements; Compensation package; Types of rewards: financial and non-financial; Administering benefits; Employee recognition.

• Well-being at work: Stress and wellbeing at work. What is well-being? The two main approaches to study and conceptualize individual wellbeing: Hedonic and Eudaimonical. Workplace stress: conceptualizations and theoretical frameworks (e.g., Job demand-resource model; Challenge-hindrance stressor model). Stress and well-being assessment and interventions.

• Teams & Leadership & Wellbeing: Leadership and power; Evolution of Leadership theories; Trait perspective; Behavioral theories; Contingency perspective; Leadership styles; Stages of group development, Group norms; Team effectiveness. Main theoretical models.

• Labor Relations: The actors in the labor relations: State, Employers and Trade Unions; History of Trade Unions; The roles of TU in the world; Industrial relations practices; Employment and Unemployment; Strikes.

HRM in times of crises: impact of extra-organizational disruptions on people management, new practices of HRM, managing safety.

Readings/Bibliography

The course is also based on articles referring to the major topics addressed, which will be made available online for students.

Crawshaw, J., Budhwar, P. & Davis, A. (2017). Human Resource Management: Strategic and International Perspectives. Sage Publications, London.

Wilkinson, A. (2019). The Sage Handbook of Human Resource Management. Sage Publications.

Armstrong, M. & Taylor, S. (2014). Armstrong’s handbook of Human Resource Management Practice. 13th revised edition. Kogan Page Ltda.

Fredrickson, B. L. (2001). The role of positive emotions in positive psychology: The broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions. American Psychologist, 56, 218-226.

Luthans, F. (2002). The need for and meaning of positive organizational behavior. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 23(6), 695-706.

Ryff, C. D., Morozink Boylan, J., & Kirsch, J. A.. (2021). Eudaimonic and hedonic well-being, In Matthew T. Lee, Laura D. Kubzansky, and Tyler J. VanderWeele (Eds.), Measuring well-being, 92-135.

Riggio, R. E. & Johnson, S. K. (2022). Introduction to industrial and organizational psychology (8th edition). Routledge. Ch. 9 “Worker stress and burnout”.

Inceoglu, I., Thomas, G., Chu, C., Plans, D., & Gerbasi, A. (2018). Leadership behavior and employee well-being: An integrated review and a future research agenda. The Leadership Quarterly, 29(1), 179-202.

Teaching methods

During the course, the following teaching methods will be applied:

-Lectures

-Group discussion

-Case studies

-Video materials

-Debates and critical discussions

-Group assignments will be used to combine conceptual and experiential approaches.

Assessment methods

Final grades will be based on class participation and case study presentations (40%) and a final written exam (60%).

Mark range:

• 18-19: knowledge of a very limited number of topics covered in the course and analytical skills that emerge only with the help of the teacher, expressed in an overall correct language;
• 20-24: knowledge of a limited number of topics covered in the course and ability to autonomous analysis only on purely executive matters, expression in correct language;
• 25-29: good knowledge of a large number of topics covered in the course, ability to make independent choices of critical analysis, mastery of specific terminology;
• 30-30 cum laude: excellent knowledge of the topics covered in the course, ability to make autonomous choices of critical analysis and connection, full mastery of specific terminology and ability to argue and self-reflection.

Office hours

See the website of Mahsa Abedini