Human Resources
Full course description
People are the core of organisations. They set the goals, plan, design, organise and carry out the work and run the business. To be successful, organisations need to find, develop, and retain the best possible employees. In this course, students will reflect upon psychological research and theories that may contribute to human resource management (HRM) practices in organisations. The practices discussed in this course are job analysis, recruitment, personnel selection and assessment, training, performance appraisal and performance management, continuous professional development, career development, talent management, compensation, employee relations and employee retention. The use of a strategic approach to human resource management means that the practices listed above need to be coordinated to achieve organisational goals, since they form sequential, but interdependent steps in employing personnel in an organisation. The organisational goals therefore need to be translated into criteria for employee behaviour, attitudes, and performance. Subsequently, instruments need to be selected or developed to measure whether the criteria are met. Students will discuss how these criteria can be set and tested and how the usefulness of HRM practices can be evaluated to improve organisational performance.
The course aims to connect research, theory and practice. Therefore, students must apply their knowledge to specific problems and complete assignments whilst using and discussing real-life examples of HRM practices. In addition, students gain insight into the field of Work and Organizational Psychology and HRM by following guest lectures by practitioners and by sessions organised by an HRM consultancy. In these sessions, they gain hands-on experience with assessment instruments and techniques used in selection processes and personnel development.
Finally, students identify a gap in the existing literature and write a research proposal in a group.
The final assessment for this course is a numerical grade between 0,0 and 10,0.
Course objectives
Students are able to
- critically think about strategic human resource management and how the practices interact in a system view to achieve organisational goals;
- understand psychological research and theories related to the human resource management practices of job analysis, recruitment, personnel selection and assessment, training, performance appraisal and performance management, continuous professional development, career development, compensation, employee relations, talent management and employee retention in order to be able to design and evaluate these practices;
- apply psychological research and theories to these human resource management practices in line with an evidence-based approach to decision making;
- provide 360-degree feedback and self-assess tutorial group functioning on the basis of predefined criteria and reflect upon and discuss the outcomes to be able to improve in the next period.
- Ability to identify gaps in the existing research and develop a research proposal.