Organization and Human Resource Management

This course aims to provide students with the essential tools to understand and analyse with a critical approach the more advanced issues related to human resource management (HRM) in complex organizations. The objective will be pursued through a theory-grounded study, as well as through the practical and micro-founded analysis of organizational models and HRM practices. Critical issues and problems related to the applications of the HR operational systems are identified and examined in order to enhance a pragmatic approach.
The course is divided into two parts. The first part is dedicated to fundamental organizational principles. It will discuss the main approaches to the study of organizations and organizational models, with particular emphasis on how organizations must achieve efficiency, effectiveness, and equity, taking into account the economic and institutional context, the competitive environment, and technological developments. The second part focuses on human resource management policies and practices
(recruitment and selection, training and development of human capital, performance evaluation, compensation policies), which will be analyzed in connection with organizational strategy and both the internal and external context.

At the end of the course the student will be able to understand the policies and practices that companies use to manage human resources in a complex environment. In particular, the student will be able to:
- analyse the HRM system in relation to the competitive strategy of the organization;
- discuss the relations between HRM practices and organizational performance;
- analyse the role of the HR function with respect to the other functional areas of the organization;
- properly use the main methodologies related to every HR operational system (recruitment and selection, training, performance management and remuneration policies);
- understand the common objectives and complementary functions between the use of HRM tools and the structural choices of organisations;
- use the fundamental HR tools in teamwork contexts;
- understand the potentialities and the limits of the high performance HRM practices.