This goal of this course is to introduce students to concepts and key debates in the contemporary Human Resource Management (HRM), and to illustrate how HRM policies and practices are designed and delivered in the global context. Special attention will be given to integration of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in and by the HRM function, and HR managers as persons influencing people in organizations and beyond. Thus, most activities in class will focus on data-based analysis of the impact of HRM decisions on people in the firm and the firm's environment (e.g. families, societies, global value chains). Various models and frameworks developed for such HRM which supports achievement of SDGs, in partcular common-good HRM, green HRM, and humanistic management, form the basis of this course.

Knowledge and understanding
• People – responsible strategic and operational HRM, meeting future organisational
requirements which do not compromise theneeds of future generations, people development, sustainable HRM systems
• Communications - the comprehension and use of relevant communications for
application in business and management, including the responsible use of digital tools.

Intellectual skills
• Being able to think critically and be creative: manage the creative processes
in self and others; organise thoughts, analyse, synthesise and critically
appraise. This includes the capability to identify assumptions, evaluate
statements in terms of evidence, detect false logic or reasoning, identify
implicit values, define terms adequately and generalise appropriately
• Being able to solve complex problems and make decisions: establish criteria,
using appropriate decision-making techniques including identifying,
formulating and solving business problems; and the ability to create, identify
and evaluate options; the ability to implement and review decisions
• Using information and knowledge effectively in order to abstract meaning
from information and to share knowledge, including the use of quantitative
skills.

Professional practical skills
• Self-analysis and awareness/sensitivity to diversity in terms of people and
cultures. This includes a continuing appetite for development as a responsible leader
• Qualitative and quantitative data analytics skills including the ability to work with case studies
• People management, to include communications, team building, leadership
and motivating others
• Leadership and motivating others for the common good

Transferable (key) skills
Effective two-way communication: listening, effective oral and written
communication of complex ideas and arguments, using a range of media,
including the preparation of business reports
• High personal effectiveness: critical self-awareness, self-reflection and self-
management; time management; sensitivity to diversity in people and
different situations and the ability to continue to learn through reflection on
practice and experience
• Learning to learn and developing an appetite for reflective, adaptive and
collaborative learning
• Good career, business and cultural awareness, with orientation towards sustinable development as an imperative

This is a "PI"(constant evaluation) -type course. Full attendance in the first session is absolutely required. Those who come late or leave early will be deregistered from this course. During the remaining sessions, 80% attendance is required in order to have a chance to compete the course with a positive grade (mark).

Punctuality is required and monitored. Each session begins at 8:30 a.m.which means that partcipants must arrive early enough to be ready to actively participate in class starting from 8:30 a.m.

Please note that presence does not equal active class participation (ACP). Presence is only a necessary condition to be able to actively participate in class.

The course applies an interactive and participant-led approach, and takes advantage of a variety of teaching methods such as: lectures, case study discussions and workshops, small-group presentations, and group role-plays. A considerable proportion of this course is dedicated to experiential learning, using approaches which put students into the manager’s seat, and help them experience challenges of managing people in the digital age.

There are four components of the final grade awarded for completing this course:
1.    Pre-course written individual paper: 20%
2.    Active individual participation in class (ACP): 30%
3.    Group presentations in class: 30%
4.    Post-course group report: 20%
 
Individual components of the final grade: 50%
Group component of the final grade: 50%

Points earned for work in class: up to 60%
Points earned for work outside of class: up to 40%

Grading scheme:
o 100-90% excellent
o 89-80% good
o 79-70% satisfactory
o 69-60% sufficient
o 59-0% fail

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Pre-course assignment (individual paper)

Critically discuss dangers imposed by the use of AI-based tools to vulnerable groups of workers in Austria, and advise what managers of companies operating in this country can do to improve the situation.
First, read information on Sustainable Development Goal No. 8, focusing on target 8.8, on the official Website of the United Nations (https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment), and conduct online research to find related reports about decent work (online work included) in Austria. Find information about businesses which use AI-tools to manage their workforce and indirectly employed people, paying attention to reports about platform workers (e.g. people who deliver your online shopping). When writing your report, make sure that in your paper you put under scrutiny current problems which occur in your area, and identify potential for a better involvement of managers in business firms to ameliorate the situation of vulnerable workers affected by the use of AI technologies. Your report should present your own conclusions and observations, and be grounded in facts, and based on relevant sources, e.g. from the United Nations International Labour Organisation (ILO), EU/national/regional government, high quality academic journals and books, as well as daily press, news releases, and Websites of companies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

This written assignment accounts for 20% of the final mark for this course.
Expected length is 2,500 words (+/-10%). The list of references (bibliography) as well as graphics, tables and charts do not count towards this word count.

Submission deadline: June 14, 2024 (23:59 P.M. CET. i.e. Vienna timezone)
Submission is only accepted as an upload on WU’s online learning platform Canvas. Submission via E-mail will not be accepted. Late submissions will be accepted with a penalty of 5 points deducted for each day the submission is late. Permitted submission format is only a searchable Portable Document Format (.pdf). Submissions made in other file formats will not be opened and result in a “no submission” status.  Submitting a file which is corrupted or saved with disabled text search function (which is necessary for plagiarism and AI-content checks) will result in “no submission” status.

Permitted referencing styles: AMA, APA or Harvard style - either one is accepted, yet must be consistently applied. The lecturer recommends free software “Zotero” (www.zotero.org) to manage references.

Note on use of AI tools: To properly cite content generated using AI tools (e.g. Google’s Bard, or Open AI’s ChatGPT) please follow guidelines of WU Vienna at https://library.wu.ac.at/bib/fit4research/index.php/en/fit4research-english/cite-and-organize-your-literature/citing-correctly/#how

All submissions will be checked for plagiarism and AI generated content. Strong penalties are in place for academic misconduct in line with policies of WU Vienna.

Please log in with your WU account to use all functionalities of read!t. For off-campus access to our licensed electronic resources, remember to activate your VPN connection connection. In case you encounter any technical problems or have questions regarding read!t, please feel free to contact the library at readinglists@wu.ac.at.

Pre-course assignment
Critically discuss dangers imposed by the use of AI-based tools to vulnerable groups of workers in Austria, and advise what managers of companies operating in this country can do to improve the situation.
First, read information on Sustainable Development Goal No. 8, focusing on target 8.8, on the official Website of the United Nations (https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment), and conduct online research to find related reports about decent work (online work included) in Austria. Find information about businesses which use AI-tools to manage their workforce and indirectly employed people, paying attention to reports about platform workers (e.g. people who deliver your online shopping). When writing your report, make sure that in your paper you put under scrutiny current problems which occur in your area, and identify potential for a better involvement of managers in business firms to ameliorate the situation of vulnerable workers affected by the use of AI technologies. Your report should present your own conclusions and observations, and be grounded in facts, and based on relevant sources, e.g. from the United Nations International Labour Organisation (ILO), EU/national/regional government, high quality academic journals and books, as well as daily press, news releases, and Websites of companies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

This written assignment accounts for 20% of the final mark for this course.
Expected length is 2,500 words (+/-10%). The list of references (bibliography) as well as graphics, tables and charts do not count towards this word count.

Submission deadline: June 14, 2024 (midnight CET. i.e. Vienna timezone)
Submission is only accepted as an upload on WU’s online learning platform Canvas. Submission via E-mail will not be accepted. Late submissions will be accepted with a penalty of 5 points deducted for each day the submission is late. Permitted submission format is only a searchable Portable Document Format (.pdf). Submissions made in other file formats will not be opened and result in a “no submission” status.  Submitting a file which is corrupted or saved with disabled text search function (which is necessary for plagiarism and AI-content checks) will result in “no submission” status.

Permitted referencing styles: AMA, APA or Harvard style - either one is accepted, yet must be consistently applied. The lecturer recommends free software “Zotero” (www.zotero.org) to manage references.

Note on use of AI tools: To properly cite content generated using AI tools (e.g. Google’s Bard, or Open AI’s ChatGPT) please follow guidelines of WU Vienna at https://library.wu.ac.at/bib/fit4research/index.php/en/fit4research-english/cite-and-organize-your-literature/citing-correctly/#how

All submissions will be checked for plagiarism and AI generated content. Strong penalties are in place for academic misconduct in line with policies of WU Vienna.