Syllabus

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The objective of the course is to familiarize student with economic analysis of central topics in human resource management. The student will learn to use tools and concepts of economics to analyze human resource management decision problems.

Credits: 6

Schedule: 25.04.2023 - 09.06.2023

Teacher in charge (valid for whole curriculum period):

Teacher in charge (applies in this implementation): Antti Kauhanen

Contact information for the course (applies in this implementation):

CEFR level (valid for whole curriculum period):

Language of instruction and studies (applies in this implementation):

Teaching language: English. Languages of study attainment: English

CONTENT, ASSESSMENT AND WORKLOAD

Content

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  The course introduces economic approach to human resource management. Topics of the course include: recruitment, personnel development, job design, career development, performance measurement, and performance-related pay. The topics are studied with simple models. Analysis of real-world applications and decision problems are emphasized.

Assessment Methods and Criteria

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  1. Lectures 24h. The lectures involve discussions of real-world problems. The problems are handed out in advance and the students will present their analysis and discuss the problems in class. There will be 5 topics, of which 4 have to be passed in order to pass the course.
  2. Written assignment (50% of the final marking)
  3. Final exam (50% of the final marking)

Workload

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  Workload:
  Participation in lectures 24h
  Preparing for the lecture sessions 24h
  Writing the essay 60h
  Preparing for the exam 50h
  Exam 3h

DETAILS

Study Material

• applies in this implementation

  The course textbook is Lazear, E.P. & Gibbs, M. (2014): "Personnel Economics in Practice", 3rd Ed, Wiley. The 2^nd edition is also fine, but the first edition titled “Personnel Economics for Managers” is not suitable for this course. It is a completely different book.

  I expect you to have the textbook (see more below on the lectures). You can for example buy the e-version of the textbook for about 37€ from here.

  
  

Substitutes for Courses

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  Substitutes for Courses

Prerequisites

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  Prerequisites

SDG: Sustainable Development Goals

8 Decent Work and Economic Growth

FURTHER INFORMATION

Further Information

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  Teaching Language : English

  Teaching Period : 2022-2023 Spring V
  2023-2024 Spring V

• applies in this implementation

  The lectures are an important part of the course and you will participate in discussions and solve problems during the lectures. You won’t be able to just sit in the class; I expect you to participate actively. The lectures will mostly cover i) material from the textbook that I find challenging, unclear or very important, ii) additional models, examples and applications that deepen what you have learned from reading the textbook.

  You will have to prepare for the lectures by reading the relevant chapter from the textbook and some additional readings (see the outline below). This is important because otherwise you will not be able to solve the problems or participate in the discussions. So do get a copy of the textbook.

  Lecture notes will be available at the course web page. The lecture notes will appear as we go along.

  
  

Details on the schedule

• applies in this implementation

  NB! Changes are possible, they are announced on the MyCourse page.

  •        Tue 25.4. Introduction to the course & Recruitment (Chap. 2)

  •        Thu 27.4 Recruitment (Chap. 2)

  •        Tue 2.5. Problem set 1 (recruitment); Investing in Skills (Chap. 3)

  •        Thu 4.5. Investing in Skills (Chap. 3)

  •        Tue 9.5. Problem set 2 (recruitment); Centralization v Decentralization (Chap. 5)

  •        Thu 11.5. Performance Evaluation (Chap. 9)

  •        Tue 16.5. Problem set 3 (Incentive pay); Performance Evaluation (Chap. 9)

  •        Wed 17.5. (U141) Performance Evaluation (Chap. 9)

  •        Tue 23.5. Problem set 4 (Incentive pay); Tying Pay to Performance (Chap. 10)

  •        Thu 25.5. Job Design (Chap. 8)

  •        Tue 30.5. Problem set 5 (Incentive pay); Promotion-Based Incentives (Chap. 11)

  •        Thu 1.6. Evaluation of decisions

  
  

Description