Session 1 - Intro_HR & Orga

Human Resources & Organizations

Session 1: Course Introduction + The Nature of managerial work

Djibril SARR 2025-2026

Some images were created with the help of Dall-E

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Today’s Class

1. Course Introduction
2. Meet your teams!
3. The nature of managerial work
4. Current trends and tensions
5. Management vs. HRM

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About me

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About the course

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Course Coordinator

Dr. Agata MIROWSKA Polish-Canadian Ph.D. in HRM & OB from McMaster University (Canada) M.A in Economics McMaster University (Canada) B.Comm Degree from University of Toronto (Canada) Professional experience in small business (manufacturing), temporary employment recruitment, consulting Teaching experience at various levels in Canada, USA, France Research interests:

• AI taking on human roles
• Virtual agents in the workplace
• Technological well-being

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My Expectations

1. Act professionally:Be on time, contribute, give constructive feedback

4. No question/idea is stupid:If you’re thinking it, someone else probably is, too!

2.Psychologically safe environment: Respect, tolerance, inclusion, listening, openness – in short, make everyone feel welcome and accepted

5. No laptops:Bring them to class, but do not take them out unless instructed to do so; Notes can be taken on paper

3. Be (pro-)active:Prepare for and attend the sessions, participate, and request help if you need it (in class, via email, Teams)

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Wait…notes on paper?

2024 Meta-Analysis of 24 studies, N > 3.000 concluded that: “…handwritten notes are more useful for studying and committing to memory than typed notes, ultimately contributing to higher achievement for college students.”

Reasons:

• Note taking by hand is more active
• Requires you to make sense of information
• Judge what’s important and what’s not, organize content into themes
• Helps with “encoding”  how knowledge moves from short term memory (what you just heard) to long term memory and eventually forms memory pathways (what you can recall later)

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Wait…notes on paper?

Secondary reason:

Saving precious cognitive resources! Having devices open and available, even if you’re only using for this course, uses cognitive energy as you resist the temptation to do other things

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Course Objectives

Introduce students to the world of human resources

Introduce students to organizations as social systems

Human Resources & Organizations

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Course Objectives: Human resources

What if I don’t want to be in human resources management?

Do you plan to work with and/or manage other humans?

Then this course is for you!

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Course Objectives: Human resources

In this class, we will:

Make you aware of what HRM does and how it will affect you as a manager and the people you oversee

Discuss how social relationships and interactions affect workplace behaviors

Think about how the world of work is changing

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Course Objectives: Organizations

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Class Schedule

06/10/2025 lundi 17:00 20:00

01/12/2025 lundi 17:00 20:00

13/10/2025 lundi 17:00 20:00

02/12/2025 mardi 13:45 16:45

20/10/2025 lundi 17:00 20:00

08/12/2025 lundi 17:00 20:00

17/11/2025 lundi 17:00 20:00

24/11/2025 lundi 17:00 20:00

28/11/2025 vendredi 17:00 20:00

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Discussions, role plays, debates, etc.,

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A note about readings

Readings to be done before class

Additional Readings

Reports

• Do not need to be done before class
• Material may show up on asynchronous session quiz and exam – ignore material specific to US labor law
• Note: Chapter 7 includes three articles as “Chapter readings” available on Courses – see Course Information Document

• There are three reports:

• World Economic Forum Future of Jos Report 2025
• The EU Quality of WorkLife in 2024
• Randstad Workmonitor 2023

• These are for your information only, you are not required to know the findings of these for quizzes or exams

• Relatively short, more practitioner oriented
• Have been chosen to make you think about a current issue or topic
• Need to be done before class, otherwise you will not be ready to contribute to the team
• I will not be reviewing these in detail in class

Class Textbooks

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Your grade

What does class engagement mean?

It’s more than just speaking up!

• Attending class regularly, on time
• Being engaged in class – no cell phone, paying attention
• Having completed preparatory readings
• Participating in class discussions and team activities

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Future of Management Team Project

More information in the Course Information document on Courses

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Future of Management Team Project

Questions so far?

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Teams

The nature of managerial work

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What words come to mind when I say “manager”?

• In your teams, take 10 minutes to brainstorm what words come to mind when I say the word “manager”
• Try to come to a consensus on 2-3 terms that best represent your team’s perspective

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What words come to mind when I say “manager”?

What is a manager?

A person in charge of an organization or sub-unit Mintzberg, 1990

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What is a manager?

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What is a managing?

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What is a managing?

Challenges

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Challenges

And this is all BEFORE we even get to inter-personal challenges:

And yet, the manager is an important role in an employee’s work life

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Current trends and paradoxes

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Current trends and tensions

Current trends and tensions: Workforce

Current trends and tensions: Societal

Current trends and tensions: Work Environment

Management Talks

Delphine BRUNEL President of Valkyries Normandie Rugby Clubs (VNRC) - Manages day to day operations of the Rouen Women’s Rugby Team

Andrew MUNDELL Product Owner at ENOVEA - Manages product development at intersection of IT and finance

Cyril LLOZA Technical Director at Valkyries Normandie Rugby Clubs (VNRC) - Manages sports/technical side of the Rouen Women’s Rugby Team

Dominique BOD Diving Site Manager at Eurodive - Manages teams of professional divers doing underwater work

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Management vs. HRM

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What words come to mind when I say “human resource manager”?

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HRM Responsibilities

• handling admin tasks, paperwork, adhering to legal standards;
• some of these tasks are targets for devolution to managers, but some can’t be

• contributing to organizational strategy by making HR practices a competitive advantage;
• requires understanding of business, industry, competitors, and forward looking perspective;
• probably not a candidate for devolution to managers,

• developing HR systems that meet organizational goals based on understanding of business and industry;
• ideally, this should be shared with managers to ensure that HR systems are in line with how work is “really” done

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HRM Responsibilities

Jeeny edited this slide:

1. Bolded some phrases/words

Why study HRM?

Why study HRM?

I’m not quite sure about this slide. What does “Many of these are becoming shared functions with direct managers (N+1)? Jeeny edited this slide:

1. Enlarged the chart/font size

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HR Devolution

Benefits

Disadvantages

• HR decisions can be made closer to employees
• Gives manager more say in their team, how it operates, culture that develops
• Direct manager is better source of information, e.g., for performance evaluations
• Managers are often a big reason for why employees leave jobs
• Can speed up decision-making and adjustments to meet employee needs

• Not all managers are trained in HR or legal nuances of employee relations
• Lack of organizational support and/or resources (e.g., time) to engage in these activities
• May lead to inconsistency in how HR policies are applied across business units
• Devolution process often lacks strategy and foresight
• May be seen as a cost-cutting measure, way to « dump » others’ work on them

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How to make devolution work?

Where do we go from here?

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Questions?

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Attendance

Validity

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interactions, relationships, processes, etc., happen within an Organization, which itself is an entity affected, constrained, and enabled by:

• Socio-technical systems  recognition of interactions between people (living beings) and technological artefacts (non-living), and how each can affect the other
• Culture  gives rise to norms, expectations, ways of acting within the organization
• Hierarchies  system of interactions, decision-making, and information flows
• Societal context  the organization exists within a societal culture, with its own norms, expectations, ways of acting (which may differ from that within it)
• Legal constraints  laws, regulations, institutions that constrain what an organization can do

• Market  competitors, customers, regional vs. global considerations

• Strategy  internally set, within legal, societal, and market constraints, which dictates organization’s activities