Managing People

1. To show the distinction between the basic framework features of people management and the positive people-leadership and people-management practices which ultimately enable organisations to reap the full rewards associated with the involvement of their people.
2. To familiarise students with the characteristics commonly found within high-performance organisations.
3. To identify the business benefits to be gained from the design and implementation in organisations of those mechanisms that will promote high-performance involvement and commitment from people.
4. To survey and evaluate the various ways in which the performance and engagement of people in organisations can be maximised, through the creation of a facilitating framework and also the mobilisation of positive people-management and people-leadership practices.
5. To equip students with the ability to address situational problems of people performance and construct cost-effective, implementable and convincing solutions.
6. To ensure that candidates are equipped with a fundamental knowledge of the key theories of motivation and leadership that underpin the practical routes to effective people management within organisations.

Programme Content and Learning Objectives

After completing the programme the student should be able to:

1. The changing world of work:

• Comment authoritatively about the ways in which the changing world of work is creating new and different expectations about people performance in organisations (such as: flexibility, responsiveness, enthusiasm for change, entrepreneurialism, diversity, and concern for employability).

• Evaluate the significance for people management of changes in the world of organisations, such as globalisation, the simultaneous focus on service excellence and cost reduction, growing needs for constant innovation, and the requirement to invest in 'human capital'.

• Appreciate the ways in which the attitudes of people in the work environment are evolving to demonstrate increasing concern for a constructive work-life balance.

• Assess the typical features of poorly performing organisations and suggest remedies for the removal or reduction of factors inhibiting both corporate achievement and employee engagement.

• Describe the significance of the distinction between the basic framework factors for people management in organisations, and the positive people-management and people-leadership practices that help to transform organisations into high-performance entities.

• Recognise and apply the essential ingredients of the basic framework for people management, namely, systematic processes and systems for recruitment and selection, training/learning and development, reward and recognition management, employee relations, and performance management.

• Understand the principles, techniques and benefits of high-performance working for organisations, achieved through a mixture of high-level leadership, vision and values, investment in people, a learning culture, and a focus on meaningful results.

• Understand the principles, techniques and benefits of high-performance working for people, achieved through the specification of challenging goals, team-working, appropriate job design, and relationships of trust characterised by a mutually-respected psychological contract.

• Acknowledge the routes through which the authentic engagement of people may be facilitated: strong, visible and consistent leadership; reward and recognition systems that celebrate progress/achievement; empowerment and other strategies for generating 'ownership'; the nurturing of talent and encouragement of employee potential.

• Diagnose the significance of emergent trends in the world of people management, people leadership and people performance (e.g., the migration of work from Europe/USA to India and the Asia Pacific region; the replacement of people by technology; the growing significance of women in the labour market; the ageing population).