The School of Commerce & Enterprise · business, money & management
HR & Organizational Behavior
Hiring, paying, and keeping people — and why organizations behave the way they do.
Recruiting, onboarding, reviews, and exits — the full arc of employment, handled well.
Syllabus · 4 units · ~20 hours
Unit I — Finding People
Job analysis before the job posting · Sourcing and screening · Structured interviews over gut feel
Unit II — Starting People
Offers, negotiation, and paperwork · Onboarding: the first ninety days · Probation, done fairly
Unit III — Growing People
Performance reviews that inform pay and growth · Training and development, budgeted · Promotion: criteria in daylight
Unit IV — Parting Ways
Resignations and knowledge transfer · Terminations: lawful, documented, humane · Exit interviews worth reading
Motivation, teams, culture, and power — the predictable patterns of people in groups.
Syllabus · 3 units · ~24 hours
Unit I — The Individual
Motivation: from Maslow to self-determination · Job design and engagement · Perception and attribution at work
Unit II — The Group
Team development and team roles · Conflict: task versus relationship · Psychological safety, evidenced
Unit III — The Organization
Culture: artifacts, values, assumptions · Power and politics without cynicism · Change: why most initiatives stall
Pay bands, incentives, and the benefits ledger — paying fairly enough to forget about pay.
Syllabus · 3 units · ~12 hours
Unit I — Pay Architecture
Market benchmarking · Bands, ranges, and compression · Pay equity audits
Unit II — Incentives
Bonuses: what they buy and what they break · Commissions and quota design · Stock and options, in plain terms
Unit III — Benefits
Health, retirement, leave: the big three · Perks versus pay: what employees actually value · Total compensation statements
Structured questions, work samples, and the evidence on what predicts performance.
Syllabus · 3 units · ~10 hours
Unit I — What Predicts
The validity evidence, ranked · Why unstructured interviews charm and fail · Bias: where it enters and how to bar it
Unit II — Building the Process
Scorecards before candidates · Behavioral and situational questions · Work samples and structured tasks
Unit III — Deciding
Independent ratings before discussion · Reference checks that ask real questions · Closing candidates honestly
Discrimination, wages, leave, and dismissal — the rules every manager is presumed to know.
Syllabus · 3 units · ~10 hours
Unit I — The Protected Ground
Discrimination law in outline · Harassment: definitions and duties · Reasonable accommodation
Unit II — Wages and Hours
Minimum wage, overtime, exemptions · Classification: employee versus contractor · Leave: sick, family, medical
Unit III — Discipline and Dismissal
At-will employment and its exceptions · Documentation that protects everyone · Retaliation: the claim that follows the claim