People Metrics
Open to BSBA, MBA, PMBA, & SMP Students
Metrics are at the core of people analytics. The purpose of this course is to introduce you to the foundations of assessing people in organizations, particularly through the use of novel measurement technologies. Through out-of-class preparation, in-class discussions, and real-world applications, this course will enable you to add value to organizations as a developer of new metrics and as a critical consumer of existing metrics. After taking this course, you will be able to:
- Develop a clear and logical conceptual measurement model to assess a given construct. A conceptual measurement model is the foundation of creating novel and useful new approaches for assessing individual attitudes and characteristics (e.g., personality, intelligence, well-being, engagement) and interpersonal characteristics and behavior (e.g., knowledge sharing, inclusion, teamwork).
- Scrutinize the quality of measures and measurement approaches. By understanding the principles of good measurement, you will be able to critically assess the quality of measures being applied to you (e.g., your performance) and the value of new potential measures.
- Understand the use of novel technologies for assessing people in organizations. Organizations and, more generally, society are awash in the traces of individual behavior and social interactions. Decoding how data that already exist in an organization can be used to understand behavior is an essential skill for adding value in the field of people analytics.
- Think critically about how to put new measures into practice in organizations. Because what gets measured gets attention, metrics are often among the most politically-charged phenomena in organizations. To have impact by developing a new measure, it is necessary to be skilled in implementing it and communicating its value within an organizational context.
Teamwork & Leading Organizations
Open to Online MBA Students
Skillfully contributing to, building, and leading collaborative efforts—from small project-based teams to larger functions and divisions—will enable you to have an impact throughout your career. The purpose of this course is to lay a foundation of interpersonal skills and systems thinking that will enable you to differentiate yourself as a valued-adding member and leader of organizations. The specific learning objectives for this course are to:
- Develop your skills as a contributor to and leader of project-based teams. This includes sharpening your understanding of the core elements of team design and how leaders and team members alike can promote effective team processes.
- Develop your skills as a leader in and of organizations. This comprises being able to architect a system—its structure, work design, culture, and people management practices—to execute a given strategy, within a given environment.
At the conclusion of this course, you will be able to independently transfer your learning to:
- design, launch, and lead project-based teams in a manner that (a) meets or exceeds stakeholder’s expectations for task performance; (b) contributes to the growth of individual team members; and, (c) leaves team members willing to work together again in the future;
- systematically analyze an organization’s architecture, assessing its internal congruence and its utility for executing a given strategic approach, either when engaged in early organizational design (e.g., scaling a start-up team) or when diagnosing the reasons for unsatisfactory organizational performance.