2020/2021
KAN-CCMVV5038U Personnel Economics for Managers
English Title |
Personnel Economics for
Managers |
|
Language |
English |
Course ECTS |
7.5 ECTS |
Type |
Elective |
Level |
Full Degree Master |
Duration |
One Quarter |
Start time of the course |
First Quarter, Third Quarter |
Timetable |
Course schedule will be posted at
calendar.cbs.dk |
Max. participants |
80 |
Study board |
Study Board for MSc in Economics and Business
Administration
|
Course
coordinator |
- Niels Westergård-Nielsen - Department of Accounting
(AA)
|
Main academic
disciplines |
- Corporate governance
- Human resource management
- Organisation
|
Teaching
methods |
|
Last updated on
17-02-2021
|
Learning objectives |
Personnel economics provides concepts and tools
for managers to deal with personnel and leadership issues. The
course will provide a foundation for managers to choose between
various performance measurement systems, performance reward systems
and other incentive systems in hiring and in investments in human
capital. These principles apply to wages and wage structure of all
organizations. The course will also provide an understanding of how
different types of businesses will call for different types of
decision making and how this affects the optimal job design.
The course will give the general management student an
understanding of how to include personnel management methods in an
overall frame for the development of an organization. Thus, the
course is not competing with courses in HR but can stand alone or
can be considered as a supplement. |
Course prerequisites |
HA or equivalent |
Examination |
Personnel
Economics for Managers:
|
Exam
ECTS |
7,5 |
Examination form |
Home assignment - written product |
Individual or group exam |
Individual exam |
Size of written product |
Max. 10 pages |
|
Students have 4 hours to complete the
exam |
Assignment type |
Written assignment |
Duration |
Written product to be submitted on specified date
and time. |
Grading scale |
7-point grading scale |
Examiner(s) |
One internal examiner |
Exam period |
Autumn and Spring |
Make-up exam/re-exam |
Same examination form as the ordinary exam
If the number of registered
candidates for the make-up examination/re-take examination warrants
that it may most appropriately be held as an oral examination, the
programme office will inform the students that the make-up
examination/re-take examination will be held as an oral examination
instead.
|
|
Course content, structure and pedagogical
approach |
Personnel economics applies economics to human resources
management issues such as recruitment, compensation, promotions,
worker turnover, performance evaluation, selection, and training.
Personnel economics has been developed over the last 20 years and
is now taught at leading business schools (Stanford and Chicago
Booth School and many other places) all over the world.
Furthermore, Personnel Economics is the foundation for the modern
trend of measuring effects of HR together with the human resources
of the employees.
The course provides a theoretical framework needed to analyse human
resources policies under varying institutional and competitive
environments. It highlights the importance of information and
incentives in the modern economy. Issues covered include the
following issues: Should pay vary across workers within firms? How
are pay and promotions structured across jobs to induce optimal
effort from employees? Why do firms use teams and how are they used
most effectively? Does CEO pay reflect competitive markets and
efficient contracting? How important is discrimination? What makes
an entrepreneur? How should human resource management practices be
combined within firms?
Thus the course will cover issues around pay and investment in
human capital seen from the perspective of both workers and
employees. The course will also look at turnover and factors which
limit or increase turnover. Principal-agent theory is used to
explain optimal wage packages for different groups of employees and
for other management issues. Wages and incentive pay in the form of
bonus and shares are central here. Free-rider problems are
discussed in the context of organizing work in teams.
The full list of content :
Part One: Sorting and Investing in Employees.
Chapter 1: Setting Hiring Standards.
Chapter 2: Recruitment.
Chapter 3: Investment In Skills.
Chapter 4: Managing Turnover.
Part Two: Organizational and Job Design.
Chapter 5: Decision Making.
Chapter 6: Organizational Structure.
Chapter 7: Job Design.
Chapter 8: Advanced Job Design.
Part Three: Paying for Performance.
Chapter 9: Performance Evaluation.
Chapter 10: Rewarding Performance.
Chapter 11: Career-Based Incentives.
Chapter 12: Options and Executive Pay.
Part Four: Applications.
Chapter 13: Benefits.
Chapter 14: Entrepreneurship and Intrapreneurship.
Chapter 15: The Employment Relationship.
|
Description of the teaching methods |
Lectures with groupwork around cases |
Feedback during the teaching period |
Office hours for feedback |
Student workload |
lectures |
33 hours |
preparation and exam |
170 hours |
|
Expected literature |
Edward P.
Lazear,
Michael Gibbs: Personnel Economics in Practice, 2nd Edition,
Wiley 2009
supplemented with articles and cases on the different
topics.
|
Last updated on
17-02-2021