This specialization provides a robust introduction to the key principles, policies, and practices of human resource management. The specialization begins with a foundational course that considers alternative approaches to managing human resources, provides a background to the U.S. legal context in which employees are hired, fired, rewarded, and managed, and outlines the different reasons that people are motivated to work.

The remaining three courses tackle three core areas that all managers should understand: hiring employees, evaluating their performance, and rewarding them. Throughout the courses, an accessible, scientific approach is embraced such that best practices and practical tips are informed by research, but presented in accessible, applied ways.

The Program

1. Preparing to Manage Human Resources
   This course provides a foundation for developing your own approach to skillfully managing employees by illustrating alternative human resource management (HRM) strategies, introducing the importance of the legal context, and thinking about what motivates employees.
2. Recruiting, Hiring, and Onboarding Employees
   As you will see in our time together in the second course, a critical component of the People Manager Value Proposition is to hire talented people who enable the organization to achieve its strategic goals. This course is an introduction into the topic of recruitment, selection and onboarding.
3. Managing Employee Performance
   In this third course in the Human Resources for People Managers specialization, you will discuss the skills and key processes you will need to develop your employees to attain department and organizational goals. 
4. Managing Employee Compensation
   You’ll get an overview of key the key technical skills: compliance with pay regulations, understanding stock options, shopping for health insurance and pension providers, and designing incentive plans.
5. Human Resources Management Capstone: HR for People Managers
   This specialization provides a robust introduction to the key principles, policies, and practices of human resource management, with a focus on understanding managerial choices and constraints, acquiring and onboarding talent, managing employee performance, and rewarding employees. 

What you will learn 

• Understanding alternative approaches to managing human resources and appreciating the diversity of factors that motivate workers.
• Applying best practices for hiring and rewarding employees, and for managing employee performance.
• Avoiding key mistakes in (mis)managing human resources.