Look at all these commuters rushing to or from work. Think of all the occupations captured here, scientists, engineers, brand managers, financial analysts, maybe health care professionals, a social worker, a judge, maybe even a college professor or two. What do they all have in common? Well, if they're working for an organization, big or small, private sector, public sector government agency, nonprofit sector, whether the bottom of the organizational pyramid or the top. All of these workers need to be managed. So being a manager is critically important, but it's also a very difficult role to be in. But since it's so important for all organizations, you should embrace your role as a manager. But this can be difficult, not only as the work itself challenging, but if you look at business blogs, if you look at MBA curriculum, if you look at other types of things It's all about leadership these days. Not about management, not about being a manager. That seems to be something dull to be avoided. Everybody wants to be a leader. So maybe your asking yourself, well I don't want to be a manager. I want to be a leader. All right, in this way of thinking a leadership is all about being bold and sleek and future looking. Managing is about nuts and bolts, mundane, gray tasks. So in this sharp way of thinking, our leaders have vision. They need to inspire people. They need to be strategic. They need to drive change. Whereas being a manager, well that's dull. That's just policies, procedures, budgets, things of that nature. Well there's really two ways, there's really things that are wrong with this sharp way of thinking. First of all, well all organizations need managers to survive and to thrive. Everybody can't just be a leader. You need people who could follow policies and procedures. Pay attention to the bottom line and get things done. More importantly, it's really a false dichotomy to present somebody with a choice of being a leader or a manager. Most managers need to do things that are characteristics of good leaders as well. So in this specialization, we'll teach you how to follow good policies and procedures for managing people. How to hire people? How to evaluate their performance? How to reward them? But you need to this in ways which show some visions for how to get work done in your work unit. You need to be able to inspire and motivate employees. You need to be strategic in how you would engage and deploy them. And you need to figure out change strategies when things aren't working very well. So think of this course not as just being about management or being a manager, but think about it as what I'll call being a managing leader. Yes, policies and procedures are important, but this doesn't mean that you shouldn't also be trying to inspire people, be strategic, and thinking about how to lead change, when you need to change things, when things aren't working well. And this is critically important because people join organizations and quit managers and it's really true. So this course is intended to provide a foundation for you to become in what I'm calling a managing leader. And the goal of this course is to make you ready to develop your own people management skills and to be an effective manager and leader, and we'll do this in a variety of ways. First we'll explore a variety of options for managing people, both in terms of HR strategy, as well as in terms of individual managerial or leadership style. We'll also look at what makes workers tick. What motivates them? How can you engage them in their work? And then lastly, we'll look at the contexts in which managers have to manage. We'll look at the pressures and constraints that make being a manager a complex role. Let's quickly look at a map of this course. This course will consist of four modules. The first module will be on alternative approaches to managing human resources. After completing this module, you'll be able to explain why managing people is important, compare strategies for managing human resources, evaluate the fit between an organization's HR strategy. A manager's style or styles and the business environment, and you'll also be able to recommend strategies and styles for managing people in a particular situation. Module two will emphasize the monetary aspects of work. After completing this module, you'll be able to explain how money can motivate some workers, identify key managerial concerns if workers are self interested, and view work economically, and develop strategies for addressing these key concerns using insights from economics. In the third module, we'll look at non monetary aspects of work. After completing this module, you'll be able to explain at least four different reasons that people work, that aren't related to money. You'll be able to identify key managerial concerns when workers work for different non-monetary reasons. You'll be able to develop strategies for addressing these key concerns, using insights from psychology and sociology. And you'll be able to justify the application of insights from economics, psychology and sociology In different situations. In module four, we'll look at the people manager as part of a complex system. After completing this module, you'll be able to explain at least four constraints that influence how human resources are managed in a particular organization. Compare the ways in which the law does and does not see employment as a typical contractual relationship. You'll be able to create a list of legal and illegal HRM practices in your country. And you'll be able to judge when to use strategies for managing people that go beyond what the law requires. All of this is intended to support the broad goal of this course, which is to make you ready for developing your own skills for managing people. I’m very excited by this course. No other course puts this material together in this way. I think I have a pretty unique background compared to a lot of people who teach Human Resources, and so again, you’ll be getting a unique experience which will provide you a very rich, broad framework for developing your own people management skills. Now to peak your interest here are just some of the images we'll use in this course. >> [SOUND] So come take my course for a spin. Okay, sorry for the bad pun but this video is used later in the course as well. So not sure how this video and these images relate to human resources and managing people? Well, embrace your role as a manager and a leader, take my course, and you'll see how these images are used. More importantly, you'll be developing a rich foundation for becoming an effective manager and leader. [SOUND]
