Human Resource Studies (ILRHR)
ILRHR 2260 - Nonprofits, Philanthropy, and Social Enterprises (3 Credits)
This sophomore writing seminar provides an introduction to and overview of the nonprofit sector in the U.S. We will trace the emergence and evolution of the non-profit sector and examine how public policy and economics interact to shape it in different eras. We will explore the strategic, governance, and managerial issues facing contemporary nonprofit organizations. We will also examine alternatives to traditional charities including social enterprises, venture philanthropy and impact investing. Students will be introduced to core operational issues faced by nonprofit leaders including development/fundraising, grant acquisition, donor relations, and impact assessment. Case examples will include a range of organizations and social topics across education, social services, health care, religion, environmental stewardship, arts and culture. Students will engage in a variety of research and writing activities including outreach letters, case analyses, and research reports.
Enrollment Information: Priority given to: ILR sophomores.
Distribution Requirements: (ICE-IL, SOW-IL)
Last Four Terms Offered: Spring 2025
ILRHR 2600 - Managing Talent (3 Credits)
This course provides real-world insights into how organizations manage talent. We will cover the trends, topics, and technologies that are reshaping what talent management looks like in contemporary organizations. In doing so, you will gain valuable insights into how to manage your own career. We will talk about how organizations recruit and select employees and discuss different approaches to training, developing, and rewarding talent. We will review developments in employing people analytics, using new HR-focused technologies, engaging consultants, and more. In addition to covering the theory and research that guides best practices, we will hear from guest speakers who wrestle with these issues daily through a series of “Talent in Action” conversations and engage alumni to provide insights into exciting (and likely somewhat surprising) career opportunities in human resources.
Forbidden Overlaps: HADM 2810, ILRHR 2600
Enrollment Information: Open to: undergraduate students.
Distribution Requirements: (ICE-IL)
Last Four Terms Offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Spring 2022
ILRHR 2630 - Human Resources: Current Issues and Trends (3 Credits)
Designed to develop key competencies and skills for researching, writing, and presenting information in a manner that will ensure academic and managerial success. Emphasis is given to hands-on training in techniques and methods for extracting and communicating best practices, competitive intelligence, legal information, statistical data, and academic research on topics of current interest to business. Topics covered will vary by semester and will be based upon current issues and trends in the HR field as submitted by HR executives of primarily Fortune 500 companies. Students will be required to apply best practices to a number of styles of business communication, including emails, memorandums, and executive summaries. In addition, the major assignment consists of an extensive research paper based on academic sources available through the Catherwood Library. Students will have the opportunity to revise their writing based on the feedback provided by the instructor and by their peers.
Prerequisites: ILRHR 2600 or HADM 2810.
Enrollment Information: Priority given to: ILR sophomores.
Distribution Requirements: (ICE-IL, SOW-IL)
Last Four Terms Offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022, Spring 2021
ILRHR 2640 - Diversity and Inclusion (3 Credits)
Although Title VII of the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964 to prohibit employment discrimination based on an individual's race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, and other employment legislation has since been passed to prohibit discrimination based on other group characteristics such as age, sexual orientation, and disability status, claims of discrimination have been on the rise. This suggests that much work remains to be done in organizations. The purpose of this course is to introduce current theory, research, and practice regarding discrimination and inclusion in the workplace. We will adopt a largely psychological approach to understanding bias, stereotyping, and prejudice and how they manifest in organizations. We will also examine the role of HR and diversity practices as well as leadership behaviors in fostering inclusion. A guiding assumption for this course is that in order to fully understand the implications of diversity for organizations you must personally confront issues having to do with power, privilege, stereotypes, identity, and discrimination. Toward this end, we will adopt an experiential approach whenever possible. Writing assignments will include a mix of personal reflections and scholarly analysis.
Prerequisites: ILRHR 2600 or HADM 2810.
Enrollment Information: Priority given to: ILR sophomores.
Distribution Requirements: (ICE-IL, SOW-IL)
Last Four Terms Offered: Spring 2023, Spring 2022, Fall 2020, Fall 2019
ILRHR 2685 - Building Better Jobs: Organizational Levers for Improving Job Quality (3 Credits)
New technologies promise to change the ways we work, prompting the question: which jobs are worth working and which jobs might be better left to the past? This class explores the dirty, dull, and dangerous jobs that many science and technology experts believe can and should be replaced by robots, algorithms, artificial intelligence, and other recent innovations. Rather than accept that certain jobs are inherently bad, we will critically examine what can make even the toughest work rewarding and the most prestigious career unfulfilling. We will use our insights to sketch out the key determinants of a good quality job and then learn about evidence-based policies and practices that organizations can use to evaluate and improve the jobs they offer. Ultimately, we will probe whether it is possible to make any job a good one. Students will interrogate these topics and develop their own opinions through various writing exercises, including memos, op-eds, speaking presentations, and a longer paper.
Enrollment Information: Priority given to: ILR sophomores.
Distribution Requirements: (ICE-IL, SOW-IL)
Last Four Terms Offered: Fall 2023, Spring 2023
ILRHR 3650 - Organizational Consulting: Process and Results (3 Credits)
Provides students with the insights and tools they need to work successfully as human resource management consultants, both as HR managers operating within a firm to improve organizational effectiveness and as external consultants providing project support to an internal HR organization. The consulting process is examined primarily from a systems perspective. This includes the knowledge and skills required to build trust and influence, to contract with clients, and to maintain good working relationships with clients. It also includes developing a clear comprehension of the consulting process from diagnosis, through action planning, to implementation and completion. While attention is given to theory and practice, the focus is on gaining hands-on experience dealing with real-world issues. As a final project, students will work in teams on a live case providing consulting services to an organization with an existing HR issue (i.e., implementing a new HR program, effectuating a new organizational culture, and enhancing project team operations).
Prerequisites: ILRHR 2600 or HADM 2810.
Enrollment Information: Priority given to: ILR juniors and seniors.
Distribution Requirements: (ICE-IL)
Last Four Terms Offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Spring 2023, Spring 2022
ILRHR 3670 - Learning and Development (1.5 Credits)
Faced with increasing competition, globalization, technological complexities, and dynamic labor markets, firms increasingly are struggling to determine the best approaches to training and developing their workforces. This course introduces the issues, concepts, and processes with which firms are wrestling, as well as specifics on planning, designing, implementing, and evaluating training and development programs. After completing this course, participants should be able to conduct a needs assessment, evaluate employee readiness, evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of various training and development techniques, solve transfer of learning problems, and design evaluation procedures.
Prerequisites: ILRHR 2600 or HADM 2810.
Enrollment Information: Enrollment limited to: sophomores, juniors, and seniors.
Distribution Requirements: (ICE-IL)
Last Four Terms Offered: Spring 2024, Fall 2019, Fall 2017, Spring 2014
ILRHR 3690 - Managing Total Rewards (1.5 Credits)
Organizational leaders must design and implement compensation systems to recruit, motivate and reward their workforce. This course addresses the theoretical and practical issues associated with designing and managing effective compensation systems within organizations. The design challenges involve choosing the right mix of compensation elements, establishing internal and external equity, and ensuring individual fairness. The management challenges involve budgeting, administration, and communication. The course will examine how employee compensation has evolved from simple cash compensation, to incentive pay and bonuses, to compensation including an wide array of employer-provided benefits, and ultimately to a “total rewards” approach that strategically seeks the right blend of monetary and non-monetary elements that attract, energize and retain workers.
Enrollment Information: Enrollment limited to: sophomores, juniors, and seniors.
Distribution Requirements: (ICE-IL)
Last Four Terms Offered: Fall 2024
ILRHR 4607 - Executive Compensation and Corporate Governance (1.5 Credits)
This course examines the process by which executive incentives are created and the implications of those decisions on corporate effectiveness. Executive compensation is a very significant investment made by all corporations and how it is designed and delivered will impact the effectiveness of the organization and drive its ability to serve all of its stakeholders including employees, communities, suppliers, and customers in addition to shareholders. We will discuss the relative role, interests, and power of such entities as Institutional Shareholders, the Board, the Executives themselves, Regulators, the Press, Advisors, and rank-and-file employees in shaping the level and design of executive compensation. We will analyze how performance is measured and rewarded and discuss how those choices will impact executive decision making. We will pay special attention to the role of ESG in setting corporate priorities as reflected in the choice of performance metrics. In this course, you will come to understand the various forms of short and long-term incentives and the process by which they are benchmarked and administered. We will examine how these practices differ between public, private, and ventured owned companies. This course will be useful for those who aspire to participate in and/or oversee such programs as well as those who will administer them as a finance, an accounting, or a human resources professional. Each student will learn how to examine and analyze both proxy and financial statements.
Enrollment Information: Enrollment limited to: juniors and seniors.
Distribution Requirements: (AWI-IL, ICE-IL)
Last Four Terms Offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022
ILRHR 4620 - Staffing Organizations (3 Credits)
The central goal of staffing is to ensure that your organization has the right people in the right jobs at the right time. It is hard to accomplish. In fact, nearly half of all hiring decisions are deemed a 'failure' from either the hiring manager or the worker. This course will introduce students to the challenges organizations and hiring managers face at each stage of the hiring process -- from defining job requirements though identifying, evaluating, selecting, and onboarding candidates - as well as how to overcome those challenges. We will also discuss succession planning, employee offboarding (turnover), the use of alternative work arrangements, and other activities that support an organizations' efforts to acquire and retain talent. We will explore these topics through a combination of interactive lectures, cases, applied assignments, and a series of How do we actually do this? conversations with talent acquisition leaders tackling these issues in real time.
Enrollment Information: Priority given to: ILR juniors and seniors.
Distribution Requirements: (AWI-IL, ICE-IL)
Last Four Terms Offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Spring 2022
ILRHR 4641 - Human Resource Strategy (3 Credits)
What is a human capital-based competitive advantage? How does an organization's HR strategy connect to the day-to-day management of its employees? How, when, and to what extent do employees' contributions bring an organization closer to achieving its strategic goals? This course integrates theoretical and practical insights to help students understand how an organization can develop an HR strategy that supports the requirements of its business strategy and effectively addresses challenges encountered in the changing external environment.
Enrollment Information: Enrollment limited to: ILR juniors and seniors.
Distribution Requirements: (ICE-IL)
Last Four Terms Offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021
ILRHR 4645 - People and Profits: HR Strategies for Good Jobs (3 Credits)
Economic, social, technological, and political upheaval are transforming the workplace. HR professionals play a crucial role in shaping how these transformations play out and must be equipped to balance a variety of competing interests. In this course, we will debate whether those who manage people must choose between running a profitable business and treating their employees well. We will identify the most pressing HR issues inside organizations, ranging from burnout and workplace flexibility to earnings inequality and career mobility. Drawing on insights from case studies, cutting-edge research, and guest speakers, we will survey how certain organizations are able to provide good jobs while remaining competitive. Students will come away with a menu of practices and policies that benefit both business and employee outcomes.
Enrollment Information: Enrollment limited to: sophomores, juniors, and seniors.
Distribution Requirements: (AWI-IL, ICE-IL)
Last Four Terms Offered: Spring 2025
ILRHR 4664 - Talent Analytics (3 Credits)
This course addresses applications of data, metrics, and analytics to human resources. It focuses on strategic aspects-e.g., alignment with organizational goals-as well as operational elements involving the collection, analysis, and reporting of people data. The course builds individual capabilities in quantitative reasoning, prepares students to make evidence-based recommendations for improving HR systems and practices, and develops skills in visualizing and presenting HR data.
Enrollment Information: Priority given to: ILR juniors and seniors.
Distribution Requirements: (ICE-IL)
Last Four Terms Offered: Fall 2024, Spring 2024, Fall 2023, Spring 2023
ILRHR 4667 - Evidence Based Management (4 Credits)
Distribution Requirements: (ICE-IL)
Last Four Terms Offered: Fall 2021, Spring 2021
ILRHR 4950 - Honors Program (3 Credits)
Students are eligible for the ILR senior honors program if they: (1) earn a minimum 3.700 cumulative GPA at the end of junior year; (2) propose an honors project, entailing research leading to completion of a thesis, to an ILR faculty member who agrees to act as thesis supervisor; and (3) submit an honors project, endorsed by the proposed faculty sponsor, to the Academic Standards and Integrity Committee. Accepted students embark on a two-semester sequence. The first semester consists of determining a research design, familiarization with germane scholarly literature, and preliminary data collection. The second semester involves completion of the data collection and preparation of the honors thesis. At the end of the second semester, the candidate is examined orally on the completed thesis by a committee consisting of the thesis supervisor and a second faculty member.
Distribution Requirements: (ICE-IL)
Exploratory Studies:
(CU-UG)
Last Four Terms Offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Spring 2024, Fall 2023 ILRHR 4970 - Field Research (4 Credits)
All requests for permission to register for an internship must be approved by the faculty member who will supervise the project and the chairman of the faculty member's academic department before submission for approval by the director of off-campus credit programs. Upon approval of the internship, each student will be enrolled in ILRHR 4970, for 4 letter-graded credits for individual research, and in ILRHR 4980, for 8 S/U credits, for completion of a professionally-appropriate learning experience, which is graded by the faculty sponsor.
Distribution Requirements: (ICE-IL)
Exploratory Studies:
(CU-UG)
Last Four Terms Offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Spring 2024, Fall 2023 ILRHR 4980 - Internship (8 Credits)
All requests for permission to register for an internship must be approved by the faculty member who will supervise the project and the chairman of the faculty member's academic department before submission for approval by the director of off-campus credit programs. Upon approval of the internship, each student will be enrolled in ILRHR 4970, for 4 letter-graded credits for individual research, and in ILRHR 4980, for 8 S/U credits, for completion of a professionally-appropriate learning experience, which is graded by the faculty sponsor.
Distribution Requirements: (ICE-IL)
Exploratory Studies:
(CU-UG)
Last Four Terms Offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Spring 2024, Fall 2023 ILRHR 4990 - Directed Studies (1-4 Credits)
For individual or group research projects conducted under the direction of a member of the ILR faculty, in a special area not covered by regular course offerings. Sophomores, juniors, and seniors with a preceding semester GPA average of 3.0 are eligible to submit projects for approval by the Academic Standards and Integrity Committee. Students should consult with an advisor in the Office of Student Services at the time of course enrollment to arrange for formal submission of their directed study.
Distribution Requirements: (ICE-IL)
Exploratory Studies:
(CU-UG)
Last Four Terms Offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2024, Spring 2024, Fall 2023 ILRHR 5050 - HR Statistics and Analytics (3 Credits)
This course introduces MILR students to the critical metrics, statistics, and analytic techniques that are essential for HR leaders to use data to better understand workplace challenges and make decisions. Statistical concepts and tools will be explored in the context of employee and business metrics and data available to HR leaders in most organizations. Students will distinguish the stages of analytics, develop data summaries and evaluate the results with statistical tests. The hypothesis testing method and statistical decision-making will be reviewed. Statistical methods will include t-tests, analysis of variance, and regression models (linear, multiple, and logistic).
Enrollment Information: Priority given to: MILR students.
ILRHR 5600 - Human Resource Management (3 Credits)
This course prepares current and aspiring HR professionals to address the key talent challenges impacting companies today. Students will be equipped to align talent practices with business goals, master the essentials of HR practice areas (e.g., talent acquisition, learning and development, compensation), and develop innovative solutions that enhance individual and organizational performance. Students will also learn how to leverage relevant data and metrics to ground recommendations.
Enrollment Information: Enrollment limited to: Fall: MILR students; Spring: graduate students.
Last Four Terms Offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021
ILRHR 5607 - Executive Compensation and Corporate Governance (1.5 Credits)
Crosslisted with NBA 6607
This course will provide students with an overview of the design, structure, purpose, and "fairness" of executive compensation as seen from the perspective of all stakeholders including executives, other employees, regulators, board members, institutional shareholders, independent advisors, and the independent press. We will pay special attention to the role of the Stakeholder in setting corporate priorities as reflected in the choice of performance metrics. Students will learn the structure of all components of executive pay (including base pay, annual incentives, performance plans, and equity-based pay), understand how performance and pay levels are determined, and investigate how the various stakeholders interact in the decision-making process.
Enrollment Information: Enrollment limited to: graduate students.
Last Four Terms Offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022
ILRHR 5610 - Practicum in Human Resource Management (1.5 Credits)
This first-semester course equips students with the practical knowledge and skills needed to address real-world talent challenges. Through hands-on exercises, practice cases, and regular feedback, students will sharpen the critical thinking, problem solving, and presentation skills essential for success in the MILR case competition and their future professional careers.
Enrollment Information: Enrollment limited to: MILR students.
Last Four Terms Offered: Fall 2024
ILRHR 5616 - From Financialization to Responsible Investing: Strategic HR Management for Sustainable Business (3 Credits)
Last Four Terms Offered: Fall 2021, Fall 2020, Spring 2020, Spring 2019
ILRHR 5618 - The Financialization of US Healthcare: Challenges for Providers, Managers, and Policymakers (3 Credits)
Financialization is a process in which financial actors and the finance sector increasingly dominate the US economy. While it is occurring across most industries, it has penetrated the US healthcare sector at an alarming rate. The sector, historically organized by public and non-profit providers with a patient care mission, is increasingly dominated by large for-profit corporations, Wall Street investors, and Venture Capital HealthIT firms. How do these changes affect human resource and care management practices? To what extent do public policies need to be adjusted? This course examines these issues from a multi-stakeholder perspective. It is interdisciplinary - drawing on readings, cases, and guest speakers from HR management and employment relations, health economics, political science, and public health. Part I considers macro-level changes in the economy and regulatory policies that have facilitated change. Part II focuses on the dynamics of change in particular healthcare arenas, including hospitals, nursing homes, mental health, big pharma, HealthIT, and others. Part III examines outcomes for healthcare employees, patients, and providers - providing a basis for class debates on managerial and public policy options.
Last Four Terms Offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024
ILRHR 5620 - HR Leadership (3 Credits)
Hands-on course offering students a unique opportunity to learn and develop key competencies required of HR leaders. The course will focus on developing an understanding of the role and responsibilities of modern HR leaders, and exploration of the key competencies tied to successful performance as an HR leader. The course will be taught in partnership with current or former Chief HR officers and will include the exploration of topics including setting and driving an HR strategy, coaching and influencing line leaders, setting and driving organizational culture, HR's role in mergers and acquisitions, and driving change. Students will apply learnings from lectures and readings to complete an individual project related to how they will make a positive impact as a leader in the organization that they will work for after the semester. The goal of the course is to provide students with a model of HR leadership, learning on key competencies, and a personal development plan to prepare themselves to become HR leaders.
Prerequisites: ILRHR 5600.
Enrollment Information: Enrollment limited to: MILR students.
Last Four Terms Offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022
ILRHR 5625 - Mergers, Acquisitions, and Human Resource Management (1.5 Credits)
This course is designed to provide students with an introduction to merger and acquisition strategies and their implications for human resource management. In recent decades, firms have accelerated their use of M&A's to expand their companies and grow, despite the fact that over half of all M&A's fail. Why do companies continue to pursue this strategy? What are the challenges and pitfalls they need to avoid, and what is the role of HR management in this process? The course will consider the trends in M&A activities in recent decades and why they have accelerated; the key processes and due diligence required to complete M&A's; the role of HR in facilitating this strategy; the factors that drive success or failure; and the observed outcomes.
Enrollment Information: Enrollment limited to: MILR students.
ILRHR 5645 - Design Thinking for HR (1.5 Credits)
While quantitative analytics can provide strong insights to aid in decision making in the HR function, there are many questions that can only be identified and examined through the use of more qualitative techniques. This course draws on concepts, models, and tools from design thinking as a means to help students think about qualitative approaches for understanding and solving important HR and people related challenges in organizations. Specifically, the course will cover how to ask testable questions, collect and analyze qualitative data, create and test protypes, and assess best fitting solutions for addressing key employee experience challenges. Students will have the opportunity to apply the tools throughout the semester in the context of an action learning project.
Enrollment Information: Enrollment limited to: MILR students.
Last Four Terms Offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022
ILRHR 5660 - Talent Analytics (3 Credits)
This course introduces you to the emerging field of people analytics. It covers frameworks, concepts, tools, methodologies, and resources that will help you leverage data strategically and effectively. The course is organized around several modules that provide the scientific foundations, metrics, analytical approaches, and practical implications for specific HR areas (e.g., talent acquisition, diversity and inclusion, employee experience, attrition, etc.). Students will be able to apply the course material to real-world HR contexts through a variety of practical exercises and assignments that build skills in analysis, visualization, and presenting with data.
Prerequisites: ILRHR 5600 and at least one of the following courses: ILRHR 5050, ILRST 5050, or ILRST 5110.
Enrollment Information: Enrollment limited to: graduate students.
Last Four Terms Offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022, Fall 2020
ILRHR 5665 - Organizational Consulting (1.5 Credits)
This course is intended to provide students with the insights and tools they need to work successfully as human resource management consults both as HR managers operating within the firm to improve organizational effectiveness and as external consultants providing project support to an internal HR organization. The consulting process is examined primarily from a systems perspective, with the goal of helping students develop the knowledge and skills required to build trust and influence, to contract with clients, and to maintain good working relationships with clients. It also includes developing a clear comprehension of the consulting process from diagnosis, through action planning, to implementation and completion. While attention is given to theory and practice, the focus is on gaining hands-on experience dealing with real-world issues.
Prerequisites: ILRHR 5600.
Enrollment Information: Enrollment limited to: MILR students.
Last Four Terms Offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Spring 2022
ILRHR 5680 - Staffing Organizations (3 Credits)
The central goal of staffing is to ensure that your organization has the right people in the right jobs at the right time. It is hard to accomplish. In fact, nearly half of all hiring decisions are deemed a 'failure' from either the hiring manager or the worker. This course will introduce students to the challenges organizations and hiring managers face at each stage of the hiring process -- from defining job requirements though identifying, evaluating, selecting, and onboarding candidates - as well as how to overcome those challenges. We will also discuss succession planning, employee offboarding (turnover), the use of alternative work arrangements, and other activities that support an organizations' efforts to acquire and retain talent. We will explore these topics through a combination of interactive lectures, cases, applied assignments, and a series of How do we actually do this? conversations with talent acquisition leaders tackling these issues in real time.
Enrollment Information: Enrollment limited to: MILR students.
Last Four Terms Offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Spring 2022
ILRHR 5690 - Managing Total Rewards (1.5 Credits)
Organizational leaders must design and implement compensation systems to recruit, motivate and reward their workforce. This course addresses the theoretical and practical issues associated with designing and managing effective compensation systems within organizations. The design challenges involve choosing the right mix of compensation elements, establishing internal and external equity, and ensuring individual fairness. The management challenges involve budgeting, administration, and communication. The course will examine how employee compensation has evolved from simple cash compensation, to incentive pay and bonuses, to compensation including an wide array of employer-provided benefits, and ultimately to a “total rewards” approach that strategically seeks the right blend of monetary and non-monetary elements that attract, energize and retain workersOver.
Prerequisites: ILRHR 5600 and at least one of the following courses: ILRHR 5050, ILRST 5050, or ILRST 5110.
Enrollment Information: Enrollment limited to: graduate students or permission of the instructor.
Last Four Terms Offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Spring 2023, Spring 2022
ILRHR 5930 - Learning and Development (1.5 Credits)
Acquaints students with aspects of learning in organizations. Begins by discussing organizational learning and then focuses more narrowly on specific ways in which learning is achieved through the training and development functions. Topics include how learning is linked to organizational strategy, how to determine that training is needed, issues regarding the design of training programs, current training techniques, evaluation strategies, and management development practices.
Prerequisites: ILRHR 5600.
Enrollment Information: Enrollment limited to: MILR students.
Last Four Terms Offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Fall 2022, Fall 2021
ILRHR 6400 - Organizational Diversity and Inclusion (2-4 Credits)
The diversity of the U.S. workforce has been steadily increasing over the last 50 years, and is projected to continue increasing significantly. Although Title VII of the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964 to prohibit employment discrimination based on an individual's race, color, religion, sex, or national origin, and other employment legislation has since been passed to prohibit discrimination based on other group characteristics such as age and disability status, claims of discrimination have been on the rise. This suggests that much work remains to be done in organizations. The purpose of this course is to introduce you to current theory, research, and practice regarding discrimination and inclusion in the workplace. We will begin by defining diversity and the multiple existing justifications for managing diversity within organizations. We will then examine bias within organizations, including its root cause in stereotyping and power differentials, and its manifestation in the implementation of HR practices, the treatment of employees, and in broader society. We will also explore the impact of demographic diversity on the functioning of work groups/teams, particularly as it relates to commonly made arguments about the business case for diversity. We will spend some time discussing the role of HR and diversity practices in fostering inclusion, and the important role of an organization's climate and culture. Finally, we will begin to explore the role of leaders and change agents in fostering diversity and inclusion.
Prerequisites: ILRHR 5600.
Enrollment Information: Priority given to: MILR students.
Last Four Terms Offered: Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022, Spring 2021
ILRHR 6615 - Socially Responsible Business (2 Credits)
Last Four Terms Offered: Spring 2022, Spring 2021, Spring 2020, Spring 2019
ILRHR 6620 - Organization and Work Design (3 Credits)
This course provides students with a detailed understanding of the critical importance of organizational design and the unique leadership role the HR function can play in using organizational design tools to influence successful business outcomes. The course will provide a combination of theory, practical application and case studies. In addition to the technical aspects of organizational design, the course also covers the cultural and human success factors in delivering complex organizational change. The lecture and classroom discussions, exercises, and final paper are intended to help students further strengthen their competencies and knowledge tied to HR strategy and organizational design.
Enrollment Information: Enrollment limited to: graduate students.
Last Four Terms Offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021
ILRHR 6640 - HR Research for Executive Decision-Making (3 Credits)
Develops key HR competencies and skills for researching and presenting information necessary for executive decision making. The first several weeks cover the application of the design thinking model to the research process through instruction and hands-on experience. Following that, students act as consultants in a combined classroom and workplace setting as they work on special projects and topics posed by HR executives of primarily Fortune 500 companies. These team-based assignments give students exposure to different companies, their cultures, and executives while providing real work experience. Interviewing skills, report writing, and presentation methods are also covered.
Prerequisites: ILRHR 5600, ILRHR 2600 or HADM 2810.
Enrollment Information: Enrollment limited to: graduate students.
Exploratory Studies:
(CU-CEL)
Last Four Terms Offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021 ILRHR 6645 - People and Profits: HR Strategies for Good Jobs (3 Credits)
Economic, social, technological, and political upheaval are transforming the workplace. HR professionals play a crucial role in shaping how these transformations play out and must be equipped to balance a variety of competing interests. In this course, we will debate whether those who manage people must choose between running a profitable business and treating their employees well. We will identify the most pressing HR issues inside organizations, ranging from burnout and workplace flexibility to earnings inequality and career mobility. Drawing on insights from case studies, cutting-edge research, and guest speakers, we will survey how certain organizations are able to provide good jobs while remaining competitive. Students will come away with a menu of practices and policies that benefit both business and employee outcomes.
Enrollment Information: Enrollment limited to: graduate students.
Last Four Terms Offered: Spring 2025
ILRHR 6685 - Fundamentals of Benefits and the Employee Value Proposition (2 Credits)
Last Four Terms Offered: Spring 2023, Spring 2022, Spring 2021, Spring 2020
ILRHR 6910 - Strategy and Finance for HR Professionals (3 Credits)
This course will address how firms make strategic decisions. The first half of the course will focus on the foundational models and tools for strategic decision making such as industry analysis, internal analysis, competitive advantage, and business strategies. The goal of the second half of this course is to provide students with the fundaments of finance and accounting from the perspective of human resource management.
Enrollment Information: Enrollment limited to: MILR students.
Last Four Terms Offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021
ILRHR 8105 - HR Strategy (0.5 Credits)
A thorough understanding of your organization's value creation model and ability to develop competencies through processes, technology, and people are essential to ensuring that the HR organization is aligned vertically and horizontally to produce superior results. With this understanding, HR will be able to articulate how it can improve processes, people and customer outcomes, and financial results. This course develops the skills needed to assess how organizations create value and to align the HR function to execute the organization's strategy. Participants analyze the Balanced Scorecard approach as a means of vertically aligning the HR system with organizational objectives. They learn how to create a vertical-alignment strategy and use it to improve HR decision-making, people outcomes, processes, customer outcomes, and financial results. And they learn the skills required to plan and assess horizontal alignment of HR systems and practices. Finally, the course discusses best practices related to workforce partitioning, performance variability, value identification, and employee impact.
Enrollment Information: Enrollment limited to: students enrolled in the Executive Master of Human Resource Management program.
Last Four Terms Offered: Summer 2025, Summer 2024, Fall 2023, Summer 2023
ILRHR 8107 - Strategic Talent Analytics (0.5 Credits)
HR leaders help drive business performance by delivering competitive advantage through people. Performance relies on measures, so you need to be adept at planning and interpreting your organization's people metrics. This requires a solid grasp of HR analytics: the systematic collection, analysis, and interpretation of data designed to improve decisions about talent and the organization as a whole. The use of analytics is changing the way HR professionals quantify the value that people-our biggest asset-have on the organization's ability to succeed in the market or in its mission. In this course, you take a strategic view of your organization's use of HR data and its measurement systems. The course prepares you to determine the HR metrics that align with your company's strategic goals. It explains the characteristics of high quality data and equips you to find and collect that data, inside or outside your organization. It provides a high-level introduction to common analysis techniques and some mistakes to avoid when interpreting data, or when assessing reports and interpretations offered by others. In the final section of the course, you will learn to take the results of your data collection and analysis and communicate your findings in a compelling manner so that change follows.
Enrollment Information: Enrollment limited to: students enrolled in the Executive Master of Human Resource Management program.
Last Four Terms Offered: Summer 2025, Fall 2024, Summer 2023, Summer 2022
ILRHR 8108 - Business Strategy for HR Leaders (0.5 Credits)
Can you describe your organization's approach to creating unique value for customers? What are the internal drivers that set your organization apart from competitors as you meet customer needs? In this course, you will examine why it's important for HR leaders to study an organization's unique value-creating strategy. You'll explore how an organization's investment in core competencies enables it to deliver value to customers, and you'll discover how to identify core competencies at your own organization. You'll also consider how your organization can work to support its core competencies. You'll review how other organizations build and support a value-creating strategy and determine how you might apply their practices to your organization. You'll investigate external trends that may impact the ongoing effectiveness of your strategy, and you'll delve into strategies to help identify growth opportunities for your organization.
Enrollment Information: Enrollment limited to: students enrolled in the Executive Master of Human Resource Management program.
Last Four Terms Offered: Summer 2025, Fall 2024, Summer 2024
ILRHR 8109 - Finance and Accounting Principles (0.5 Credits)
At the heart of any business is the ability to track, invest, and manage money. Without the ability to do these three things successfully and honestly, a business will not survive, no matter how good their product or service is. A clear understanding of how money flows into and out of an organization allows us to attract investors, identify investment opportunities, decide with what organizations to form relationships or partnerships, and even manage your own personal finances. In this course, you will examine the different roles of accounting and finance and how each influences a business. You will analyze the financial documents used by accounting and finance in all businesses: the income statement and the balance sheet. Understanding the numbers on these documents will allow you to interpret financial information to inform decision making in numerous personal and professional capacities.
Enrollment Information: Enrollment limited to: students enrolled in the Executive Master of Human Resource Management program.
Last Four Terms Offered: Summer 2025, Summer 2024
ILRHR 8201 - Strategic Human Resource Management (3.5 Credits)
The primary goal of this course is to help HR professionals better understand their business strategy, to explore the ways that the management of human capital can help the company achieve its strategic objectives, and explore how to use data to drive decisions around people and strategy. The course provides a review of business strategy and HR strategy, as well as how to analyze linkages among the two. It examines metrics that can be used to evaluate the alignment and effectiveness of HR systems. Finally, the course provides students with the insights and tools they need to work successfully as human resource management consultants how to identify and present data effectively and persuasively.
Enrollment Information: Enrollment limited to: students enrolled in the Executive Master of Human Resource Management program.
Last Four Terms Offered: Summer 2025, Summer 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022
ILRHR 8309 - Navigating Power Relationships (0.5 Credits)
This course will provide you with the tools and concepts to develop and lead strategic organizational change. The emphasis is on cultivating your ability to assess the need for change, selecting from among viable change initiatives, motivating others to move forward, the process of transformation, and finally sustaining the change over time.
Enrollment Information: Enrollment limited to: students enrolled in the Executive Master of Human Resource Management program.
Last Four Terms Offered: Spring 2025, Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021
ILRHR 8313 - Navigating Labor Relations (0.5 Credits)
The course examines the regulatory and organizational labor relations environment and assesses the current state of relations between management and workers. Students learn how to prepare for possible labor disruptions and look at effective negotiations and conflict management. Videos by Colvin and Katz, backed up by additional interviews with industry experts, provide informative content that assists students as they complete a five-part course project aimed at applying the concepts in a practical manner.
Enrollment Information: Enrollment limited to: Executive Master of Human Resource Management students.
ILRHR 8314 - Preparing for Labor Negotiations (0.5 Credits)
This course will help build your skills in the “nuts and bolts” of effective labor negotiations. You will start by identifying the organizational goals central to your bargaining strategy, then see how to move from these business goals to negotiation goals. You'll take a look at the impact of external factors and share your analysis of these factors in a discussion with your peers. Your deep understanding of the collective bargaining agreement, the unit, and the employer will lay the groundwork for success. This course provides a combination of theory and practical applications, down to expert advice on how to manage the administrative aspects of negotiations. Finally, you will choose an appropriate collective bargaining strategy for your organization.
Enrollment Information: Enrollment limited to: Executive Master of Human Resource Management students.
ILRHR 8402 - Results Through Talent Management (0.5 Credits)
As the existing war for talent intensifies and becomes increasingly global, organizations must develop strong talent-management practices that are tightly aligned with business strategy. Successful organizations build talent management cultures to take advantage of their human capital. They focus on attracting top talent, identifying and developing future leaders, and retaining the best prospects in the high-potential talent pool. This course focuses on developing a strategic approach to managing core talent. Such an approach begins with the development of an employment brand in order to attract the best talent to the organization, promote the organization as a preferred employer, and produce superior recruiting outcomes. Organizations must then identify and implement an integrated marketing and communication strategy to build brand awareness. The complexity of managing employee retention and engagement includes understanding the root causes of talent-retention problems. The course identifies practices and solutions for increasing the likelihood of top talent remaining with the organization and becoming its future leaders.
Enrollment Information: Enrollment limited to: students enrolled in the Executive Master of Human Resource Management program.
Last Four Terms Offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Winter 2022
ILRHR 8404 - Managing and Leading Hybrid Teams (0.5 Credits)
Managing a team in a hybrid environment requires team leaders to acquire new skills and strategies. In this course, you will be equipped with tools that will allow both leaders and team members to assess the state of leadership within their team. You will then explore best practices for effectively launching a hybrid team and identify what is needed to foster high performance in hybrid teams. Finally, you will practice leadership techniques that will allow you to adapt to changing circumstances and sustain your hybrid team's high performance.
Enrollment Information: Enrollment limited to: students enrolled in the Executive Master of Human Resource Management program.
Last Four Terms Offered: Spring 2025
ILRHR 8408 - Coaching Skills for Leaders (0.5 Credits)
Coaching is about building relationships-and it's essential in order for your organization to move forward together to achieve better results. Being an effective coach requires skills that can be practiced and mastered, including listening, building credibility and trust, and showing empathy. This course will help you distinguish between coaching and traditional supervision. You will identify the five functions of coaching and the rules for having coaching conversations. Finally, you will examine some of the classic coaching mistakes that people often make and identify how you can avoid repeating those mistakes yourself.
Enrollment Information: Enrollment limited to: students enrolled in the Executive Master of Human Resource Management program.
Last Four Terms Offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022
ILRHR 8409 - Executive Compensation Essentials (0.5 Credits)
Most of us have some awareness of the ways in which compensation for regular rank and file employees is determined, yet compensation for the top executives at the publicly traded companies is not as widely understood. This course offers a foundational overview of the process that shapes executive compensation and the components of executive pay packages in publicly traded corporations. You'll start by exploring the context of executive compensation to understand how and why it is set up the way it is. You'll then consider the various constituents, identifying what each party seeks to gain through the process and how much influence they are able to wield over the outcome. Finally, you'll examine the tools of executive compensation, including the components that go into creating a total compensation package for the top leaders.
Enrollment Information: Enrollment limited to: students enrolled in the Executive Master of Human Resource Management program.
Last Four Terms Offered: Fall 2024
ILRHR 8410 - Valuing HR Initiatives (0.5 Credits)
The need to justify spending and the use of resources applies as much to talent as it does to business in general. With that in mind, how can HR professionals show the return on investment in human resource programs? In this course, learners will walk through the steps involved in conducting a credible return on investment (ROI) analysis and will be provided strategies for overcoming common ROI challenges such as isolating the impact of a program and converting the benefits of a program to a monetary value. This course also goes beyond the steps involved in calculating ROI - it provides learners with a framework to decide when ROI makes sense (and when it does not) as well as tools for planning a successful ROI and effectively communicating the results to key stakeholders.
Enrollment Information: Enrollment limited to: students enrolled in the Executive Master of Human Resource Management program.
Last Four Terms Offered: Spring 2025
ILRHR 8411 - Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Practice for HR (0.5 Credits)
Diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives are hot-button topics, but are they the same? And what does inclusion really mean? This course presents targeted and high-involvement best practices so that managers, supervisors, and team leaders can take steps to foster a more inclusive work group. You will examine diversity in the contexts of teams and leaders, and place inclusion efforts in terms of your own business challenges. You will also complete a project in which you identify sources of inclusion, align inclusion with improving employee engagement and business results, and identify methods to assess the effectiveness of inclusion initiatives.
Enrollment Information: Enrollment limited to: students enrolled in the Executive Master of Human Resource Management program.
Last Four Terms Offered: Spring 2025
ILRHR 8412 - Analyzing Formal Organizational Structure (0.5 Credits)
In this course, you will take a look at the elements of formal structure — how an organization is set up in order to achieve its goals. Looking through the organizational design lens, you will begin to evaluate how each structural decision impacts the overall organization. How does the work get done? How do employees communicate — or fail to communicate? You'll dive down to the unit level to assess workplace challenges that may be the result of formal structural choices.
Enrollment Information: Enrollment limited to: students enrolled in the Executive Master of Human Resource Management program.
ILRHR 8413 - Facilitating Staffing Decision (0.5 Credits)
HR professionals need to adapt to changing objectives and market conditions to recruit, select, and retain employees with the necessary skills to further organizational goals—all while steering clear of legal and other risks. The instructor draws on his research, teaching, and consulting experience in staffing to provide a relevant and rigorous overview of the field. They offer numerous practical examples to help build the skills needed to staff modern-day organizations and ground their recommendations in the latest research findings.
Enrollment Information: Enrollment limited to: students enrolled in the Executive Master of Human Resource Management program.
ILRHR 8414 - Adopting Inclusive Hiring Practices (0.5 Credits)
In this course, you will begin by examining how the candidate evaluation stage fits within an inclusive hiring approach, including the power of decision making in candidate selection. You will explore best practices for early-stage candidate evaluations and for interviewing candidates, and you'll evaluate the potential challenges of common approaches like pre-interview assessments and interviewing for “fit.” You can use these best practices to make inclusive selection decisions that reduce bias and emphasize equity in candidate selection.
Enrollment Information: Enrollment limited to: Executive Master of Human Resource Management students.
ILRHR 8501 - Managing Talent (3.5 Credits)
This course is designed to provide students with a comprehensive view of how the HR system can be used to manage and develop talent. It also examines how to navigate organizational change and implement new initiatives. Consideration is given to both theories and practical applications involved in effectively managing and developing human capital. Topics covered include talent strategy, the employee experience and employee value proposition, assessing and developing talent, managing starts and high potential talent, executive compensation, diversity and inclusion, and organization design and change. Emphasis is placed on exploring these issues from both strategic and tactical levels to increase organizational effectiveness.
Enrollment Information: Enrollment limited to: students enrolled in the Executive Master of Human Resource Management program.
Last Four Terms Offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022
ILRHR 8601 - Human Resources Leadership (0.5 Credits)
Effective HR leaders look beyond managing the HR function. They don't stop at building the talent pool of the organization; they operate at the most senior levels and play a strategic role in the organization. They influence the strategic planning process to ensure alignment with the goals and values of the organization, while managing the process to ensure superior outcomes. This course introduces the SELF Model of Human Resources Leadership that defines the leadership and influencing competencies needed to balance the tradeoffs present in the formation of organizational strategy. The SELF Model focuses on HR's role in guiding strategy development to ensure that it will result in the expected Strategic, Ethical, Legal, and Financial outcomes for an organization. This course also introduces the Human Frailties framework, a tool for managing the interpersonal dynamics at the most senior levels of the organization in order to produce the most positive results.
Enrollment Information: Enrollment limited to: students enrolled in the Executive Master of Human Resource Management program.
Last Four Terms Offered: Spring 2025, Summer 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022
ILRHR 8603 - Negotiation Skills (0.5 Credits)
Being able to negotiate is a practical, everyday skill that is critical for anyone working within an organization. The good news is it's a skill you can practice and master. Negotiation skills are ones you can use in any context and, once you master the behaviors of effective negotiation, you will use all the time. In this course, you will develop an awareness that every conversation is a negotiation, and you will identify the critical components of effective negotiation.
Enrollment Information: Enrollment limited to: students enrolled in the Executive Master of Human Resource Management program.
Last Four Terms Offered: Summer 2025, Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022
ILRHR 8604 - Strategic Decision Making (0.5 Credits)
The ability to make effective and timely decisions is an essential skill for successful executives. Mastery of this skill influences all aspects of day-to-day operations as well as strategic planning. In this course you will hone your decision-making skills by following a methodology based on tested actions and sound organizational approaches. You will leave this course better equipped to confidently tackle any decision large or small, and you'll do so in a way that creates the optimal conditions for success.
Enrollment Information: Enrollment limited to: students enrolled in the Executive Master of Human Resource Management program.
Last Four Terms Offered: Summer 2025, Fall 2024, Summer 2024, Spring 2024
ILRHR 8702 - Using Design Thinking in Human Resources (0.5 Credits)
This course brings the time proven benefits of design thinking to the field of employment. You will identify factors affecting the workplace and the personal experience of employees. You will then use a six-step approach to analyze employee issues and develop appropriate solutions. The goal is to enhance employees' workplace experience and improve the ability of an organization to attract and retain a productive workforce.
Enrollment Information: Enrollment limited to: students enrolled in the Executive Master of Human Resource Management program.
Last Four Terms Offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Summer 2022
ILRHR 8703 - Agile Project Management Approaches (0.5 Credits)
In traditional project management, we tend to make assumptions: the customer knows precisely what they want, or the team's workflow and tasks will go according to plan and in sequence.Practically speaking, this is rarely the case. Sometimes the customer doesn't know what they need until they see an early iteration of your team's work and can provide feedback. Because of this, work is usually done incrementally. We must build flexibility, even agility, into the model in order to succeed.This course is designed for project managers who want to get better practical results with adaptive approaches to projects. Students in this course will be most successful if they have a foundational understanding of traditional project management tools and processes including project networks, budgets and schedules.
Enrollment Information: Enrollment limited to: students enrolled in the Executive Master of Human Resource Management program.
Last Four Terms Offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Summer 2022
ILRHR 8704 - Conversations in HR (0.5 Credits)
ILRHR 8801 - HR Leadership (2 Credits)
This course focuses on developing the leadership and influencing competencies necessary to lead the HR function. You will develop a better understanding of the role of courage and influence in leading the HR function and making difficult decisions, explore how to lead senior teams, provide effective feedback and coaching, and succession planning. The course will also examine the business fundamentals associated with mergers and acquisitions and HR’s role in their successful execution and integration.
Enrollment Information: Enrollment limited to: students enrolled in the Executive Master of Human Resource Management program.
Last Four Terms Offered: Summer 2025, Summer 2024, Summer 2023, Summer 2022
ILRHR 8802 - Conflict Resolution (1.5 Credits)
This course focuses on understanding and managing conflict in the workplace. Consideration will be given to both theories and practical applications involved in interpersonal and organizational-employee negotiations. The course will also explore modern forms of labor market organizing.
Enrollment Information: Enrollment limited to: students enrolled in the Executive Master of Human Resource Management program.
Last Four Terms Offered: Summer 2025, Summer 2024, Summer 2023, Summer 2022
ILRHR 8803 - Negotiations (1 Credit)
This course provides an understanding of basic principles of negotiation theory and their application to the practice of negotiating. Students will learn the different sub-processes involved in negotiations, apply principles of game theory to negotiations, examine the roles of power and tactics in negotiations, and learn interest-based approaches to negotiating. Finally, the course will examine cross-cultural issues in negotiations.
Enrollment Information: Enrollment limited to: students enrolled in the Executive Master of Human Resource Management program.
Last Four Terms Offered: Summer 2025, Summer 2024, Summer 2023, Summer 2022
ILRHR 8901 - Case Project: Identifying the Business Case and HR Challenges (2.5 Credits)
In this part of the project, students will develop a case that focuses on a critical business challenge or opportunity in their company that has important human resource management implications. Students will gather input from key stakeholders to develop a business case and will begin to identify associated employee and HR challenges.
Enrollment Information: Enrollment limited to: students enrolled in the Executive Master of Human Resource Management program.
Last Four Terms Offered: Fall 2024, Fall 2023, Fall 2022, Fall 2021
ILRHR 8902 - Case Project: Developing an HR Intervention and Change Plan (2.5 Credits)
In this part of the project students will provide a detailed analysis of underlying people issues, identify HR practices and initiatives that can be used to resolve these issues, and devise a plan to track the progress and success of their proposed interventions.
Enrollment Information: Enrollment limited to: students enrolled in the Executive Master of Human Resource Management program.
Last Four Terms Offered: Spring 2025, Spring 2024, Spring 2023, Spring 2022
ILRHR 8903 - Case Project: Final Report and Presentation (4 Credits)
In this part of the project students will develop a change plan in which they describe the desired future state, identify key stakeholders and develop a plan for engaging them, and devise a plan for implementing the change. The final phase of the project involves a final presentation in which students provide a summary of the different components of their project.
Enrollment Information: Enrollment limited to: students enrolled in the Executive Master of Human Resource Management program.
Last Four Terms Offered: Summer 2025, Summer 2024, Summer 2023, Summer 2022