HR in a Dynamic Environment

high performance organizations strategically align HR practices with organizational-level strategy and, to a great extent, this alignment depends on the degree to which firms proactively adjust the organization to environmental change. As such, in this course we analyze an array of interesting and important HR topics concerning the cotemporary management challenges associated with the ever increasing pace of change. In building on a theme of external environmental change and its impact on building the high performance organization, we devote attention to the following distinct subjects: (1) the regulatory environment/public policy as it relates to employee rights in the workplace; (2) globalization and its impact on managing people in the global business context; (3) the role of leadership and HR systems in managing change; (4) the role of unions and the practice of union-management relations; (5) strategic use of HR outsourcing; and (6) emerging trends in managing people (e.g. the virtual workplace, the aging workforce, public policy change regarding health care benefits, etc.).