This course is taught in the first semester and should be followed in parallel with the others course of this semester.

At the end of the course, students should be able to: - Explain the essential standards of "good" Human Resource (HR) strategies; - Describe the main variables (external and internal to the organization) that may have an effect on the design of HR strategies; - Explain the relevance of HR implementation and describe the main actors involved in HR implementation activities; - Explain the challenges associated with HR implementation and illustrate essential approaches HR managers may develop to expedite HR implementation; - Describe the importance of measurement of HRM impact on organizational performance and propose essential metrics to capture such impact.

The critical goal of this course is to show the importance of integrating a firm's strategy into Human Resource (HR) decisions. Any HR professional should be indeed able to heavily contribute to the execution of business strategies. Therefore, it will be presented a view of the HR function emphasizing the potential such function may have in terms of value creation. In particular, the three following topics will be explored in the course: - The design of effective HR strategies - The effective implementation of HR strategies - The measurement of HR contributions to organizational success

The course will be based on case studies, readings and some presentations. The debate and the exchange of ideas and experiences will be pivotal for the development of the course. Students will be encouraged to bring their insights and thoughts on the material assigned into class discussions. As with many other areas of Management, most issues, cases and problems will not have one "right" answer, though some answers will be more correct than others. Thus, being "right" or "wrong" should not be a concern for students when participating to class discussions. All viewpoints will be of interest. Everyone is expected to critically listen to the contributions of fellow students and any disagreement should be explained. Each student is expected to: - Be prepared for each class session, implying that assigned readings, exercises and case studies will have to be completed as required; - Be a committed and loyal contributor to the team work; - Participate politely in class discussions and activities; - Attend all classes; - Be on time.