GEST1070-1 : Sociological approach of management and HRM

Study Programmes 2015-2016

GEST1070-1

Sociological approach of management and HRM

Duration :

30h Th

Number of credits :

Master in human resources management (120 ECTS)		3
Master in human resources management (120 ECTS)		3

Lecturer :

Christophe Dubois, Frédéric Schoenaers

Language(s) of instruction :

English language

Organisation and examination :

Teaching in the first semester, review in January

Units courses prerequisite and corequisite :

Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program

Course contents :

The financialization of capitalism and the globalization of markets have been challenging the role of firms in our society. The global firm increasingly looks like a porous entity detached from any socio-political affiliation. However, following the seminal work of Max Weber and Emile Durkheim, many sociological studies have established that the firm still depends on its local ecosystem (Powell 1990, Eymard-Duvernay 2004, Boltanski & Chiapello 1999). The cases of firms settling abroad also confirm this statement (Hall and Soskice 2001 Krichewsky 2008).
The objective of this seminar is to analyse various empirical issues of firms' social embeddedness, such as

the firm's network is subject to many intense struggles (governance struggles, risk management, quality management, knowledge management, innovation management, etc.)
the open economy reinforces the need for the contractor to defend its own legitimacy (Brunsson 2006).

In that respect, we will consider four topics increasingly occupying managers: new public management, risk management, inter-firms partnership and corporate social responsibility.
From concrete situations they will observe during their internship, four groups of students will focus specifically on one of these topics. Inside each group , some student will be asked to contribute orally to each session by presenting a literature review OR an analysis based on real case studies OR discussing the expert's presentation. Each of these three tasks will be achieved by a subgroup.

Learning outcomes of the course :

To develop a reflective capacity about managerial and HRM issues.
At the end of the seminar, students will be able

to identify relevant references on the three topics,
to develop an empirically-anchored sociological analysis of these issues,
to question and compare some empirical findings,
to induce an empirically-anchored problematic,
to write a working paper based on a literature review and some empirical findings,
to prepare an individual working paper.

Moreover, they will have developed critical thinking and teamwork skills.

Prerequisite knowledge and skills :

Planned learning activities and teaching methods :

Active pedagogy: empirical data collection and collective comparison of the material.

Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning) :

Six seminars: one for the introduction, three dedicated to thematic presentations by experts (NB: two of these presentations will be conducted in French) and two dedicated to the collective analysis.