Duration
30h Th
Number of credits
| Master in human resources management (120 ECTS) | 3 crédits |
Lecturer
Christophe Dubois, Grégory Jemine, Frédéric Schoenaers, Frédéric Schoenaers
Language(s) of instruction
English language
Organisation and examination
Teaching in the first semester, review in January
Schedule
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Learning unit contents
The seminar aims to assess the impacts of digitalisation on organisations. While recent developments in the field of digital technologies are repeatedly reported to heavily influence organizations, their consequences are neither systematically identified nor systematically empirically verified within academic literature.
Students will therefore be invited to explore one or several subthemes related to the digitalization of organisations during the seminar, including for instance (the following list is not exhaustive and subject to change):
- Algorithmic management, digital surveillance and control;
- New Ways of Working in organizations;
- The influence of IT on well-being and health;
- Emerging and changing professions due to technological change;
- Big data, metrics and big data analytics;
- Paperless and virtual organizations;
- E-reputation and cyber security;
- Digital capitalism and digital labour;
- Digitized training and online learning;
- Confidentiality, data privacy and the GDPR;
- Digital media technology and networks;
- Connection, disconnection, and work-life balance
Learning outcomes of the learning unit
The seminar aims to stimulate students' capacity to develop reflective and critical thinking towards managerial (and HRM) issues related to digitalisation in organisations. Students are also asked to address the topic of digitalisation in a scientific manner, through the realisation of a collective working paper, an oral, cross-groups discussion of their work, and the writing of a concluding ethnographic report.
Consequently, at the end of the seminar, students should be able to:
- Understand managerial challenges underlying digitalisation processes;
- Build a research question around a problematized research object;
- Identify and mobilize relevant scientific literature on a research object;
- Adopt an analytical and sociological perspective throughout their work;
- Incorporate the theoretical elements from the course within a collective working paper;
- Discuss other research papers from their peers;
- Conduct critical reviews of papers related to technological change
Prerequisite knowledge and skills
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
The seminar includes a few face-to-face sessions which introduce students with thematic content (on digitalisation and issues related to digitalisation) and theoretical, analytical and methodological perspectives on digitalisation.
The seminar heavily relies on team-based and project-based learning, as students will, by small groups, develop a research question and conduct a small research project. Addressing this research question may include conducting interviews, realizing a literature review, and writing a critical analysis.
Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)
The seminar consists of four face-to-face sessions, for which attendance is mandatory (see Organizational remarks below).
Organisational adjustments related to the current health context
Recommended or required readings
The course is based on key scientific papers among which the following are highly recommended readings:
Abrahamson, E. (1996). Management Fashion. The Academy of Management Review, Vol. 21, No. 1, p. 254-285.
Alvesson, M., & Spicer, A. (2012). A Stupidity-Based Theory of Organizations. Journal of Management Studies, Vol. 49. No. 7, p. 1194-1220.
Cascio, W. F., & Montealegre, R. (2016). How technology is changing work and organizations. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 3, 349-375.
Edwards, R., & Fenwick, T. (2016). Digital analytics in professional work and learning. Studies in Continuing Education, 38(2), 213-227.
Maharg, P. (2016) Disintermediation, The Law Teacher, 50:1, 114-131.
McAfee, A., Brynjolfsson, E., & Davenport, T. H. (2012). Big data: the management revolution. Harvard business review, 90(10), 60-68.
Assessment methods and criteria
Below you will find information on the evaluation methods planned for in-person and remote exams as well as those planned for hybrid sessions. Depending on how the health crisis evolves, the chosen method will be communicated to you no later than one month before the start of the exam session.
The evaluation of the course is divided in three parts of equal weighting:
- An individual, critical review of a conference paper written by peers (~ 33%)
- A collective working paper on a research object related to digitalisation (~ 33%)
- A collective oral performance during a "Conference Day" in January (~ 33%) that takes the shape of an actual scientific manifestation, during which students defend their paper in front of their peers and actively discuss other groups' working papers
Work placement(s)
Organizational remarks
Classroom sessions will take place on the 30/9, 21/10, 18/11, and 9/12 (9.00 to 12.00 AM). Students attendance is mandatory.
Contacts
C.Dubois@uliege.be