HRMG308 - Strategic HRM: Metrics and Analytics

Year

Credit points

Campus offering

Prerequisites

HRMG200 Applied Human Resource Management

Teaching organisation

Unit rationale, description and aim

To achieve sustainable business outcomes, human resource management (HRM) is making a more strategic contribution through evidence-based practices including the application of human resource metrics and analytics in strategic and operational decision making. To be an effective human resource practitioner, students will need knowledge and understanding the strategic link between HRM and business value creation with the use of human resource metrics and analytics. In this unit, students will develop knowledge of strategic HRM theories and frameworks. Further, learn the alignment of HR functions to business strategies, the concepts underpinning evidence based HRM using theories and models of HR analytics and human capital for the effectiveness of HRM programs. Students will apply their knowledge in supporting organisational decision making. Finally, the ethical perspective of human dignity and common good will be explored to benefit students’ understanding of the externality imposed by strategic HRM on stakeholders which includes employees, their families, supply chain, environment and the society.

Learning outcomes

To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.

Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.

Explore the graduate capabilities.

On successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

LO1 - Critically examine strategic human resource management frameworks, theories and concepts to improve organizational performance (GA4, GA5)

LO2 - Justify the role of strategic human capital management framework and the evidence-based approach to achieve human resource management efficiency and effectiveness using HR metrics and analytics (GA5, GA8)

LO3 - Critically evaluate the extant literature on perceptual bias in HR-related decisions to interpret and justify the need for HR metrics and analytics (GA5, GA10)

LO4 - Examine human dignity and common good perspectives while designing HR metrics and analytics to implement strategic HRM practices. (GA3, GA5) 

LO5 - apply effective written and oral communication skills in the HRM context (GA5, GA9).

Graduate attributes

GA3 - Apply ethical perspectives in informed decision making

GA4 - Think critically and reflectively 

GA5 - Demonstrate values, knowledge, skills and attitudes appropriate to the discipline and/or profession 

GA8 - Locate, organise, analyse, synthesise and evaluate information 

GA9 - Demonstrate effective communication in oral and written English language and visual media.  

GA10 - Utilise information and communication and other relevant technologies effectively.

Content

Topics will include:

• Introduction to strategic HRM: evidence based HRM
• Evaluating strategic HRM frameworks, theories, and concepts 
• Strategic HRM and competitive advantage
• HRM efficiency and effectiveness framework for business value
• Soft and Hard approaches to HRM for organisational performance
• Justify evidence-based and analytical approaches to HRM
• Value proposition of HRM technologies
• Analytical problem solving in HRM
• Justify HR metrics and analytics
• Benefits of better selection
• The costs of absenteeism and presenteeism
• Employee turnover: measuring the cost of letting go
• Employee health and welfare: the value of workplace health programs
• Job performance and business value
• Critical evaluation of strategic HRM from the common good perspective

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

This unit takes an enquiry-based learning approach to guide students in the development of knowledge associated with the strategic use of HRM metrics and analytics. Students are able to explore the knowledge base underpinning this stream of strategic HRM in a series of on campus workshops. These workshops are designed to support students to actively participate in the development of this knowledge both individually and in groups. By participating in these workshops, students will systematically develop their understanding of the critical aspects of the strategic use of HR metrics and analytics and how to design HRM solutions that contribute to competitive advantage. This unit takes an experiential approach to support students in developing capabilities on business driven and strategic architect to effectively implement strategic HRM for competitive advantage. Furthermore, develop behaviours to become solutions driven and understand and care for humanity using strategic HR measurements and analytics by gathering and sharing stories and insights and reflecting on experiences. This approach is designed to interest students who prefer to learn within a social environment and builds in expert support for skills development. 

Assessment strategy and rationale

In order to pass this unit, students are required to complete and submit three graded assessment tasks and achieve an aggregate mark of at least 50%. Marking will be in accordance with a rubric specifically developed to measure their level of achievement of the learning outcomes for each item of assessment. Students will also be awarded a final grade which signifies their overall achievement in the unit. The assessment strategy for this unit allows students to sequentially develop their business driven and strategic architect capabilities. Students are required to initially complete an individual critical essay on a strategic HRM topic to demonstrate the understanding of different frameworks to improve HRM efficiency and effectiveness for business competitive advantage. Students to gain real time experience of HR metrics and analytics will be provided with an opportunity to develop solution logic for data capture, analyses and report output to propose a HR analytics system architecture with metrics. Each group will be assessed based on a pre-presentation report and a presentation of the HR analytics system architecture. Finally, students can present the ethical dilemma of HR analytics for common good through an informational video presentation. To develop this level of capability, students will demonstrate their knowledge of the ethical challenges of HR metrics and analytics through the development of an informational video. 

Overview of assessments

Representative texts and references

Farndale E and Paauwe J. 2017 Strategy, HRM, and Performance: A Contextual Approach Oxford Publisher

Boxall, P., 2018. The development of strategic HRM: reflections on a 30-year journey. Labour & Industry: A Journal of the Social and Economic Relations of Work, 28(1), pp.21-30.

Marler, J.H. and Boudreau, J.W., 2017. An evidence-based review of HR Analytics. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 28(1), pp.3-26.Edwards, M.R. and Edwards, K., 2019. Predictive HR analytics: Mastering the HR metric. Kogan Page Publishers.

Mohammed, D. and Quddus, A., 2019. HR Analytics: A Modern Tool in HR for Predictive Decision Making. Journal of Management, 6(3).

Boon, C., Eckardt, R., Lepak, D.P. and Boselie, P., 2017. Integrating strategic human capital and strategic human resource management. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, pp.1-34.

Gal, U., Jensen, T.B. and Stein, M.K., 2020. Breaking the vicious cycle of algorithmic management: A virtue ethics approach to people analytics. Information and Organization, 30(2), p.100301.

Marler, J.H. and Boudreau, J.W., 2017. An evidence-based review of HR Analytics. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 28(1), pp.3-26. 

Marler, J. H., Cronemberger, F., & Tao, C. (2017). HR Analytics: Here to Stay or Short Lived Management Fashion? In Electronic HRM in the Smart Era (pp. 59-85): Emerald Publishing Limited.

Angrave, D., Charlwood, A., Kirkpatrick, I., Lawrence, M. and Stuart, M., 2016. HR and analytics: why HR is set to fail the big data challenge. Human Resource Management Journal, 26(1), pp.1-11.