Human Resource Analytics (OAM 680)

Spring 2024

Syllabus

Anand Swaminathan
([email protected] )
Class meeting: 10-11.15 am Tuesdays & Thursdays; GBS 334
Office hours: Wednesdays by appointment, GBS 554 or through Zoom

Course Overview

Organizations are engaged in a war for talent as human resources increasingly become a source of competitive advantage
in many industries. Talent management has traditionally revolved around standard operating procedures to hire, train and
retain employees rather than deep analysis. HR analytics involves the use of data and analytic tools to inform decisions
about how to manage people. Leading organizations are increasingly using sophisticated methods to analyze employee,
business, industry and labor market data instead of relying on “gut feel” or practices that ‘worked in the past.”

This course aims to train students to produce evidence-based insights into the demography of organizations and answers
to critical talent questions such as:
• Whom to hire?
• How engaged are our employees?
• How do we evaluate performance?
• Whom to promote?
• Who is at risk of leaving? What are we doing to keep them?
• What training and development should we provide?
• How do we evaluate the effectiveness of incentives, training programs and other interventions?

Learning Objectives of the Course:

By the end of this course, you should understand:

• The range of areas where analytics are being used to improve how people are managed
• Conceptual underpinnings of major people decisions
• Basics of where to find appropriate data and how to set up analyses
• Outlines of more sophisticated approaches to analyzing data
• How to identify cause-effect relationships
• Major pitfalls and best practices in HR analytics

Page | 1
Course Calendar: 10-11.15 am, Tuesdays & Thursdays; GBS 334

Session Date Topic

1 Jan 18 Introduction

2 Jan 23 HR Information Systems and Data I

3 Jan 25 HR Information Systems and Data II

4 Jan 30 Analysis Strategies I

5 Feb 1 Analysis Strategies II

6 Feb 6 Recruitment & Selection I

7 Feb 8 Recruitment & Selection II

8 Feb 13 Employee Attitudes and Engagement I

9 Feb 15 Employee Attitudes and Engagement II

10 Feb 20 Building and Using Social Capital as Free Agents

11 Feb 22 Building and Using Social Capital in Groups and Organizations

12 Feb 27 Employee Performance I

13 Feb 29 Employee Performance II

14 Mar 5 Employee Incentives I

15 Mar 7 Employee Incentives II

16 Mar 19 Modeling Wage Gaps Across Groups

17 Mar 21 Eliminating the Gender Wage Gap

18 Mar 26 Hiring and Promotion Interventions

19 Mar 28 Employee Turnover

20 Apr 2 Designing HR Polices Using Field Experiments I

21 Apr 4 Designing HR Polices Using Field Experiments II

22 Apr 9 Causal Inference Using Observational Data I: Directed Acyclic Graphs and Causality

23 Apr 11 Causal Inference Using Observational Data II: Conditioning on Observables, Propensity Score Matching

24 Apr 16 Causal Inference Using Observational Data III: Difference in Differences & Synthetic Controls

25 Apr 18 Causal Inference Using Observational Data IV: Instrumental Variables & Regression Discontinuity

26 Apr 23 Applications and Limitations of HR Analytics

27 Apr 25 Course Review and Wrap Up

Page | 2
Course Material:

Required Readings:

The following materials are required for the course.

1. Edwards, Martin R, and Kirsten Edwards. 2019. Predictive HR Analytics: Mastering the HR Metric, 2nd Edition.
Philadelphia: Kogan Page. ISBN-13: 978-0749484446. Paperback: $ 49.99.

2. I will purchase the textbook for you and distribute it through the MSBA program office.

3. The Edwards & Edwards textbook uses IBM-SPSS to analyze example datasets. But the statistical methods used
are also available in other statistical software packages such as R, Stata and SAS. All of the datasets will be made
available as Excel files that can be read into other software packages. SPSS software is freely available to
students as a download from Emory’s Software Express site.

4. All of the required readings and cases will be made available on the Canvas course site.

Teaching Philosophy:

Educational research shows that students learn best when they are active and honest partners in all aspects of the class.
Therefore, I strongly encourage you to speak your mind, ask questions, debate, and even disagree with class material. The
more you are actively engaged with the course material, the more likely you will understand its complexities.

For our class, active participation means speaking when you have something to say, actively listening to your peers,
taking risks, questioning your assumptions about the world, giving and receiving feedback, and thinking about the course
material both inside and outside the classroom. I hope you will vigorously engage with the course material, challenge
yourselves in new ways, and enhance your skills.

My role is to facilitate and direct the discussion in cases and exercises. Your role is to engage each other in developing
solutions for your client in a case or fulfilling the role assigned to you during an experiential exercise.

I want this class to be as valuable as it can possibly be, and I ask for your help in doing so. Please do not hesitate to pass
on feedback about your experiences with the class.

Attendance Policy:

Class attendance is critical in a class such as "HR Analytics". First, the experiential nature of the course requires your
attendance in order to learn the material. Second, experiential learning involves other people in a group, and your absence
affects your classmates. Thus, it is vital that you attend as close to 100% of the classes as possible. If you anticipate
needing to miss a class, please let me know ahead of time.

Professional Conduct:

I view class time as similar to an important business meeting at a company. We have a specific topic to discuss and the
session requires all of us to conduct ourselves professionally. Examples of professional conduct that we can expect from
one another:

• Arrive in class a little early, if possible, on time at the very latest. We will start class right at 10 am each session.
When students arrive late, not only are they disruptive to everyone else but they are also likely to lose the thread
of the class discussion.

• Turn off your cell phone. Bring your laptop to class with SPSS installed so that you can follow the analytical
exercises in the textbook. Case discussions require your undivided attention.
Page | 3
 • Please refrain from eating food in class. Drinks are permissible, but food can be a distraction to others around
you.

• Disagreement is a good thing and encouraged as long as it is done respectfully. It is great to debate our
perspectives on a case or reading. We should all refrain from personal attacks and other forms of demeaning
behavior.

Evaluation:

You will be evaluated on the basics of individual assignments, exam performance and class participation with the
following weights:
Individual Assignments (Five-Minute Memo): 10%
Individual Response Papers: 30%
Individual Analytical Assignments: 20%
Final Exam: 30%
Class Participation: 10%

The evaluation will be specifically based on:

1) Five-Minute Memos (10% of grade): Each student will complete a short memo at the end of each class. The memo
will briefly answer the following questions:

• What is your most important takeaway for the day?

• What is your biggest question raised by today?
• Suggestion for other topics of interest

2) Individual Response Papers (30% of grade): I have chosen ten of our class sessions for which you are expected to
submit online a 1–2-page response paper answering the discussion questions for the class. This should be done by
midnight, the day before that class The answers should draw upon the readings for the class. Do not reuse or copy
material found online -- they will be detected by the plagiarism checker.

3) Individual Analytical Assignments (20% of grade): There will be two analytical assignments, on employee
engagement and turnover respectively. I will distribute these assignments in the classes in which we discuss these topics,
and they will be due at the end of the following week.

4) Final exam (30% of grade): The final exam will assess your ability to apply the course concepts to HR data. You will
be specifically evaluated on the basis of your ability to analyze the data using appropriate methods and interpreting the
results of your analysis.

5) Participation/attendance (10% of grade): Attendance and active class participation are a basic expectation of the
course. If you attend nearly every class and participate meaningfully throughout the semester, you will get full credit. My
hope is that everyone in the class will get full credit for this component of the final grade.

Grading:

I handle the process of assigning grades with great care and deliberation. The three main goals I strive to achieve are
accuracy, fairness and consistency.

Accuracy: I go to great lengths to construct a process in which the grading is as accurate as possible. If you feel strongly
that I have made a mistake in grading, you can submit the assignment for re-grading as long as you do so within two
weeks of having received your grade; no re-grading will be conducted subsequent to this window. Please keep in mind
that a re-grade can lead to a higher or lower revised grade.

Page | 4
Fairness: On the days when I distribute details of each assignment, we will go over the specifics collectively. You are
welcome and encouraged to ask questions and make suggestions about the assignment. I will also discuss how each
assignment will be evaluated and what I am looking for in a high-quality product.

Consistency: Your grade will be based solely on your performance on the course material. Therefore, I will do
everything in my power to ensure that students are treated in a consistent manner. As a result, I will not accord
preferential treatment to any student. Other than legitimate medical issues or other documented emergencies, there will be
no exceptions to the due dates and policies we agree to in this syllabus. Assignments submitted after the deadline will not
be accepted.

Honor Code:

The Goizueta Honor Code is fundamentally important for all of your classes here at GBS. The kind of intense,
transformative experience that we strive to provide requires a basic level of trust and respect from everyone. When any of
us violates that trust, it damages the foundation upon which everything else is built. As far as I am concerned, such an act
is an insult to all of us and merits severe punishment if proven.

Specifically, I expect that any material submitted for a grade is your original work, and that any information that you
convey is truthful. In addition, do not make up facts that materially change the nature of any case. Please read the
Goizueta Honor Code for more specific information about our honor system. I will report any violation of the Honor
Code to the Honor Council, and I will vigorously push for the maximum possible sanction for any proven case of an
Honor Code violation. These issues are important for running an educational and professional classroom. Please don't
hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns about Honor Code issues during the semester.

Page | 5
Readings and Cases

Session 1: January 18

Introduction: Why Study HR Analytics?

Syllabus: Available online on the Canvas course site. Bring a copy to class.

Readings:

Predictive HR Analytics, Chapter 1, pages 1-12

Work Rules, pages 1-28 and pages 349-365
Davenport, Thomas H., Jeanne Harris, and Jeremy Shapiro. 2010. HBR. “Competing on Talent Analytics.”

Session 2: January 23

HR Information Systems and Data I

Readings:

Predictive HR Analytics, Chapter 2, pages 13-60

Orbach, Maya, Maegen Demko, Jeremy Doyle, Benjamin N. Waber, and Alex (Sandy) Pentland. 2015. “Sensing informal
networks in organizations.” American Behavioral Scientist, 59(4): 508-524.

Case: Susan Cassidy at Bertram Gilman International (HBS Case #9-417-053).

Discussion Questions (Response paper 1):

1) Which candidate should Susan Cassidy promote and why?

2) What additional information would you like to have if you were she before making this decision?

Session 3: January 25

HR Information Systems and Data II

Guest Lecture: TBD

Session 4: January 30

Analysis Strategies I

Readings:

Predictive HR Analytics, Chapter 3, pages 61-119 & Chapter 11, pages 436-468
Miller, Jane E. 2006. “How to communicate statistical findings: An expository writing approach, Chance, 19:4, 43-49.
Miller, Jane E. 2008. “Interpreting the substantive significance of multivariable regression coefficients.” ASA Joint
Statistical Meetings.
Miller, Jane E. 2008. “The Goldilocks Principle: Avoiding pitfalls in interpretation of regression coefficients.” Available
at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1153573 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1153573
Miller, Jane E., and Yana van der Meulen Rodgers. 2008. “Economic importance and statistical significance: Guidelines
for communicating empirical research, Feminist Economics, 14:2, 117-149.

Page | 6
Session 5: February 1

Analysis Strategies II

Discussion Questions (Response paper 2):

1) Find a news article that covers the use of HR analytics by an organization.

2) Describe the analytical methods used by the organization.
3) What HR problem/question does the analytical solution address?
4) Are there better analytical methods to address this problem/question? If so, describe these methods.

Session 6: February 6

Recruitment & Selection I

Readings:

Predictive HR Analytics, Chapter 8, pages 308-341

Chalfin, Aaron, Oren Danieli, Andrew Hillis, Zubin Jelveh, Michael Luca, Jens Ludwig and Sendhil Mullainathan (2016)
“Productivity and selection of human capital with machine learning.” American Economic Review: Papers and
Proceedings, 106(5): 124-127.
Derous, Eva, and Ann Marie Ryan (2019) “When your resume is (not) turning you down: Modelling ethnic bias in resume
screening.” Human Resource Management Journal, 29: 113-130.

Discussion Questions:

1) What was the hiring process at your previous place of employment?

2) What do you see as the strengths and weaknesses of your previous organization hired people?
3) What are the advantages of using machine learning in recruitment? What are the risks involved?

Session 7: February 8

Recruitment & Selection II

Readings:

Case: Banff Aspen Lodge: Staffing for Success (Ivey Case # W19218)

Discussion Questions (Response paper 3):

1) What are key requirements for the Front Desk staff? Develop selection criteria based on those requirements.
2) Focus on one of the selection criteria. Develop one behavioral and one situational interview question around this
criterion that you would ask at the interview. Describe what, in your view, would distinguish an excellent versus
average response to each of these two questions.
3) Describe one key strength and one key weakness in Aspen’s recruitment and selection process. Provide a
recommendation for addressing the weakness.

Session 8: February 13

Employee Attitudes and Engagement I

Page | 7
Readings:

Predictive HR Analytics, Chapter 5, pages 157-202

Barsade, Sigal, and Donald Gibson (2007) “Why does affect matter in organizations?” Academy of Management
Perspectives, 21(1): 36-59.

Discussion Questions:

1) Why should employers worry about how their employees feel?

2) What can employers do to shape their employees’ affect?
3) How can an employer know what their employees are feeling?
4) Describe the group affect at your last workplace or your last student team (if you have no work experience).
5) What were the consequences for individual and group performance?

Session 9: February 15

Employee Attitudes and Engagement II

Reading:

Kahn, William A. (1990). “Psychological conditions of personal engagement and disengagement at work.” Academy of
Management Journal, 33(4): 692-724.

Case: YellowStarr Financial: Refocusing on Employee Engagement (Case # HBP# NA0684)

Discussion Questions (Response paper 4):

1) Why are YellowStarr employees stressed? Why are employees disengaged? Why are employees leaving?
2) Using Kahn’s framework, develop a key events table and indicate how the event impacted engagement
(either positively, negatively, or both) and provide rationale for your responses.
3) What are some short term (next 3 months) and long-term (next three years) actions Murphy can take to
improve the workplace to help employees become more engaged and attract and retain employees? What
challenges does Murphy face in making these happen?

Assignment 1: Employee Engagement/Job Satisfaction, due Feb 25

Page | 8
Session 10: February 20

Building and Using Social Capital as Free Agents

Reading:

Baker, W. and D. Obstfeld (1999). “Social Capital by Design,” Chapter 4 in Leenders & Gabbay (eds.) Corporate Social
Capital and Liability. Boston: Kluwer.

Cases:

Heidi Roizen (HBS case #9-800-228) & Jay Alix (read O’Brian & Stern article)
Bridget O'Brian and Gabriella Stern, "Nonstop Schmoozing Propels an Accountant into the Big Leagues.”

Discussion Questions:

1) Analyze Jay Alix's approach to network building. What general principles and strategies underlie his "schmoozing"
behavior?
2) Analyze Heidi Roizen's approach to network building. What general principles and strategies underlie her
networking behavior?
3) Compare and contrast the characteristics of Jay Alix's and Heidi Roizen's networks. Compare and contrast the
strategies by which they built their network.
4) How well would their tactics work outside the US? How much do you need to vary your networking building by
country? Why?

Session 11: February 22

Building and Using Social Capital in Groups and Organizations

Readings:

Cross, Rob and Andrew Parker (2004) “Conducting and interpreting a social network analysis.” The Hidden Power of
Social Networks: Understanding How Work Really Gets Done in Organizations: 143-166.
Krackhardt, David and Jeff Hanson (1993). “Informal networks: The company behind the chart.” Harvard Business
Review, July-August 1993: 105-111.
Cross, Rob, Stephen P. Borgatti, and Andrew Parker (2002). “Making invisible work visible: using Social network
analysis to support strategic collaboration.” California Management Review, 44(2): 25-46.

Case: Troubled Spain: Leading organizational change through networks and design
(Universidad de los Andes case #AN0046)

Discussion Questions (Response paper 5):

1) What are the organizational challenges that may explain Troubled Spain’s difficulties?
2) What should James Reilly do to address the challenges that you identified and turn around the
organization? Your action plan needs to account for the time contingencies that James faces.

Page | 9
Session 12: February 27

Employee Performance I

Readings:

Predictive HR Analytics, Chapter 7, pages 258-307

Cappelli. Peter, and Martin J. Conyon (2018) “What do performance appraisals do?” Industrial and Labor Relations
Review, 71(1): 88-116.

Discussion Questions:
1) How is performance rewarded in a contractual settling-up view of employment when compared to a relational
view of employment?
2) Cappelli and Conyon (2018) find that higher-level employees receive higher performance appraisal scores?
Why is this the case in their context?

Session 13: February 29

Employee Performance II

Case: Dovernet (HBS Case #9-112-061).

Discussion Questions (Response paper 6):

1) What should Kristina Chung do about Trent Raynor and Gwen Davidson?
2) Complete the upward feedback survey (case Exhibit 4) for Colin Kerr.
3) Would you want to work for a company that used the techniques described in the case?

Assignment 2: Employee Promotion/Rewards, due March 10

Session 14: March 5

Employee Incentives I

Reading:

Locke, Edwin A., and Gary P. Latham (2002). “Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task motivation.”
American Psychologist, 57(9): 705-717.

Case: Bark Gift Shop Ltd. (HBS Case #9-120-008).

Discussion Questions:

1) Consider the mechanism by which Myriam Beatty sets targets for her shop managers. How would you
feel about this system if you were one of them? What would be aspects of this system that you would
like? What would be your main concerns?
2) Evaluate the way performance is measured at Bark Gift Shop Ltd. Is this a good way to capture the shop
manager’s skills and effort? Why or why not?
3) What analysis led Beatty to the conclusion that some store managers purposely slow down in the latter
part of the year? Complete the assignment 1 workbook and be prepared to provide your interpretation of
the results.

Page | 10
 4) Why do you think shop managers act the way Beatty thinks they do – i.e. they perform well in the first
part of the year and then they “pull back” in the last quarter?
5) What would you change in the way Beatty sets targets, measures performance, and rewards her shop
managers? Be prepared to explain the reasons for your proposed changes and to describe your
expectations in terms of changes in shop mamnagers’ behaviors based on your proposed changes.

Session 15: March 7

Employee Incentives II

Readings:

Kerr, S. (1995 [1975]). “On the folly of rewarding A, while hoping for B.” Academy of
Management Executive, 9(1): 7-14.

Case: Arck Systems (A) (HBS Case #9-911-056).

Discussion Questions (Response paper 7):

How do the pay-for-performance compensation plans at Arck and at Lux differ?

Why do these two companies utilize different compensation plans?
If you were Bryan Mynor, then which differences would concern you most? Why?
What, if any, changes should Mynor make to Lux Software’s compensation plan?

Session 16: March 19

Modeling Wage Gaps Across Groups

Readings:

Predictive HR Analytics, Chapter 4, pages 120-156

Blau, Francine D., and Lawrence M. Kahn (2017) “The gender wage gap: Extent, trends, and explanations.” Journal of
Economic Literature 55(3): 759-865.
Chamberlain, Andrew (2016) “Demystifying the gender pay gap: Evidence from Glassdoor salary data.” Glassdoor
Research Report.

Discussion Questions:

1) Compare figures 2 (US), 9 (UK), 11(Australia), 13(Germany) and 15(France) in the Glassdoor Research Report?
How similar are the explanations for the gender pay gap in these countries?
2) Consider Table 4 (page 799) of Blau and Kahn (2017). How have explanations for the gender pay gap shifted
between 1980 and 2010? What are the mechanisms within occupations, industries and firms that contribute to the
gender pay gap?

Page | 11
Session 17: March 21

Eliminating the Gender Wage Gap

Cases: Eliminating the Gender Pay Gap: Gap Inc Leads the Way. (Berkeley Haas Case #B5892)
Price Waterhouse Coopers (2018) On Air Review, pages 9-22.

Discussion Questions (Response paper 8):

1) Of the various measures that Gap could use to assess pay equity, which do you think that they should rely on?
2) What factors do you think have been most important in allowing Gap to achieve pay equity? What could other
organizations learn from them?
3) How would you assess PwC’s analysis of pay levels at the BBC? Do you think that their conclusions are valid?

Session 18: March 26

Hiring and Promotion Interventions

Case: Cyrus Mehri and the National Football League’s Rooney Rule (WDI Case # W96C44)

Discussion Questions:

1) What must Cyrus Mehri assume to estimate the representation of NFL head coaches of color in the
absence of the Rooney Rule (i.e. what if the Rooney Rule had not been implemented in 2003)?
2) Based on your analyses, did the Rooney Rule increase the representation of NFL head coaches of color?
Why or why not?
3) Should the Rooney Rule be abandoned, revised or replaced? If replaced, then with what? If revised, then
how?
4) Imagine you can implement only one change to NFL personnel practices? Would you choose to address
racial disparity in the allocation of coaches to positions? Or alternatively, would you choose to address
racial disparity in the rewards for job performance? Or another change? Why? What would you expect to
achieve?

Sessions 19: March 28

Employee Turnover

Readings:

Predictive HR Analytics, Chapter 6, pages 203-257

Allen, David G., Philip C. Bryant and James M. Vardaman (2010) “Retaining Talent: Replacing Misconceptions with
Evidence-Based Strategies” Academy of Management Perspectives, 28(2): 48-64.
Morita, June G., Thomas W. Lee, and Richard T. Mowday (1989) “introducing survival analysis to organizational
researchers: A selected application to turnover research.” Journal of Applied Psychology, 74(2): 280-292.
Morita, June G., Thomas W. Lee, and Richard T. Mowday (1993) “The regression analog to survival analysis: A selected
application to turnover research.” Academy of Management Journal, 36(6): 1430-1464.

Discussion Questions (Response paper 9):

1) What is the relationship between employee tenure and the voluntary turnover (quit) rate in an organization? What
is the underlying process that generates voluntary employee turnover? What does this imply for the functional
form (shape) of the voluntary turnover hazard function?
Page | 12
 2) Your CEO has assigned you the task of figuring out how to reduce turnover in the organization.
• What kind of analysis might you conduct to figure out what to do?
• What data would you collect?
• How would you analyze it? What particular challenges might turnover data create?

Assignment 2: Employee Turnover, due April 10

Session 20: April 2

Designing HR Polices Using Field Experiments I

Readings:

Predictive HR Analytics, Chapter 9, pages 342-388

Bandiera, Oriana, Iwan Barankay, and Imran Rasul (2011) “Field experiments with firms.” Journal of Economic
Perspectives, 25(3): 63-82.

Discussion Questions:

What do you see as the main challenges in discovering what works within organizations?
If you were to design an experiment to test whether an intervention works, what should you bear in mind?

Session 21: April 4

Designing HR Polices Using Field Experiments II

Readings:

Case: Tony Hsieh at Zappos: Structure, Culture and Change (INSEAD Case # IN1250)

Discussion Questions (Response paper 10):

1) Would you want to work at a place like Zappos before the transition to Holacracy? How about after?
Why/why not?
2) Why do you think Tony Hsieh is making this change? Why is he doing it now?
3) What do you make of the fact that 14% of the employees took Hsieh up on his offer?
4) What do you think this process fells like as an employee?
5) Design a field experiment to determine whether Holacracy would be an effective structure at Zappos.

Page | 13
Session 22 : April 9

Causal Inference Using Observational Data I: Directed Acyclic Graphs and Causality

Reading:

Pearl, Judea, and Dana Mackenzie. 2018. Pp. 23-52 (Chapter 2) and 135-65 (Chapter 4) in The Book of Why. New York:
Basic Books.

Discussion Questions: TBD

Session 23: April 11

Causal Inference Using Observational Data II: Conditioning on Observables, Propensity Score Matching

Reading:

Abadie, Alberto, and Matias D. Cattaneo (2018). “Econometric methods for program evaluation.” Annual Review of
Economics, 10: 465–503.
Dehejia, Rajeev H., and Sadek Wahba (2002). “Propensity score-matching methods for nonexperimental causal studies.”
The Review of Economics and Statistics, 84(1): 151-161.

Discussion Questions: TBD

Session 24: April 16

Causal Inference Using Observational Data III: Difference in Differences & Synthetic Controls

Readings:

Card, David, and Alan B. Krueger (1994). “Minimum wages and employment: A case study of the fast-food industry in
New Jersey and Pennsylvania.” American Economic Review, 84(4): 772-793.
Pierce, Lamar, Daniel C. Snow, and Andrew McAfee (2015). “Cleaning house: The impact of information technology
monitoring on employee theft and productivity.” Management Science, 61(1): 2299-2319
Abadie, Alberto, Alexis Diamond, and Jens Hainmueller (2010). “Synthetic control methods for comparative case studies:
Estimating the effect of California’s Tobacco Control Program.” Journal of the American Statistical Association,
105: 493-505.

Discussion Questions: TBD

Page | 14
Session 25: April 18

Causal Inference Using Observational Data IV: Instrumental Variables & Regression Discontinuity

Readings:

Bollmann, Grégoire, Serguei Rouzinov, André Berchtold, and Jérôme Rossier (2019). “Illustrating instrumental variable
regression using the career adaptability – job satisfaction relationship.” Frontiers in Psychology, 10: 1481.
Sojourner, Aaron J., Brigham R. Frandsen, Robert J. Town, David C. Grabowski, and Min M. Chen (2015). Impacts of
unionization on quality and productivity: Regression discontinuity evidence from nursing homes. ILR Review,
68(4): 771-806.

Discussion Questions: TBD

Session 26: April 23

Applications and Limitations of HR Analytics

Readings:

Predictive HR Analytics, Chapters 10 & 12, pages 389-435 & 469-493

O’Neil, Cathy (2017) Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy,
Chapter 7 (Pp. 123-140).
Lepri, Bruno, Nuria Oliver, Emmanuel Letouzé, Alex Pentland, and Patrick Vinck (2018) “Fair, transparent, and
accountable algorithmic decision-making processes: The premise, the proposed solutions, and the open
challenges.” Philosophy & Technology, 31: 611-627.
Brynjolfsson, Erik, Tom Mitchell, and Daniel Rock (2018) “What can machines learn and what does it mean for
occupations and the economy?” American Economic Review: Papers and Proceedings, 108(5): 43-47.
Olguin, Daniel, Benjamin N. Waber, Taemie Kim, Akshay Mohan, Koji Ara, and Alex Pentland. 2009. “Sensible
organizations: Technology and methodology to automatically measure organizational behavior.” IEEE
Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics, 39(1): 43-55.
Madan, Anmol, Benjamin N. Waber, Margaret Ding, Paul Kominers, and Alex (Sandy) Pentland. 2009. “Reality mining
and personal privacy: Will privacy disappear when social sensors learn our lives?” In Proceedings from
Engaging Data: International Forum on Management of Personal Electronic Information. MIT Press.

Discussion Questions:

Do you think algorithms can be more damaging than human judgment in managing people?
What features of algorithms and measures make them particularly dangerous in the workplace?
What guidelines would you implement around the usage of algorithms in managing people?
What are the ethical issues involved in collecting unobtrusive behavioral data on employees? How can we protect
their privacy in the data collection process?

Session 27: April 25

Course Review and Wrap Up

Take-Home Final Exam: TBD

Page | 15