Specialization Tracks
Completion of two of the three tracks listed below are required for the Graduate Certificate in HR Management.
Track 1: Employee Relations
Track 2: Engaging Talent
Track 3: HR Strategy
TRACK 1: EMPLOYEE RELATIONS
Effective employee relations are central to your mission as an HR professional. Through study in the Employee Relations track of the Graduate Certificate in Human Resources Management, you will increase your effectiveness with employees, help your organization meet the challenges of an increasingly diverse domestic and international workforce, and bring positive change to your organization. This sequence of six two-week courses will help you develop and enrich your skills in communication, coaching, and counseling; train you in alternative dispute resolution and other systems and strategies for managing and preventing conflict and dispute-related litigation; and help you build your internal consulting skills; implement high-performance work practices; and understand and manage global employment issues.
- Learn how to increase effective communication in your organization, and how to provide counseling and coaching to employees in order to resolve workplace issues and improve performance.
- Learn how to implement alternative dispute resolution, conflict management systems, and other third-party techniques for managing workplace disputes in order to reduce productivity losses, resolve workplace conflict, prevent litigation, and minimize future risks associated with workplace disputes.
- Cultivate your internal consulting skills, and learn how to help implement strategies within your organization so that you can provide critical input into your organization’s strategic initiatives.
- Learn how to implement high-performance work practices in unionized settings and how to gain employee buy-in.
- Learn how to manage labor relations issues in global settings, develop a global perspective for dealing with international employment systems and understanding workplace diversity, and learn how to respond effectively to international labor and human rights challenges.
Who should take this track?
This track is designed for any HR professional who needs to act as an internal consultant and who is responsible for employee relations, who is charged with making HR a strategic partner in the organization, or who wishes to create a receptive environment for implementing high-performance work systems; or any HR professional who is employed in a U.S.-based multinational corporation and needs to manage unionized or non-unionized labor forces abroad.
ILRHR506 Communicating and Coaching and Counseling for Improved Performance
ILRSM503 Alternative Dispute Resolution
ILRSM504 Systems and Strategies for Managing Organizational Conflict
ILRHR513 Internal Consulting Skills for HR Professionals
ILRSM501 Achieving High-Performance Work Practices
ILRSM501 Managing Employment Issues in a Global Context
TRACK 2: ENGAGING TALENT
Attracting and retaining talent, making the best use of your employees’ strengths, and matching them to your organization’s financial, customer, process, and people outcomes are vital to performance and productivity—and to your organization’s success. Through the Engaging Talent track of the Graduate Certificate in Human Resources Management, you will strengthen your ability to tie your organization’s HR function and strategy to its performance outcomes and to measure its effectiveness. This track contains six two-week courses that will help you develop and enrich your skills in building a talent management culture; understanding diversity and inclusion for bottom-line performance; engaging employees; measuring HR’s impact on organizational outcomes; assessing, designing, and implementing performance management systems; and achieving year-round performance management and appraisal.
In Track 2 you will learn how to:
- Attract and retain top talent by communicating and marketing an employment brand
- Nurture future leaders and retain your organization’s top talent.
- Leverage diversity among your organization’s workforce; learn how to improve performance and attain objectives by using high-involvement practices and diversity management.
- Improve workforce performance; learn how to use employee engagement as a strategic tool.
- Develop metrics to demonstrate HR’s impact on financial, customer, process, and people outcomes.
- Build a model that links metrics to organizational goals and priorities.
- Drive productivity and growth through performance management.
- Develop, implement, and assess a performance appraisal system.
- Appraise employee performance through constant feedback, effective communication, and goal-oriented leadership.
- Establish goals, identify development opportunities, and pinpoint areas for improvement.
Who should take this track?
This track is designed for HR professionals who seek the strategic skills required for advancement to management and leadership positions, who need to develop or enrich their talent management skills, or who need to implement or maintain performance management and/or appraisal systems within their organizations. It is also appropriate for HR professionals who need to improve their department’s ability to contribute to organizational strategy and success.
ILRHR554 Building a Talent Management Culture
ILRHR553 Diversity and Inclusion for Bottom-line Performance
ILRHR556 Employee Engagement
ILRHR555 Measuring HR’s Impact
ILRHR511 Assessing, Designing, and Implementing Performance Management Systems
ILRHR512 Achieving Year-Round Performance Management and Appraisal
TRACK 3: HR STRATEGY
As an HR professional, you will need to lead effectively to align HR functions with your organization’s goals, to help drive needed change, and to help implement and manage changes successfully. Through the HR Strategy track of the Graduate Certificate in Human Resources Management, you will gain the skills you need to increase your strategic and leadership abilities and help your organization meet the challenges posed by change. This track will help you develop and enrich your skills in HR leadership, and in aligning HR strategy with organizational strategy, developing an agenda for change, mapping the political terrain of allies and resistors, negotiating buy-in and support for your agenda, and mobilizing the coalition for action.
In Track 3 you will learn how to:
- Develop strategies that improve strategic, ethical, legal, and financial outcomes for your organization.
- Manage the complexities of interpersonal dynamics at the most senior levels to nurture strong leaders.
- Learn to create a vertical-alignment strategy to improve decision making, people outcomes, processes, and profits.
- Align HR functions with the organization to execute strategies.
- Drive change within your organization, adapting it to a dynamic environment and controlling how it evolves.
- Create a political agenda for change, accounting for both support and resistance to the transition
- Anticipate and prepare for dissenting opinions.
- Build and negotiate support for your change initiatives, to understand principles of bargaining power and organizational influence, and to analyze the agendas of other employees.
- React to change with an appropriate leadership style, and to lead a coalition to manage the change and ensure its successful implementation
Who should take this track?
This track is designed for HR professionals seeking to develop their skills in the areas of leadership, HR strategy, agenda development, negotiations, and change management, required for advancement to management and leadership positions.
ILRHR551 Human Resources Leadership
ILRHR552 Aligning HR Strategy with Organizational Strategy
ILRSM509 Developing an Agenda for Change
ILRSM510 Mapping the Political Terrain of Allies and Resistors
ILRSM511 Negotiating Support and Buy-In for Your Agenda
ILRSM512 Mobilizing the Coalition for Action
