Managing Social and Human Capital (Coursera)

Managing Social and Human Capital (Coursera)

Based on their popular course at Wharton, this course will teach you how to motivate individual performance and design reward systems, how to design jobs and organize work for high performance, how to make good and timely management decisions, and how to design and change the your organization’s architecture. By the end of this course, you'll have developed the skills you need to start motivating, organizing, and rewarding people in your organization so that you can thrive as a business and as a social organization.

Class Deals by MOOC List - Click here and see Coursera's Active Discounts, Deals, and Promo Codes.

People are the most valuable asset of any business, but they are also the most unpredictable, and the most difficult, asset to manage. And although managing people well is critical to the health of any organization, most managers don't get the training they need to make good management decisions. Now, award-wining authors and renowned management Professors Mike Useem and Peter Cappelli of the Wharton School have designed this course to introduce you to the key elements of managing people.
Course 3 of 6 in the Business Foundations Specialization.

Syllabus

WEEK 1
Motivation and Reward
In this module, you'll learn how motivation affects an individual's performance and how to use that motivation to drive performance. You'll explore how incentive systems are designed and how psychological concepts such as behavior modification, imitation, conformity, and compliance influence and shape these systems. You’ll also examine the current process of hiring employees using technology, tracking systems, and outsourcing. And you’ll learn how you can provide valuable feedback to your employees, and make performance appraisals productive. By the end of this module, you’ll be able to apply what you've learned to best motivate, hire, and evaluate your employees.

WEEK 2
Tasks, Jobs, and Systems of Work
This module is designed to teach you the difference between a task and a job. You'll learn how jobs are historically designed, and you'll explore some of the drawbacks related to past work systems. You'll also learn how job design has been influenced by engineering and psychology. Finally, you'll look at real world examples from the GM and Toyota to compare their respective approaches. By the end of this module, you'll understand how jobs and systems of work have evolved to improve employee performance and productivity.

WEEK 3
Making Good and Timely Management Decisions
In this module, you'll learn how to make good and timely management decisions. Through several real-world examples, you'll see how leaders create and build a decision making mindset. You'll also learn how leaders can make costly decisions that affect their team or their entire company negatively. By the end of this module, you will be able to apply key concepts to making good and timely management decisions and build a higher performing team.

WEEK 4
Designing and Changing the Organization's Architecture
This module was created to describe the influence of an organization's architecture on management and its team's performance. You'll explore how inequity fosters disparity among employees and can inhibit a company's success. You'll also look at two real-world examples of leaders who tackled problems within their organizational structures to effect change. By the end of this module you will be able to identify key steps in which you can lead change within your organization.

Go to Class
MOOC List is learner-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Related Courses

Conflict Resolution Skills (Coursera) Coursera
University of California, Irvine

Conflict Resolution Skills (Coursera)

Resolving conflict in a positive manner is a skill that can be developed and practiced. Being heard can be one of the most important goals of someone engaged in conflict. Knowing how to listen and deploy appropriate communication tactics is determinative of whether a conflict will have a positive or negative resolution. Examine listening skills, appropriate and strategic verbal and non-verbal communication skills, and how to assemble a conflict management plan likely to yield positive resolutions.

Nov 23rd 2026
3 Weeks
Emprendiendo en STEM (Coursera) Coursera
Universidad Austral

Emprendiendo en STEM (Coursera)

El objetivo de este curso es inspirar a las mujeres que están en el mundo de la ciencia, la tecnología, la ingeniería y las matemáticas (STEM, siglas en inglés) a descubrir su espíritu emprendedor y adquirir herramientas prácticas para la creación y el crecimiento de compañías. Se propone hacerlo a través de 6 módulos de formación en las habilidades básicas de un emprendedor para inspirarse y animarse.

Nov 23rd 2026
5-12 Weeks
Beyond Silicon Valley: Growing Entrepreneurship in Transitioning Economies (Coursera) Coursera
Case Western Reserve University

Beyond Silicon Valley: Growing Entrepreneurship in Transitioning Economies (Coursera)

The path for entrepreneurs to grow their companies outside of well-developed entrepreneurial ecosystems like Silicon Valley is challenging. Most markets around the world do not look like Silicon Valley, and they never will. But there are other models to support new businesses. In transitioning markets (where entrepreneurs do not have much access to private sector financing), government officials, donors, and business leaders are experimenting with creative approaches to support the growth of entrepreneurs. Northeast Ohio, whose largest city is Cleveland, is one such community. During our time together in this course, we will be exploring some of these innovative approaches.

Nov 23rd 2026
5-12 Weeks
High Stakes Leadership: Leading in Times of Crisis (Coursera) Coursera
University of Michigan

High Stakes Leadership: Leading in Times of Crisis (Coursera)

This course has been designed to help leaders, like you, learn how to effectively navigate the challenges of significant organizational disruptions. As a participant in this course, you’ll discover why an understanding of various stakeholder perspectives can inform and dramatically improve a leader’s response to events that threaten an organization’s very survival. This course is also about understanding and developing individual and organizational resilience—the ability to anticipate potential threats; to cope effectively with adverse events when they occur; and to adapt to changing conditions, ensuring a viable path forward for yourself, your team, and your organization.

Nov 23rd 2026
4 Weeks
Reputation Crisis? Facebook meets Cambridge Analytica (Coursera) Coursera
Erasmus University Rotterdam

Reputation Crisis? Facebook meets Cambridge Analytica (Coursera)

Do you remember when you first created your Facebook account? Do you know what happens to the data and stories you share on Facebook? Are you aware of the Facebook – Cambridge Analytica crisis and its ramifications? In this course, you will take a deep dive into reputation management by tackling a case study on the crisis, the effects of which are still unravelling for Facebook, the tech industry, and society at large. You will explore the concept of corporate reputation, and touch upon topics such as data privacy implications for the big tech or the importance of leadership and culture, and how Mark Zuckerberg’s leadership might have affected Facebook in particular. In the final project, you will be asked to link theory and practice to provide an analysis of events and make recommendations for Facebook, going forward.

Nov 23rd 2026
5-12 Weeks
Gestión Empresarial Exitosa para Pymes (Coursera) Coursera
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

Gestión Empresarial Exitosa para Pymes (Coursera)

Este curso tiene como objetivo fortalecer las capacidades de gestión de pequeños y medianos empresarios, y personas interesadas en emprender. El Programa Pyme de la Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile te invita a profundizar sobre lo que se requiere para ser un empresario exitoso y a aprender buenas prácticas en dirección de empresas que permitan crear valor al cliente, a través del marketing y herramientas comerciales.

Nov 23rd 2026
5-12 Weeks
Programación en Python (Coursera) Coursera
Universidad de los Andes

Programación en Python (Coursera)

¡Te damos la bienvenida al curso de Programación en Python de la Universidad de los Andes! El propósito de este curso es ofrecerte un ambiente interactivo para que desarrolles tus habilidades de pensamiento computacional, aprendas a programar en el lenguaje Python y te entrenes en la resolución de problemas utilizando un computador. La estrategia pedagógica empleada es el aprendizaje activo basado en casos.

Nov 23rd 2026
4 Weeks
Impact Measurement & Management for the SDGs (Coursera) Coursera
Duke University

Impact Measurement & Management for the SDGs (Coursera)

How can businesses and investors help fill the $2 trillion gap needed for sustainable development? Simply put, by getting better at measuring and managing impacts on people and planet. Through this course, anyone can learn to improve their organization's practice of impact management, and how to align their ESG or impact activities and reporting with emerging global standards. Impact Measurement and Management for the SDGs is sponsored by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the global development network of the United Nations which created the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that over 190 countries have signed on to achieve by 2030. But the public sector can't do this alone.

Nov 23rd 2026
5-12 Weeks
Conversations that Inspire: Coaching Learning, Leadership and Change (Coursera) Coursera
Case Western Reserve University

Conversations that Inspire: Coaching Learning, Leadership and Change (Coursera)

Coaching can inspire and motivate people to learn, change and be effective leaders, among other roles in life. Although most attempts are “coaching for compliance” (coaching someone to your wishes or expectations), decades of behavioral and neuroscience research show us that “coaching with compassion” (coaching someone to their dreams and desires) is more effective.

Nov 23rd 2026
5-12 Weeks
Impact from digital transformation: A Nano course (Coursera) Coursera
EIT Digital

Impact from digital transformation: A Nano course (Coursera)

You believe that a lot of industries will fundamentally change due to digital power the upcoming 5 to 10 years? You believe that what often today have been called "disruption" might happen to an industry of your specific interest? You believe in the value of becoming able to predict how that kind of change will evolve in order to do digital transformation and thereby avoid ending up with big problems in the future? Then this course is for you.

Nov 23rd 2026
4 Weeks