Published by: Julia
Learning how to manage your people and social standing is critical to success. This Coursera course covers how to do that and does so in-depth.
Why every business owner needs this managing people course
Most company owners are already aware that their people are an important component of their business. It sounds trite, but they really are their most valuable asset.
Without a properly motivated and managed workforce, it is impossible to provide a world-class service or product.
Most business owners understand that if they value and manage their workers properly their workers can take their business to new heights. Yet, when it comes to managing people, they really struggle. It is something that does not come naturally to most entrepreneurs. Fortunately, you can learn this essential skill from this fantastic Coursera business course.
It teaches you how to manage your employees and do so in a way that creates a team of people that are:
- Loyal
- Truly appreciated
- Happy in their work
- Productive
- Engaged
- Efficient
By the way, I’ve reviewed a few different Coursera options, and you can read my full Coursera review here.
How to tap into motivation to improve productivity and quality
Understanding what motivates your workforce is the first step to being able to come up with strategies that effectively drive performance. Once you identify that you can come up with schemes to incentivize your team. Keep them engaged, productive and wanting to continue to work for you in the long-term.
This section of the course covers:
- Understanding what motivates people
- Designing incentive systems
- How to hire the right people
- Managing your staff´s performance
Designing systems of work
The way you structure the tasks that need to be done to get the job done is important. So, this section of the course covers the subject of job design. It explains how the Japanese and US car industries transformed the way they worked, so that they could quantify what needed to be done, track performance, and reward good work.
How to manage workflow
This section of the course explains how to:
- Identify every job
- Break them down into tasks
- Create processes that work
- Communicating effectively
- Tracking and managing workflow
How to make sound management decisions
When you manage workflow well, everything else falls into place. There is no scrabbling around at the last minute to get that important order out of the door. It also becomes easier to scale and be one of the first to take advantage of business opportunities.
The decisions you make need to be sound and made in a timely way and ensuring your team is equipped to do the same. In today´s climate, your business needs to be agile. Structuring things so that decisions can be made fast and changes properly communicated to your workforce is essential. You need them to be on side to understand why you are asking them to potentially change the way they work. They also need to be properly supported through the retraining process.
Creating and managing your organization´s architecture
An organization’s architecture has a huge impact on your ability to manage and on your team´s ability to perform. In this section, you learn the following:
- how to structure to avoid inequity
- how to lead change within your organization
- how to build an effective team
The fact that your professor Cappelli and Professor Useem use two real-world examples, make this section of the course particularly easy to follow.
Who will benefit from taking this human resources course
There is no doubt that students who are studying business or human resources related subjects will greatly benefit from taking this course. But, its main audience is definitely those show are directly involved in planning how a business or organization is run. It will also benefit those who are directly involved in managing people. Especially when they have taken the other 5 courses in the Coursera business specialization.
Other Coursera business courses
As you can see this business course is very focused. It covers only one aspect of running a company – people management. If you want to learn about some of the other aspects, I suggest that you read my full Coursera review, then click through and take a look at theor 1400+ courses. They cover all kinds of subjects which makes them a great way to fill any gaps in your knowledge.
Most of the courses have been created by university professors. Many of whom teach in the world’s top colleges and universities. Including Harvard, Princeton, Yale, and several other ivy league universities.