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Human Resource Management

In the competitive global marketplace, managing people while working toward business goals involves numerous strategic decisions. Human resource management isn't job postings and benefits - it is the study of how to effectively apply economic principles to a company's human capital to meet strategic goals.

At Chicago Booth, you'll learn how to use economics and strategy to harness the value of human resources in the production of goods and services. By looking at such topics as the supply and demand of the labor markets, the state of world economies, the future of labor costs, how incentives operate, substitutes for labor, and other economic concepts, you will gain the frameworks needed to make effective management decisions: How do you attract good workers? Who should you hire? How should you compensate them? How do you measure and maximize their performance? You'll also explore how information flows within a company so that it reaches decision-makers and increases productivity.


You'll have the chance to explore activities outside the classroom in numerous ways that will also allow you to build new skills, relationships, and networks. These include:

  • Behavioral Science Workshop - Invited guests, faculty, and students present current research in decision-making and judgment at the Behavioral Science Workshop. The emphasis is on behavioral implications of decision/judgment models. View past topics.

You’ll have the option of taking courses that address your individual career choices. Samples include:

  • Managing the Workplace - This course examines foundational topics in human resource management with a focus on coordinating human resource practices and business strategy. Topics covered include employee selection and retention, training and development, performance evaluation, compensation, job design, and communication within the firm.
  • Management, Unions, and Collective Bargaining - This course concentrates first on a detailed examination of union organization, contract bargaining, and the exercise of power by unions. Also, we analyze the current debate between "left" and "right" over the nature and effect of our structure of labor law in the U.S. Next, we make an in-depth analysis of the implementation and enforcement of the labor contract with emphasis on the all-important process of labor arbitration. The class surveys more briefly: (a) the growth, decline, government, and philosophy of unions in the US; (b) the unique problems of bargaining in the public sector; and (c) the economic consequences of collective bargaining in the US.

You’ll study with professors who conduct groundbreaking research, consult with companies and share their experience shaping the use of human capital as a strategic resource.

  • Canice Prendergast, is widely published, with work appearing in the Economic Journal, the Journal of Labor Economics, the American Economic Review, the Journal of the Japanese and International Economics, and the European Economic Review. Articles on his recent research have appeared in Fortune Magazine, the Financial Times, the Economist, and Der Speigel.

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