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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Managing Social and Human Capital by University of Pennsylvania

4.6
stars
2,492 ratings

About the Course

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-winning 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. 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 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....

Top reviews

DM

Oct 19, 2018

Excellent Course. Understanding human behavior is one of the most difficult challenges in an organization. This course describes the challenges well and offers approaches to tackling those challenges.

CE

Jan 12, 2022

Really enjoyed the cases studies throught the weeks and well having the pdfs for taking notes. The final notes on management and decision making will be on my note list for work reflection for sure.

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1 - 25 of 422 Reviews for Managing Social and Human Capital

By GYQB

Apr 9, 2018

I can’t believe I’m paying for this crap: it’s one of the worst online courses I have ever taken, as I’ve already experienced with the other courses in the Business Foundations Specialization.

Coming from a science background, I am continually disappointed at how much MEANINGLESS HOT-AIR BULLSHIT JARGON AND HAND-WAVING -- I call it "the Five-Axis MHABHJ Paradigm, which is based on 7 factors formed by 3 circles of focus" -- there is in business and how long it always takes you people to get to the point, on the very rare occasion that there is one. This entire course -- if you can call it that -- on Managing Social and Human Capital could be summarized in about 2 pages. Ten minutes to say: “organizations must adapt to change, have a clear plan, communicate it and execute it”. Wow!

The professor is monotonous, boring and drags on forever instead of being concise and direct. Moreover, many of the slides had typos on them ("shot-term", "time" instead of "timely", etc.). Lastly, don't use terms like "Chuck" (referring to Charles Schwab), when you know that there are students from around the world taking this class.

Perhaps Coursera / Wharton could offer problem-solving exercises that make students think and work, instead of just giving us fake wrote-memory quizzes that people could pass without even watching the videos (Google).

By Gideon S

Oct 10, 2019

Firstly, let me state that I'm very thankful for the coursework -- thank you! While both professors are quite knowledgeable, I never felt either professor was entirely invested. The course began with a caveat that this class was a deep dive rather than a formal study, which I took strong exception. In addition, the quizes were a regurgitation -- never challenging or encouraging independent thought. Both professors often alluded to what they would do in the classroom, but never made an attempt effectively to use this online teaching-medium to foster real discussion. In fairness, the material in its presentation was brief and cursory. My critique is also validated by referring to the Discussion Forum. Unlike other classes that I have taken, this Disscussion Forum was empty; no one is posting in general. HOWEVER I think that this coursework is fascinating! Therefore, something needs to be improved. Give this material the attention that it is due.

By Aditya A

May 26, 2018

The case studies in the course are exemplary. For an MBA student to understand the decision making process at the highest level and to gain right decision making approach this course is a must .

By Quoc-Anh V

Jun 28, 2019

Lots of fluff. The most important lesson was Autonomy, Variety, Significance, and Feedback.

By Frank G

Apr 28, 2019

While it is great to see lectures by Peter Capelli and Mike Useem, the depth of the material stays quite at the surface. Both could go much deeper - instead the material consists of 4 weeks, each week showing videos with one of the scientists for about 60 minutes. No further reading is prepared, apart from one test at the end of each week. In comparison to other courses on coursera it is a bit disapointing, especially as the course is slightly more expensive than other, significantly more rich ones.

By Qi M

Jul 22, 2017

I don't even know what are they talking about. All the knowledges are by piece and piece. The lesson is short and I don't have any clue for the big picture of the managing human capital. Not recommended.

By Colin M

May 8, 2017

More hands-on casework would have been beneficial.

By Himanshu P

Jul 27, 2017

the content could have more streamlined. a few tidbits of useful information splattered across some of the lectures.

By Jitender

Nov 5, 2019

A fantastic, thought provoking course. Gave us a lot of things to reflect on and be mindful of in different situations in the organization. Thank you Prof Cappelli and Prof Useem. Grateful to you.

By davide d l

Mar 12, 2018

Teachers present a lot of anecdotes but few real-case data

By REALINO P

May 18, 2020

Dear Prof. Mike Useem and Prof. Peter Capelli,

Greetings from the Philippines!

Please allow me to express my gratitude to the both of you and the rest of my instructors ( Business Foundations Specialization) for such a short yet very informative and practical encounter (virtually). The topics discussed were on point and closer to home since I'm newly promoted as Operations Supervisor here in one of the biggest shopping centers in Asia. And I shall say, mismatch between salary expectation and the actual, inequity, incentives system, promotion, etc, were resonated to me since I personally experienced them. With my new learning, I firmly believed I'm now ready to tackle new and bigger responsibility and yes, learning will never stop. This is just the beginning.

Thank you once again Coursera for granting me the financial aid. I swear I won't be able to enroll to this wonderful course if it weren't for your generosity. From the bottom of my heart, please accept my sincere gratitude. And oh, did I tell you that this would be my first Coursera-verified Certificate? I'm ridiculously ecstatic right now and can't wait to share this to my linkedin and resume.

Thank you once again. God bless you more!

Sincerely,

REAL PRADO,

Mechanical Engineer, Philippines

By Natesha F

Oct 21, 2022

I hold a MBA and a M.S. in Management, however, for the past 13 years I've been the manager at a botique law firm. I am now at the stage in life where I am 36 and I have a 13 year old so going to PTA meetings etc. is not a priority. I really needed ways to boost my managerial prowess and make me more marketable to hold a position in a large corporation. Brushing up on some of the managerial and leadership principles that are required in today's market has proven to be a great confidence booster for me. Both professors provided detailed knowledge, relevant case studies, and comprehensive explanation of how to manage in a multitier structured organization. Concepts of managing not only suboridnates, but also managing our superiors make the difference between those who excel and those who don't. Thank you for providing such affordable accessibiltity to the depth of knowledge these ivy league professors have to offer!

By а е

May 14, 2021

I didn't like tests because they didn't check if I understood a material. I should have learned examples, names of companies to pass tests, but I don't need it. The professors are fine, I liked them. There was useful information. But I didn't like the concentration on examples and a lack of structure (presentations with the main thoughts would be really helpful).

By Chris C

Mar 4, 2018

While I did feel there was some good material in this course, I also felt there was too much concentration on related stories, and quizzing on the stories, instead of the material itself. Hopefully this is something that can be corrected in the future, so the material can be the star instead of what sho

By Daniel D

Aug 9, 2017

The last two modules are far too anecdotal and don't contribute much insightful theory.

By Imanol A

Mar 27, 2017

No structure for the course

By Justin J

Apr 2, 2019

only a few tidbits of helpful info. compared to accounting and marketing this course is not very helpful.

By Priyam G

Apr 8, 2017

The course was very well planned with a good number of examples to make the concepts easy to understand. The professors gave a very smooth presentation of the topics given. Even the tests at the end of each week made me go through the all the topics taught through out the week. I would suggest anyone and everyone to enroll for this course as it is not specific to the needs of a specific industry, rather it is a necessity for all members of the working population to understand the way to manage human and social capital.

By Phan Q K N

Apr 11, 2022

This course is absolutely wonderful. I really love the examples the instructors used for demonstrating the concepts, for example: the fire fighter story and critical lessons from the Marine force. Previously, with only an engineering background, I trusted the job should be divided technically in the most efficient way but after this course, I realised the optimal solution must include an understanding of human behaviour. In conclusion, this course absolutely enlightened me with useful knowledge for my future career.

By ALBERTE V M

Jun 11, 2020

I really enjoyed this course! The lecture videos were so easy to follow and the professors gave excellent examples to help understand all the material. I will definitely be bringing all of this knowledge further with me, both in life but also in my future career. The quizzes helped me test my knowledge and was extremely helpful! I would recommend this course to anyone who is interested in both business but also the human side which comes along with running and managing a company.

Super interesting!

By Ishan M

Mar 29, 2020

Excellent course.Well Designed course by experienced faculty at Penn. If you are a new comer to this field i insist you to take this course it will help you a lot. As in managing social and human capital the most important this is understanding the mindset behind the people why they are working with you, why they will work hard for your organisation, will there be any benefit to them if they work hard for you. You will learn hell lot of things. About managing social and human capital.

By Samantha F

Feb 5, 2022

Thank you so much to Professor Peter Cappelli and Professor Mike Useem for the knowledge that's been shared in this course. I'd say it's absolutely wonderful! I highly recommend this to anyone who would like to get a glimpse of what managing human and social capital is like. It's simple, understandable, and nothing too complicated. Thank you to the whole Coursera team too for the opportunity to join this course! I look forward to joining other courses offered.

By Nuno P

Dec 27, 2017

I found this course enlightening because it has basically agreed with the ideology I have been recommending my previous managers to implement. I believe many companies tend to forget that people have emotions and overwrite their opinions in any matter that affects the company. I believe, as it has been said, every employee is a crucial element of the business.

Beautiful course. And I loved the examples the presenters used.

By Christopher D

Jul 8, 2017

Pretty good course. A little bit too much on the academic side (similar to other courses in this specialization). The reason this is a problem is that this course is supposed to be able to be taken by individuals with no previous business experience. High level business concepts and terminology at times will confuse lay people. All in all a good course though, many insightful stories. Strategic intent... amazing concept.

By Luciana B M

Sep 6, 2020

Excelente curso sobre um dos aspectos mais desafiadores para gerentes e diretores em geral, a administração de recursos humanos. O curso explica de forma simples e acessível teorias que administradores poderão aplicar no dia a dia e indica materiais para leitura para aprofundar o conhecimento. Além das aulas o curso tem um resumo em PDF que facilita para ajudar a estudar ou para ser usado como material de consulta.