Leading with People Analytics is designed to help students, in their role as general managers, learn how to use data to improve employee-related decisions and practices. The premise of the course is that effective leaders must understand how data can be used (and misused) to leverage people’s skills, talents, and insights. This premise is at the heart of the rapidly evolving field of people analytics, which organizations are embracing as they use data to inform every aspect of employee life.

In the course, students build hands-on skills by analyzing and interpreting data in ways that complement the frameworks and intuitions that normally guide managerial actions. By learning how to apply data-driven approaches, students will 1) come to appreciate the opportunities, limits, and tensions involved in using employee data, 2) gain deeper insight into the business issues in question, and 3) sharpen their ability to think critically through the lens of rigorous analytics.

Most Recent Assignment

LPA 2022 Blog Assignment

April 18, 2022

Read The Full Prompt

Organizations, from startups to multinationals to non-profits to sports teams, are using employee data in new and exciting ways. They are typically trying to improve efficiency, performance, or both, leading to a variety of intended and unintended consequences. Using employee data in new ways often has important implications for employee privacy, company transparency, ethics, and organizational culture.

Your assignment is to write an approximately 500-word blog post about People Analytics, and to post it on d3.harvard.edu by 11:00pm EST on Monday, April 18. Your post should be about an article from a media source or any other content of your choosing. Please include a link to the material you write about. Feel free to use graphics, data, videos, and links to other sites to complement your points.

Write your own reaction to your chosen article in the form of a short blog post. What is your point of view about the issues in question? Are you a proponent? A skeptic? Does your article describe a particularly effective use of data that should be emulated by other organizations? Or do you think it describes an ineffective or troublesome practice? You should go beyond simply describing what is in the article and articulate your own point of view on the topic.

After posting your own blog, please comment on three posts by other students by 1:00pm EST on Wednesday, April 20. Selected posts will be discussed in class.

If you have any problems with the digital.hbs.org platform, please email diplatform@hbs.edu for help, and visit the digital platform resources page for helpful advice.

Submitted (38)

People Analytics in the Future of Work: Catering to Millennials and Generations X, Y, and Z
Camlinh To
Last modified on April 19, 2022 at 9:58 am
How should companies bridge the generational gaps in the workforce starting with Generation Z - a population who prefers to communicate through screens, immerse themselves in virtual realities, and learning through TikTok influencers?
Optimizing Return-to-Office Strategies with Organizational Network Analysis:
Jeff Mayolo
Last modified on April 18, 2022 at 10:25 pm
Survey-based approach for organizational network analysis looks to optimize hybrid work schedules.
From Blue Collar to New Collar
Grace Gorenstein
Posted on April 18, 2022 at 10:51 pm
"New Collar" work - will it work for managers and HR?
Is the Office where we work?
Hans Husmann
Posted on April 18, 2022 at 11:07 pm
We work in an office. That truism was upended by the Covid-19 pandemic. People analytics might bring the people back.
All you need is data…or not?
Eliza Cooke-Yarborough
Posted on April 18, 2022 at 10:58 pm
The field of People Analytics is revolutionizing the way we hire, retain, promote and manage employees. But what happens when metrics cannot paint the full picture?
Balancing robots and humans in talent decisions
Sofia Moll
Last modified on April 19, 2022 at 3:14 pm
AI in hiring is here to stay. How do we find the right balance between robots and humans making talent decisions?
The Implementation of People Analytics
Graciela-Brewer
Posted on April 18, 2022 at 11:11 pm
“There is no correlation between effort and impact of people analytics projects.” How do you find the right strategy for burgeoning people analytics teams?
Tech Is Transforming People Analytics. Is That a Good Thing?
BRolan
Last modified on April 19, 2022 at 12:19 am
Building a culture of trust, respect, and fairness to deploy innovative data collection
How critical are people’s skill data for workforce planning in the digital era?
Dai Ikegami
Posted on April 19, 2022 at 1:12 am
Skill data may help accelerate "the right person for the right position".
People Analytics: Tapping into the Promise, and Warding off the Potential Peril
David Dapaah-Afriyie
Posted on April 19, 2022 at 1:28 am
As data becomes increasingly integral to everyday decision-making in workplaces across various industries, data literacy—an understanding of how to interrogate and interpret data in order to ensure that the data analysis spearheading decision-making is cautiously conducted and evaluated—becomes increasingly vital.
How much data privacy are we willing to give up in exchange for insight and impact?
Michael Mirer
Posted on April 19, 2022 at 7:53 pm
People Analytics promises better outcomes for key HR topics like hiring, promotions and performance. Will legal and regulatory constraints guide People Analytics in the right direction or kill before it can take off?
How to be great at people analytics
Bartosz Garbaczewski
Last modified on April 19, 2022 at 10:11 pm
The article shows what it takes for corporates to build out effective people analytics teams.
People Analytics at IBM
Tyler Joel Barnett
Last modified on April 19, 2022 at 10:46 pm
In this podcast I heard about the exciting ways IBM is using People Analytics as a part of business strategy.
Should the People Analytics Function Report into HR or Enterprise Analytics?
Daniel Stefanus
Posted on April 20, 2022 at 1:34 am
People Analytics need to move outside of core HR teams and join the wider strategic/operations functions of a firm