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.

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