Academic Interview – MG114: HRM and The Future of Work: Adapting to Change

The future of work is here – and it’s reshaping how organisations hire, motivate, and retain talent. We speak with Dr Bethania Antunes about MG114: HRM and The Future of Work: Adapting to Change, our Summer School course that turns Human Resource Management (HRM) from a back-office function into a strategic tool for responsible, evidence-based organisational transformation.

What problem does your course aim to address?

Organisations are undergoing rapid change: AI is reshaping jobs and workflows, hybrid work is redefining how teams collaborate, and expectations around wellbeing, inclusion, and sustainability are rising. Many leaders recognise these pressures but struggle to translate them into practical people policies that are fair, effective, and evidence-based.

MG114: HRM and The Future of Work: Adapting to Change addresses this gap by showing how Human Resource Management can create organisational value during workforce transformation, through the design of resourcing, performance, reward, and employee voice systems that work in digital and hybrid environments.

You will learn that HR is not just an administrative function, but a strategic capability for enabling responsible change. We also consider the trade-offs that real organisations face, for example, speed vs. fairness in hiring, or innovation vs. employee trust in the use of data and algorithms.

How does this course fit within the wider context of business and management?

People decisions are business decisions. Strategy, innovation, productivity, and reputation all depend on how organisations attract talent, build skills, motivate performance, and manage change. This course sits at the intersection of strategy, organisational behaviour, and responsible management, with a strong focus on contemporary challenges shaping the future of work.

We connect strategic HRM to current debates on AI governance, data-informed decision-making, sustainable business, and inclusive work design, showing how HR policies and organisational systems influence both performance and legitimacy.

In short, you will see how the “people” side of business is central to competitive advantage and responsible leadership, and why the best organisational strategies often succeed or fail through implementation at the level of jobs, teams, and managers.

How can students who take this course apply it in their future career?

Students leave MG114 with a practical framework for diagnosing workforce challenges and proposing credible HR solutions. This is valuable whether they go into HR, consulting, policy, analytics, people-focused roles in tech, or general management.

You’ll learn how to: (1) align HR practices with organisational goals, (2) use introductory people analytics and evidence-based management to justify decisions, and (3) think clearly about managing change, anticipating resistance, engaging stakeholders, and communicating recommendations. These are skills employers look for because they translate directly into real workplace decisions: improving hiring, designing incentives, strengthening performance management, supporting wellbeing, and guiding ethical adoption of AI and sustainability initiatives.

Just as importantly, students build confidence in discussing these topics using business language, linking people initiatives to outcomes such as productivity, retention, risk management, and organisational culture.

Could you please describe the practical components of the course and how students will engage in hands-on learning in the classroom?

MG114 is designed to be applied and interactive. Students will work with cases and short exercises that mirror real organisational dilemmas, such as redesigning performance management for hybrid teams, evaluating incentive systems, strengthening employee voice, or considering how HR should govern AI use responsibly.

There are also opportunities to practice interpreting people-related data and using it to support a clear recommendation, for example, thinking about what evidence would convince senior leaders, and what questions to ask before implementing a new HR technology or policy.

Throughout the three weeks, students will connect theory to practice through structured discussion, problem-solving tasks, and formative feedback. The emphasis is on learning how to move from diagnosis to decision, identifying the HR problem, selecting an appropriate framework, and making a defensible recommendation.

What resources would you recommend to anyone interested in taking this course?

To prepare, I’d recommend that students get curious about how work is changing and how organisations make “people” decisions. A simple way to start is to follow credible sources on the future of work, HR technology, and workplace wellbeing (for example, practitioner reports, professional bodies, and research centres).

You don’t need a textbook for MG114. Students will be given curated readings for each topic on their first day, chosen to keep the material current and directly relevant to what we’re discussing in class.

If you enjoy learning from real-world examples, you’ll find the case-based approach especially engaging. It can also be helpful to reflect on your own work or study experiences, what motivated you, what made teamwork effective, and what “good management” looked like, because we often use classroom discussion to connect concepts to lived organisational realities.

What are the most exciting things students will learn in the classroom?

One of the most exciting parts of MG114 is seeing how HR can actively shape the future of work rather than simply reacting to it. We will explore how organisations can design fair, data-informed HR systems for digital and hybrid workplaces, and how those systems affect motivation, inclusion, and performance.

We also tackle timely questions: what does “responsible” AI use look like in HR? How should organisations manage the risks of algorithmic decision-making while still benefiting from innovation? And how can HR support credible sustainability efforts across organisations and supply chains, not just as a branding exercise, but as a real capability for change?

By the end, you will speak with clarity and rigour about how people practices, technology, and purpose can be aligned, articulating solutions in a way that is directly transferable to interviews and early-career workplace problem-solving.