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Welcome
Human Resources for the Non-HR Manager book cover

Welcome to our book site! If you’re a first-time manager, an experienced manager keen to do right by your team, a student aspiring to a management career, or an instructor teaching

people management skills, Human Resources for the Non-HR Manager is the book for you. This website has a heap of resources designed to help you get the most value from the book. On this page, there’s the table of contents and the official book blurb (with a sneak peek at Chapter 5). There’s a video in which we describe the book’s features. If you’d like to get to know us a bit better, you’ll find our bios and a publication playlist on the Our Research tab. 

Want to learn more about people management? The Chapter Resources tab showcases In a Nutshell, a video series on key people management topics. The Chapter Resources tab also features Undercover Manager, a chapter-by-chapter skill development series. So look around, have a browse, and enjoy!

 

We hope that Human Resources for the Non-HR Manager helps you to become the manager you want to be! We were thinking of you the entire time we were writing this book, so it’s really good to connect. Drop us a line and tell us about your experience with it – you can reach us through the links at the bottom of this page or on Our Research page.

Carol T Kulik
Elissa L Perry
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Offical Book Blurb

Official Book Blurb

Sample chapter

Human Resources for the Non-HR Manager gives every manager, regardless of their functional role, access to cutting-edge research and evidence-based recommendations so they can approach their people management responsibilities with confidence.

 

Day-to-day people management is increasingly the responsibility of front-line managers, not HR professionals. But managers are often poorly prepared for these responsibilities; they receive little training (and sometimes have little interest!) in HR. People management is never easy, and it is particularly challenging in COVID-19’s "next normal" workplace, where managers must engage diverse employees across a wide range of working arrangements. This book focuses on the special relationship that line managers have with their employees and describes managers’ responsibilities across the entire employee lifecycle – from front-end recruiting and hiring through to long-term retention. The content is grounded in rigorous academic research, but the book’s conversational tone conveys basic principles without technical jargon. Each chapter includes Manager’s Checkpoints to help readers apply the material to their own workplace, and Manager’s Knots that address gray areas inherent in people management.

The book is designed for any reader currently working as a line manager, or aspiring to a managerial role, who wants to improve their people management skills.

What readers are saying about
Human Resources for the Non-HR Manager

Inside the book

Inside the Book

Table of Contents

1. The Non-HR Manager

2. Recruiting Employees

3. Hiring New Employees

4. Interviewing Job Applicants

5. Onboarding New Employees

6. Training and Developing Employees

7. Managing Employee Performance

8. Rewarding Employees

9. Disciplining Employees and Ending Their Employment

10. Retaining Employees

11. Creating an Inclusive Workplace

Carol and Elissa introduce 
Human Resources for the Non-HR Manager

Events

Events
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August, 2024

Elissa and Carol hosted a professional development workshop Educating Managers with Hands-On Teaching Tools that Link Research to Practice at the 84th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management (AOM) in Chicago, IL, USA, focused on narrowing the research-practice gap. Their PDW used a “tell and show” format to demonstrate teaching tools (including the Undercover Manager activities that accompany Human Resources for the Non-HR Manager) that incorporate adult learning principles into management education.

February, 2024

Carol presented “Line Managers: The Unsung Heroes in Every Organisation” at the MBA Association of Ireland & Cork University Business School's joint sponsored annual alumni event. Click the photo to view a short video of the event.

Carol presents Line Managers: The Unsung Heroes
New York City

October, 2023

Human Resources for the Non-HR Manager is all about helping managers create better, more inclusive, and healthier workplaces.  Elissa conducted a workshop for the Teachers College community on Creating Healthy Workplaces, based on the research evidence about how organisations can prioritise employee well-being.

Elissa workshopping healthy workplaces

August, 2023

The Centre for Workplace Excellence at the University of South Australia hosted an event celebrating the release of Human Resources for the Non-HR Manager.

July, 2023

The Teachers College, Columbia University community warmly welcomed Human Resources for the Non-HR Manager (and its authors)!

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