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).

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.

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

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 .

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.

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.

More hands-on casework would have been beneficial.

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

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.

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

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

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!

A little superficial, but definitely covered the basics.

The second half of the course was less applicable than the first half of it. Overall, amazing course with great tips and real-life examples.

This course seemed too basic and from older self improvement books. I recommend including more real world business examples.

Great course with very detailed examples. My only request would be to include some more examples from other countries!

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).

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

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

No structure for the course

This course needs a complete rethink. Many of the lectures are repetitive, dragging a single example or story for far too long. It's very unclear what the instructors are trying to get across, and I don't feel I learned anything useful here, which is a shame because the instructors seem like accomplished people with lots of experience. I think they just need to plan out a clear curriculum, write scripts for new videos, and edit those scripts to be concise and focused.

The problem with this course, and especially with the quizzes is that it promotes raw data remembering - not skill learning. Why there is a question in the quiz of "what type of company is X Y Z" - what do we care. The goal should be to understand what are the benefits of specific types etc, and not remembering slides.

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

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.

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.