As we near the end of March, our brand new 2023 students are about to engage with a new module - People and Performance: Talent Management in action. This is the second module of the Executive MBA programme which started in mid-February this year, when 20 students joined this challenging business development journey validated by Buckingham University.
This module will introduce students to innovative practices and concepts regarding recruitment, reward systems, talent management and the labour market. On top of all, students will acquire essential, critical evaluation skills that will prepare them for aligning existing HR strategies with both appropriate analytical models and day-to-day work practices. New for this module is Professor David Collins’ approach on the topic, bringing forth a clear, practical, and realistic assessment of the processes of HRM and the managerial problems and dilemmas that emerge whenever we seek to make changes to the manner in which we recruit, reward and promote employees and staff. The module will focus upon those aspects of People and Performance which impact management decision-making and beyond this the strategic intent of the organisation.
Register now at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. in order to participate in a 3-hour free session during this module!
This is a great opportunity to meet the teaching staff and the current students, to get involved in the discussions, to have access to the materials delivered in the class, and to find out directly from the students what this programme meant for their development before joining the 2024 class!
The module was designed by an international academic and business group of experts, led by prof. Monica Zaharia from Babes Bolyai University. Other staff involved in the discussions about the structure of this module were: Dr. Andrew Taylor (TEE), Mr. Ghaleb Al Ghoutani, MBA (Saudi Arabia), Prof. David Collins (Newcastle MBA, University of Northumbria), and Prof. Steve Armstrong (University of Lincoln).
Who is delivering the module?
As for most of the TEE Executive MBA modules, we are bringing two experts in the classroom, offering students a complex teaching and learning experience. For this module, we have Prof. David Collins from Northumbria University and Prof. Monica Zaharie from Babes-Bolyai University.
David Collins is Professor in Management at Northumbria University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne (UK) and holds degrees from the Universities of Glasgow, Strathclyde and Essex. In a career spanning more than 33 years, David has taught within some of England’s leading universities and has acquired an international reputation for a body of research that is critical, engaging, imaginative and often-times, highly amusing. He published significant studies of organizational change, management fashion, management consultants, culture, storytelling, management gurus, and financial regulation and has twice been awarded prizes from the British Academy of Management. A lively and very engaging speaker, David also consults with organizations on culture and is widely respected for the interventions he has developed to reveal and explore the storytelling practices that shape our organized existence.
David’s career pre-dates the invention of Human Resource Management and his teaching on matters related to ‘people and performance’ is therefore informed by larger historical and sociological perspectives. These perspectives, as you will soon learn, challenge and yet connect with the contemporary problems and dilemmas, which managerial leaders face in their attempts to manage people and performance.
“It is a genuine pleasure to be invited to return to Romania – and especially to Cluj Napoca – to lead the People and Performance module for TEE this spring. In our four days module, we will build upon my research and consulting experience to develop a broad engagement with Human Resource Management. We will consider topics related to, for example, ‘culture’ and ‘human resource planning’ and the narratives that you – as leaders and executives – will need to employ if you are to overcome the inherent limitations of (human resource) management”, declares David Collins.
Who is delivering the module?
She taught previously for the EMBA programme, with the University of Hull and Buckingham University, having excellent feedback from the students regarding her expertise in the Romanian HR field. Her research interests are in the fields of HR and organisational behaviour, and she has published in top international journals such as Business Ethics, Scientometrics, European Management Journal, Employee Relations, and Multinational Business Review.
She is a journal editor and co-author of several books in Talent Management published by Sage Publications and Palgrave Macmillan. Monica has been managing several international projects and oversees the alumni and career faculty centres. With a background in Psychology, Monica has international teaching experience, certified by several teaching awards, and is currently the module leader for BA and MA-level Human Resource Management courses.
Special guests for module
As tradition goes, in every module we bring business experts into the room to share their experiences. This time, Simona Fuchila, Human Resources Director Western Europe at Emerson, will join us for an online discussion on Employee Engagement. Register here to join the online session!
Simona is a graduate of the Executive MBA programme at the University of Hull. She has over 20 years of experience in HR management, leading strategic initiatives concerning employee experience, talent acquisition and career development, diversity, equity and inclusion, organisation review and development, performance management, legal compliance, and compensation and benefits programs for the Western Region (Nordics, Benelux, Iberia, France, Ireland, and the UK) for a multinational technology company.
Having started her career path at Sumitomo automotive as part of the start-up team in Romania, Simona spent three years in various human resources roles, learning the importance of communication, collaboration, and teamwork for the business. In 2004 she joined Faurecia as HR responsible for Lean manufacturing and training. In this role she successfully introduced lean processes into Faurecia's Romanian plants, resulting in significant performance improvements.
In 2006 she joined Emerson as HR Manager for the site in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Under her leadership, the site grew to become one of the largest Emerson sites in Europe, with over 3500 employees, with expertise in engineering, IT, operations, research and development, finance, human resources and much more. As of July 2022, Simona is leading the HR teams in 12 countries throughout Western Europe.
Recent activity of the lecturers
Collins, D., Dewing, I. and Russell, P. (2019). Auditors and regulatory work (1987–2013): From reporting accountants’ to skilled persons’ reports in the UK. Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, [online] 32(7), pp.2088–2113. Available at: https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/43745/ [Accessed 21 Mar. 2023].
Collins, D. (2020). Management Gurus. Routledge. [online] Available at: https://www.routledge.com/Management-Gurus-A-Research-Overview/Collins/p/book/9780367265007 [Accessed 21 Mar. 2023].
Collins, D. (2021). Rethinking organizational culture : redeeming culture through stories. Abingdon, Oxon; New York, Ny: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.
Collins, D. and Butler, N. (2019). Success and Failure in Professional Projects: The Nature, Contours and Limits of Consulting Professionalism. British Journal of Management.
Collins, D. (2021). The organizational storytelling workbook : how to harness this powerful communication and management tool. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.
Collins, D. (2022). Tom Peters and management : a history of organizational storytelling. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
Mostafa, A.M.S., Farley, S. and Zaharie, M. (2020). Examining the Boundaries of Ethical Leadership: The Harmful Effect of Co-worker Social Undermining on Disengagement and Employee Attitudes. Journal of Business Ethics.
Zaharie, M. (2021). Challenges, trust and performance in virtual teams: examining the role of openness to experience and preference for virtual teams. Team Performance Management: An International Journal, ahead-of-print(ahead-of-print).