Participants will explore how organisational culture can act both as a catalyst for competitive advantage and a barrier to change, while learning to approach culture as both strategy and play. Building on this, the course examines how HRM practices can support and optimise worker well-being through evidence-based approaches, offering tools to monitor, predict, and prevent challenges such as burnout. Finally, participants will be guided to reflect on their own strengths and aspirations, discovering practical strategies for job and career crafting that foster energy, satisfaction, and long-term success. By integrating insights from leadership, psychology, and HRM, the course equips participants to lead meaningful change within themselves, their teams, and their organisations.
Redefine Your Impact as an HR Leader
Prof. Dr. Maria Tims
Maria Tims is a Full Professor in the Future of Work Design at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Her scientific and practical expertise lies in the areas of 1) work design and proactivity at both the individual (job crafting) and team levels (self-organising teams and team proactivity) and 2) worker well-being. She has published over 40 articles on job crafting.
Jos Akkermans
Jos Akkermans is a Full Professor of Sustainable Careers at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. His main purpose as an academic is to understand better how workers can develop successful and sustainable careers. Within these areas, he studies topics such as career shocks, career transitions, and employability. He has a particular interest in nontraditional and understudied groups of workers.
Jasmine (Wenjia) Chang
Jasmine Chang is a researcher at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Her study focuses on human resource (HR) integration in cross-border post-M&As. The post-acquisition HR integration process framework she developed was based on qualitative research on Chinese outbound investments. Furthermore, Jasmine is the founding director of MAX HRM, the first HR company dedicated to providing services to Chinese overseas investment and organisations in the Netherlands. MAX HRM aims to connect international talents with Chinese companies’ demands.
Ernst Graamans
Ernst Patrick Graamans is an assistant professor of Culture and Leadership at the Department of Management and Organisation, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU). He graduated cum laude in Industrial and Organisational Psychology. Ernst wrote his PhD dissertation entitled Beyond the Idea of Culture at the VU School of Business and Economics. He authored and co-authored several (award-winning) professional and academic publications on change management, organisational culture, counterculture, and healthcare management. From 2012 to 2020, Ernst worked for a consultancy firm that advises medium to large profit and not-for-profit organisations at board level on strategy, leadership, and change management.
Susanne Beijer
Susanne Beijer is an assistant professor of HRM and Organisational Behavior at the department of Management and Organisation at the Vrije Universiteit since 2015. She obtained her PhD at Tilburg University in 2014. Her research interests focus on survey research, HR practices, and their relationship with worker well-being and organisational outcomes.
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Would you like more information about our parttime leadership programmes? Or would you like to discuss incompany possibilities? Please contact us.
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Contact
- Svetlana Khapova
- leadershipacademy@vu.nl
