KENT STATE UNIVERSITY

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

MI&S 34180—FALL 2008—Section #002—Call #10293 

TUESDAYS & THURSDAYS, 7:00-8:15 PM, BSA 206

Instructor:      Dr. Deborah Knapp

Office:            College of Business Administration, Department of Management & Information Systems, BSA A424 (Department website: http://mismain.bsa.kent.edu/)

Telephone:          672.1147

E-mail:            dknapp1@kent.edu —the best way to get a quick response!

Office Hours: Tuesdays & Thursdays, 3:00-5:30 PM or by appointment

MATERIALS

Text

Kleiman, L. S. (2007). Human Resource Management: A Managerial Tool for Competitive Advantage (4^th Ed.).  Atomic Dog Publishing: Cincinnati, OH (ISBN: 1-59260-268-1).

Course Notes

All course materials are available at your FlashLine account under “my courses”; a copy of the syllabus can also be found at the Department of Management & Information Systems website at http://mismain.bsa.kent.edu/

COURSE PREREQUISITES

PREREQUISITE: M&IS 24163 Principles of Management (students that do not have the proper prerequisites risk being deregistered from the class).

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course is designed to provide students with detailed knowledge of the human resource management function in modern organizational settings.  Emphasis is placed on techniques and approaches that are currently being applied to solve human resource problems in business organizations. Through lecture, class discussions, and experiential exercises, we shall consider the contribution of human resource management to short- and long-term organizational functioning.  Moreover, the course will provide a basis for understanding how properly applying human resource management techniques assist in moving an organization toward its goals.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

The fundamental purpose of this course is to provide the student with an increased understanding of the content and processes involved in the management of human resources.  Upon completion of the course, a student should understand and be able to assess and suggest solutions to human resource-related problems.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Exams

Three exams are scheduled for the semester.  All exams will cover text readings, handouts, guest speakers, and lecture material.  The format of the exams may include multiple choice, matching, and/or short answer essay questions.  Each exam will account for 25% of your final grade.

Case/Exercise Evaluation

Experiential exercises and cases will be used as an opportunity for students to apply many of the concepts covered in this course. In addition to the influence these cases/exercises have on your participation grade, your grade will also depend on the quality and quantity of cases/exercises you complete during class. Cases/Exercises may be evaluated as groups (to be assigned during the first week of class) and/or on an individual basis. Generally, cases/exercises will be conducted during class (although some outside work will be required occasionally) and your written work will be collected when the case/exercise discussion is completed. If you are not in class, you will receive a zero for that class period’s case/exercise (only in extraordinary circumstances will make-up cases be allowed). However, you may miss one case without penalty. Cases will account for 15% of your total grade.

Participation

Students will receive credit for class participation, which will account for 5% of your final grade. Attendance is required to earn class participation credit.  Each individual will be evaluated on the quality and quantity of her/his participation during class sessions.  To receive an acceptable participation grade you must be consistently knowledgeable concerning all assigned readings and you must actively participate in class discussions.

Internet Assignment

Students will be expected to find and summarize information relating to course topics that they find on the internet.  By using simple internet searches or by using internet sites with which you are already familiar, you should identify a website that relates to the course (you may wish to use your text to select a course-related topic against which to search).  Once you find a website that interests you, you will be asked to share your findings with the class by preparing a one- or two-paragraph summary about the site you select and presenting this information to the class (be sure to include the web address of the site that you "visit").  Please do not copy the work of others—once a student has presented a web site, it may not be used again (however, websites with “abundant” content—i.e., that consist of many separate web pages—may allow for more than one student to present a different area of the site; be sure to contact the professor before you use a website that has already been presented).  The internet assignment is worth 5% of your final grade.

GRADES

Grades will be calculated according to performance on the three exams (25% each), case/exercises (15%), participation (5%), and internet assignment (5%).  Final grades will be assigned as follows:

Registration: Students have responsibility to ensure they are properly enrolled in classes.  You are advised to review your official class schedule (using Student Tools in FlashLine) during the first two weeks of the semester to ensure you are properly enrolled in this class and section.  Should you find an error in your class schedule, you have until Sunday, September 7, 2008 to correct the error with your advising office.  If registration errors are not corrected by this date and you continue to attend and participate in classes for which you are not officially enrolled, you are advised now that you will not receive a grade at the conclusion of the semester for any class in which you are not properly registered.

Course Withdrawal Deadline:  The course withdrawal deadline is Sunday, November 2, 2008.

CLASS PROCEDURES

1.      If my office hours are not convenient for you, please feel free to call for an appointment. Also, the most efficient way to communicate with me is via e-mail. I strongly encourage you to take advantage of the electronic messaging capabilities made available to you by the university!

2.      Please tell me about any problems you are having while there is still time to do something about them!

3.      Each student must turn in an original piece of work (copies will not be accepted; however, you may work together on your case/exercise assignments).

4.      Exams are to be taken at the scheduled time (this also means you need to be on time for the exam—more than 20 minutes late is a missed exam).  If you miss an exam due to a legitimate reason (e.g., illness, death in the immediate family), a make-up exam will be provided (you will be required to provide an official university excuse to be eligible for a make-up exam). Make-up exams are essay format. If you do not provide a legitimate excuse, no make-up exam will be granted.

5.      Reading assignments should be completed prior to class attendance so that you may participate in class discussion.  However, we will not discuss every aspect of the assigned chapters or supplemental material.  This does not release the student from the responsibility of knowing the material for examination purposes.  Conversely, I will cover material in class that may not be covered by the text (you are also responsible for this information).

6.      Attendance at class is expected.  If you miss a class, YOU are responsible for obtaining lecture notes and other material from another student. This includes notes for test reviews. DO NOT ASK TO BORROW MY NOTES! To succeed in this course, you must read your book and attend class. Also, please do not e-mail me asking me “what you missed” or “will we be doing a case tonight?”—you need to come to class, if you cannot attend, reread the beginning of #6. Moreover, missed classes will negatively affect your participation grade.

7.      Please consider forming study groups to prepare for the examinations. Nearly without exception, my experience has been that students who are members of study groups improve their exam grades and their understanding and retention of course material.

8.      Major grammatical or spelling errors on any written work could result in a significant penalty with respect to the grade you receive.  Carefully proof your papers for errors (you may even want to have a friend read your work). Use grammar and spell check!

9.      Do not come late to class in order to complete an internet assignment or finish an exercise/ assignment. If this is the case, the assignment will not be accepted. Moreover, coming to class shortly before dismissal will result in a lower participation grade.

10.  You must use the internet and World Wide Web to communicate with me and receive an acceptable grade. You must update your FlashLine account as this is the e-mail address to which I will be sending all class correspondence.

11.  I have attempted to create a course that will be both fun and informative, but please do not mistake the levity that will characterize much of our class time as an indication that this is not a serious course or that I don’t take my responsibility as your professor seriously. That our class is relatively large is both advantageous and somewhat problematic. The benefit of a large class is that there are many perspectives from which we all can learn. A potential drawback arises when students share their insights only with those classmates in their immediate area.  When this happens, the rest of the class not only misses what might be an enlightening point, but the resulting background noise also distracts other students from what is being discussed—either in the front of the classroom or by a fellow classmate who has the floor. For these reasons, I expect, nay, demand that during discussions everyone be respectful of others by following a few simple but important rules: 1) if you wish to discuss/share your idea or point of view, you do so with the entire class only when you are recognized and have the floor; 2) while others are speaking, please do not engage in discussions with those around you; and 3) if you must have a private discussion with someone in class, please leave the classroom to do so with as little disruption as is possible.  If these rules are not followed, the resulting disruptions during class discussions or lecture will result in dismissal from the classroom for the day.

POLICY ON ACADEMIC DISHONESTY

Cheating means to misrepresent the source, nature, or other conditions of your academic work (e.g., tests, papers, projects, assignments) so as to get undeserved credit.   In addition, it is considered to cheating when one cooperates with someone else in any such misrepresentation.  The use of the intellectual property of others without giving them appropriate credit is a serious academic offense.  It is the University's policy that cheating or plagiarism result in receiving a failing grade for the work or course.  Repeat offenses result in dismissal from the University.

STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES

University policy 3342-3-18 requires that students with disabilities be provided reasonable accommodations to ensure their equal access to course content.  If you have a documented disability and require accommodations, please contact the instructor at the beginning of the semester to make arrangements for necessary classroom adjustments.  Please note, you must first verify your eligibility for these through the Student Disability Services (contact 330-672-3391) or visit www.kent.edu/sds for more information on registration procedures).