BAD 60095 Spring 2007 DuBois
PRACTICUM IN HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT
BAD 60095, Spring 2007
Wednesday 6:15-8:45
INSTRUCTOR
Dr. Cathy DuBois
Office: BSA A412
Phone: 672-1157; 672-2448 (fax; be sure to use a cover page)
E-mail address: cdubois@kent.edu
Office hours: Tuesday & Thursday 10:30-12:30 (or by appointment)
FOCUS/PURPOSE of the course
This course was designed to provide practical HRM experience for students who are completing either an undergraduate HRM minor or an MBA HRM concentration, as well as for hardy and competent others with an interest in HRM! This course provides students with an opportunity to create HRM systems that will actually be used by real organizations. The rationale behind this type of course design is to provide students with an opportunity to apply what you are learning about HRM. You will learn the subject area of the project in depth, and your learning will be reinforced through practical application.
Not only will you learn very valuable knowledge, but this course will also create a nice entry on your resume. Potential employers should be intrigued by your experiences, and you will have some great specifics to offer about the project in an employment interview.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
This semester we will be working for several small businesses. Each of these businesses have Human Resource needs, but no HR staff. We will be doing tasks that include, but are not limited to, creating employee manuals, hiring procedures/required forms, job analysis, and performance appraisal form/process development.
COURSE FORMAT
This course will be much more like a work project than like a usual university course. Class time will be used for whatever tasks are necessary at each stage of the project, and what we do during class will vary each week. You will do research outside of class weekly, which will provide the basis for our discussions and work during class. You will do both individual research work and group project work. Students will work in self-managed teams throughout the semester. Team designations might be flexible throughout the course (i.e., you might work with a given team for part of the project, and on one or more different teams for other parts of the project).
Everyone should expect to spend plenty of work time outside of class, similar to the time you would spend studying for other courses (particularly those that you would consider to be more demanding courses). The project work and necessary research simply cannot be completed during class time alone.
Team Leaders
Team leaders will be selected at the beginning of the semester. I’ll ask for volunteers to supply their credentials and reasons for wanting to take on this position. The team leaders play an essential role in the success of this course. I can’t be with all teams at once, so they are conduits for information – communication is much more effective among the whole group with the use of team leaders. There is extra work involved in being a team leader, but it’s a great opportunity and makes a nice entry on your resume!
Instructor Role
As the instructor I will provide overall structure for the course, as well as intellectual guidance. For project work I will primarily serve as a catalyst. That is, you can expect me to function in a manner similar to a manager in a work setting. I will provide the support necessary to ensure the nature of the project is understood, and I will provide goal clarification and guidance throughout the semester. However, I will not tell you specifically what to do at each step of the project, nor will I actually do the project. The output will be what you create. I’ll continually review what you create and provide feedback, and you will use that feedback as well as your own knowledge and ideas to create project outputs. I do reserve the right to make final edits where necessary, but the need for this should be minimal.
Final Products
All deliverables and presentations must be complete by the last week of classes. Finals week will be reserved for making any final changes before turning over materials to the organization.
Two things are certain:
1) the project must be of excellent, professional quality, and
2) all outputs must be completed by the end of the semester.
Unlike a traditional college course where you are responsible only to yourself for your coursework, in this course you are responsible to an organization. Your grade is not the only thing at stake; the organizational impact of what you create is of utmost importance! The organization will live with the impacts of your recommendations long after you move on to other courses and jobs.
READINGS
You will not be given any specific readings, but expect to do lots of reading for this course. A great deal of organizational, internet and library research will be required of all students to seek additional information that will be relevant to the project. Again, much student initiative will be necessary here, and students will need to share what they have learned with one another.
REQUIRED NATIONAL SHRM MEMBERSHIP
You will not purchase a text for this course, but you are required to purchase a student membership in the National Society for Human Resource Management. Proof of your membership must be submitted to the professor no later than January 24. You will use this resource for all of your projects in this course.
GRADING
Semester grades will be based on:
Peer evaluations (20%): Since you will work in self-managed teams throughout the semester, your team peers will be well informed about your performance. Students will provide written feedback to other students, as well as a number grade.
Team Leader evaluation (20%): Your Team leader will review your goal sheets on a weekly basis, and be highly knowledgeable about your contributions and initiative. The Team leader will provide written feedback to students, as well as a number grade.
Instructor evaluation (60%): The instructor will evaluate the quality of the final product, and will recognize individual contributions to the whole.
Project Contributions 40%
Attitude / Conscientiousness 30%
Goal/Activity sheets 15%
Final Report 15%
For Team Leaders, the percentage split will be: Peer evaluations 30%; Instructor evaluation 70%.
Grading:
I will use +/- grades for this course. Assignment of final grades will most likely be: 92+ A, 90-91 A-, 88-89 B+, 82-87 B, 80-81 B-, 78-79 C+, 72-77 B, 70-71 C-, 68-69 D+, 60-67 D, 0-59 F. I reserve the right to curve these final grades, up or down, based on overall class performance.
ATTENDANCE
We have only 14 weeks to work on and complete this project. Because coordination of the various group efforts and communication about deliverables for this project are done during class time, it is absolutely imperative that you attend class. The implications for missing class in this course are very different from other courses. In most other courses, the only implications are personal – a potential loss of learning for you as a student. In this course, missing class will have negative implications for others who are depending on your inputs, on meeting timelines throughout the project, and even on the quality of the project we deliver to the organization.
Because a great deal of work will be accomplished each week in the project teams, your contributions will be missed if you are absent. If you must miss class, you must contact me before class (by phone, e-mail, in person, etc.). Your attendance will be excused only if you have a university-approved reason.
Note: If you have more than 1 excused absence, or if you have any unexcused absences, you will not receive an A in the course. Snow closings or delays if you live far away are the one exception – these cannot impact your grade negatively. Safety is paramount!
Goal / Activity Sheets
Each week before you leave class you will fill out a Goal/Activity sheet which outlines what you are to do during the next week. You must complete the remaining sections of the Goal/Activity sheet as you proceed through your work each week. These completed sheets will be collected at the beginning of class each week, so come prepared! They will be returned to you during the same class period, after they have been reviewed and checked off. Keep these sheets in a notebook, which will provide a detailed account of the work you have accomplished and what you have learned throughout the course.
FINAL REPORT
You will write a brief final report, summarizing your experience in this course. The report should be about 10 pages (double spaced; not counting cover page) and should contain the following sections (please use subheadings!):
- Your role in the team, how your team functioned
- Your contributions to the project (bullet point list)
- References you used during the project (bullet point list)
- HR content that you learned from this project (bullet point list)
- What could have been improved in your performance / project outputs
- What you learned about yourself from this project
- Related goals for your future development
A notebook is required. Place the report in the front of the notebook, followed by your Goal/Activity sheets in sequential order. If any goal sheets are missing, considerable points will be deducted from your grade. Be sure to use high quality, professional writing, as a portion of your grade will be linked to the quality of your writing.
Report due date: May 4, by 5 pm (I must receive hard-copy by that time)
How to succeed in this course:
Please note that both the quality and the quantity of your contributions are critical. Doing a lot is not sufficient; you must do a lot well. Similarly, doing a little well is not sufficient; you must do a lot well. And you must be consistent throughout the course! Please remember that in this course you have an obligation to an organization, not just to yourselves as students. Our semester will be much more enjoyable and productive if everyone strives for excellent work.
If your personal goal is to do less than A quality work (that is, you would be satisfied with a B or a C), be honest about this up front so that work can be shared accordingly.
Note: expectations for graduate students are higher than for undergraduate students, but grading components are the same.
Performance Definitions for Grade Assignments
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A
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Exceptional Performance
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Performance is significantly above expectations on a consistent basis.
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B
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Exceeds Expectations
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Performance is clearly and frequently above what is required.
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C
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Meets Expectations
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Performance is dependable and meets the minimum performance standards.
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D
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Marginal |
Performance is deficient in particular areas. Improvement is necessary.
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F
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Unsatisfactory
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Results that are achieved are generally unacceptable and require immediate improvement and attention.
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A FINAL WORD ON INITIATIVE
Keep in mind that it is the responsibility of each individual student to make sure s/he is contributing each week throughout the semester. You will not necessarily be given a specific assignment just for you each week. Therefore, you must take the initiative to make sure you know what your own contribution will be each week, and make sure that you are consistently contributing to the project and keeping up with the project schedule.
It is your responsibility to make sure that your ideas are heard throughout the semester, both with respect to project direction and team functioning. No one can address your needs if you don’t communicate them clearly! The culture of this class will be very supportive, so you should feel comfortable communicating honestly throughout the semester. If for any reason you don’t feel supported, please speak to your team leader or to me about this immediately so that we can nip problems in the bud!
If you are unsure of what you are to do at any time, it is your responsibility to speak up and find out what needs to be done! Discuss this first with your team, then with the project leader(s), then with the instructor. If you find that you are not very busy with this course, you are probably not doing what you should be doing! Finally, please be timely in your work. Project schedules will be set, and must be adhered to rather rigidly in order to complete the project during the semester.
A FINAL WORD ON OPPORTUNITY!
This is truly a wonderful opportunity for all of us, and it should be the most enjoyable and rewarding course you have ever taken! I truly look forward to sharing this experience with you.
Many thanks in advance for all of your conscientious work and contributions!!
KSU SHRM membership:
All students are expected to join KSU SHRM. Meetings occur on Wednesdays at 5:00 in BSA 210. You are encouraged to attend meetings, and to participate in Akron SHRM events.
ADDITIONAL PROJECT WORK
Should the projects for this course be completed in advance of the end of the semester, and no more project work remains to be completed, you will be given extra projects to complete as part of course requirements. Details on this will be provided only if the extra projects are necessary. Course grading requirements will also change, and that information will be distributed with the project information.
Independent Research Option:
Graduate students have an option to complete an independent research assignment rather than participate in the designated HR project teams. Students will work on research projects currently being undertaken by Dr. DuBois. The final product is significant contributions to a publishable quality research paper. Publishable quality has implications for content, writing style, and contribution to the literature. Paper must be written in APA style and include appropriate citations and a detailed bibliography. Your tasks might include literature research, writing, data analyses, etc. See Dr. DuBois if you wish to pursue this option.
