KENT STATE UNIVERSITY

HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT

MI&S 64271—SPRING 2009—Section #600—Call #200910      

TUESDAYS & THURSDAYS, 6:15-8:55 PM, BSA 324

Instructor:       Dr. Deborah Knapp

Office:              College of Business Administration, BA A424

Telephone:       330.672.1147

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

Office Hours:  Tues—3:00-6:15pm (STARK CAMPUS), Thurs—3:00-5:30pm or by appointment

MATERIALS

Text

Dessler, Gary (2009). A Framework for Human Resource Management (5^th ed.).  Prentice Hall: Upper Saddle River, NJ.

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 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

Two 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 30% of your final grade.

Group Presentation: 20% (instructions in a separate document)

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 two cases without penalty. Cases will account for 10% 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 World Wide Web (be sure to include the web address of the site that you "visit"). Also, please do not copy the work of others—once a student has presented a web site, it may not be used again. Information may be from sources found using simple internet searches or from internet sites of which you are aware. You will be asked to share your findings with the class by preparing a one-paragraph summary about the site and presenting this information to the class (you must also provide the summary and a copy of one page of the website to the instructor). The internet assignment is worth 5% of your final grade.

GRADES

Grades will be calculated according to performance on the two exams (30% each), group project, 20% , case/exercises (10%), 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 Web for Students) 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 ________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 __________.

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 given (you will be required to provide an official university excuse to be eligible for a make-up exam). If you do not provide a legitimate excuse, no make-up exam will be granted.

5.      Reading assignments are expected to 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 may include material in class not 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 (please DO NOT ask to borrow my notes).

7.      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!

8.      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 not positively influence your participation grade.

9.      You must use the internet and World Wide Web to communicate with me and receive an acceptable grade.

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 equal access course content.  If you have 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).