Course Syllabus MGMT 3215 (Section 002) Human Resource Management (3 credit hours) Spring 2016, T,Th 8:00am-9:25am, FCB 128 INSTRUCTOR Alex Rubenstein, Ph.D. OFFICE 323 FCB OFFICE HOURS T,Th 9:30am-11:00am, by appointment TELEPHONE 901-678-2910 EMAIL rbnstein@memphis.edu MAILBOX 322 FCB COURSE OVERVIEW AND OBJECTIVES This course will provide an overview of human resource management (HRM). HRM is one of the most critical aspects of any organization, as it decides who is hired, how are they trained, developed, compensated, and what steps are taken to retain them. Put simply, if an organization wants good people and to sustain competitive advantage, then it must practice good HRM. By successfully completing this course, students will be able to: 1. Understand how the HRM role fits into an organization s strategic operations. 2. Conduct a job analysis to hire for vacant positions. 3. Know how to anticipate and plan for labor market surpluses/shortages. 4. Recruit and select talent based on validated hiring tools and measures. 5. Understand the basic legal environment and how it applies to HRM responsibilities. 6. Effectively implement a training program to obtain desired employee outcomes. 7. Accurately gauge employee performance and reduce bias in the performance management process. 8. Design a compensation/benefits system to motivate and retain employees. 9. Recognize the causes of voluntary turnover in order to proactively prevent it. 10. Understand when and how to effectively sever employment relationships. Fogelman College of Business: Learning Outcomes for Your Degree: This course is designed to help you to meet the overall learning objectives for the BBA degree offered by the Fogelman College. You should take the time to become familiar with the overall learning objectives as a student in the BBA program: COURSE MATERIALS I have selected various news articles for use in this class. Each student will find class articles provided on the ecourseware website. These articles will supplement course lectures and discussion, and will contain content for class quizzes. Be prepared to discuss each assigned article before the respective class day. Recommended textbook: Noe, R. A., Hollenbeck, J. R., Gerhart, B., & Wright, P. M. (2014). Human Resource Management, 9 th Edition. Irwin McGraw-Hill. Extraneous readings on life, living, and happiness: How to Win Friends and Influence People (Carnegie), The Slight Edge (Olson), Island (Huxley), The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald), Stumbling on Happiness (Gilbert).
GRADING AND EVALUATION CRITERIA Over the semester, you will have a variety of opportunities to earn points towards your final (overall) letter grade in this course. This section of the syllabus describes the assessed work you will be doing and how overall (final) letter grades will be computed. SUMMARY OF GRADED ACTIVITIES POINTS Exam I 100 Exam II 100 Exam III 100 Quizzes (best 4 of 5 scores) 40 Participation 60 (Extra Credit) (+40) TOTAL 400 FINAL COURSE GRADES Final course grades are earned according to the following table. Final grades are exactly, that...final. Once you are awarded a grade, it is non-negotiable. Grades will be based upon the following criteria, out of 400 total course points. (Note: grades are based off of a student s total points, not percentages): DETAILS ON COURSE REQUIREMENTS PERCENT POINTS GRADE 92 100% 368-400 A 88 91.9% 352-367 A- 85 87.9% 340-351 B+ 82 84.9% 328-339 B 78 81.9% 312-327 B- 75 77.9% 300-311 C+ 72 74.9% 288-299 C 68 71.9% 272-287 C- 65 67.9% 260-271 D+ 62 64.9% 248-259 D 60 61.9% 240-247 D- 60% 239 F EXAMS Three examinations will cover all course material, including lectures, exercises, and article readings. The examinations will be held during class time and will be non-cumulative. Exams will be held on the scheduled day online via ecourseware s quiz system. Exam dates are firm. To take exams you will be required to download the Respondus Lockdown Browser (Windows version linked here, there is also a Mac version): http://www.respondus.com/lockdown/download.php?ostype=1&id=359514085 After downloading and opening the browser, you will be prompted to join the University of Memphis ecourseware page. Go here and login with your UM ID/password, go to the Quizzes section on ecourseware, and you can begin the exam. If you have trouble obtaining this software, please contact IT Helpdesk Support (https://umhelpdesk.memphis.edu/). Missed examinations may not be made up without prior permission, no exceptions. Each exam will cover approximately one-third of the course material. There is also an optional cumulative final exam (covering all semester topics). You may use this final exam grade to replace
your lowest of the three prior exam grades, or you may opt out of taking the final and retain the scores on the first three exams. Final Exam Schedule The optional final exam for this class will be scheduled according to the Registrar s academic calendar website. The optional final exam for this class will be held on ecourseware April 29 th -May 3 rd. If you are taking the exam, you can take it any time during this period. QUIZZES To make sure students have completed the assigned readings, there will be five quizzes given during the semester (10 points each, retain best four scores). These quizzes will be administered on ecourseware, and will consist of two questions covering basic aspects of the readings for that class day. For example, Quiz I covers only the articles No time to read this? Read this, and If you need to work better, work less. The quizzes will be open to answer until class time on the day those readings will be discussed (see course schedule). If you have read the assigned articles, you should have no trouble acing these quizzes. PARTICIPATION Participation in this class can be arrived at via two ways. One way is to participate in class discussions by voicing your opinion or answering my questions. A second way is to contribute on the ecourseware discussion board, where I will post question prompts regarding the current week s topic. All students will begin the semester with 45 out of 60 participation points. If you regularly participate in our in-class and/or on-line discussion board, your score will increase. If you regularly attend class but only participate when prompted, or are only minimally present in discussions, your score will remain at 45. If you never participate (in class or on the discussion board), your score will decrease. Note: for the online discussion boards, participation is reflected in how much you post and the depth/insight of posts. I will only count a maximum number of posts each week (and will lock the discussion after a topic has passed), so students cannot make a ton of posts in the last week of the semester and expect to receive full participation points it is a cumulative determination of your contribution across the semester. PERSONAL BIOGRAPHY To obtain a clearer picture about who each of you are, what your aspirations and interests are (and to learn your names and faces more quickly), please submit a 1-2 page personal biography that tells me about yourself. Details for what I would like to see from the bios will be provided on the first day of class, and should be submitted on ecourseware no later than Sunday, January 24 th at 11:59pm. EXTRA CREDIT ARTICLE/VIDEO SUBMISSIONS You can earn up to 40 points in extra credit in class. 25 points can be achieved via the Personal Development Plan (see next paragraph). Another 15 points can be obtained via article/video clip submissions and writeups. For articles/videos, present recent (no more than three years old) newspaper/wsj/ny Times/online articles or essays, or selected excerpts from movies or TV shows (maximum 3 submissions, for 5 points each) and explain how each illustrates a topic covered in class in approximately 500 words. I will not accept simple summaries of the articles/excerpts you must apply what you ve learned in the course by showing precisely how it relates to a relevant HRM issue, using relevant terminology, theories, and concepts. You can only present one clip per class topic (i.e. you cannot present two clips relating to compensation). Article links/video clips along with explanations in a Word/.pdf document must be uploaded to ecourseware no later than Sunday, May 1 st at 11:59pm to receive any extra credit (but can be submitted anytime before during the semester). Please do a good job finding interesting articles and clips, because I plan to use them in my lectures during future semesters. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN As upper-level undergraduates, many of you will be on the job market in the near future. Moreover, many individuals go into HRM with the idea that they are people persons. With this in mind, seeing one s self
accurately or at least having the willingness to is important for improvement toward our potential. Yet one cannot realize ones potential without first knowing personal weaknesses and strengths. The personal development plan (PDP) is an optional extra credit exercise that supplements our final lecture on Personal/Professional Development. If you choose to do it, you will be asked to prepare a document that assesses your strengths and weaknesses (from your own and from others perspectives) and that sets goals for the future. Guidelines for this extra credit assignment are posted on ecourseware. The effort put into your PDP will determine the points you receive, and will be due on April 13 th by 11:59pm. COURSE POLICIES E-MAIL All students are required to maintain and access their University of Memphis (@memphis.edu) email account. You will receive all official course correspondence at this email account. Any inability to receive incoming mail in a timely fashion (e.g., not regularly checking your email, having a full mailbox condition, etc.) is the student s responsibility. Throughout the semester, I will email the class via a group list-serv to remind everyone of upcoming deadlines, to provide feedback about class assignments, exercises and/or supplemental handouts we will work on during the course, and to keep everyone up-to-date should any tentative changes need to be made to the course schedule. Email is the easiest way to contact me, and I am usually quite fast in responding. I want to make sure all deadlines and dates are clear and known to everyone (though do see the last page of syllabus). If you email me, however, I REQUIRE that you write with professional correspondence, proper grammar, and general courtesies (i.e. greeting, signoff/signature, NO text-speak ). TECHNOLOGY Please silence your cell phones while in class. As for laptops, research indicates that while use of technological devices has some benefits, overall it significantly distracts your and others attention from the subject at hand. So, while I respect your right of self-determination, please refrain from texting or browsing the Internet during class time. Please also note that you are responsible for downloading the class slides prior to class, which are available on ecourseware. ATTENDANCE It is my belief that the people who are most interested in learning and gaining practical knowledge will come to class regularly. Further, research shows a consistent positive relationship between attendance and course grades. This is a college-level course and it is ultimately up to you to determine what you get out of your education. I will take attendance twice during the semester, at random. If you are absent (unexcused) during either of those times, you will lose five participation points for each absence. All course readings and lecture slides are posted on ecourseware (note: video clips are not posted). However, other learning tools that I use may prove valuable come exam time (e.g. I often poll the class with questions to be answered on your phones; similar questions may show up on exams). Note that your participation grade is also, in part, determined by my knowing who you are, and your voicing opinions in class or on the ecourseware discussion boards. I have put a significant amount of time into making this course relevant and engaging, and I am interested to hear about your personal experiences and how they relate to course topics (e.g. employee selection and your own experiences in interviewing for jobs). As such, I strongly encourage you to attend class. Lateness, however, is NOT tolerated. The classroom doors will close shortly after class starts; class will not be interrupted due to your tardiness. ADDING/DROPPING: If you have questions about adding or dropping classes, please refer to this page on the Registrar s website. ACCESSING COURSE WEBSITE The MGMT 3215 Course is presented largely via UM s ecourseware system. Create a shortcut (link or
favorite) in your browser that will take you directly to the ecourseware login site. https://elearn.memphis.edu/ Also available in the MyMemphis ecampus Resources tab. Log in using your Memphis UUID and password. You will see a list of all courses for which you are registered in the current term. Choose MGMT 3215 Mgmt of Human Resources - (Rubenstein) You must be registered for the course and section to enter! Please note that sometimes the registrar s enrollment data is late arriving; so if you are denied access initially, try again in 24 hours. IMPORTANT: Be sure you have completed the browser and java check provided on the ecourseware login page. It may not operate correctly if your browser/java does not meet the stated requirements! ACADEMIC INTEGRITY The University s policy on academic honesty is strictly enforced. Although you may discuss projects and course lectures outside of class, copying off others during exams, using past assignments or tests (other that what I have provided), or any other form of academic dishonesty will result in a zero grade on the assignment or exam and could result in more severe penalties as determined by University policy. In short, academic dishonesty WILL NOT BE TOLERATED. Please refer to the office of judicial and ethical programs for the code of student conduct: http://saweb.memphis.edu/judicialaffairs/dishonesty/definitions.htm. Any student who anticipates physical or other academic barriers to progress based on the impact of a disability is encouraged to speak with me privately. Students requesting accommodations for disabilities should register with the Disability Resources for Students (DRS) at 110 Wilder Tower. I am more than willing to reasonably accommodate student needs in the course. Any modifications to seating, testing, or other class requirements will be arranged as necessary. Call 901-678-2880 for more details. COURSE TOPICS AND TENTATIVE COURSE SCHEDULE The content of the course will be covered in the following sequence (see below). Please note that while some dates are subject to change (some topics may take more time than others), exam/assignment dates are firm. DATE TOPICS READINGS/ASSIGNMENTS Tue 1/19 Syllabus and HRM Intro Primer Personal Bio Due 1/24 to ecourseware by 11:59pm Thu 1/21 Introduction to HRM Article: Why we hate HR Article: HR departments get new star power Tue 1/26 Job Analysis & Design I Article: A modern conundrum Article: Silicon valley rethinks cubicles Thu 1/28 Job Analysis & Design II Quiz I: Open until class time 1/28 Article: No time to read this? Read this Article: If you need to work better, work less Tue 2/2 Planning & Recruitment I Article: The case for backshoring Thu 2/4 Planning & Recruitment II Article: Minimize risk of hiring outside stars Article: Only the employed need apply Tue 2/9 EXAM #1 Topics Covered: Intro to HRM, Job Analysis & Design, Planning & Recruitment Thu 2/11 Selection I Article: Select on intelligence (only first 4 pages) Article: Applicants personalities put to the test Tue 2/16 Selection II Quiz II: Open until class time 2/16 Article: Thx for the IView!... Article: Talking too much on a job interview Thu 2/18 Selection III No readings Tue 2/23 Legal Issues in HRM Quiz III: Open until class time 2/23 Article: Support grows for disabled job seekers Article: Reverse discrimination case could transform hiring Thu 2/25 Training I Article: They ponder layoffs, but Tue 3/1 Training II Article: Video games can be highly effective... Article: Theory and practice: Firms step up training
Thu 3/3 EXAM #2 Topics Covered: Selection, Legal Issues in HRM, Training 3/7-3/13 SPRING BREAK! No Class Tue 3/15 Performance Management I No readings Thu 3/17 Performance Management II Quiz IV: Open until class time 3/17 Article: Performance reviews need some work Article: Employers rethink how they give feedback Article: The cat hid my car keys Tue 3/22 Compensation: Pay Structures Article: Parking hierarchy can fuel egos Thu 3/24 Prof. Rubenstein Traveling- No Class Tue 3/29 Compensation: Benefits No readings Thu 3/31...Wrap up Compensation Lecture No readings Tue 4/5 Retention I Quiz V: Open until class time 4/5 Article: How to keep your best executives Article: Best way to save... Thu 4/7 Retention II Article: Hotelier finds happiness Tue 4/12 Separation Article: Bad firings can hurt reputations Thu 4/14 Personal/Professional Development Extra Credit: Personal Development Plan Due by 4/13 to ecourseware by 11:59pm No readings Tue 4/19 In-Class Exam Review Day Jeopardy Thu 4/21 EXAM #3 Topics Covered: Performance Management, Compensation, Retention, Separation Tue 4/26 Prof. Rubenstein Traveling- No Class Thu 4/28 Study Day University Wide, No Classes Optional Cumulative Final (open from 4/29-5/3) Extra Credit Articles/Video Clip Write-ups Due 5/1 to ecourseware by 11:59pm Topics Covered: All course topics. Administered on ecourseware KEY SEMESTER DATES Below you will find key dates of class during the semester. In BOLD are days in which class does not meet (e.g. Spring break, woo!) January 19 th. First Day of Class January 24 th...personal Biography Due to ecourseware by 11:59pm January 27 th....quiz I Due on ecourseware by class time February 9 th. Exam I (Intro, Job Analysis/Design, Planning/ Recruitment) February 16 th......quiz II Due on ecourseware by class time February 23 rd......quiz III Due on ecourseware by class time March 3 rd.....exam II (Selection, Legal Issues in HRM, Training) March 7 th -13 th...spring BREAK! March 17 th......quiz IV Due on ecourseware by class time March 24 th.. NO CLASS Prof. Rubenstein Traveling April 5 th.......quiz V Due on ecourseware by class time April 13 th. Extra Credit PDP Due to ecourseware by 11:59pm April 19 th..in Class Exam Review Day (Jeopardy Group Game) April 21 st.....exam III (Performance Mgt, Compensation, Retention, Separation) April 26 th... NO CLASS Prof. Rubenstein Traveling April 28 th. University-Wide Study Day No Classes May 1 st....extra credit article submissions Due to ecourseware by 11:59pm April 29 th -May 3 rd...optional Cumulative Final Exam (All Course Topics)