All posts by : chebby

Background:
Pay for Performance in America’s public schools is an extremely controversial issue. Although the process has made inroads in business and is a means to help determine promotions, pay, and retention, pay for performance has not been consistently well received in the public school systems. There are some successful examples where teacher pay has been linked to student test scores. In Minnesota, for example, some districts have stopped giving automatic raises for seniority and base 60% of all pay increases on employee performance. In Denver, unions and school districts designed an incentive program where teachers receive bonuses for student achievement and for earning national teaching certificates.

On the other hand, some plans have not worked. For example, Cincinnati teachers voted against a merit pay proposal and Philadelphia teachers gave their bonus checks to charity rather than cashing them. It appears that having teachers involved in planning the incentive system is one key factor to success. The same can be said for all incentive plans – if employees do not buy into them, they will not work.

Assignment:

You have been asked by the organization’s senior leadership to explore the practicality of implementing such a program for your organization.

Questions to Research:

1. How could an organization measure the effectiveness of their pay-for-performance plans?
2. From an employee’s perspective, what are the advantages and disadvantages of using a pay-for-performance plan? 
3. From an employer’s perspective, what are the advantages and disadvantages of using a pay-for-performance plan?

The course objectives addressed by this assignment are as follows:

• Explain the various classifications of rewards.
• Describe competency-based compensation programs.
• Describe relative standards in the performance management system.
• Discuss ethical issues in HRM

Complete a personal statement that includes the following: (1) Explain how your professional experience and academic background make you an ideal candidate for doctoral study (1 page). (2) Describe your specific area of interest. Explain how conducting research in this area will help you fulfill your career objectives (1 page). (3) Select 2 scholarly research-based articles. Explain each article’s theoretical and methodological relevance to your chosen area of research. Precisely describe why and how the research in each article selection pertains to your area of research interest. Indicate the strengths and weaknesses of each article’s research (1 page per article). (4) Describe your future career goals upon completion of this program (1 page). (5) Include a reference list using American Psychological Association (APA) style (1 page). Please include citations throughout this personal statement where applicable.

HR Issues Papers (50%)

You will research and prepare two papers covering any two of the articles from the textbook that you don’t write discussion items for. Each paper will be worth a maximum of 25 points. The text of each paper (excluding the cover and reference pages) must be a minimum of five full pages and no longer than six pages in length and must be single-spaced (not 1.15, which is the default setting for recent versions of Word) and printed using Times New Roman, size 12 font, with 1.25 inch margins on the side and 1 inch margins on the top and bottom (Office 2003 default in Margin settings in Page Layout).  Also, please do not use any space saving techniques such as adding extra space between paragraphs (the first sentence of each paragraph should be indented and the After setting in Paragraph should be set at ‘0 pt’), using bulleted or numbered items, using sub-titles or footnotes, including diagrams or tables, or including your name/paper title at the top of any of the5-6 pages.  You will not receive full credit for a review that has more than a few grammatical errors.  Your grade on a paper will be reduced if you do not follow these technical requirements.  In addition, you must attach a cover page that includes the issue you have chosen and a page of references at the end of your paper (the cover page and reference page do not count toward the 5-6 page requirement).  You must use at least four references for the paper in addition to the textbook article that is the basis for your paper and none of the four references should be other articles from the textbooks.  No more than one page of the paper can be based on the textbook article.

In each paper, you should include your summary and analysis of the topic and your opinions regarding how an employer and, in particular, the HR function of the employer, should address the issue.  Please see the note regarding plagiarism in the class policies section of this syllabus.  Your papers should be submitted to me as Word attachments to either a Blackboard or email message.  Information in the text of your papers must be properly cited using the method that is used in Are You a Leader or a Laggard in the textbook.  Do not include any footnotes at the bottom of any of the 5-6 pages of your paper.  In preparing the papers you should avoid using more than three direct quotes and no quote should be longer than two sentences.  Following are the deadlines for the submission of your papers.  You do not have to wait until the deadlines to submit your papers.

Prior to beginning work on this discussion forum, review this week’s readings and Weekly Lecture.

Prien, Goodstein, Goodstein, and Gamble (2009) defined several tools and techniques for gathering data related to a job. In Week 1, you completed a position questionnaire for a potential job analysis. In addition to a position questionnaire, there are other tools available to gather data and information to support the analysis.

Discovery:

Further explore three of the tools defined by Prien et al., (2009) for data and information collection. Define and explain each of the tools, and provide the reference(s) for the source. Explain how each of these tools would add substance related to the position and credibility to the resulting job analysis.

Determine:

As a human resource manager, choosing the right tool to do the job is part of the skill and responsibility required for successful outcomes. Based on the first letter of your last name, you will review the scenario that you have been assigned to and determine the most appropriate tool(s) for gathering the necessary data and information for a credible job analysis.

Last names A – H

Scenario 1: A call center with 15 customer service representatives that work 8 hour days, with rotating three shifts.

Defend:

Formulate in your own words what this position might look like. Describe the type of information needed to properly analyze the position and how the tool(s) will be deployed to gather the appropriate information. Provide specific reasoning for each tool chosen.

 How would you make the case for HR as a strategic, as opposed to administrative, function of an organization? What evidence exists to support this claim from the HR and psychology research? 

Complete in detail

Describe (in your own words) how a union becomes certified to represent a group of employees.

Six Articles Review

This assignment is to allow you to critique six articles. The six articles are:

1.  Equal Employment Opportunity and Safety

2.  Strategic Human Resource Management

3.  Human Resource Planning and Recruitment

4.  Employee Development

5. Impact of  Pay Structure Decisions

6. Performance Management and Employees Appraisal 

· Must have at least 2 pages for each of the topics

· Must have headings for the six articles before the narratives of the article(s)

· Must cite sources within the articles properly

· must have name(s) of authors in the body of the narratives

· Must discuss the interest of the articles, strengths, and weaknesses of the topics

· Must have conclusions and recommendations

· Must have the references

· The paper should be single space only

One of the most important aspects of the research capstone project is the research component and the selection of scholarly references that will be utilized in researching your topic.

Instructions

• Create a one-page summary of the scholarly resources you plan on using to support your conclusions in your health care management research capstone paper. Include in your summary why you selected them and how you think they will support your ideas.
• You are required to use at least three different types of resources (video, website, professional journals, webcast etc).
• You must develop at least 10 references that you will utilize to conduct research on your health care topic.
• The Supplemental Resources will provide you with an overview of the resources available in the Herzing University Online Library that will help you to review and secure scholarly resources for your capstone research project.
• (Please note: Wikipedia is not an acceptable site as its validity of information cannot be supported)

Create a six-slide, 12-minute presentation briefing a team on a potential ethical dilemma.

In the career for which you are preparing, where will you look for ethical guidance?

• Employer: contractual obligations, employee handbook, corporate culture.
• Colleagues: fellow workers, deserving respect, productive relationships.
• Clients: honest treatment, service with dignity, contractual obligations.
• Profession: fellow practitioners, counterbalance to employer, code of conduct.
• Personal: individual commitments, personal responsibility, integrity.

SHOW LESS

All of these overlapping concerns may create conflicted situations. Professional association codes of ethics commonly deal with a number of concerns:

• Expertise: qualifications for practitioners, continuing education.
• Research: informed consent, plagiarism, shared publication credit.
• Privacy: record keeping, protecting confidentiality, public statements.
• Relationships: harassment, conflicts of interest, workplace behavior.

No matter how extensively the professional code is spelled out, it cannot cover everything, and it often overemphasizes enforcement. It is more helpful to take a positive approach, thinking aspirationally about how best to handle challenging situations.

Questions to Consider

To deepen your understanding, you are encouraged to consider the questions below and discuss them with a fellow learner, a work associate, an interested friend, or a member of the business community.

SHOW LESS

• What concrete situations in your workplace might give rise to ethical dilemmas?
• Does the professional code of conduct provide any relevant guidance for these cases?

Assessment Overview

Imagine management at your future workplace tasks you with making a formal presentation to your team discussing a workplace ethical dilemma they might face. You consider an appropriate professional code of conduct, but only to the extent that it might offer useful guidance in this situation. The central task is to help everyone work together productively in resolving tricky issues.

For this assessment, fulfill the management task and create an audiovisual presentation that applies a professional code of ethics to common workplace situations. Submit your work as a narrated visual presentation in the courseroom submission box. You may develop a series of annotated PowerPoint slides, for example, using Kaltura to record the audio portion of your work. If you are more familiar with other presentation software, you may use that, so long as your submission satisfies all of the required elements of the assessment.

Assessment Instructions

Include the following in your narrated visual presentation:

• Apply a professional code of ethics to this workplace situation.
• Assess the advantages and disadvantages of the selected professional code of ethics.
• Explain methods for resolving ethical disagreements productively.
• Describe areas of one’s personal disagreement with professional standards.

Note: Include in your presentation slides or annotations a full APA-style citation of any quotation or paraphrase from the professional code or other sources you choose to employ.

Your instructor may provide video feedback on your work, in addition to completing the official scoring guide for the assignment.

Submit this assessment to your ePortfolio.

Additional Requirements

• Communication: Create an audiovisual presentation that applies a professional code of ethics to common workplace situations.
• Media presentation: Create a minimum of 6 slides, 12 minutes total in length, with notes or a transcript to ensure accessibility to everyone. Upload the presentation.
• Resources: There is no minimum number of resources required; however, use your judgment to ensure your topic is thoroughly researched.

Print

Ethics in the Workplace Scoring Guide

CRITERIA

NON-PERFORMANCE

BASIC

PROFICIENT

DISTINGUISHED

Apply a professional code of ethics to a workplace situation.

Does not apply a professional code of ethics to a workplace situation.

Explains a workplace situation in the context of a professional code of ethics.

Applies a professional code of ethics to a workplace situation.

Assesses an appropriate professional code of ethics as applied to a workplace situation.

Assess the advantages and disadvantages of a professional code of ethics.

Does not describe the advantages and disadvantages of a professional code of ethics.

Describes the advantages or disadvantages of a professional code of ethics, but not both.

Assesses the advantages and disadvantages of a professional code of ethics.

Analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of a professional code of ethics.

Explain methods for resolving ethical disagreements productively.

Does not mention methods for resolving ethical disagreements productively.

Mentions methods for resolving ethical disagreements productively.

Explains methods for resolving ethical disagreements productively.

Assesses methods for resolving ethical disagreements productively.

Describe areas of one’s personal disagreement with professional standards.

Does not describe areas of one’s personal disagreement with professional standards.

Lists areas of one’s personal disagreement with professional standards.

Describes areas of one’s personal disagreement with professional standards.

Explains areas of one’s personal disagreement with professional standards.

Create an audiovisual presentation that applies a professional code of ethics to a workplace situation.

Does not create an audiovisual presentation that applies a professional code of ethics to a workplace situation.

Creates an audiovisual presentation that applies a professional code of ethics, but the presentation lacks detail or does not reflect a workplace situation.

Creates an audiovisual presentation that applies a professional code of ethics to a workplace situation.

Creates an audiovisual presentation that applies a professional code of ethics to a workplace situations, and the presentation is engaging and detailed.