Reference no: EM133556920

Homework: Human Resource Management Project

You will write the document from the perspective of an HR manager, or another managerial position of an organization, a department, or a work unit in the organization you are currently working for or in an organization for which you previously worked. The idea here is that you are to assess and analyze what is currently in place at the company with an intent to understand the HR process and its effectiveness within the organization. It is not intended to be an employee grievance paper. You are not critiquing the Human Resources Department but rather the HR processes that are used within the company.

As any good paper it should be written in the third person as if you are reporting what you have found and what you recommend. The goal is to apply the knowledge from this course to analyze a key aspect of this organization or work unit in terms of how to further improve its Human Resource Management processes and practices. (Another point to keep in mind is this is not to address Human Resources as a department and what needs to change generally but rather and in-depth analysis of a Human Resources process like recruiting, staffing, etc.)

Whether to analyze your current workplace or an organization you previously worked for is your choice. Depending on your personal interest, you can also choose to analyze a student association or another type of social organization in which you have been involved. If you do not have previous work experience, you may interview a family member or friend regarding their the organization. The paper should be written as if you are reporting the issues and subsequent recommendations.

This analysis should utilize information about the organization that can be typically observed by and shared with the public without divulging any sensitive proprietary information. Identify the organization that you are analyzing and give enough information to provide context, i.e. industry, organization size, etc. You do not have to, nor should you, identify any specific managers or employees in the organization to protect their confidentiality.

Through the course, you will learn about major issues related to Human Resource Management such as equal employment opportunity, recruiting, selection, job design, training, performance management, employee development, pay structure and incentives, benefits, labor relations, and managing human resources globally. My requirement is that you will identify a key issue that is particularly relevant to this organization or work unit you are analyzing. This issue should be what you consider as the key area that managerial attention should be focused on to improve the Human Resource Management processes of this organization or work unit. You will then apply the knowledge you've learned in this course about this key issue to diagnose the current situation in this organization and create recommendations for improvement. Writing about multiple issues/processes is NOT RECOMMENDED. It can be acceptable to address multiple processes but only if they are analyzed in depth. It is better to thoroughly analyze one issue against the material learned in the class and to detail recommendations, again from the material learned in the class, then it is to write generally about multiple issues.

Something to watch out for in your analysis - if for example you choose a broad problem area like employee turnover. First, employee turnover is not a process although many HR processes may influence turnover. If you choose such a broad problem area, be sure in your analysis to address multiple possible causes of the problem as part of your diagnoses and then select one process that you believe will have the most impact on addressing turnover (or any other broad problem) in the company you are assessing. Provide even more in-depth analysis of the process you have chosen and then provide in-depth specific recommendations about that one (or at most two) process (es). A laundry list of things to change without in-depth specific steps as to how to achieve that change will result in a lower grade than focusing on one process in-depth with a thorough recommendation for change.

Identifying areas for improvement reflects your managerial insights that are important to organization effectiveness. Such insights are also important for organizations that are already highly successful to help maintain their competitive advantages. I encourage you to choose the organization, work unit, or group you are interested in analyzing early in the semester and start to develop your ideas related to this analysis through the semester as you learn about different topics.

Key components of the paper

Diagnosis: In this part of the paper, you use the one key issue you identified to analyze the work situation and to explain what the current condition of these aspects are in this organization and how they affect employee behavior and organization effectiveness.

Your diagnosis will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

A. Description of facts: provided a clear and detailed description of the current HR process in the area you are analyzing;

B. Analysis: provided an insightful analysis of this HR process based on what you've learned in this class;

C. Class concepts: the analysis reflects the knowledge learned from this class; concepts from class are applied correctly and effectively in the analysis. This is not necessarily another section but rather should be included in either your description or analysis of the HR process.

D. Recommendations: Your diagnosis of the current organizational situation will be followed with a set of recommendations for what can be done in the future to improve the Human Resource Management practices in this organization.

State your recommendations as specifically as possible to be meaningful. For example, if you decided that the performance appraisal methods need improvement, please specify what exactly can be done to improve it. Don't just say the company needs to change their performance appraisal process. In the class you learned steps for developing an effective performance appraisal process. Decide which performance appraisal process will work best for the company you are analyzing and describe with specificity the steps you would take to ensure that you are creating a fair, effective, and legally defensible performance appraisal process. Use this same type of specificity for any process you recommend changing.

Your recommendations will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

A. Connection to diagnosis: recommendations address the problem discussed in your diagnosis;

B. Quality: recommendations are specific, effective, and appropriate;

C. Class concepts: recommendations reflect your learning from this class and are based on the sound HR principles taught in this class (Again this is not a separate section but should be included in your recommendations.)