HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT I

Autumn 2017 (English version)

Professor: Sebastin Ugarte, PhD

(Last updated: 15/03/17)

A. Purpose
The purpose of the course is to develop the students skills to assess the role and processes of Human
Resource Management (HRM) as a tool to design and implement the organisations strategy. This is
done through their experience with organisations, analysis of conceptual models, empirical evidence and
the intervention tools available in the HRM literature.

Learning Goals
1. To analyse the organisations HRM policies and practices based on fieldwork carried out by students,
in order to identify the activities developed in each of the HRM subsystems.
2. To compare the HRM practices from the client organisation and their effects on the people and
business development with the theoretical HRM approaches and class discussions. To recognize how
these practices are implemented in Chile.
3. To judge the value of the HRM practices in the organisations in a report, highlighting the strengths
and weaknesses of their strategy implementation.
4. To design and develop an action plan for an organisation that could help increase the value that the
HRM practices add to the design and implementation of its business strategy.

Learning Evidence and Products

Preliminary Report analysing the client organisation (description of the organisation, business size,
structure, location, mission, vision, values and strategy, description of human resources in the
implementation of the business strategy, description of human resource management functions
implemented in the organisation, description of the structure of the human resource management
department or its equivalent).
"Quizzes" integrating the theoretical foundations defined in the literature and the case studies discussed
in class.
Oral presentation and final report of an action plan proposed to the organisation to improve the value
and contribution of the HRM processes.

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B. Knowledge, Resources and Contents
THROUGHOUT ALL LEARNING GOALS
FIELDWORK ON ORGANISATIONS
Prepare the visit to the organisation (E.g. questions to be asked, information on the web, research in
the literature about the challenge to be analysed).
Relevant information to be collected.
Data collection techniques: interviews, participant observations, relevant personnel records,
company archives, surveys, etc.
Appropriate use of language, to follow the organisations dress code and professional attitude.

LEARNING GOAL 1

1. THE PROCESS OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

1.1. Role of HRM throughout the organisations life cycle: HRM subsystems
1.2. Tools for integrating HR subsystems
a. Task oriented
b. People oriented
1.3. General model of competency management.

2. HR PLANNING, RECRUITING AND SELECTION

2.1. HR planning and recruiting
2.2. Job profile, person-organisation fit and person-job fit
a. Personnel selection predictors and criteria
b. Cognitive ability and/or competencies
c. Intelligence, personality
d. Other predictors
2.3. Methods and techniques in personnel selection
a. Methodological considerations (construct validity, predictive validity)
b. Assessment tools: psychological tests, interviews, assessment centre, headhunting

3. HR TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT

3.1. Basic concepts: Training and development.
3.2. The process of training needs assessment and business strategic alignment.
3.3. Developing a training plan.
3.4. Assessment of training/learning.

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4. PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT
4.1. Models of job performance
a. Dimensions and critical factors
4.2. Performance assessment
a. Goals and criteria
b. Methods and biases
c. Descendant assessment
d. Ascendant assessment and 360 feedback
e. Performance appraisal feedback
4.3. Performance management cycle: Goals/ Relevance

5. COMPENSATION MANAGEMENT
5.1. Compensation management
a. Purpose
b. Job description
c. Job evaluation
d. Pay structure and salary scale
e. Total rewards system: monetary (fixed and variable) and non-monetary rewards

LEARNING GOAL 2

6. HUMAN RESOURCES, THE ORGANISATIONAND ITS BUSINESS

6.1. HRM as supporting system for the implementation and development of the business strategy
a. Organisations and their environment.
b. Central elements of HRM in contemporary organisations
c. Organisation values, mission, vision.
d. Organisational strategy, structure and culture.
e. Human resources management as a strategic business partner.

7. COMPARING FIELDWORK INFORMATION WITH CONCEPTUAL MODELS

7.1. Identifying core issues of conceptual models
7.2. Recognizing a situation and its core problem
7.3. Comparing the organisations policies and practices with conceptual models

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LEARNING GOAL 3

8. INTEGRATING HRM SUBSYSTEMS

8.1. Identification of the effects of different HRM practices.
8.2. Identification of the relevance of each HRM subsystem and their relation with the
implementation of the organisations strategy.
8.3. HRM adding value to the organisations strategy.
8.4. Understand the advantages of applying a High Performance Work System in the organisation

9. RECOGNIZING STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES

9.1. Actual and required capabilities
9.3. Effects on HRM

LEARNING GOAL 4

10. DESIGNING AN ACTION PLAN

10.1. Prioritizing the required capabilities for the function of HRM.
10.2. Defining the purpose of an action plan to fulfil the required capabilities.
10.3. Recognizing the pillars of the action plan.
10.4. Scheduling the tasks required to implement the action plan.

C. METHODOLOGY
Fieldwork in organisations
Class discussion
Project presentations and written reports
Case studies
Self-study

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D. EVALUATION AND REQUIREMENTS TO PASS THE COURSE
Consultancy project 60%
Preliminary report 15%
Final report 20%
Oral presentation 15%
Professionalism1 10%
Five Quizzes 30%
Participation and attendance 10%

1 Consultancy Project Individual Grades:

To recognize the individual contribution of each of the group members, each person will assess the
percentage of the contribution of each one of the group members. The contribution is the extent to which
a team member had a good performance for the teams professionalism, by working as a team member,
fulfilling commitment and responsibilities, as well as showing good professional skills and attitudes
toward the organisation and the team.
With the assessment of the individual contributions, the teaching team will assign individual grades for
each of the deliverables (Preliminary Report, Final Report, and the Oral Presentation) considering the
percentage of contribution assigned by all group members. Nevertheless, the individual grade for each of
the deliverables could not be lower than 1,0 or greater than 7,0. Additionally, six decimals is the
maximum that can be added or discounted to a group member.
For example, if the grade of Group A on the Preliminary Report is 6,0, the individual grades are
Group Member 1 2 3 4 5
Contribution 100% 110% 90% 50%2 150%2

Professionalism means the capacity of the team to comply with the agreements made with the
organisation and the TA, compliance with the Gantt chart submitted at the beginning of the semester and
after the mentoring sessions, alignment with the means of communication defined with the organisation
and with the members of the consulting team, etc. The TA is accountable for coordinating the input and
justification of the grade assigned to each member.
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 Individual Grade (weighted) 6,0 6,6 5,4 3,0 7,0
To avoid conflict among group members because of misinterpretation of the percentages of contributions
assignments, the professor and the teaching assistant (TA or Ayudante) will revise the scores.
Therefore, if one group member seems over/under-rated, the professor and the TA might reassign the
percentages.

2 Five Quizzes.
The average of the five quizzes counts for 30% of the final grade. Given that it is not possible to make
up for Quizzes you have missed, you will have the opportunity to delete the worst grade out of the five
(or the one that you did not take/attend either for a justified or not justified reason). Then, an absence to
a quiz is graded with a 1,0, which is later deleted according to the defined criteria.
Take into account that you may delete only one grade. This means that if you missed two quizzes, only
one will be deleted and the other will count as a 1.0, which will be part of your average grade for this
concept. Hence think wisely if you choose not to attend to a quiz and then you miss another one, even
for justified reasons.

11. Participation and attendance grade:

Participation is scored based on the frequency of the contribution(s) made in each class according to the
table below. A contribution is when the comment helps to clarify and deepen the discussion in class,
when the comment adds an applied aspect to the discussion, which can be based on personal experience
and/or company information. A big contribution is when the comment makes a clear link between the
discussion, a theoretical framework, and an applied aspect.
At the end of the semester, the scores of each student will be divided by the number of classes they have
attended. The final participation and attendance grade will be assigned according to the table below.
Class participation
Attendance No participation Low level (0,01-0,33 Good level (0,34- High level (More than
(Signature) (0 contributions per contributions per 0,7 contributions 0,7 contributions per
class) class) per class) class)
80% or more 5 5,5 6,5 7
70%-79% 4 5 5,5 6,5
60%-69% 3 4 5 5,5
50%-59% 2 3 4 5
Less than 50% 1 2 3 4

In this case the grade for group member 4 and 5 will be 5,4 and 6,6 respectively.
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12. Course Approval Requirements
a. An average of at least 4,0 in the Quizzes and the case study
b. A final average of at least 4,0.

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E. ASSISSTANTSHIPS & ASSESSMENTS CALENDAR (Quizzes)
Activity Date Compulsory readings
Teaching assistantship Wednesday, March How to apply the rubric for quizzes and the consultancy process
N1 Consultancy 22nd
methodology & Rubric
Quiz_1 Wednesday, March Snell, S. &Bohlander, G. (2013). Principles of Human Resource
29th Assistantship Management, International Edition. 16thedition.
Introduction& Strategic time Chapter NX. Study the chapter that is linked with your
HRM consultancy project.
Chapter N16.Creating High-Performance Work Systems
Case study reading: HPWS case study.
Teaching assistantship Wednesday, April How to properly frame an organisational challenge/problem and
N2 Problem definition 5th the writing of the theoretical framework for the project
& theoretical framework
Quiz_2 Wednesday, April Snell, S. &Bohlander, G. (2013). Principles of Human Resource
12th Management, International Edition. 16thedition.
Job analysis, Chapter 4. Job Analysis.
Recruitment & Selection Assistantship time Chapter 5. Expanding the Talent Pool: Recruitment and
Careers (Careers section not included).
Chapter 6. Employee Selection.
Case study reading: SG Cowen: New recruits.
Quiz_3 Wednesday, April Snell, S. &Bohlander, G. (2013). Principles of Human Resource
26th Management, International Edition. 16thedition.
Training &Development Chapter 7. Training and Development.
Assistantship time Case study reading: SUPERVALU - Professional Development
Program.
Quiz_4 Wednesday, May Snell, S. &Bohlander, G. (2013). Principles of Human Resource
3rd Assistantship Management, International Edition. 16thedition.
Performance time Chapter 8. Appraising and Improving Performance.
management
(During Midterms Case study reading: Performance Management at Vitality
week (solemnes)) Health Enterprises, Inc.
Teaching as. N3 HRM Wednesday, May How to apply HRM models and make proposals based on
models, data collection & 17th evidence/data that you collected
evidence
Quiz_5 Wednesday, May Armstrong, M., & Taylor, S. (2014). Armstrong's handbook of
24th human resource management practice. Kogan Page Publishers.
Compensation 13th Edition
Assistantship time Chapter 26. Reward management strategy and systems.
Chapter 27: The practice of reward management
Case study reading: Motivating through Total Reward at Royal
Bank of Scotland

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F. ASSESSMENT CALENDAR (consultancy project deadlines)

Activity Date Comments

Date to be confirmed depending on organisations

Initial Ceremony Thursday, March 23rd
availability

Learning about the organization, the business strategy

First Visit to the Company March 23rd 31st
and the organisational challenge

Second Visit to the Company April 3rd 15th Learning about the HR Department

Submission of one-page The problem definition is the cornerstone of the

April 6th
problem definition to TAs consultancy

Preliminary Report April 22nd (by 23 hrs) Preliminary Report Deadline

Peer assessment form April 24th Submit via email to your TA the peer assessment form

Preliminary report mentoring April 24th May 15th

Presenting the problem and the information

th th
Third Visit to the Company May 15 19 requirements to design the proposal for the
organisation

Collecting data through interviews, surveys and

Fourth Visit to the Company May 22nd 26th
archives

Final report June 3rd

Oral presentation mentoring June 1st 12th

Oral presentations to June 14th 30th

organisations

Resubmission of Final report June 21st Once the mentoring sessions are conducted, the
students will be able to improve their final report

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G. The usage of the English language
Most of the course activities are carried out in English, but as we interact with organisations, not
necessarily they will be able to communicate in English. Similarly, teaching assistants will make an
effort to communicate in English, but in some cases, they may not be as fluent as you would expect.
This table summarises the use of English language in this course:

Activities English Spanish

Lectures/ Classes
Class Participation
Teaching assistantships
Quizzes
Project reports
Meetings with organisations and data collection ?

Project presentation ?
Mentoring sessions
Note: Activities that have two ticks ( ), the student/teams have the option to perform them either in
Spanish or in English.

H. BIBLIOGRAPHY
(Subject to modifications by the Professor if considered appropriate)
The digital library has the following electronic editions of the main textbook:
English edition: Snell, S. & Bohlander, G. (2013). Principles of Human Resource Management,
International Edition. 16th edition: Cengage Learning.
Spanish edition: Snell, S. & Bohlander, G. (2013). Administracin de Recursos Humanos,
Edicin Internacional. 16 edicin: Cengage Learning.

1 THE PROCESS OF HR MANAGEMENT

Snell, S. &Bohlander, G. (2013). Principles of Human Resource Management, International Edition. 16th
edition: Cengage Learning
Chapter N1 The Challenge of Human Resources Management.
Chapter 4. Job Analysis, Employee Involvement, and Flexible Work Schedules.
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13. HR PLANNING, RECRUITING AND SELECTION
Snell, S. &Bohlander, G. (2013). Principles of Human Resource Management, International Edition.
16th edition: Cengage Learning
Chapter 5. Expanding the Talent Pool: Recruitment and Careers.
Chapter 6. Employee Selection.
Case study reading: SUPERVALU - Professional Development Program.

14. HR TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT

Snell, S. &Bohlander, G. (2013). Principles of Human Resource Management, International Edition.
16th edition: Cengage Learning
Chapter 7. Training and Development.
Campion, M. A., Fink, A. A., Ruggeberg, B. J., Carr, L., Philips, G. M., &Odman, R. B. (2011) Doing
practices well: Best practices in competency modelling. Personnel Psychology, 64, 225-262.
Case study reading: SUPERVALU - Professional Development Program.

15. PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL AND MANAGEMENT

Snell, S. &Bohlander, G. (2013). Principles of Human Resource Management, International Edition.
16th edition: Cengage Learning
Chapter 8. Appraising and Improving Performance.
Morgeson, F. P., Mumford, T.V., & Campion, M. A. (2005) Coming full circle: Using research and
practice to address 27 questions about 360-degree feedback programs. Consulting Psychology
Journal: Practice and Research, 57, 196-209.
Case study reading: Performance Management at Vitality Health Enterprises, Inc.

16. COMPENSATION MAMAGEMENT

Armstrong, M., & Taylor, S. (2014). Armstrong's handbook of human resource management practice.
13th Edition: Kogan Page Publishers.
Chapter 26. Reward management strategy and systems.
Chapter 27: The practice of reward management
McShane, S. L. & Von Glinow M.A. (2005). Organisational Behavior: Emerging Realities for the
Workplace Revolution. 3rd edition. NY: McGraw Hill.
Chapter 6. Applied Performance Practices.
Designing reward systems by Mark W. Gilman (Adapted from Personnel Today, 2008; IRS, 2004;
Attwood, 2005).

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Contemporary Human Resource Management by Redman T and Wilkinson A; FT Prentice Hall 2009
Herzberg F. (2003) One More Time: How Do You Motivate Employees? Harvard Business Review.
http://lyle.smu.edu/emis/even8364/fall2009/Journal%20Articles%2009/How%20Do%20You
%20Motivate%20Employees.pdf
Case study reading: Motivating through Total Reward at Royal Bank of Scotland

17. THE BALANCED SCORECARD TO ASSESS THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE HR

PROCESSES
Kaplan, R. S., & Norton, D. P. (1996). Using the balanced scorecard as a strategic management system.
https://www.google.cl/url?
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GAhWES5AKHe46BaQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdownload.microsoft.com%2Fdocuments%2Fuk
%2Fpeopleready%2FUsing%2520the%2520Balanced%2520Scorecard%2520as%2520a%2520Strategic
%2520Management
%2520System.pdf&ei=JfywVaWdAoSXwQTu9ZSgCg&usg=AFQjCNEnWT2BmzRccZn9yChY603cV
R1ebg&sig2=ABJ1gp1UexJZTF1RIhKXbQ&bvm=bv.98476267,d.Y2I

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