February 29, 2016
Students in ORG301, Spring 2016:
Welcome to ORG301, Human Resource Management!
The course begins on Monday, March 7th and ends Monday, May 16th, 2016.
Over those ten weeks you will receive an introduction and overview of the field of Human
Resource Management (HRM), which covers the policies, practices, and systems of an
organization, that influence employees’ behavior, attitudes and performance.
In this online format, we will be covering material that in a traditional classroom setting is
covered over a fifteen week semester. That means that each week will cover a lot of material
and it is essential that you remain current with the work and engaged in the class
You will be earn three credits upon the completion of this course, and will have completed a
course that mirrors the classroom based format in terms of the quality and content. You will need
to log in several times each week and participate actively in the forum discussions. These are a
fundamental component of the course and guidance on posting and my expectations will be
provided to you in the first week’s lesson.
It is very important that you stay current with the readings and the assignments. It will be
difficult to participate in the forums in a meaningful way if you have not read the material we
will be discussing. And if you allow yourself to fall behind, it will be more difficult to catch up
as each week we will be moving on to new material. Please be aware that while this course will
be run in an asynchronous format, i.e. you aren’t required to log in at specific times, this is not a
self-paced course. The discussion forums will close at the end of each week so everyone moves
on to the next topic together. Assignments are due on specified dates and late submissions will
be penalized.
For the first week you are to read the chapters and articles specified under “Week One” in the
course schedule that is a part of the course syllabus. During the first week you are also to
participate in the class forum which will help us to learn a bit about each other, and, begin a
discussion of just what HRM is all about.
Once the iLearn site is open, please take a few moments to explore our class site. You will have
access to the site beginning at noon on Thursday, March 3rd, 2016 (a few days before the course
begins). At that time, you should review the entire syllabus and if you have any questions, please
post those in the “Questions” forum that will remain open over the duration of the course. In that
way, everyone can see my answers. Check out the resources section where you will find a folder
with the assigned articles and a folder where I will add my notes and presentations as we move
through the course. Then go to the Lessons section where you will see a Lesson for Week One.
In that lesson (and in each subsequent weeks’ lesson) it will step you through what we will be
doing that week, with links to assigned articles, assignments and forums.
The required text for this course is Snell, Scott and Bohlander, George, Managing Human
Resources, 17th edition, South-Western Cengage, 2014. ISBN: 9781285866390 and it is
available through the Marist Bookstore.
I look forward to getting to know you and working with you over the next ten weeks!
Ken Sloan
Associate Professor