Claremont Graduate University
HRD 328 Organizational Strategic Planning
Daniel F. Duran, Ph.D.
Spring 2008
dduran@whittier.edu
(562) 907-4931 office; (213) 369-2368 cell; (562) 693-3259 home
Web Syllabus:
http://web.whittier.edu/academic/business/duran/CGU%20HRD_328%202008.html
Course Overview
Welcome to this advanced course in Organizational Strategic Planning! I inherited this
course from a previous instructor and have modified it to cover some new materials and
themes. Together we will have the opportunity to study some of the most complex and
perplexing problems of organizational strategic planning. The goal of this course is to
help you develop the skills and confidence to lead the business/non-profit enterprise for
success today and tomorrow. Fundamentally, we will be thinking about what business
the enterprise is in and what business it should be in. Throughout this course our main
emphasis will be on strategy and we will adopt the perspective of the Vice President of
Human Resources. Please note that this course requires straightforward and engaged
conversation, teamwork, and presentations.
The readings for this course are taken primarily from two texts; one authored by a longtime practitioner and the other by a long term and respected set of academicians and
researchers. In addition to the two texts I will provide additional readings and you may
find that some of the readings may seem to contradict one another. This is intentional as
both the research and field based resources about organizational strategic planning have
evolved and will continue to do so. Our readings and discussion will demonstrate that not
“everything fits together” nicely although the overall perspective developed throughout
the course is internally consistent in that each author and reading adds to our metatheoretical perspective. That perspective is that keeping current with and applying the
most recent “in vogue” HR “formula for success” is far less important than helping you
develop a deeper appreciation of the management of cooperative purposeful human
endeavor. In the end, our intent is to help you to lay a foundation for life-long learning
and to help you to develop an understanding that goes much deeper than “how a given
technique is used.” Beyond this deeper appreciation, you should develop in this class the
ability to self-reflect, and therefore you should hopefully become more conscious of your
own actions, thinking, and character.
Underlying the course is the idea that strategy is multifaceted and has three dimensions:
•
The formulation process
•
The implementation of strategy, and
•
The “good” content of strategy
As managers in 21st Century organizations, you will benefit from all three dimensions as
they will help you to better understand how humans, engaged in hierarchical collective
endeavors, must interact with one another to raise the degree of rationality in a firm and
thereby increase its productivity. Second, you need to understand how strategy
formulation and strategy implementation are effectively linked and how strategy
implementation can be most effectively executed. Third, you must develop an
understanding about what is required to make an organizational strategy “good?” What
should strategists consider when they set the overall direction for their firm? As a result
of your studies, you should be able to “see” missing parts ahead of problem development.
In this way, you should be better able to serve your current and future organizations. You
should be better equipped to serve as an outstanding Vice President of Human Resources.
Reading Texts and Assignments
We will be drawing primarily from the following two texts:
A.
Ralph Christensen, Roadmap to Strategic HR: Turning a Great Idea into a
Business Reality (New York: American Management Association, 2006)
B.
Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton, The Strategy-Focused Organization
(Boston: Harvard Business School, 2001)
C.
I will provide you with additional readings, including chapters from The
Essential Drucker and case studies.
This course may appear “heavy in reading” although the case is that you are not expected
to read all of the texts before the class is complete. This course uses an approach that will
hopefully equip you to continue your learning after our seven weeks are up. You should
budget six hours a week to read. That is two hours for every hour that we are in class. All
of the assigned readings will be covered in class via lecture and/or student presentations.
Please note that we will also cover several cases and while the cases are identified below
I may change one or more of them as the course proceeds but will provide you with
sufficient advance notification.
Contributions and Evaluation
There are three Contribution and Evaluation Components core to this class.
A. Class Participation accounts for 40% which means that you should attend every class
and actively participate in classroom discussion. If you attend every class but are not
prepared or do not participate the highest grade you can achieve will be a “C”. As part of
class participation every student is expected to make at least two Individual Contributions
(IC) that focus on a firm or enterprise that has demonstrated a significant change in HR
strategy and policy. The IC must be presented in a PowerPoint format and should average
between 7-10 minutes presentation time and should contain 4-6 PowerPoint slides.
B. The Final Course paper accounts for 30%. Your Final Course Paper will consist of a
critical evaluation of a for-profit or non-for-profit business/business unit or enterprise that
applies the class readings and discussions specific to its HR/Business Strategy. This
paper should be at least five pages long and not exceed seven pages (excluding Title,
Table of Contents, Resources/Bibliography). More details on this final paper will be
provided in class.
C. Team Class Presentation accounts for the remaining 30%. You will be assigned to a
Team that will make at least two presentations to the class. The Team Presentations will
average twenty minutes and should not exceed thirty minutes and will be based on one or
more chapters from the assigned texts or from the other materials made available to the
class. Each team must e-mail their PowerPoint presentations to the instructor at least one
day before the scheduled presentation and handout notes must be provided to the class on
the scheduled presentation day. The Team Presentation should be between 8-12
PowerPoint slides.
Attendance Policy
Students are expected to attend every session on time. If unable to attend a class the
student must e-mail or telephone the instructor before class begins, preferably the
morning of the class day. As the class will meet only seven times it is the student’s
responsibility to discuss make-up arrangements with the instructor. Make-up
assignments will typically take the form of a student presentation that builds on the
readings or content missed and which adds to our collective knowledge. If a case was
discussed, then the student will need to submit a written analysis (3 to 5 pages in length).
Failure to make up for a missed class will have the student’s grade lowered one “halfletter” for each class missed.
________________________________________________________________________
Session I:
January 29, 2008
READINGS:
The Strategy Focused Organization, Chapters 1 and 2;
Roadmap to Strategic HR, Chapters 1, 2, and 3; Case 1 (EMI A)
________________________________________________________________________
NO CLASS ON FEBRUARY 5, 2008 MAKE-UP DATE TO BE DETERMINED
________________________________________________________________________
Session II:
February 12, 2008
READINGS:
The Strategy Focused Organization, Chapters 3, 4, and 5;
Roadmap to Strategic HR, Chapters 4 and 5; Case 2 (EMI B)
________________________________________________________________________
Session III:
February 19, 2008
READINGS:
The Strategy Focused Organization, Chapters 6 and 7;
Roadmap to Strategic HR, Chapters 6 and 7; Case 3 (Wells
Fargo)
________________________________________________________________________
Session IV:
February 26, 2008
READINGS:
The Strategy Focused Organization, Chapters 8, 9, 12;
Roadmap to Strategic HR, Chapters 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12; Case 4
(R.R. Donnelley and Sons: The Digital Division)
________________________________________________________________________
Session V:
March 4, 2008
READINGS:
The Strategy Focused Organization, Chapters 13 and 14;
Roadmap to Strategic HR, Chapters 13, 14, 15, 16; Case 5 (P&G
Vizir Launch) and Case 6 (IBM)
________________________________________________________________________
Session VI:
March 11, 2008
READINGS:
Roadmap to Strategic HR, Chapters 17, 18, and 19;
FINAL TEAM PRESENTATIONS
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