HR DISTANCE LEARNING COURSE
David Meisinger
National Pork Board
Introduction: With support from an NC Risk Management Grant, the National Pork
Board was able to develop the content and convert it into a course on Human Relations.
The need for this e-learning course was exemplified in a conversation with an HR
director from one of the ultra-large pork operations in the U.S. When this person asked
about resources available from the Pork Checkoff a couple of years ago, I answered that
we had this concept to develop this HR course but went on to say that it probably would
not have much application to her due to the fact that she was a trained professional in this
area of study already. She objected to this line of thinking because she offered that while
she knew this content thoroughly, she has people in every one of their sites and locations
that reported to her that were just individuals who were promoted up from being a barn
worker with essentially no HR training. She stated that she really needs tools such as
these to train her staff. To accommodate this need, many HR directors including her
were consulted as the content for this course was developed. Sarah Fogleman at Kansas
State University was contracted to develop the core content of the course. She serves as
extension specialist with particular emphasis in this field of HR training and
development.
Course Outline: The course is divided into ten basic chapters. They are as follows:
1. Workplace communications
2. Conflict resolution
3. Recruitment and selection
4. Training & development
5. Performance management
6. Discipline and termination
7. Compensation
8. Appreciating cultures
9. Legal basics
10. Family-owned business
Course Content: The expected outcomes from each chapter begin that respective
chapter. Those are listed under each chapter as follows:
Workplace communications
In this section, the student will learn about the importance of proper workplace communication.
When they complete this lesson, they will be able to:
 Explain the advantages of good communication and the disadvantages of poor
communication
 Explain the importance of written forms of communication
o Job descriptions
o Employee handbooks
 Describe the importance of listening
 Identify how body language affects face-to-face communication
 Recognize barriers to communication and methods to overcome these barriers

Describe the benefits in setting communication as a core value for their company
Conflict resolution
When they complete this lesson, they will be able to:
 Resolve conflicts in a professional manner to the advantages of the business and all
parties
o Determine the root cause of the conflict
o Gain all information about the conflict
o Consider the conflict from all perspectives
o Focus on interests
o Separate people issues from contextual issues
o Identify solutions that meet the interests of both parties
o Use objective criteria
 Recognize the impact and consequences of different negotiating styles
Recruitment and selection
When they complete this lesson, they will be able to:
 Describe the recruitment and selection process
 Recruit effectively
o Recognize the importance of a job description
o Write a job Description
 Evaluate and hire the best qualified applicants for open positions
o Interview effectively
o Present their company and the opportunity in its best light
o Involve appropriate staff members in the hiring process
 Describe the impact of manpower turnover in the pork production unit
 Minimize turnover and its effects
Training & development
In this section, they will learn about the importance of training and professional development.
When they complete this lesson, they will be able to:
• Explain the importance of training in a pork production unit.
• Conduct a training program.
• Identify the value of mentors
• Identify the value of cross training
• Explain the importance of professional development of individuals in a pork production unit.
• Describe the importance of implementing and maintaining a safety program
Performance management
In this section, they will learn about the importance of the recruitment and selection process.
When they have completed your lesson, they will be able to:
• List the advantages of performance management and performance evaluation
• Explain the advantages of giving employees continuous feedback regarding their
performance
• Give employees constructive feedback
• Explain the importance of documenting inappropriate behavior
• Describe the three functions of a performance evaluation
• Conduct a performance evaluation
• Define the link between performance evaluation and bonuses or raise
Discipline and termination
In this section, they will learn about the importance of the discipline and termination process.
They will be able to:




Progressively discipline employees to correct performance issues
Terminate an employee using the best methods
Describe documentation’s role in employee termination
Describe the legal risks in terminating an employee
Compensation
In this section, they will learn about the importance of compensation. They will be able to:
 Understand the importance of compensation
 Develop a competitive compensation package
 Describe the importance of benefits
 Define internal and external equity
 Identify the value and types of cash and non cash benefits
 Use bonuses appropriately
Appreciating cultures
In this section, they will learn about the importance of managing and appreciating different
cultures. They will be able to:
• Explain how cultural differences affect behavior in the workplace.
• Recognize the benefits of having a diverse workforce.
Legal basics
In this section, they will learn about the legal risks associated with human resource management.
They will be able to:
• Note the primary legal risks business units face and minimize them
• Protect yourself and help prevent legal action by employees Identify labor laws that a
company must adhere to
• List the areas of primary legal concern (to include primary state/federal laws)
• List the top ten ways on how to keep from beings sued by a former employee
• Describe the importance of having a good attorney as a resource
Disclaimer: Laws and regulations will vary by business type, location, and size and will change
over time. Always consult a qualified attorney.
Family-owned business
In this section, they will learn about properly managing a family-owned business. They will be
able to:
 Seamlessly manage a family-owned business
 Describe the importance of defining compensation for family and non-family members
 Integrate non-family members into the business
 Describe the importance of job descriptions in helping define work and life goals and
boundaries
 Explain the importance of communicating in working and growing together
Conversion of Content: Agricultural Technology, Inc. is a partner of the National Pork
Board in building a very exhaustive e-learning library for barn workers and managers. It
will become a part of a broader, even more sophisticated system called the Pork
Information Gateway or PIG for short. All of the e-learning courses built to date are very
interactive and appealing with images on every page, audio voice over, scenarios in video
clips, and a user friendly guidance system which is identical for all courses. The courses
are designed for individual or small group use but they are also accompanied by a
PowerPoint version for use with larger groups. A demonstration of this course will be
made in the presentation of this paper.
Summary: This brand new course will have a lot of application out in the field. Many
HR directors in various size pork production operations had input into this course to
make it more applicable. There is now some thought being given into making a new
course that would take the appropriate portions of this course and develop a course for
barn workers. That idea is still in the planning stages. One of the launching pads for this
course will be a large multi-commodity conference to be held in December, 2005 in
Kansas City. The conference is sponsored by Pork Checkoff but will be targeted at HR
directors in beef, dairy and swine operations. This course will be the core of that
conference and will be highlighted and distributed to the participants of that large event.
I would like to thank the NC Risk Management group for their grant toward the
completion of this project.