ILRHR 2600: Human Resource Management
Winter 2015
Instructor: Professor Beth A. Livingston
Email: BAL93@cornell.edu
Office hours: email and will be holding virtual office hours
Course Description.
This course provides a general introduction to concepts and topics in human resource
management (HRM). Consideration is given to theories and applications involved in effectively
managing people in organizations. Topics include strategic HRM, legal issues, job planning,
staffing, training, performance management, compensation, and international HRM. This is a
shorter, online version of the semester-long lecture course offered in ILR.
Course Goals and Learning Objectives.
1. Students should be able to identify basic human resource concepts, terms and practices.
2. Students should be able to appraise the current HR policies of organizations.
3. Students should be able to generate recommendations concerning HR policies for
organizations.
4. Students should be able to collaborate with diverse classmates to integrate their knowledge of
HR with various applications in actual and hypothetical organizations.
5. Students should be able to discuss workplace issues and their consequences with others.
6. Students should be able to analyze and critique HR problems from diverse perspectives.
Required Materials.
Text: Bohlander, G. & Snell, S. (2010). Managing Human Resources (15th edition). Mason, OH:
SouthWestern Cengage Learning. The ebook is available via the Aplia website. Instructions on
how to log on to the Aplia website will be given on blackboard.
A Typical Class Session.
Classes will typically consist of lecture notes via powerpoint slides, video clips, discussion of
HR in the news, questions answered using the iClickers and/or guest lecturers. Readings are
important to establish the foundational knowledge which I will build upon in lecture. The video
lectures will be re-used from the prior semester’s course, and any deviations from the
lecture for this course will be announced on the course website and/or via email
announcement. Please make sure that you check your email regularly. (the video session
that you should watch on a given day is specified in the schedule). You can access the
videos by logging onto www.videonote.com/cornell and selecting courses from Winter 2015,
ILRHR2600.
1
Evaluation of Performance.
Total Points = 300 (100%)
 Exams (3): worth 50 points each. Total points = 150 (50%)
 Discussion boards: I will post questions daily (or almost daily) on the discussion boards
that you will be expected to respond to throughout the three-week course (you should
plan on responding to at least 9-12 of these discussion board questions in full—
approximately 3-4 per week). Responses will be evaluated in terms of depth and breadth
of your responses and how you interact with your virtual classmates regarding HR issues.
Total points = 75 (25%)
 Writing assignments (3). You will be responsible for three short writing assignments
(approximately 4-5 questions each). They will be due each Wednesday during the course
and are worth 25 points each. Total points = 75 (25%).
Point distribution (total points will be rounded using traditional rounding rules):
A+ = 291-300 points (97%)
A = 279-290 points (93%)
A- = 270-278 points (90%)
B+ = 261-269 points (87%)
B = 249-260 points (83%)
B- = 240-248 points (80%)
C+ = 231-239 points (77%)
C = 219-230 points (73%)
C- = 210-218 points (70%)
D+ = 201-209 points (67%)
D = 180-200 points (60%)
F = 0-179 points (<60%)
Course Requirements.
Exams will consist of approximately 20-30 multiple choice/true-false questions drawn from
readings, lectures, guest lectures, quizzes and discussion board activities. Questions will be
application-based where possible. There are three exams—each worth 50 points. Exams will be
constructed of a random pool of questions from the lecture and textbooks and will be delivered
online. You will have a limited time to complete the exam, so please do not expect to be able to
look up the answers to each question as you read them. No two students will have the same
exam. All students must complete their own exams and must not help one another.
Discussion board participation will be assessed for depth and breadth and quality of writing.
You should respond thoroughly and cite your reasoning. You should also plan on responding to
others’ points on the discussion board (in other words, don’t just post your response and log
off—interact with your classmates). I will use this medium to assess your understanding,
application of the textbook and writing skills—as well as your ability to interact with others. You
may want to think of this like your “discussion section” if you were taking this class during the
fall semester.
Writing assignments will require you to integrate lecture and textbook by reading a case or
article and responding to a number of questions. You will respond to the questions in a word
document and upload your responses to Blackboard by the 5pm each Wednesday. Again, all
students must complete their own writing assignments.
2
Extra Credit. You may write journal article summaries of published research in HR (each
summary is worth 1 point). You should read an article (each is usually between 15 and 20 pages
long) and write a two-page summary of the main research questions and the study results.
Potential articles are posted in the “Extra Credit” area on Aplia. You may earn up to 6 extra
credit points. All extra credit should be submitted to me via email by the last day of class. Late
submissions are not acceptable.
Course Policies.
Missed assignments will not be accepted. Please note ALL due dates on the syllabus and on
Aplia and Blackboard. Once the deadline for an assignment passes, you will not be able to
submit anything. No make-up assignments will be offered.
Student accommodations will be made in compliance with Cornell University policy—I am
available to discuss appropriate academic accommodations that may be required for students
with disabilities. Please make requests for academic accommodations during the first three
weeks of the semester so that arrangements can be made. Students are encouraged to register
with Student Disability Services to verify their eligibility for appropriate accommodations.
Cornell University is also committed to supporting students who wish to practice their religious
beliefs. You are encouraged to discuss religious absences with me well in advance of the holiday
so that we can arrange for making up missed work.
Grade appeals for writing assignments will be handled by me. I establish clear and consistent
grading criteria and am confident that grades will be given in a timely and fair manner. If you
believe that a mistake was made when grading your work, you may use the following appeal
procedures: (1) within 7 days of receiving your grade, prepare a written appeal that explains the
basis for the appeal and concrete evidence from the course materials that support your position,
(2) submit the written appeal along with the original assignment to me via email. I will consider
your appeal and revisit my scoring decisions then. Please note that any new score might be
higher, lower or the same as your original score depending upon our reappraisal of your work, so
please use your appeals very carefully. Please note that at the end of the semester, I will use
the total point guidelines to assign letter grades—I will at no time honor requests for “extra
points” nor will I allow extra assignments to be completed.
Academic Integrity is extremely important to me. You are all expected to abide by the Cornell
University Code of Academic Integrity. You can (and should) access this information at
http://cuinfo.cornell.edu/Academic/AIC.html. Learn it and apply it to your daily lives. I
encourage collaboration in class preparation and studying, but all of the work submitted for this
class should be the student’s own work. You should always clearly distinguish between your
own work and the work of others—if you do not, in essence you are committing theft by
claiming someone else’s intellectual property as your own (i.e., plagiarism). When citing work,
you should always err on the side of being overzealous with your attributions. This includes
citing of webpages (including Wikipedia), journal articles, textbooks, conversations with faculty
or classmates that resulted in creative or unique material or course lectures. During exams, you
should always do your own work. No discussion or collaboration is permitted. Exams and
deadlines can be stressful times, if you are having difficulty, it is much better to approach me
ahead of time than to put yourself in the position to act in a way that might lead to disciplinary
action or failure of the course.
3
Tentative Course Schedule.
Videonote
sessio
n
1&2
3&4
5&6
7&8
9&10
11&12
13&14
15
16
17
18&19
20&21
Week
Fri
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thur
Fri
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thur
Fri
Mon
Tue
Wed
Date
12-26
12-29
12-30
Topic
Course Intro & Strategy
Legal issues/EEO
Guest speaker & Planning
12-31
1-1
1-2
1-5
1-6
1-7
Hiring/recruitment (2 lectures)
Selection (2 lectures)
EXAM 1
Training and socialization
Performance appraisal
Compensation
1-8
1-9
1-12
1-13
Compensation
EXAM 2
Turnover
Work and family (2 lectures)
Safety & Health guest
speaker/Employee Privacy
International HR/HPWS/ guest
speaker
EXAM 3
1-14
22&23
&24
Thur
Fri
1-15
1-16
Required Readings/Assignments
Due
Chapter 1; Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Written Assignment #1 due
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Written Assignment #2 due
Chapter 10
Chapter 12; Chapter 13
Written Assignment #3 due
Chapter 15
4