Unit One Graded Seminar
HR435: Compensation
Louis Lopez, Jr., Ph.D.
Instructor
School of Business and Management
Introduction
Welcome to Compensation! I am Louis Lopez, Jr. I work as a Program
Manager/Analyst for the Missile Defense Agency in Huntsville, Alabama. I
retired from a 28 year U.S. Army career culminating with a tour of duty in
Iraq. I am from San Sebastian, Puerto Rico, but live in Huntsville, Alabama
where I currently call home. I would like to thank you in allowing me to be
your professor, educator, and mentor for this term. I do understand many of
your concerns in anticipation. I am also taking online courses to continue to
grow intellectually in order to be better prepare for current and future
endeavors. My contract with you is to ensure that I am delivering the best
education experience according to the best of my abilities and your
participation in the class. You, as well, have a lot to contribute to the great
learning experience of the class and together we will also learn and grow.
So, lets grow and learn together!
Contact Information
Louis Lopez, Jr., Ph.D.
Adjunct Professor, School of Business and Management
llopez@kaplan.edu
Phone: 256-489-2944
My virtual office hours are after 6:00 PM CT through 1100 PM CT Monday through Friday
and 1:00 PM through 11:00 PM ET on weekends. If you have a general question (private
in nature please Email me) regarding the course and its assignments, you may post a
question in the “Instructor’s Office.” I will typically check for questions once per day.
This is also an excellent place to see if someone else asked a question that was on your
mind and/or to see responses from me as well as your peers.
If you would like to chat with me please coordinate with me for a time a day to meet, I use
Kaplan Chat Board for this use. In addition to regularly scheduled office hours, you may
take advantage of emailing me at llopez@kaplan.edu and I will make every effort to
respond within 24 hours – typically much quicker.
Review Syllabus: Course Description
This course examines different methods for developing a
compensation strategy and the use of compensation strategies
for motivating and rewarding employee performance.
Compensation and reward systems are important tools that are
used to motivate employees and to gain employee commitment
to a company's mission. Methods of determining the relative
value of jobs, in relation to compensations, are also examined.
This course covers how to assess and diagnose compensation
issues and how to develop appropriate solutions. In addition,
students analyze the role of government and identify methods
for managing compensation structures.
Review Syllabus: Course Objective
By the end of this course, you should be able to:
• Discuss the reasons internal alignment is an important
policy in compensation
• Examine job analysis
• Design a pay-for-performance plan
• Analyze the role of government with regard to
compensation
• Contrast methods for developing a total compensation
strategy
Review Syllabus: Textbook
• Title: Compensation, 10th Edition- E Book
• Author(s): George T. Milkovich; Jerry M. Newman, and
Barry Gerhart
• ISBN: eText ISBN-10: 0-07-726937-3
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill
About the Authors
•
GEORGE T. MILKOVICH: George T. Milkovich is the M. P. Catherwood Emeritus Professor at the Industrial Labor Relations
School, Cornell University. For more than 40 years he has studied and written about how people get paid and what difference it
makes. Milkovich served on several editorial boards and received many awards for his research contributions. He received the
Keystone Award for Lifetime Achievement from the WorldatWork Association and the Distinguished Career Contributions Award
from the Academy of Management, and he is a Fellow in both the Academy of Management and the National Academy of Human
Resources. He chaired the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Performance and Pay. Milkovich is one of the founders of
the Center for Advanced HR Studies, a research and development partnership of leading corporations and Cornell's ILR School. He
also advised numerous companies around the world on their compensation strategies, received three outstanding teacher awards, and
was a visiting professor at several international universities in Europe and Asia. Milkovich conducted executive seminars in many
countries and served on advisory boards of leading academic/research centers in the United States and China.
•
JERRY M. NEWMAN: Dr. Jerry Newman is a SUNY Distinguished Professor at State University of New York– Buffalo. His
interests are in the area of human resource management, with particular emphasis on compensation and rewards. He is author of the
book My Secret Life on the McJob: Lessons in Leadership Guaranteed to Supersize Any Management Style (McGraw-Hill, 2007).
This book was selected as one of the twelve “Best of 2007” by the Wall Street Journal. Newman is also co-author with George
Milkovich of earlier editions of Compensation, a best-in-class-book for McGraw-Hill since 1984. He is also author of approximately
100 articles on compensation and rewards, performance management, and other HR issues. In more than 30 years of consulting,
Jerry has worked with such companies as Cummins Engine, AT&T, Graphic Controls, Hewlett-Packard, RJR Nabisco, Sorrento
Cheese, McDonalds, and A & W Root Beer. Dr. Newman is a recipient of nine teaching awards, including the SUNY Chancellor's
Award for Excellence in teaching.
•
BARRY GERHART: Barry Gerhart is the Bruce R. Ellig Distinguished Chair in Pay and Organizational Effectiveness, School of
Business, University of Wisconsin–Madison. Professor Gerhart received his B.S. in Psychology from Bowling Green State
University and his Ph.D. in Industrial Relations from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He serves on the editorial boards of the
Academy of Management Journal, Human Relations, Industrial and Labor Relations Review, International Journal of Human
Resource Management, Journal of Applied Psychology, Management Revue, and Personnel Psychology. Professor Gerhart is a past
recipient of the Scholarly Achievement Award and the International Human Resource Management Scholarly Research Award, both
from the Human Resources Division, Academy of Management.
Review Syllabus: Course Outline
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Unit 1: Introduction
Unit 2: A Pay Model and Strategic Perspectives
Unit 3: Internal Alignment and Job Analysis
Unit 4: Job-Based and Person-Based Structures
Unit 5: External Competitiveness
Unit 6: Pay-for-Performance
Unit 7: The Benefit Determination Process
Unit 8: Union and Government Roles in Compensation
Unit 9: Managing Compensation
Unit 10: Compensation Course Reflection
Review Syllabus: School of Business Policies
Instructor’s Grading Criteria/Timetable:
All course projects will be graded within 5 days of their due date. Late projects
will be graded no later than 5 days following the date the student emails the
instructor notifying the instructor the project has been submitted. Students
submitting late projects must email the instructor to let the instructor know the
late submission has been posted in the Dropbox. Discussion grades will be updated
each week no later than Sunday of the week following the Unit’s completion.
Course Policies:
1. Naming Conventions: In order to facilitate the tracking of assignments and
correspondence with the instructor, please use the following naming conventions:
a. Projects or Assignments: last name_first initial_project or assignment_Unit
#.doc
b. Email Subject Lines: Please start your subject lines in email correspondence
with: last name_first initial_HR 435_Subject of Message
2. Extenuating Circumstances: If you have extenuating circumstances that
prevent you from completing projects, quizzes or participating in the class, please
contact me to make alternative arrangements.
Review Syllabus: Grading Rubric – Discussion Boards/Projects
• Discussion Questions: provides a forum for you to seek clarification and
answer important questions about the course material.
• Provides Feedback: allows you to receive feedback from the instructor and
other classmates in the class.
• Grading Criteria Discussion Question: a discussion question grade will be
posted to the grade sheet for each unit using the rubric and grading
breakdown criteria listed in the syllabus, in the classroom, and in the
following slides.
• Grading Criteria Projects: a project grade will be given based on the
rubric and grading breakdown criteria listed in the syllabus and in the
following slides. The following three requirements will be used for your
grade and is worth up to 100% of your cumulative grade:
• Content, focus, use of test/research worth up to 50% of your grade.
• Analysis and critical thinking worth up to 30% of your grade.
• Writing style, grammar, APA format (when assigned) worth up to 20%
of your grade.
Unit 9 Final Project Requirements
This course requires a Final Project. In Unit 1, click on Project Information
for a specific description of the course expectations. The final project will an
MS Word10-12 page submission (not counting the cover page and reference
page). The following requirements will apply:
• Cover Page
• Introduction
• The Body of the Paper
• Conclusion Paragraph(s)
• Last Page is the Reference Page
Note: APA 6th ed. style and format is the requirement for your paper.
Review Syllabus: Summary Grading Scale
You can earn up to a max of:
• Discussions = cumulative total of 350 points.
• Final Project (Unit 9) = 250 total points.
• Projects = 50 points per Unit 2 through 8 for a cumulative total of 350
points.
• Unit 10 Writing Assignment = (Unit 10) = 50 points.
• Total Possible Score = 1000 cumulative points for the entire class.
• Look at your syllabus for a breakdown of Kaplan’s Grading Scale
(the syllabus was emailed to you or you can down load from the “Doc
Sharing” folder.
Late
Work Policy
Extenuating Circumstances:
If you have extenuating circumstances that prevent you from completing projects, quizzes, seminars or participating in
the class, please contact your instructor to make alternative arrangements. The possibility of alternative arrangements is
at the discretion of your instructor. Active communication is the key to overcoming any hurdles you may encounter
during the term. It is your responsibility to inform your instructor (ahead of time, whenever possible) of extenuating
circumstances that might prevent you from completing work by the assigned deadline. In those situations, we will work
together to come up with a mutually acceptable alternative. Prior notification does not automatically result in a waiver of
the late penalties.
Please note that evaluation of extenuating circumstances is at the discretion of your instructor and documentation may
be required for verification of the extenuating circumstance. Examples of extenuating circumstances may include but are
not limited to: personal/family member hospitalization, death in the family, weather/environmental evacuation due to
fire/hurricane, or active military assignment where internet connectivity is unavailable for a limited time period.
Computer-related issues and internet connectivity issues are not considered extenuating circumstances.
Without Extenuating Circumstances:
• Up to one week (1-7 calendar days) late 20% deduction in points.
• After one week (8-14 calendar days) late 30% deduction in points.
• No work will be accepted more than two (2) weeks after the due date.
• Late work must be submitted prior to the last day of the course.
• Final projects will not be accepted after the due date established in the course.
Note: In order for you to make up a quiz, exam or discussion thread, you must contact your instructor by email at least
one day prior to the day you want to make up the work so that access can be provided. Additionally, you must notify
your instructor by email when you have submitted.
Some Professional Organizations in Support of Strategic HR
Management
• http://www.hr-guide.com
• http://www.salary.com
• The Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) http://www.shrm.org
• World at Work - The Professional Association for Compensation, Benefits
and Total Rewards - http://www.worldatwork.org
• International Society of Certified Employee Benefits Specialists (ISCEBS) http://www.iscebs.org
• Workforce.com
• Etc.
Suggested HR Professional Engagements
The following are some of Lawler, Boudreau, and Mohrman’s (2006)
suggested engagements that HR professionals should be doing in order to be
accepted as a credible HR strategist and be invited as part of the organization’
strategic planning processes and become a business partner: (a) Using information
technology; (b) Focusing on HR talent development; (c) Using HR service teams; (d)
Focusing HR activities more on organization design, organization development,
employee development, and metrics; (e) Using IT systems for training and
development; (f) Having an effective HR IT system; (g) Having effective HR Metrics
and analysis; (h) Having business leaders who make rigorous, logical human capital
decisions; (i) Having an HR staff with technical, organizational dynamics, business
partner, and metric skills; and (j) Providing effective services, fulfilling its corporate
roles, and effectively supporting business strategy.
Lawler III, E. E., Boudreau, J. W., & Mohrman, S. A. (2006). Achieving strategic
excellence: An assessment of human resource organizations. Stanford, California:
Stanford University Press.
Requirements for Unit 1
• Read Syllabus
• Introduce yourself in Unit 1 Discussion
• Answer discussion questions in the Unit 1 Discussion
Note: You are responsible to read and comply with all class
material and requirements.
What are your questions
and/or expectations
from this course and me?
Have a great term!