Syllabus for HRM-540

LIFESTYLE BENEFITS AND COMPENSATION IN THE NEW MILLENNIUM

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Lifestyle Benefits and Compensation in The New Millennium examines both the theory and practice of Total Compensation.  Topics include strategic compensation, employee compensation and benefits, job evaluation, external competitiveness & market analysis, incentives and variable pay, employee motivation, compensation administration and the compensation of special groups. A variety of approaches are employed to examine organizational compensation policy and design. Consideration is given to the interaction between Human Resource Managers and Managers throughout the organization in order to realize effective compensation programs.

This course balances theory and practice. There will be many opportunities to apply compensation theory in required weekly discussions and in both the individual and group projects. The course will emphasize the strategic aspects of compensation and how the organization can achieve a sustainable competitive advantage through compensation policy/programs. By the end of this course, you should have a very in-depth understanding of how to establish, organize, and administer an effective and equitable compensation system.  

COURSE TOPICS

1. Strategic Perspectives on Total Compensation
2. Pay Structure: Internal Factors
3. Pay Structure: External Factors
4. Pay for Performance and Performance Management
5. Employee Benefits
6. Compensation Programs: Legal, Ethical, Workforce Diversity, and Contemporary Pay

COURSE OBJECTIVES

After completing this course, you should be able to:  

1. Define and explain the differences in the various forms of direct and indirect compensation and to recognize the importance of a Total Compensation perspective.
2. Describe the relationship between an organization’s business strategy and its pay systems. Given an organization’s strategic goals, create a compensation system including objectives, policies and techniques to support those goals.
3. Explain the growth of employee benefits and their relationship to lifestyle considerations, the workplace, and workforce development. Describe components of the “pay model” and the strategic issues which the organization considers when selecting and developing benefit options.
4. Describe key legislation affecting pay practices. Discuss the role of government in managing compensation as a legislator, major employer and major consumer of goods and services. Examine the government’s role in compensation and benefits, with emphasis on wages, discrimination, and earnings differentials.
5. Identify the roles and relationships of job analysis and evaluation in human resource management systems. Evaluate and use job descriptions to generate rates of pay. Evaluate strategies, procedures, and techniques of job evaluation, especially from an applied perspective. Identify alternative procedures for valuing jobs within organizations, including job-based and person-based plans. Evaluate the strength of these plans to support an organization’s strategy. Discuss the internal and external issues and factors which influence job structures.
6. Identify alternative competitive market pay strategies. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each and recommend an appropriate market pay strategy to maintain a desired competitive position for a given organization.  Explain how the marketplace, competition, and economics influence human resource decisions about pay levels and structure.  Explore the issues involved in using compensation surveys to implement pay level policy.
7. Describe the advantages and disadvantages of various “pay for performance” plans including short and long-term incentive plans. Given a specific business need, design an incentive plan that is aligned with an organization’s business strategy. Discuss performance, productivity, and their relationship to compensation and benefit issues.

8. Consider relevant factors involved in implementation and administration of pay systems including an ability to analyze the components required for effective administration of reward systems and to evaluate the effectiveness of the compensation system.  Evaluate options for communication of the pay system and discuss the rationale behind an effective compensation communication program.

9. Consider issues involved in the compensation of “special groups” including executives and the unique needs of high technology, international, sales, and contract workers.
10. Identify the key trends and current issues in compensation management, including ethical concerns. Compare these functions at various levels of management within an organization.    Explore the impact of future trends on compensation plans. Evaluate the on-going need to revise reward strategies to fit the evolving mission of the organization.

COURSE MATERIALS

You will need the following materials to do the work of the course. The required textbook is available from the College's textbook supplier, MBS Direct.

Required Textbook

1. Milkovich, G. Gerhart, B. and Newman, J. (2011). Compensation (10th ed.). New York: McGraw Hill Irwin.  ISBN-13: 978-0-07-353049-9

Web Resources

1. Worldatwork.org This site will provide access to articles the students will use to complete their assignments.

COURSE STRUCTURE

Lifestyle Benefits and Compensation in The New Millennium is a three-credit online course, consisting of five (5) modules. Modules include topics, learning objectives, study materials, and activities. Module titles are listed below.  

1. Module 1: Introduction to Compensation

Course objectives covered in this module: 1, 2, 3

1. Module 2: Internal Contributions: Job Analysis and Evaluation

Course objectives covered in this module: 4, 5

2. Module 3: External Contributions: Pay Levels and Market Pricing

Course objectives covered in this module: 6, 7, 8

3. Module 4: Employee Contributions: Paying for Performance

Course objectives covered in this module: 9, 10, 11

4. Module 5: Benefit Programs and Compensating Special Groups

Course objectives covered in this module include: 12, 13, 14, 15

Consult the course Calendar for assignment due dates.

ASSESSMENT METHODS

For your formal work in the course, you are required to participate in online discussion forums, complete written assignments, take a proctored midterm examination, and complete a final project. See below for more details.

Consult the course Calendar for assignment due dates.

Discussion Forums

This course requires you to participate in eight (8) graded discussion forums. There are also one ungraded but required introduction forum in Module 1.

Online discussions provide an opportunity for you to interact with your classmates. During this aspect of the course, you respond to prompts that assist you in developing your ideas, you share those ideas with your classmates, and you comment on their posts. Discussion board interactions promote development of a community of learners, critical thinking, and exploratory learning.

Please participate in online discussions as you would in constructive face-to-face discussions. You are expected to post well-reasoned and thoughtful reflections for each item, making reference, as appropriate, to your readings. You are also expected to reply to your classmates' posts in a respectful, professional, and courteous manner. You may, of course, post questions asking for clarification or further elucidation on a topic.

1. Click to view Online Discussion Grading Rubric.

Final Individual Project

You are required to complete an individual project. The final deliverable for this project is a proposal to top management (at your current or another organization you are familiar with).   You will conduct research and prepare a proposal for implementation of a “best practice” not already in place within the organization. See the Final Individual Project area of the course web site for further details.

1. Module Paper Rubric

Group Project

You are required to complete a group on total compensation. The group will be formed during the first week and each group will include 3 to 5 members depending on enrollment.  The mentor will decide how the group will be formed. The deliverables for this project include a proposal for a Total Compensation System. The project has 3 phases and will provide you with practical experience involved in exploring the issues involved in designing a Total Compensation system, beginning with the actual setup of an organization (profit or not-for-profit). See the Group Project area of the course web site for further details.

GRADING AND EVALUATION

Your grade in the course will be determined as follows:

1. Online discussions (9)—36 percent
2. Final individual project—30 percent

1. Topic selected—5 percent
2. Final project paper—20 percent
3. PowerPoint Presentation—5 percent

3. Group Project—34 percent

1. Phase I—5 percent
2. Interim Progress Report—4 percent
3. Phase II—10 percent
4. Phase III—15 percent

All activities will receive a numerical grade of 0–100. You will receive a score of 0 for any work not submitted. Your final grade in the course will be a letter grade. Letter grade equivalents for numerical grades are as follows:

To receive credit for the course, you must earn a letter grade of C or higher on the weighted average of all assigned course work (e.g., assignments, discussion postings, projects, etc.). Graduate students must maintain a B average overall to remain in good academic standing.

STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS

First Steps to Success

To succeed in this course, take the following first steps:

1. Read carefully the entire Syllabus, making sure that all aspects of the course are clear to you and that you have all the materials required for the course.

2. Take the time to read the entire Online Student Handbook. The Handbook answers many questions about how to proceed through the course, how to schedule exams and arrange for proctors, and how to get the most from your educational experience at Thomas Edison State College.

3. Arrange to take your midterm examination by following the instructions in the Online Student Handbook. Then complete the "Proctor Request Form" and submit it to the Office of Test Administration (OTA). You must make arrangements to take your examination and send in your "Proctor Request Form" to OTA before the end of the first week of the current semester. (See Administrative Forms in the General Information area of the course Web site.)

4. Familiarize yourself with the learning management systems environment—how to navigate it and what the various course areas contain. If you know what to expect as you navigate the course, you can better pace yourself and complete the work on time.

5. If you are not familiar with Web-based learning be sure to review the processes for posting responses online and submitting assignments before class begins.

Study Tips

Consider the following study tips for success:

1. To stay on track throughout the course, begin each week by consulting the course Calendar. The Calendar provides an overview of the course and indicates due dates for submitting assignments, posting discussions, and scheduling and taking examinations.

2. Check Announcements regularly for new course information.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

Students at Thomas Edison State College are expected to exhibit the highest level of academic citizenship. In particular, students are expected to read and follow all policies, procedures, and program information guidelines contained in publications; pursue their learning goals with honesty and integrity; demonstrate that they are progressing satisfactorily and in a timely fashion by meeting course deadlines and following outlined procedures; observe a code of mutual respect in dealing with mentors, staff, and other students; behave in a manner consistent with the standards and codes of the profession in which they are practicing; keep official records updated regarding changes in name, address, telephone number, or e-mail address; and meet financial obligations in a timely manner. Students not practicing good academic citizenship may be subject to disciplinary action including suspension, dismissal, or financial holds on records.

Academic Dishonesty

Thomas Edison State College expects all of its students to approach their education with academic integrity—the pursuit of scholarly activity free from fraud and deception. All mentors and administrative staff members at the College insist on strict standards of academic honesty in all courses. Academic dishonesty undermines this objective. Academic dishonesty takes the following forms:

1. Cheating
2. Plagiarizing (including copying and pasting from the Internet without using quotation marks and without acknowledging sources)
3. Fabricating information or citations
4. Facilitating acts of dishonesty by others
5. Unauthorized access to examinations or the use of unauthorized materials during exam administration
6. Submitting the work of another person or work previously used without informing the mentor
7. Tampering with the academic work of other students

Academic dishonesty will result in disciplinary action and possible dismissal from the College. Students who submit papers that are found to be plagiarized will receive an F on the plagiarized assignment, may receive a grade of F for the course, and may face dismissal from the College.

A student who is charged with academic dishonesty will be given oral or written notice of the charge. If a mentor or College official believes the infraction is serious enough to warrant referral of the case to the academic dean, or if the mentor awards a final grade of F in the course because of the infraction, the student and the mentor will be afforded formal due process.

If a student is found cheating or using unauthorized materials on an examination, he or she will automatically receive a grade of F on that examination. Students who believe they have been falsely accused of academic dishonesty should seek redress through informal discussions with the mentor, through the office of the dean, or through an executive officer of Thomas Edison State College.

Plagiarism

Using someone else's work as your own is plagiarism. Although it may seem like simple dishonesty, plagiarism is against the law. Thomas Edison State College takes a strong stance against plagiarism, and students found to be plagiarizing will be severely penalized. If you copy phrases, sentences, paragraphs, or whole documents word-for-word—or if you paraphrase by changing a word here and there—without identifying the author, then you are plagiarizing. Please keep in mind that this type of identification applies to Internet sources as well as to print-based sources. Copying and pasting from the Internet, without using quotation marks and without acknowledging sources, constitutes plagiarism. (For information about how to cite Internet sources, see Online Student Handbook > Academic Standards > "Citing Sources.")

Accidentally copying the words and ideas of another writer does not excuse the charge of plagiarism. It is easy to jot down notes and ideas from many sources and then write your own paper without knowing which words are your own and which are someone else's. It is more difficult to keep track of each and every source. However, the conscientious writer who wishes to avoid plagiarizing never fails to keep careful track of sources.

Always be aware that if you write without acknowledging the sources of your ideas, you run the risk of being charged with plagiarism.

Clearly, plagiarism, no matter the degree of intent to deceive, defeats the purpose of education. If you plagiarize deliberately, you are not educating yourself, and you are wasting your time on courses meant to improve your skills. If you plagiarize through carelessness, you are deceiving yourself.