Unit One Graded SeminarUnit One Graded SeminarHR435: CompensationHR435: 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.eduPhone: 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 PolicyExtenuating 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 strategicexcellence: 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!Have a great term!