COURSE SYLLABUS

 

INTRODUCTION

 

The practice of personnel administration has been under attack from many sides both inside and outside of government in recent years.  Much of the concern with personnel administration can be seen in one of the hottest administrative controversies of the last decade - the gender pay gap.  The issue raises questions about the fundamental principles upon which public personnel administration is based.  For this reason, we will use the Comparable Worth/Pay Equity/Glass Ceiling debate as our starting point.  It will lead us into our exploration of the traditional areas of public personnel administration in a way which should make what is often a dry technical topic into an exciting study of major personal, professional, and societal significance.

 

 

GOALS

 

1.         To develop a firm understanding of the key terms and concepts in the field of public personnel administration.

2.         To develop an elementary ability to perform some of the technical activities in the field.

3.         To understand the principles underlying public personnel administration and how they affect the practice of public personnel administration.

4.         To understand how the principles and the techniques come together and how they affect organizations and society.

 

 

ORGANIZATION OF THE CLASS

 

This class will be taught on an intensive basis.  We will meet for two, three day sessions.  During those sessions we will have discussions, student presentations, guest speakers and lectures, simulations, videos, etc.  Students are expected to have carefully prepared for the sessions: prepared assignments, written their papers, prepared their presentations.  You must carefully plan your time or you will find yourself behind before we even begin class.  All of your initial instructions and assignments are in this syllabus;  READ IT CAREFULLY AND FREQUENTLY.  The instructor expects to work with you as you prepare for the class.

 

TEXTS

 

Much of your reading this semester will be independent library and internet research in current journals and publications.  The following books will serve as a base and are available in the UAA bookstore:

 

Dessler, Gary (2003) A Framework for Human Resource Management, 3^rd Ed, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall 

 

Ban and Riccucci, Public Personnel Management:  Current Concerns- Future Challenges, 3^rd Edition, New York:  Longman, 2002

 

George E. Curry (ed), The Affirmative Action Debate.  Reading, MA:  Addison-Wesley, 1996

 

Thompson, Frank (2003)  Classics of Public Personnel Policy

 

Whitehead,   2002 Federal Personnel Guide    Optional

 

CLASS SESSIONS

 

Introductory Session  Friday, August 31, 2001, 5:00PM-6:00PM

 

Session I October 3,4, 5 (Thursday, Friday, Saturday)

 

Day 1 October 3

 

Section A.        INTRODUCTION

What different ways can one approach the study of public personnel administration?

What are the main areas of public personnel administration?

What is the pay equity debate about?

What do you need to know to come to some resolution about the pay equity debate?

 

Section B.  WHAT IS A JOB WORTH?

How can we measure the value of a job?

What is job evaluation?

How can we measure how much someone should be paid? Or, what are some of the key methods for evaluating the worth of a job?

What's the difference between a job classification, a job description, and a job specification?

What's the difference between a job and a position?*

Define internal and external equity.

Do part C - Forms 3-14 in Beatty (Handout at Intro class)

 

Section C.  HOW MUCH SHOULD AN EMPLOYEE BE PAID?

What different types of compensation can employees be given?

What is a salary survey and how is it used in determining pay?

What role do unions play in determining pay?

How does "the market" affect pay levels?

How does the individual employee's ability and performance affect pay? Or, how can organizations reward better performance in their compensation systems?

What is ‘new pay’?

What role do such things as overtime, longevity, merit pay, COLA, etc., play?

What non-monetary benefits are there?  How much do they cost?

What legal requirements must public organizations meet regarding pay?

 

Day 2 October 4

 

Section A.  WHAT DO WE MEAN BY THE MERIT SYSTEM?

How did the civil service develop in the United States?  What are the significant milestones?

What are the key principles of the merit system?

What did the merit system replace?

How does the move toward privatization affect our ideas of a merit system?

What are the underlying assumptions of the merit system?

What public employees are exempt from the merit system and why?

Are they exempt from all aspects of the merit system?

Is the merit system applicable to the private sector?

Is the concept of comparable worth compatible with the merit system?

  

Section B.  DISCIPLINE/EMPLOYEE RIGHTS

What is discipline?

What is the relationship between discipline and grievances?

What is just cause?

What are the Douglas Factors?

What is procedural due process?

What is progressive discipline?

What are the arguments for and against the Hatch Act?

Discuss the conflict between the public's right to know and employee's right to privacy.

Do public employees have more or fewer rights than employees of private organizations?  Should they?

Explain how arbitration is handled.

What should be considered when determining employee sanctions?

 

Day 3 October 5

 

Section A.        RECRUITMENT - HOW DO ORGANIZATIONS FIND PEOPLE TO FILL THEIR JOB OPENINGS?

What are the standard methods for notifying prospective employees of openings?

How much do they cost?

Are there different methods for different kinds of jobs?  If yes, explain.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of internal and external recruitment?

How does the job description affect recruitment?

What minimum qualifications can you require?

What impact does Griggs v. Duke Power have on recruitment?  Richmond v. J.A. Croson?  Ward Cove Packing v. Atonio? Adarand Constructors v. Federico Pena?

How do various recruitment methods affect pay equity and comparable worth?

What is the relationship between the recruiter, the line administrator, the selection officer, and the training officer?

 

Section B.        SELECTION - HOW CAN YOU DETERMINE WHETHER ONE CANDIDATE IS BETTER THAN ANOTHER?

What information about a job applicant will help predict success on the job?

How can you get the information you need?  What does it cost to get and to evaluate?  How reliable is it?

What are the key benefits and problems of interviews?  How can you avoid the problems?

What can you and can't you say when interviewing job applicants?

What are the standard methods for evaluating information about job applicants to determine which is the best?  What do they cost?

What are the costs of choosing the wrong person?

What do validity and reliability mean hand how do they relate to selection.

Explain Figures 3, 4, 5, 6 on pages 280-281 of Beatty.

How does your selection methodology impact pay equity and comparable worth?

What is the relationship between the selection officer and the line administrator?

 

Review:

What have we covered so far; what does it all mean?

What went well; what did not?

What do we need to pursue further?

Do we need to make adjustments to the next session?

 

Session 2: November 7, 8, 9  (Thursday, Friday, Saturday) 

 

Day 1, November 7

 

Section A.  PERFORMANCE EVALUATION

What are the purposes of performance evaluation?  Are they compatible?

How does the job description relate to performance evaluation?

What are the major types of performance evaluation?  What are their strengths and weaknesses?  How much do they cost?

How does performance evaluation relate to pay and to pay equity and comparable worth?

Who should do the evaluation, why?  Who should know what the evaluation says?*

 

 

Section B.  MODELS OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR/MOTIVATION AND THEIR RELEVANCE TO PERSONNEL ADMINISTRATION

Describe the basic principles of behavior modification.

What are the main motivation theories?  Describe them.

Take operant conditioning or one of the motivation theories and show how it supports or does not support a personnel activity we have studied.

What behavior or motivation theories suggest that the merit system should work?

Which theories support the notion that  comparable worth should work?

 

Section C.  TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT

What is the difference between training and development and education?

What are the key components of a training program?

What different kinds of training are there?  How much do they cost?

What is OD?

What is career development and what role does it play in the organization?

What is the relationship between training and development and pay equity/comparable worth?

 

 

Day 2, November 8

 

Section  A.       LABOR RELATIONS - COMMUNICATION BETWEEN MANAGEMENT AND THE WORKER REGARDING PAY AND CONDITIONS OF WORK.

What topics should be negotiable between employees and management?  Why?

List the arguments for and against public employee collective bargaining? right to strike?

What key federal and state laws directly impact public labor relations?  What is the significance of each?

Give a brief history of the development of unions in the United States.

What are the steps in forming a union?

What are the steps in collective bargaining?

How many union members are there in the US, Alaska?  What percentage of the work force are they?  What occupations are the most strongly unionized?  Is there a correlation between unionization and salary level?  What percentage of the unionized and non-unionized work force is female?

How do labor relations practices affect pay equity and comparable worth?

What is the relationship between the labor relations manager, the line manager, and the employee group representative?

 

Section B.  EQUAL OPPORTUNITY, AFFIRMATIVE ACTION, AND DIVERSITY

What are the arguments for and against Affirmative Action?

Give some examples of discriminatory employment practices.  What can employers do to avoid them?

What is the difference between a quota and a goal?

What groups have in the past or do now get preferential treatment?

What is reverse discrimination?  To what extent does it exist?

What is Title VII?

How does affirmative action impact various personnel functions?  Which does it impact most?

Is affirmative action compatible with pay equity and comparable worth?

What is the relation between the affirmative action officer, the line manager, and the other personnel managers?

 

Section C.        INTERNATIONAL ISSUES

What are the major forms of civil service structure and training for civil servants around the world? What can Americans learn from studying other countries?

What are some of the obstacles to comparing foreign governments?

What are some issues for organizations with employees traveling or working overseas?

What issues face employers hiring immigrants and non-US citizens?

 

 

 

Day 3  November 9

 

Section A.  CUTBACK MANAGEMENT/ DOWNSIZING AND CONTRACT/TEMPORARY EMPLOYEES

What is downsizing and how does it impact personnel administration?

What are the differences (from an organization's view and from an employee's view) between permanent employees and contract/temporary employees?

What are the trends regarding contract/temporary employees?  (Give figures relating to percent of work force that is contract/temporary from about 1980-2000.)

What kinds of jobs are most likely to be contracted out?

How does downsizing affect pay equity?

 

Section B.  COMPARABLE WORTH/PAY EQUITY/GLASS CEILING

Does the concept of comparable worth have merit?  (no pun intended)

Is it workable?

What changes in the current personnel practices would be necessary?

How much would it cost?

What are the alternatives?

What is the relation between comparable worth, the glass ceiling, and sexual harassment?

Does the wage disparity between males and females reflect serious flaws in the underlying principles of public personnel administration, or is it merely reflective of sexism that has existed and exists in our society and it will disappear as that sexism is overcome?

                                                                       

 

Section C.  REFLECTION ON PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT

What is personnel management supposed to do?

What values is personnel management supposed to protect?

What does it do well?  Why?

What does it do poorly?  What?

Develop a set of productivity measures for three of the following:  recruitment, benefits administration, labor relations, classification, training and development, affirmative action.

How does the technical problem of measuring quality affect personnel administration?

What problems do you think need the most immediate attention?  Why?  Do you see any alternatives to present practices?

 

Section D.  TYING UP LOOSE ENDS

 

 

 

ASSIGNMENTS

 

There will be no specific reading assignments.  Instead, you are to answer the questions listed for the class sections.  Answers will be found in the texts, in other books, journals you find in the library, from the internet,  and from talks with personnel professionals.  I have also put some articles on reserve.

 

 

            Explanation of Assignments

 

Class Presentation

 

a)         Written responses - 20 points

 

There is a set of questions for each section of the class.  For PADM 624 "Session" refers to the three day blocks and "Section" refers to that part of the class devoted to a specific topic.  Each student will take one section, for which the student will prepare a complete set of written responses. 

 

Due Dates:     Session 1:  Draft: September 23; Final:  Date of Presentation

Session 2:  Draft: October 23; Final:  Date of Presentation

 

OBJECTIVE:   The questions in the syllabus are aimed at guiding your reading.  The intent is not that you memorize a mass of unrelated facts, but rather that you know and understand the individual pieces of information, so that you can understand how they fit together and what the larger implications are for you as public administrators and as citizens.

 

GRADING CRITERIA:    Responses should:

1.         Demonstrate that you have read and understood the material

2.         Cover the question in breadth and depth

3.         Be objective

4.         Be concise

5.         Be accurate

 

b)  Presentation - (Lesson Plan = 5 points; Presentation = 15 points)

 

In addition to the written responses to the questions, the student will also be responsible for organizing and facilitating that section of the class.  This will involve working with the instructor to determine how the material should be covered and facilitating the class section.  Students will be graded on two parts:  A written lesson plan (format available at Intro Session) and the actual presentation.

 

OBJECTIVE:  Each of you will become an expert in one area of HRA.  The other students will have studied your area, but not to the same degree.  Your presentation will help them gain a stronger understanding of both the details and their overall significance.  Preparing for the presentation will greatly strengthen your knowledge.

 

GRADING CRITERIA:

 

Content:

1.         Do you demonstrate that you have read widely and understand the subject matter?

2.         Are you able to digest the material and pull out the main issues and organize them into logical, understandable units?

Process:

1.         Is the section interesting?

2.         Did you plan your time well?

3.         Do you make good use of audio-visual aids, and appropriate teaching techniques?

 

Note:  The written materials (written response and lesson plan) are worth more than the actual presentation because the content of the presentation is based upon the written responses to the questions.

 

 

Quizzes - 20 points

 

OBJECTIVE:  The quizzes are intended to give some discipline to your class preparation and give me some concrete evidence of what you do and do not know.  Rather than a long examination, there will be a quiz at the beginning of each section.  If you have answered the questions in the syllabus for the section you should have no problem with the quizzes.  You may use your written notes (other than those in books) for the quizzes.  The questions will generally be factual rather than analytical.  You may discard your lowest two quiz scores.

 

GRADING CRITERIA:  Correctness of the answers. (See Grading Quizzes handout)

 

 

Papers -           15 points for the first one;  10 points for the second one

 

You will write two 5 - 10 page papers.

 

1.         The topic of the FIRST PAPER can be any of the questions in the syllabus or one that you choose.  It should be different from your presentation section topic.  CLEAR YOUR PAPER TOPICS WITH ME before you start working on them.  Due date:  See page 10.

 

OBJECTIVE:  To develop an in-depth understanding of one of the issues.  By studying one problem thoroughly, it is hoped that you will appreciate the complexity of all the other issues.

 

GRADING CRITERIA: 

1.         Do you cover the topic in-depth?

2.         Is your information accurate and up-to-date?

3.         Do you fairly present different points of view?

4.         Is your writing clear and coherent?

5.         Is the paper concise?

 

2.         The SECOND PAPER will address the question:  Does Public Personnel Administration in the US work?  Due Date:  See page 10.

 

OBJECTIVE:  To integrate the material you have read and discussed.

 

GRADING CRITERIA:  (same as the first paper plus)

6.         Are you able to bring together the material we have studied?

 

 

Book/Article  Review - 5 points

 

Each student is responsible for a one-page book review of a recent or classic book on a topic within the scope of this class.  It may be a book you use for your first paper.  A format and list of possible books will be available at Introductory Session.  Instead of a book, a student may instead review 4-6 current articles on a  related topic.  Due:  With Paper  1.

 

OBJECTIVE:    To give you the opportunity to develop expertise in an area other than your session.

 

GRADING CRITERIA:

1.         Does the review accurately portray the book?

2.         Does the review follow the format?

3.         Is the review clearly and coherently written?

 

Class Participation - 10 POINTS

 

OBJECTIVE:  To encourage you to actively and constructively participate in the class discussions both in class and on the mailserv..  To make you conscious of the importance of speaking skills.

 

GRADING CRITERIA:

1.         Do you show that you have read and thought about the material? Have you adequately prepared for class exercises (such as the classification and pay, and selection simulations?

2.         Do your comments and questions contribute to the progress of the discussion?  Do they encourage others to contribute?

3.         Are you having a good time?

 

 

 

SUMMARY OF GRADED ASSIGNMENTS

Written responses to questions for assigned section . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Due:     For Session 1:  Draft - September 23

Final - day of presentation

For Session 2:  Draft - October 23

Final - day of presentation

Class Presentation

Lesson Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Due:     With draft of written responses

Presentation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Quizzes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . .20

2 Papers  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . .25

Due:  Paper 1 (15)        If your presentation is Session 1, Paper 1 is due Session 2; if your                                 presentation is Session 2,  Paper 1 is due Session 1

Paper 2 (10) -  Draft - November 1; Final - November 18

Book Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Due: At same time as Paper 1

Class Participation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

OTHER PREPARATION

1)  Subscribe to the class mailserv (PADM624@uaa.alaska.edu

2)  Prepare for class exercises (classification & pay, selection, etc.)