A valuable skill in Human Resources Management is the ability to critically analyze and resolve troublesome situations. Many different aspects of unions have been presented in this course. Likely at this point you have a very good understanding of each of these different aspects, such as the pros and cons to forming unions, today’s local and global union environment, attitudes and characteristics of union leadership, and bargaining and negotiation in unionized environments. You also learned about these topics from a human resources standpoint concerning your role as a human resource professional.

It is always a good idea at the end of a course to spend some time reflecting not only on what you have learned, but what you will be able to do with the new knowledge you have gained in your personal and professional life. Theories and research are very important, but application of the theories and the research is what happens as a Human Resources professional, so you especially want to be able to take what you have learned and apply it to your role as a human resource professional.

In a reflective paper, offer a detailed explanation of how the knowledge gained in this course provided you with an understanding of the role of human resources in union environments as well as the dynamics involved in a unionized organization. What challenges do human resource managers face in dealing with a unionized organization? Be detailed and succinct in your explanation of what you have gained from the course.

Support your insights paper with a minimum of seven (7) external resources. In addition to these specified resources, other appropriate scholarly resources, including older articles, may be included.

Length: 12-15 pages, not including title and reference pages

Your paper should demonstrate thoughtful consideration of the ideas and concepts presented in the course and provide new thoughts and insights relating directly to this topic. Your response should reflect scholarly writing and current APA standards where applicable.

Profile of an Economist

Write a brief profile of a major economist of your choice. Do the ideas of the individual selected have implications from a policy stand point? If so, what?

The successful submission will clearly and concisely describe the economic philosophies of a major figure in the field as well as the degree to which these ideas may shape policy decisions.

The requirements below must be met for your paper to be accepted and graded:

• Write between 750 – 1,250 words (approximately 3 – 5 pages) using Microsoft Word in APA style, see example below.
• Use font size 12 and 1” margins.
• Include cover page and reference page.
• At least 80% of your paper must be original content/writing.
• No more than 20% of your content/information may come from references.
• Use at least three references from outside the course material, one reference must be from EBSCOhost. Text book, lectures, and other materials in the course may be used, but are not counted toward the three reference requirement.
• Cite all reference material (data, dates, graphs, quotes, paraphrased words, values, etc.) in the paper and list on a reference page in APA style.

References must come from sources such as, scholarly journals found in EBSCOhost, CNN, online newspapers such as, The Wall Street Journal, government websites, etc. Sources such as, Wikis, Yahoo Answers, eHow, blogs, etc. are not acceptable for academic writing. 

Review the following scenario:

As a supervisor, you often contribute to your team’s internal blog. The blog was created over a year ago and is often used instead of meetings or email discussions. The blog has primarily been a way to connect with team members, especially those working remotely, to share important organization-wide and department news so no one would feel uninformed. From the time of its creation, the team’s blog has never had any hard and set rules about posts other than a text limit for responses.

For the past couple of months, you have seen a more negative change in the blog posts that indicate there is conflict among your diverse team members. First, there was a series of negative posts when there was a difference of opinion regarding a global project. People at the U.S. home office accused remote team members of not speaking English well enough to understand the team’s major task. Other blog posts suggested that the company should not hire people who are not fluent in English, stating it is too difficult communicating and working with them. It was clear from the tones of the posts that team members on both sides of the conflict were frustrated, impatient, and even irritated. The non-native English speakers were also starting to show less motivation to contribute to the team’s work.

In another situation, when the promotion of a younger staff member was announced on the blog, there were posts from more seasoned employees in opposition stating this newly promoted staff member came to work at inconsistent times, which they considered willful tardiness. Younger employees immediately wrote posts stating and supporting the statement that you really “can’t teach old dogs new tricks.”

Not only are you aware of these negative posts, so is your boss. So, you know you must respond.

Review this week’s academic resources and research regarding the best practices for resolving conflict on diverse teams. Then, compose two separate blog posts regarding the negative posts. The first post must address the negative blog posts from each situation. The second post should include new changes, rules, and/or recommendations regarding the use of the internal team blog. Be sure to include tips for your employees to help embrace change and remain motivated, or increase motivation if it has been affected.

Length of blog posts: 1-2 pages for each blog post, not including title and reference pages. Support your blog posts with at least three scholarly sources.

Your blog posts should demonstrate thoughtful consideration of the ideas and concepts presented in the course by providing new thoughts and insights relating directly to this topic. Your submission should reflect scholarly writing and current APA standards where appropriate. 

ASSIGNMENT PREPARATION FOR WEEK 8

Your Effective Compensation Plans assignment is due next week. Take a moment to familiarize yourself with the assignment instructions and scoring guide. Make sure you understand the instructions and how you will be evaluated on the assignment. Ask your faculty member about any questions you have.

This assignment is a research-based paper. You will need to conduct independent research on what constitutes effective compensation plans, ones that attract, retain, and motivate employees. Here is some helpful information to help you get started on your research:

• Access Basic Search: Strayer University Online Library or iCampus University Library Research.
• You may also use Google Scholar or government websites, such as the U.S. Small Business Administration.
• Wikipedia and personal blogs do not quality as quality resources.

You may find these resources helpful for your research:

• PayScale.
• Salary.com.
  • Be sure to check out the Data and Learn tabs.
• U.S. Small Business Administration.
  • Click on Manage Your Business.
  • Click on Hire and Manage Employees.

Performance Management

Jack Welch states: “The best performance reviews are frequent, simple, and actionable.” One tool he created for giving feedback on performance is the 3 by 3 card, as shown here. 

Imagine your manager is giving you some quick feedback on a current project. Fill out the 3 by 3 card that he or she might give to you, with three things that are going well and three areas for improvement. Post your 3 by 3 card as an image or simply by posting the two lists in the forum. 

Post your initial response by Wednesday, midnight of your timezone, and reply with ideas of actions they can take to positively impact their performance to at least 2 of your classmates’ initial posts by Sunday, midnight of your timezone.​

1 response

 RE: Week 5 DiscussionCOLLAPSE

Performance Management 

3 by 3 Card

What’s Going Well

Areas of Improvement 

There is open and clear communication 

Resources are not sufficient 

Cooperative relationships 

Diversity is not valued 

Goals are clearly defined 

Conflicts are not well-managed

 Based on the 3 by 3 card for conducting performance review as put forth by Jack Welch, three areas are going well, and three need improvement. There is open and clear communication. Open communication involves listening and giving constructive feedback (Thaning, 2020). There is a cooperative relationship in the project. Project team members are aware of the importance of working together by sharing knowledge, skills, and expertise. A sense of belonging is created, as members are relaxed, comfortable, and focused on the goals. The goals of the project are clearly defined (Thaning, 2020). Everyone in the team is aware of his or her purpose and the overall mission of the project.

 The resources available for the project are insufficient. As a result of this, it can be difficult to determine when the project will be completed on time (Haberfellner et al., 2019). All the necessary resources required at every stage of the project should be provided on time. Diversity is not valued. It is about valuing all the team members’ contributionsto a project (Haberfellner et al., 2019). The majority of the team members in the project are men. Apart from this, the project’s top leadership does not consider some employees’ creativity and ideas. Conflicts are not well-managed. While conflicts might be beneficial in some cases, they can hinder a project (Haberfellner et al., 2019). Conflicts can hinder the decision-making process of team leaders of a project.   

Haberfellner R., de Weck O., Fricke E., Vössner S. (2019). Characteristics of successful project 

management. In Systems engineering. Birkhäuser, Cham

Thaning, J. (2020). Top 10 key attributes of a successful project. Deltek. Retrieved from 

 http://www.projectdirect.se/dokument/Top10-Key-lyckat_projekt.pdf

2nd response

  RE: Week 5 DiscussionCOLLAPSE

Hello Professor and Classmates,

Imagine your manager is giving you some quick feedback on a current project. Fill out the 3 by 3 card that he or she might give to you, with three things that are going well and three areas for improvement. Post your 3 by 3 card as an image or simply by posting the two lists in the forum. 

At my job I have been put in charge of documenting the reconciliation process in our office. I have a team that I work with to help me break down the steps and put it in a reader friendly document. I believe it is going very well. I am nervous to have to be a lead in the team. If my manager was to do a card on me, I believe it would look like this:

3 What’s going well:

1. Helping others to move the project along. I am great at encouraging others and giving them training to get to the next level of the project. Jack Welch says a team lead should be always looking for their subordinates to train to be better but, they choose to be at that particular company (1).
2. Great at communicating to the others in the group of what is needed to get to the end goal. Communication is one of the most significant way of building all aspects of the team, including trust (2).
3. Finding new ways to present materials. I have always had a thing about making sure whatever I do and have to present it sticks to whom ever is reading or listening to it. The wow factor is what grabs your audience attention and keeps it. I believe if you are able to do that in every project meeting, it makes people more interested in working with you (3).

3 Areas for improvement:

1. Celebrating the small wins. I have read that Jack Welch says you should always celebrate the little wins as much as the big wins (1). I always feel that work needs to be done and if you celebrate then you will start slacking off. I need to work on this.
2. Communicating to upper management what is needed and the progress going on. I am great with working with the team but, horrible with reporting out the status of a current project I am working on. I feel like if you are completing a project and you report out that it is not complete then, it is a bad thing. So, I do have a fear of reporting out.  
3. Telling people when their idea is bad for the project and the goal. I have added things in the project because I did not want to say no.  

Tiara Collins

1. Jack Welch. (2005). Winning.
2. http://www.officecurry.com/role-of-effective-communication-in-team-building/#:~:text=Effective%20communication%20plays%20an%20important,team%20members%20complete%20their%20tasks.
3. http://www.infinitebusinesssolutions.com/2014/07/six-tips-to-add-the-wow-factor-to-your-presentations/

Week 4 Brainstorming Discussions

Must post first.

Topic: Stress as a component of workplace efficiency.

The CEO of VMI is a confessed workaholic. In a recent HR interview with Chinn, he lays out his personal conflict of demanding employees to work long hours as he does. He also is conflicted with the need to be open for business all the time due to its international markets. He is aware that his own Chinese cultural heritage influences his work practices. In China, the issue of personal time is not a concern. Workers do what is expected of them. Chinn knows this is not true in many western companies and especially in the southern states of America. As the newest set of management employees, Chinn wants you to examine this issue and make recommendations on how to deal with conflicting cultural expectations. What demands should VMI place upon its employees?

Stress at the workplace is a constant problem especially since technology has placed the worker in a 24/7 work environment. Use the articles listed below and your required learning materials from our week 4-course content to address this specifically for the circumstances of VMI.

Why Work stress is Bad for Your Relationships

Whither the Ping-pong Table? Which Perks Matter Most to Employees

What is the future of office spaces? 

Directions: 

1. By FRIDAY, complete the following:

Preparation: It is necessary to read the articles listed above as well as those in your classroom materials. This assignment cannot be completed without required learning materials, in particular the articles on cultural values and Geert Hofstede’s website.

Orientation/perspective: Continuing on with our scenario, you are a newly-hired manager not yet placed into a permanent assignment. Since week 1, you and Chinn have been talking about your vision for VMI’s future as given in last week’s assignments. Ultimately, you are convinced that the future VMI needs to be cognizant of the changing workplace while embarking upon VMI’s further international expansion, all under the umbrella of developing a learning organization culture to support this.

Deliverable: Once prepared, you will create a 2-page single-spaced report for President Chinn on the topic of the new modern workplace. In this report, include the following:

• Chinn has a sense of cultural differences between his own heritage and that of VMI. Explain to him your understanding of these differences and how these may be underlying his observations.
• Share with him your knowledge of workplace stress: its effects upon the employee, the idea of work and family life balance, differing cultural and generational views on this, and ways that organizations address it.
• Enlighten him as to the difference of an engaged vs. ‘happy’ employee, with that difference expressed in effects upon specific types of performance and commitment. (As we have had readings explaining engagement every week, you need to express your own understanding of this and not paraphrase an article).
• Your explanations should indicate that you understand typical pitfalls, misunderstandings, and misperceptions in cross-cultural communications and age-cohort attitudes.
• With an understanding of the above, include specific and clear recommendations of addressing this within VMI.

The above are not distinct questions to be answered. Rather, you are to formulate your own report (2 pages, single-spaced), structuring your own points in a conversation with your reader (Chinn) that convinces him of its importance. Your report should incorporate key concerns and knowledge that has been expressed in our readings this week while also tying in your knowledge gained from past weeks (all cited). In order to accomplish this, your report must be focused on VMI’s situation, the type of work they perform, and how to carry forward their excellence and familial culture. Do not pitch ideas from sources that do not apply to VMI’s circumstances.

You must use course material to support your initial and final reports as well as APA in-text citations with a reference list

1. Pick one of the four schools of thought of “the labor problem (mainstream economics, human resource management, industrial relations, or critical (or Marxist) industrial relations)” and tell us what that school thinks is the basic cause of the labor problem and their solution. Which school did you select and why? (ULO 3)

SKILL DEVELOPMENT PLAN

TARGET SKILL #1

Target Skill #1: Specify the skill you   are developing this development plan for (e.g., Communication, Technology,   Productivity)

Strengths: Describe your strengths in this   skill.

Areas of Improvement: Describe areas of improvement in   this skill.

Desired Outcome: Describe your goals around   developing this skill during your time at Strayer. Think about what   improvement of this skill looks like.

Goal Statement: Write a positive statement that   includes your desired outcome and your imagined preferred future after   development.

Practices for Growth: Describe 2–3 specific   strategies that can be used to develop this skill.

Action Steps: 

Describe an action plan   around developing your skill that includes things you can do now to begin   working towards your goal. What specific actions are needed to acquire   knowledge and build upon your skill?

● Step 1:

● Step 2:

● Step 3:

(Add more steps if   necessary.)

Potential Obstacles and Challenges: 

What   barriers do you need to overcome to reach your goal? What challenges do you   anticipate?

Key Supporters: 

Identify 1–2 individuals   you can check in with, who will provide feedback along the way and act as   trusted supporters. Explain how these supporters will help you meet your   goal.

● Supporter 1

● Supporter 2

Supporting University Resources:

Identify 1–2 university   resources that can help you meet your goal and explain how. Consider the   resources you learned about in the weekly Learn pages, including:

Career Center Resources:

● Explore

● Connect

● Prepare

● Career Communities

● Act

● LinkedIn Learning (formerly Lynda.com)

Other Strayer Resources:

● Strayer Mobile

● Strayer Technical Support

● Get Inspired

● SOAR   Student Assistance

Benefits   From Change and Connections to Personal, Academic, and Career Goals: 

Connect your goals around skills to one larger   personal goal, one academic goal, and one professional goal you have. These   can be the ones you identified in Assignment 2 or new ones. How will your   personal development of employability skills impact your larger goals?

TARGET SKILL #2

Target Skill #1: Specify the skill you   are developing this development plan for (e.g., Communication, Technology,   Productivity)

Strengths: Describe your strengths in this   skill.

Areas of Improvement: Describe areas of improvement in   this skill.

Desired Outcome: Describe your goals around   developing this skill during your time at Strayer. Think about what   improvement of this skill looks like.

Goal Statement: Write a positive statement that   includes your desired outcome and your imagined preferred future after   development.

Practices for Growth: Describe 2–3 specific   strategies that can be used to develop this skill.

Action Steps: 

Describe an action plan   around developing your skill that includes things you can do now to begin   working towards your goal. What specific actions are needed to acquire   knowledge and build upon your skill?

● Step 1:

● Step 2:

● Step 3:

(Add more steps if   necessary.)

Potential Obstacles and Challenges: 

What   barriers do you need to overcome to reach your goal? What challenges do you   anticipate?

Key Supporters: 

Identify 1–2 individuals   you can check in with, who will provide feedback along the way and act as   trusted supporters. Explain how these supporters will help you meet your   goal.

● Supporter 1

● Supporter 2

Supporting University Resources:

Identify 1–2 university   resources that can help you meet your goal and explain how. Consider the   resources you learned about in the weekly Learn pages, including:

Career Center Resources:

● Explore

● Connect

● Prepare

● Career Communities

● Act

● LinkedIn Learning (formerly Lynda.com)

Other Strayer Resources:

● Strayer Mobile

● Strayer Technical Support

● Get Inspired

● SOAR   Student Assistance

Benefits   From Change and Connections to Personal, Academic, and Career Goals: 

Connect your goals around skills to one larger   personal goal, one academic goal, and one professional goal you have. These   can be the ones you identified in Assignment 2 or new ones. How will your   personal development of employability skills impact your larger goals?

TARGET SKILL #3

Target Skill #1: Specify the skill you   are developing this development plan for (e.g., Communication, Technology,   Productivity)

Strengths: Describe your strengths in this   skill.

Areas of Improvement: Describe areas of improvement in   this skill.

Desired Outcome: Describe your goals around   developing this skill during your time at Strayer. Think about what   improvement of this skill looks like.

Goal Statement: Write a positive statement that   includes your desired outcome and your imagined preferred future after   development.

Practices for Growth: Describe 2–3 specific   strategies that can be used to develop this skill.

Action Steps: 

Describe an action plan   around developing your skill that includes things you can do now to begin   working towards your goal. What specific actions are needed to acquire   knowledge and build upon your skill?

● Step 1:

● Step 2:

● Step 3:

(Add more steps if   necessary.)

Potential Obstacles and Challenges: 

What   barriers do you need to overcome to reach your goal? What challenges do you   anticipate?

Key Supporters: 

Identify 1–2 individuals   you can check in with, who will provide feedback along the way and act as   trusted supporters. Explain how these supporters will help you meet your   goal.

● Supporter 1

● Supporter 2

Supporting University Resources:

Identify 1–2 university   resources that can help you meet your goal and explain how. Consider the   resources you learned about in the weekly Learn pages, including:

Career Center Resources:

● Explore

● Connect

● Prepare

● Career Communities

● Act

● LinkedIn Learning (formerly Lynda.com)

Other Strayer Resources:

● Strayer Mobile

● Strayer Technical Support

● Get Inspired

● SOAR   Student Assistance

Benefits   From Change and Connections to Personal, Academic, and Career Goals: 

Connect your goals around skills to one larger   personal goal, one academic goal, and one professional goal you have. These   can be the ones you identified in Assignment 2 or new ones. How will your   personal development of employability skills impact your larger goals?

For this assignment, you will demonstrate your understanding of these  metrics by writing a short paper  that addresses the  following questions:

1. What can each metric demonstrate? What is its importance to HRM and strategic decision-making?
2. What would be learned from statistics derived from this metric?
3. Where  might one find (or collect) the raw data for this metric? How would you  implement tracking this metric in an organizational dashboard/balanced  scorecard?
4. What, if any, potential difficulties might create challenges in tracking this metric?

METRICS:

 Frequency of Accidents  

 Loss or Theft  

 Duration of Work Stoppages  

 Costs Associated with Workers’ Compensation Payments 

 Union Percentage  

Field Trip

PART 1: Go to one of your favorite stores and take a picture of something that catches your eye—the front entrance from the street, a display rack inside, a sign on the wall, etc. Upload the photo to the discussion thread and provide a summary of the following:

1. The products offered by the store you visited and why you like shopping there
2. What the photo shows us about the decisions the store has made regarding one or more of the 4 P’s
3. How these 4 P’s work together to keep you coming back again and again

USE THE NIKE STORE