Human Resource Management
Fall  2008

Style Sheet for Team Assignment on Proposal for Reformed HR System

Due Dec. 17

The purpose of this assignment is for you to reflect on what you have learned about the way in which staffing, classification, compensation and other HR functions work, where they present problems, and what alternatives may replace them. In doing so,  you will also need to consider the current environment in which public sector entities operate, and what they need from an HR system as well as the legal requirements that may constrain reform.  It is also designed to augment your skills in working with a team to produce a product. The team assignments are at the end of this style sheet.

For the purpose of this assignment your team has been asked by a hypothetical federal or state agency, or local government jurisdiction in Calif. to propose a new "flexible and contemporary" HR system.   Your task is to develop the proposal in the form of a briefing that you will give on Dec. 17.

Your briefing should address the following points:

• Is your proposal addressing a federal or state agency, or a local jurisdiction? Tell us briefly about that jurisdiction/organization's location, mission and workforce composition and size.

• What are the main factors that should be considered in designing a new system; i.e., what pressures from the external environment and demands and needs from the internal environment must the HR system be responsive to?

• What laws must be complied with? (This will depend on whether it is a federal or state agency, or local jurisdiction.

• What are the primary weaknesses with the HR functions as traditionally practiced that must be addressed and what are the strengths that should be maintained?  By HR functions I mean the following:

  • classification
  • compensation
  • recruitment and hiring
  • performance appraisal
  • employee relations (including adverse actions and due process requirements)

  • labor-management relations

• What do you propose for each of these functions in the new HR system? (Make sure you address each one, and that your proposal conforms with existing legal requirements)

• What mechanisms (if any) should be employed to ensure equal employment opportunity and the achievement of a representative workforce?

• While your main proposal should fit within existing legal requirements, you may also go on to suggest changes in law that you would like the deciding official to consider pursuing.

You should develop some form of visual aids for the presentation (e.g.  powerpoint, overheads, or handouts).  All you need turn in to me are copies of those visual aids, and an outline, or bulleted version of your proposal. The outline or bullets should have enough detail to ensure that I am familiar with all of the contents of your presentation, but it need not be developed into a full narrative. Please bring your presentation on a flash drive, and plan to arrive early so we can load it on the laptop.

Be prepared for  me to ask questions about any part of the presentation that are directed to any team member. For example, you may have assigned student A to do the part on classification, but I will direct my  question on classification to another team member. So you should make sure you each are prepared to answer questions about all of the parts of the presentation.

This is a team assignment, so you will receive a team grade for it.  However, to reduce the potential "free rider" problem that can arise in teamwork, please complete the confidential team member evaluation form, and forward it to me.  Each team member's team grade may be raised or lowered based on those evaluations.

Your presentation should not exceed 20 minutes.  You can involve as few or as many team members in the presentation as you wish.

Your grade will be based on:

• The comprehensiveness and logic or your proposal.
• The extent to which you address each of the above questions.

• The extent to which your proposal reflects an understanding of the purpose of the various HR functions and how they work in practice.
• The extent to which your proposal reflects an understanding of the legal environment for HR.

• The clarity and professionalism of your presentation and visual aids.
• The adequacy of your answers to questions from the audience.

Team Assignments