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Course Description IM 632. Training/Human Resource Development. Study of training/human resource and performance improvement, organizations, and literature. Examination of the theories of learning, motivation, and communication as they relate to training and organizations. Study of the associated practitioner roles: systems design, message design and development, training and assessment, needs analysis, and strategies. 2 credits F.
2. Through class attendance, discussion, participation, and interaction with selected print and non-print materials examination and student presented current issues, students will develop a foundation for the field and where they personally are best suited for placement.
3. Through an organizational site visit, interview, and resulting documentation and presentation, students will develop a background and “feel” for directions within the field and how theory translates into practice.
4. Through researching a topic, preparing and submitting an article for publication in a professional journal, or writing and executive summary of an annual report students will develop an understanding of the background for and an assessment of their analysis and synthesis skills. Further, students will gain practice in written and presentation communication. (Goal # 4 consists of and addresses the “major” assignment for this class!)
5. *Through class attendance, participation and an overview of various competency and certification models, and related readings students will acquire a basic understanding of standards within the field.
6. Through class attendance, participation and selected reading assignments, students will acquire a basic understanding of selected subtopics within the HRD/HPT profession e.g. management development, organization development, leadership, needs assessment, cost benefits, etc....
7. Through abstracting HRD/HPT/Training materials in various media formats students will develop an exposure to the breadth and depth of commercial materials available to professional in the field.
8. Through class attendance, participation, and selected reading assignments, the student will acquire a basic understanding of andragogical teaching-learning processes.
* Goal 5 is more complex than one might suppose. Students will be expected to be able to identify major and minor themes of competency and certification models: furthermore, students are urged to examine the original documents, authors and publishers for clues to the slant or bias.
1. Readings from the books on reserve.
2. Participation in WebCT discussion and completion of case studies and class activities.
3. A series of assignments including:
- Abstracts:
- of a current issue in the field
- of a commercial trainning package
- of standards in the field
- Site Visit
- Your choice of a final project:
- Write a journal article
- Create an executive summary of a corporate/annual report
Van Tiem, D. M. , Moseley, J. L., Dessinger, J. C. (2000). Fundamentals of Performance Technology. ISPI. (on reserve AJM013)
Lapidus, T. (2000) High Impact Training: Getting Results and Respect. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer. (on reserve AJM015)
Terry, W. (1993) Authentic Leadership: Courage in Action. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
Secondary Text: Robinson, D. & Robinson, J. (1989) Training for Impact. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. (on reserve)
Dean, Peter J. (1994) Performance Engineering at Work. Batavia Illinois: ibstpi (on reserve)
Byham, W.C., Cox, J. (1988) Zapp: The Lightening of Empowerment. New York: Random House. (on reserve)
Goldratt, E.M., Cox, J. (1992) The Goal: The Process of Ongoing Improvement. North River Press: Croton-on-Hudson, New York. (on reserve AJM014)
IBM Corporate Education (1990). A Vision of IBM Human Resource Performance. Armonk, NY: IBM
Deterline, W. A. & Rosenberg, M. J. (1992). Performance Technology Success Stories. Washington, D.C. : ISPI. (on reserve AJM017)
Readings will be in D2L or placed on print reserve (First floor, LRS) under the instructor’s name. Students will be held accountable for reading the materials provided.
Some non-print materials may be placed on non-print reserve under the instructor’s name. Students will be encouraged to listen or view the materials for class participation and/or project development.
Goals and objectives may be completed, in part, through tasks completed by seminar members. Four tasks are required for this course. They will be reinforced by readings and cooperative activities.
Abstracts Objective #1, 2, & 7
A note about abstracts:
+ Prior to abstracting any material you must submit to me a plan either in writing or orally by appointment. We must agree on your plan before proceeding!
+ The plan should include how you will go about your task- will you be attempting to do all of your abstracts on one general topic or choosing topics to balance your background?
+ Each abstract should have a 2-5 sentence preface describing how the material abstracted meets your discussed goal followed by the abstract ending with one or two paragraphs consisting of your critique. Note: Separate the preface and critique from the body of the abstract.
Site Visit: See Handouts! Objective #3
Final Project Objective #4
Option 1 - Journal Article
A Note about this assignment:
+ Look at several journals and read the page that describes the publication’s requirements or standards for submitting manuscripts. Note requirements for style, footnoting, margins, etc....
+ Examine each journal you read, and perhaps some that you don’t read, for the type of articles they accept. (Tenor and flavor, topics, themes, etc....)
+ Examine carefully writing techniques used in journals. How they paragraph, highlight, summarize, breakup text, use diagrams, pictures, and finally, do they require an abstract that precedes the article.
+ Please clear your journal selection with me prior to writing! (Note: Although I encourage you to consider and select this choice, please discuss your plans with me prior to embarking upon your task. This is a more difficult assignment that it may seem.
Option 2 - Executive Summary (Corporate/Annual Report) The typical business Annual Report is long, complex and often numerically confusing; you are required, in this assignment, to first analyze (take apart) the information, data, text, trends, etc. contained in the report then synthesize (put together) that same information etc. into an executive summary that a CEO or VP could use to present to a group of lay people with the expectation of reasonable comprehension. This means: write it in your words so that a lay person could understand what is being said! Stated another way you are responsible for extracting the essence of the report for a large group of common stock shareholders. One perspective on this assignment that students often find useful is to imagine that they had the responsibility for making the presentation. Another perspective is to assume that I have to present the information; therefore, you are preparing the summary for me to present. (Now that’s scary!) Be sure to include a description of how you would arrange the instructional environment, or you would expect it to be arranged. Will the room be decorated in any specific manner? Will there be participants that assist in the presentation? Will they be dressed in a special way? Will there be music or sound effects accompanying the session? How would you like the information organized, presented, divided, illustrated graphically, etc. (i.e. a ppt. Presentation.) You must include supporting visuals and reference them in the text that you have created. Finally, create a document that is appropriate for presenting, easy to read, visual/graphic/textual, cues, bullets and emphasis points.
A possible outline for an Executive Summary might look like this (not necessarily in this order):
Introduction - General background, history of the corporation, its vision or mission statement, etc....
Goals/Objectives/Values - What are the explicit and implicit Goals, Objectives and Values (GOV) of this organization? Are the explicitly stated? Do they seem realistic based on your research?
Investor Information - Corporate headquarters, stock, auditor, trends highis and lows for the past five years, 3 years etc....
Products - Those being dropped, new products, changes in existing products that might be noteworthy. Research on future products.
Officers Group - Any significant changes during the past year? Anticipated? Will this have any impact on the organization?
Subsidiaries/Mergers - How might these/this affect the products or performance of the company?
Market/Service - How might these/this affect the products or performance of the company? Does this reflect the GOV?
Graphic Information - This material is not to be taken directly from the report i.e. I expect you to extrapolate and summarize information/data and graphs for your support visuals. This material is best done in “Power Point”, or an equivalent mode. Do they reflect the GOV’s?
Conclusion/Final Summary - This statement should capture your audience and deliver the final convincing argument for your audience.
Selected readings, either from the text (required, recommended or on reserve) or from materials provided by the instructor, provide information and techniques reviewed during the quarter.
Some tasks such as case studies will be undertaken during a portion of a class as a practical illustration of concepts or principles. Everyone involved in this course, instructor and students alike, can learn from each other if each is willing to share experiences, both positive and negative, and thoughts, feelings, and questions about the issues and resources covered. To facilitate discussion among everyone enrolled, the instructor has set up a class forum at NiceNet ; the course key will be distributed by the instructor. Participation in activites and forum discussions is important and constitutes 10% of the final grade.
1. Participation/Group Work (14%) 32 points maximum
2. Abstracts (4%), Reading, Listening
and Viewing; your choice (19%) 100 points
3. Site visit/interview (28%) 100 points maximum
4. Final Projects (38%) 100 points maximum
TOTAL: 332 points maximum
298 - 332 points = A
267 - 297 points = B
233 - 266 points = C
NOTE: You are being evaluated as adults to the best of MY ability to do so. This is a professional course; therefore, you are also being compared to professionals in the field. It is expected that oral and written communication, that which is formal, will be done as a professional would do it—grammatically correct, organized, interesting, and persuasive!
Jeanne Anderson
Created: 10 September 2003
Last Updated: 6 May 2008
URL: http://web.stcloudstate.edu/jeanne/im632/index.html