LIR 545: Economics of Human Resources Professor Wallace Hendricks |
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TU 11AM-2PM
| Professors | Office Hours | |
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Professor Wallace Hendricks 219 ILIR 333-6028 e-mail: wally-h@uiuc.edu |
The contents of this syllabus are available on the worldwide web for your browsing pleasure. This class is one of only a very few at the University of Illinois to be listed on a new program called Virtual Classroom Interface (VCI). The university's goal is that some day most classes will have their own home page that students and others may freely access. However, VCI is much more than just information about this class, it also has the capacity to facilitate interactive discussions and to link students to other valuable home pages. Expect the instructors and TAs to use the home page to post important announcements for you. Should you miss class or just wish to further prepare for class, a variety of lecture notes and material will also be posted.. The url is: http://www.ilir.uiuc.edu/courses/lir545/index.htm
Grading and Course Requirements
Current grades are listed in COMPASS. This is only updated occasionally since I keep the real grades in EXCEL on my computer. I will announce when changes to the on-line grades are made.
You will be responsible for coming prepared for each lecture. This requires reading the assignments prior to the lecture and looking at the discussion questions. Group work will count 100 points of the overall grade. Your evaluation based on your team members' ratings has a maximum of 20 points. The first half quiz will count 150 points of the grade; the final will each count 170 points of the grade. The second half quiz is not cumulative, although concepts from the first half will be required to answer questions that focus on the second half. The second half exam will contain a one-hour laboratory problem in EXCEL, which will be worth 20 points.
Group Assignments
Each member of the class must be a member of a group. The groups will work together to present a case study. They will work together to do at least four of the six quantitative assignments. They will also work together to answer one question for the 1st half exam and one question for the 2nd half exam. Groups need to sit together in class to participate as a group in class discussion of assignments.
Follow this link for more team rules.
The group oral projects require the group to lead a class discussion of a particular topic or case study. Groups will be allowed to choose their project on a first come, first served basis. If no choice is made by September 4, 2007, a presentation will be assigned to the group. Since it is possible to not receive your chosen project, you should submit several choices in rank order.
There are six quantitative assignments that require use of EXCEL. Each group must do at least four of the assignments. A report on one of the following books can be substituted for any three quantitative assignments, except assignments 1 and 2:
Michael Lewis, Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game. Norton: 2003.
Jack Welch, Jack, Straight from the Gut. Warner Books: 2003.
Thomas Friedman, The World is Flat, Farrar, Straus And Giroux: 2006.
Malcolm Gladwell, Blink, Little, Brown and Company: 2005
If a report is done, it should concentrate entirely on the segment of the book that is relevant for this class. The report can be submitted by the group, or by an individual who was not able to participate in a quantitative assignment. The report should be 5-10 pages. For Moneyball the report should try to determine where the use of analytic techniques by HR managers might be best accomplished in another industry outside of sports. For Jack, the report should try to determine how successful the Welch approach to employee evaluation might be in another company. For The World is Flat, the report should analyze the HR implications of outsourcing to other countries and the likely changes that will occur. For Blink, the report should focus on the implications for statistical discrimination. NOTE: If a report is done, only quantitative assignments 1 & 2 are required. However, competence in EXCEL will still be required of everyone on the final exam.
Note that groups may or may not elect to combine their report with an oral presentation (see below). If the oral choice is made, no further oral presentation is necessary. However, an agreed upon date must be negotiated with me that allows the oral presentation to fit with the material that is being discussed that week. Please check the reading list for appropriate dates in case you choose this alternative.
There are 100 points possible in your group grade (this COUNTS your group grade on the oral presentation). Therefore, you want to make somewhere between 85 and 90 points on the quantitative assignments. The maximum points assigned to each quantitative assignment are indicated below:
19 REQUIRED FOR ALL GROUPS
19 REQUIRED FOR ALL GROUPS
19
19
19
19
ORAL 15 points
TOTAL = 100 points maximum
Each quantitative assignment is due prior to 1:00pm on the due date, or in class if the date is a day when we meet class. Fifteen points will be allocated to the group oral project. Every group must do an oral presentation, either on the case studies given below or on their book chosen above. The group oral project requires the use of overheads or PowerPoint slides as part of the presentation. A paper copy of the overheads or PowerPoint slide file must be provided at the time of the presentation. In no case can a group get more than 100 points. If a group totals more than 100 points, the score will be set at 100 points. It is likely that the full 100 points can be achieved by doing five quantitative assignments and the oral. Individual extra credit will be provided to each group member if groups go substantially above 100 points. Individuals can do additional quantitative assignments for extra credit.
Prior to each examination, a set of review questions will be given to the class. Each group must select one question to answer. The answers must be submitted via email and must be posted prior to 5:00 PM of the day of the review for the exam. Group members may elect to replace one question on the exam with the grade given the group answer. Replacement is strongly recommended, but not required. Review questions that are identical to discussion questions cannot be chosen by the group if ANY group member has received extra credit for previously answering the question.
Individuals can earn up to a maximum of 10 extra credit points by doing any of the quantitative assignments by themselves or in subgroups, with a maximum of 3 points for a single individual. You can also try to answer some of the discussion questions yourself or in your group. A maximum of 2 points each is allowed when more than one person participates. Discussion questions must be handed in within one week of the first coverage of the topic. If we have gone over the questions in class there is no extra credit available for questions for that week. Extra credit points will be used only if someone is on the border line between two grades. Ten points is often enough to raise a grade, but not always.
Evaluations of other members in your group must be taken seriously. On all evaluations, you cannot evaluate everyone in your group identically. This refers to both the sub dimensions and the overall evaluation. You must meet the deadlines for the evaluations and you must follow the instructions for the evaluations. The first evaluation is due on September 28, 2007 at 1:00 PM. It must be printed out and stapled together. You must evaluate each member on the dimensions that are indicated, but you do not need to make an overall evaluation. This is collected to make sure that all groups are performing well. The second evaluation is due November 9 at 1:00 pm. Each member of each group must submit an evaluation of the other members. It must be printed out and stapled together. The evaluation must be made on the following scale: Distinguished; Outstanding; Good; Needs Improvement; Unsatisfactory (An overall evaluation). You can use plus and minus for each level. This evaluation will serve as the basis for your final evaluation. You can change this evaluation up to December 7 at 1:00pm. After I receive the performance evaluations, I will convert these into an individual-group grade. The grade will be on a scale from 0 to 20 points. THIS GRADE WILL COUNT FOR EACH STUDENT. Failure to provide a professional evaluation will lead to a reduction in your evaluation points. You must base this evaluation on the criteria on the hand-out, which is available on line. The results will NOT be made known to individuals until the last week in the semester, although I may reveal the distribution of scores. I have the following expectations of a typical class in LIR 545: Distinguished-about 8 people; Outstanding-about 16 people; good - about 30 people; Needs Improvement - about 8 people; Unsatisfactory - about 2 persons. Obviously, your experience in your group might differ considerably from this distribution. You have a forced distribution: your evaluations cannot all be identical for other group members. If they are identical, 5 points will be deducted from your score. If you do not submit evaluations for all your group members you will receive 0 points out of the 20 possible. If you do not use the DOGNU scale (above) 5 points will be subtracted from your score. If your evaluation is late, 5 points will be subtracted from your score. If you fail to fill out either an overall rating or the subcategories, 5 points will be subtracted from your score. If your evaluations are not deemed by me to be professional and realistic, 5 points will be subtracted from your score. No excuses are allowed. Evaluation forms are available on line.
Groups must sit together in pre-assigned locations.
Students must avoid being late for class since considerable disruption of the class takes place.
Students/groups who contribute to class in an extraordinary way or do specially well on exams can earn "Wally Bucks." Wally Bucks are turned in at the end of the semester (each buck must be signed and returned no later than the end of the last class). If that grade is already maximized, the Wally Bucks count toward extra credit. One Wally Buck is worth 1 extra credit point. Individuals can go beyond the 10 point maximum of extra credit when Wally Bucks are included.
There are no excuses for missing examinations or missing the group presentation for your group. The penalty will be a zero score.
Going over the 100 point group total can yield extra credit points (not one-to-one).
ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
Maintaining academic integrity is a top priority of both faculty and staff at the University of Illinois. It should also be a top priority of all students at the University. Solid academic standards protect the quality of education and research on our campus, therefore the Code on Campus Affairs goes into great detail on this subject.
Any group caught using a prior group's work on a project or oral presentation will all fail the course, not just that assignment. If an individual fails to contribute to a project or group exam question, then that individual will receive a zero score on that project or question. Talking over projects or results of projects with other groups is forbidden and will be treated as cheating. Ideas must be generated from within your own group. Copying material from the internet will result in a failing grade for everyone in the group.
Avoid:
(a) Acquiring Information:
Acquiring answers for any assigned work or examination from any unauthorized source.
Working with another person or persons on any assignment or examination when not specifically permitted by the instructor.
Observing the work of other students during any examination.
(b) Providing Information:
Providing answers for any assigned work or examination when not specifically authorized to do so.
Informing any person or persons of the contents of any examination prior to the time the examination is given.
(c) Plagiarism:
Failing to credit sources used in a work product in any attempt to pass off the work as one's own.
Attempting to receive credit for work performed by another, including papers obtained in whole or in part from individuals or other sources.
Conduct yourself in such a manner, at all times, to avoid any suspicion of wrong doing. Avoid helping anyone else break the rules. Remember - Your future is in your hands!!!
* Any problems of academic integrity on an individual assignment will result in a student being given an F grade for the whole course.
These links will allow you to download the data directly to your PC. If you are working at home, you can download the files to your PC or work with them directly from the server as long as your browser is configured properly for SPSS and EXCEL. If you are working in the ILIR lab, you should bring up the files from the server by starting SPSS or EXCEL and opening the files as named below. All the files are located on the i: drive in the directory \lir445.
Western Electric - data on productivity - EXCEL file
Western Electric - data on productivity - STATA file
Age discrimination data - EXCEL file
Age discrimination data - STATA file
Quality of Work Life (QES) data (union-nonunion differences) - EXCEL file
Personnel dataset to use in evaluation-performance assignment- EXCEL file
Wage data for LIR 545 - CPS data on wages to use for assignment 1 - EXCEL
Wage data for LIR 545 - CPS data on wages to use for assignment 1 - STATA file
Questionnaire date for 1st Financial Corp - EXCEL file
QUIZ, ASSIGNMENT AND GROUP CASE STUDY SCHEDULE
WHEN PROJECTS ARE DUE ON A DAY WITH NO CLASS, THEY MUST BE TURNED IN TO MY MAIL BOX BY 1 PM ON THAT DAY
9/4 sample MBA resumes discussed
9/14 Hiring at Western Electric Assignment (Project 1) due
9/21 Is the dexterity test discriminatory? - Assignment (Project 2) due
9/21 First group evaluation due (not counted in grade - DO NOT ENTER OVERALL EVALUATION). Must be printed and stapled together. Must be confidential.
9/25 United Parcel, HBS 488-016 (ORAL)
10/5 Were Layoffs Discriminatory Assignment (Project 3)due
10/12 Group exam question due before 5pm - must be emailed. Review 5pm-7pm
10/16 Merck, HBS 491-005 (ORAL)
10/19 First Half examination
10/23 Bennett, Strang and Farris, HBS 9-684-027 (ORAL)
10/26 Relationship between evaluations and performance at XYZ Corp Assignment due (Project 4)
10/30 Sasser and Pettway, "The Case of Big Mac's Pay Plans," Harvard Business Review #74410 (Group should see me earlier) (ORAL)
11/2 1st Financial Corporation - Hiring Strategy (Project 5)
11/6 Lincoln Electric, HBS 376-028 (ORAL)
11/9 Second evaluation of group members due YOU MUST ENTER EVALUATION ON DOGNU SCALE AFTER FILING OUT FORMS. YOU CANNOT JUST SUBMIT THE FORMS OR THE RESULT OF THE FORMS. Forms must be printed, stapled together and submitted by 1:00PM.
11/16 Hiring and Recruiting Source Assignment (Project 6)due
11/20 THANKSGIVING BREAK
12/4 Warner Home Video, HBS 1-190-067 (ORAL)(Group should see me)
12/4 First Federal Savings, HBS 475-072 (ORAL)
12/7 Group Exam question due before 5:00 PM - must be emailed.
12/11 Second Half Examination 8-11:00
To insure that disability-related concerns are properly addressed from the beginning, students with disabilities who require reasonable accommodations to participate in this class are asked to see me at the beginning of the course. Special accommodations for examinations must be made at least two weeks prior to the examination date.