Last updated 2/8/2010

term paper information (suggestions for topics have been added on this link)

Mon. Jan. 11 Introduction to course: What is public personnel management?
In-class assignment: Look through your text and find one personnel issue you would like to know more about. On a piece of paper, write down your name, the personnel issue, and in a sentence, explain why you would like to know more about this issue. I will ask you to share this information with the class and then hand in the assignment.
If time permits, we will do an in-class exercise today.

Wed. Jan. 13 The Context of Public Personnel Management; “Layoffs, Furloughs and Union Concessions,” PEW Charitable Trust Report (Sept. 2009) (skim this report! We’ll come back to it again later!).
Readings: Cayer, preface and chapter 1, pp. xi-xii, and 1-12.
Assignment: Cayer states that personnel administration takes place “in a political environment.” After reading the chapter, indicate in a typed one-page essay why you agree or disagree with his assessment. Then, in a couple of paragraphs, explain how you think politics play into the decisions about budget cuts and furloughs that these cities are facing, citing two of the cases in the PEW report. As noted, I would like you to email your assignments in the body of an email if possible – by the beginning of class, of course. This will save you paper on your printing costs, too! Note: You may have until midnight on Friday, January 15, to complete this assignment and email it to me!

Also read through exercises 2 and 3 on pp. 14-15. We will do these exercises in class today, so all you have to do is read the exercises.

Mon. Jan. 18 Martin Luther King holiday – university closed

Wed. Jan. 20 The Evolution of Public Personnel Management

Readings: Cayer, chapter 2, pp. 17-37.

Assignment: 1. Do the following exercise. NPR exercise – see instructions on link.

2. Drawing on the readings, explain in a couple of typed paragraphs why public personnel management has always been a political process. Be specific! Cite at least two things from Cayer. In a third paragraph, explain why you think this is a good or bad idea and how we could change it. Be sure to type your answer.

Also read through exercises 3 and 4 on pp. 40-41 in Cayer. We will do these exercises in class.

Mon. Jan. 25 The Changing Role of Public Personnel Management

Readings: Cayer, chapter 3, pp. 42-52

Assignment: After reading the Cayer chapter, I want you to imagine that you are responsible for designing the personnel system for a new city that has just incorporated within the borders of Aiken County. Would you base the system on “merit, patronage, or a social purpose” or some combination of the above, and why? Cite specifics from the reading in a thoughtful, one page typed essay.

Also read through exercises 2, 3 and 4 on pp. 54-55 in Cayer. We will do these exercises in class.

Wed. Jan. 27 Problems and Prospects; Workforce Planning

Readings: Cayer, chapter 4, pp. 57-59 only; Also read the following at these urls: http://www.retirement.sc.gov/teri/default.htm; http://hr.sc.edu/benefits/terifaq.html; “Who’ll Take Over When Managers Leave the Stage?” (New York Times, December 27, 2009).

Assignment: 1. In a typed one-page essay, address and assess the impact on public personnel management of the aging of baby boomers, and the South Carolina approach, as exemplified by TERI (there are two links here to examine). What role should human resources planning play in the process, as addressed by Cayer? What impact will retirement of many managers when the economy improves have on the public workforce?

I will give you a handout on job analysis today – please skim for next time.

2. For Feb.22: Read through exercise 1 on p. 81. This requires you to interview someone in a government job. I am going to give you the option of working alone or in a group of one, two or three people for this assignment! If you work in a group, you all get the same grade and must divide up the work yourself (let me know if you are going to do this and the composition of your group). I want you to think about whom you are going to interview (it could be someone who works at USCA, like a secretary or a housekeeper or an instructor, or someone who works in some other governmental office). One week from today (February 3) you should have made a contact, asked someone if you can interview them about their job, and hand me a piece of paper telling me who you will interview, along with the place of employment and job title. I will want you to interview that person and gather the necessary information to write a job description. You will know how to write a job description after we cover the next unit. This can be someone on the USCA staff, if you wish (not a faculty member) as these people are government employees, too. This will be due on Mon, Feb. 22 at the beginning of class and will count as a double assignment.

Interview list

Reminder: Term paper topics due Monday!

Mon. Feb. 1 Public Personnel Techniques: An Overview I – Position Classification and Job Design

Position Classification exercise

Readings: 1. Cayer, chapter 4, pp. 59-66.

This chapter addressed a number of public personnel techniques and procedures. Today we are going to address the first of these, position classification and job design. Note that when we classify positions in an organization, we try to determine how hard the job is to do and how important the achievements of the person holding the job are to the organization’s ability to accomplish its mission. Ultimately, the purpose of this is to determine who should be paid how much, although we will discuss compensation separately.

2. Also skim through the handout on job analysis. We are going to do this in class, where you will interview your fellow students about their jobs. Don’t be absent – it will count as a double assignment!

Assignment: In a paragraph, simply explain the relationship of and the difference between position classification, job analysis, and job design, using your own words. Then in a second paragraph, explain which of the various kinds of position classification systems you think you prefer and why. These systems include the traditional position classification system (also called whole job ranking or grade description system), the point factor system, a variation known as the average grade approach, or broad-banding. In a third paragraph, explain why you prefer either a rank-in-job or rank-in-person approach to position organization. What are the pluses and minuses of each that you see? Note: You must have three separate typed paragraphs to complete this assignment adequately.

Mon. Feb. 1: Term paper topic due – give me your top two choices. If I don’t have it by close of business today, I will assign you a topic.

Wed. Feb. 3 Public Personnel Techniques: An Overview II – Pay Issues

Readings: Cayer, chapter 4, pp. 66-78;

We will continue our discussion of public personnel techniques with an examination of compensation, ie pay and benefits. Today we will focus on pay issues. I will give you a handout for next time on job evaluation. Please read it before you come to class on Monday.

Assignment: After reading this section of the chapter and the assigned article, what do you think are the best ways to equitably address pay issues and develop a fair compensation system? Answer in a couple of typed paragraphs, referring back to the readings.

Also read through exercises 2 and 3 on pp. 81-82 in Cayer. We will do these exercises in class as time allows.

Mon. Feb. 8 Continued: Job evaluation exercise

Readings: Skim through the handout on job evaluation. We are going to do this in class. Don’t be absent – it will count as a double assignment!

I’ll also give you a handout to read for next time. If you are absent, you will need to come by and pick up a copy so you can do the assignment for Wed.

Note: Some of you have not yet indicated who you will interview for the job interview exercise. This was due last week. If you do not have that information to me by 5 pm on Wed, Feb. 10, you will only receive half credit on this double assignment.

Wed. Feb. 10 Public Personnel Techniques: An Overview III – Benefits Issues

Readings: Cayer, chapter 4, pp. 66-78 (review, especially section on benefits); “Granholm

Proposes Retirement Plan to Cut Costs,” (New York Times):“The Coming Public Personnel Benefits Debacle” (handout).

Assignment: After reading this section of the chapter and the handouts, I would like you to comment on benefits, and indicate how you think we should approach benefits issues, given the costs and changing demographics of the workforce, as well as economic conditions that change over time. Be sure to address the pension issue in particular, as addressed in the various readings. Do you think things are different in the private sector? Address in one typed page.

Mon. Feb. 15 Recruiting, Selecting, and Promoting Employees I

Readings: Cayer, chapter 5, pp. 83-91 only.

Assignment: Go to your assigned website and determine what procedures the governmental entity uses to recruit and hire its employees. Explain in a one page typed essay. See link for assigned website!

Wed. Feb. 17 Recruiting, Selecting, and Promoting Employees II

Guest Speakers: Ms. Cathie Justin, USCA Disability Services Coordinator, and Ms. Connie Davis, Human Resources Director, McDuffie County Schools

Readings: “Bringing the Blind Into the Workplace” (handout).

Assignment: Go back to the web site you looked at for the last assignment. In a paragraph, note any references to the ADA (Americans With Disabilities Act).

For next time, write a one page typed essay explaining five things you learned from today’s presentation.