COMPENSATION ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT

Room:129 Melcher Hall (or 313 Melcher Hall class size permitting). 

Course:Section#00565, Fall 2001.

Time:6pm-9:00pm, Wednesday.

Professor:Dr. Steve Werner

Office:315 G Melcher Hall

Phone:(713) 743-4672; Fax:(713) 743-4652

Email:swerner@uh.edu

Website:www.cba.uh.edu/~werner

Office Hours:3:00-6:00pm Wednesday, or by appointment.

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION

The main focus of this course is to consider the applied issues in the direct compensation of employees.The course is intended to develop skills in making compensation decisions and examine current issues in compensation administration.A portion of the course will simulate activities typically performed by senior compensation analysts employed by large complex firms.During this course each student will develop a compensation plan for an organization, attempting to control labor costs while maintaining the organization's ability to attract, retain, motivate and develop a competent work-force.The course will also focus on effectively communicating the plan through written reports.

 

ACCOMMODATIONS FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES

The Center for Students with Disabilities provides a wide variety of academic support services to all currently-enrolled UH students who have any type of mental or physical disability of either a temporary or permanent nature. These services include assistance with course accommodations, adaptive equipment, individualized exam administration, taped textbooks,

wheelchair repair, library needs, registration, handicapped parking, accessible housing and transportation, as well as many other needs. If you feel that you may need assistance of this nature, you may wish to call the Center at 3-5400. In addition, you should let me know about any special needs as soon as possible.

 

ACADEMIC HONESTY POLICY

The CBA is proud of the high quality of our students and our academic programs.We recognize the importance of academic honesty in maintaining our high standards.In the rare situation where there may be a breach of academic honesty, we would appreciate your assistance in bringing the situation to our attention.We will, of course, take appropriate action in all cases.If you have questions about the Academic Honesty Policy, it is included in the 2001-2002 Student Handbook.The staff of the Dean of Students Office is also available to answer questions.

 

COURSE EVALUATIONS

The CBA has a policy that requires all of its instructors to be evaluated by their students. The results of these evaluations are important to provide feedback to instructors on how their performance can be improved. In addition, these evaluations are carefully considered in promotion, salary adjustment, and other important decisions. We openly encourage students to provide feedback to the instructors and to the CBA through the evaluation process.

 

REQUIRED TEXTS

Milkovich, G.T., and Newman, J.M.1999. Compensation, 7^th Edition, Boston, Mass: Irwin-McGraw Hill.

Henderson, Richard I. 2000.Exercise Book: Compensation Management in a Knowledge-based World, 8^th Edition, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

 

DETERMINANTS OF THE TERM GRADE

Mid-term Exams =30%

Course Project

Part 1 =10%

Part 2=10% 

Part 3=10%

Part 4=10%

In-class Exercises=10%

Presentation/Class Leadership=10%

Contribution=10%

__________________________________________________________

Total= 100%

 

POINTS

Point values are as follows:

Each Mid-term(X 2)……...............30 points

Each Part of Course Project (X 4). .20 points

In-Class Exercises………………...20 points

Presentation/Class Leadership…….20 points

Contribution…….…........………....20 points

_____________________________________

Total...……….......…………...........200 points

 

GRADES

B+.........................174.0 - 179.9 points

B ...............….......166.0 - 173.9 points

B-..........................160.0 - 165.9 points

C+.........................154.0 - 159.9 points

C .....................….146.0 - 153.9 points

C-..........................140.0 - 145.9 points

D+.........................134.0 - 139.9 points

D ..........................126.0 - 133.9 points

D-..........................120.0 - 125.9 points

F .....................…..000.0 - 119.9 points

 

MIDTERM EXAMS

Three midterms will be given (September 19^th, October 17^th , and November 28^th ).Each exam will be worth 30 points or 15% of the total grade.A missed exam will count as zero.Students arriving after someone has already finished and turned in the exam will not be allowed to take the exam.There will be no make-up exams, because students drop the lowest of the three exam scores. Those happy with their grades on the first two exams need not take the third exam. No one should enroll who cannot take the exams as scheduled.Exams will consist of definitions, short-answer and essay questions.Students will be given until 8:00pm to finish the exam.

 

CONTRIBUTION

Classroom lectures, discussions, and group activities are a vital part of this course. A minimum requirement for each class meeting is to have read the assigned material from the text.Excessive tardiness or absenteeism will negatively affect the contribution score.Disrupting the class (for example, talking to other students during lectures or presentations, ringing cell phones, beeping pagers, etc.) will seriously reduce your contribution score.The contribution score is worth 20 points.

 

IN-CLASS EXERCISES

Group in-class exercises will be assigned throughout the course and are an important part of the course’s skill-building portion.Groups will be comprised of three to four students.At the end of classes with in-class exercises students should turn in the written portion of the exercise with the names of all group members.In-class exercises are worth 20 points or 10% of the total grade.Students will be graded on quality of the output of the exercise as well as exercise participation.

 

PRESENTATION/CLASS LEADERSHIP

All students will be assigned one class session where they are the designated class leader. Class leaders are required to give a formal 10-15 minute presentation on current issue related to the topic of the day.Students should locate an article pertaining to a current event, trend, study, law, or innovation in the days topic.Articles may come from a daily newspaper, Time, Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, Inc., Fortune, Business Week, HRMagazine, Compensation and Benefits Review, ACA Journal, etc..., or an academic journal.Students must turn in a copy of the article and a typed one page abstract (double spaced) the day of their presentation.Presentations will be graded on their relevance to the class topic, timeliness, professionalism, quality of presentation, and abstract quality.A copy of the evaluation sheet used to grade your presentation is shown below.After the presentation, class leaders are to oversee the discussion of the day’s topic.Thus, class leaders are expected to become experts in the day’s topic.Their leadership should include insights and discoveries about the topic beyond what is found in the book.The presentation/class leadership is worth 20 points. 

 

Presentation grading form.

 CURRENT ISSUES PRESENTATION EVALUATION

 

DIMENSION	Score	COMMENTS:
Timeliness
Professionalism
Overheads Neatness Clarity Typos Aesthetics Other
Non-Verbal  Communication Eye-contact Movement Hands Other
Verbal Communication Verbal pauses Conversational Tone Other
Organization Title Roadmaps Conclusion Other
Relativity
Abstract
Accuracy
CLASS LEADERSHIP (Counts Double)
TOTAL GRADE

Key: + =-0 points;Ö+ = -1/2 point;Ö = -1 point;Ö- = -1.5 points;- = -2 points.

 

PROJECT

One 4-part case project will be assigned.Each part will be collected at the beginning of the class period due (September 19^th, October 10^th, November 7^th, & November 28^th).Late projects will be penalized at the rate of 1 letter grade (2 points) per day late.The content of the projects and the case is described in the required Exercise book – Compensation Management in a Knowledge Based World, 8^th Edition.To familiarize themselves with the case, all students should read the description of Olympia Inc. on pages 1-5.A description of the project is given on pages 6-12. At a minimum, the contents of your policy and administration manual should contain the items in Exhibit 3, on page 10.The content and requirements of each part are described below.

1. Part 1 – Due September 19^th.Part 1 should at a minimum include:

a.The table of contents;

b.The Purpose of Job Analysis. This section describes the methods and procedures used by Olympia.As examples, it should include the output of exercises #2 (Exhibit 2-1) and #4 (the three printouts described on page 31, the completed exhibit 4-2, the completed exhibit 4-3, and clarifications worksheet on page 46).

c.The Purpose of Job Descriptions.This section should include the output of exercise #5 (a job description following the format of exhibit 5.1) as an exemplar.

2. Part 2 – Due October 10^th.Part 2 should at a minimum include:

a.The Purpose of Job Evaluation.This section should include the job evaluation methods/plans used by Olympia and the results of evaluating the 15 jobs on pages 89-92 and the 21 jobs on pages 113-117. 

b.The recognition of market influences.This section should include a description of the compensation survey used by Olympia, how Olympia uses the data, and applying the survey to Olympia’s benchmark jobs (the 15 jobs on pages 89-92 and the 21 jobs on pages 113-117).Include exercise #8(a printout of each job as described on page 92, the completed salary range table on page 94) and #12 (a printout of the gathering pay survey data spreadsheet described on page 112).

3. Part 3 – Due November 7^th.Part 3 should at a minimum include:

a.The development of the pay structure.A description of the pay structure(s) used by Olympia incorporating the jobs in Part 2.This should include exercise #13 (the printouts of the table and graph described in points 4 & 6 on page 172, and a final printout of the table and graph after following point 8 on page 173).Include an explanation and justification of all decision points in creating the structure.

b.The recognition of performance and contributions.This should include a description of performance measurement processes used by Olympia and their relationship to various incentive plans used by Olympia. Describe these plans in detail.

4. Part 4 – Due November 28^th. Part 4 should at a minimum include:

a.Adjustment of Individual’s Base Pay.This should include a description of the process used to adjust an employee’s base pay.Include exercise 25 (the printouts of the table and graph described in points 4 & 6 on page 172, and a final printout of the table and graph after following point 8 on page 173).

b.Benefits provided by Olympia.This section should include a description of the benefits provided by Olympia and details of their administration.

The projects may be done individually or in self-chosen groups of two or three.Each phase of the project is worth 20 points.The projects are cumulative, therefore; 1) later parts should include all previous parts - revised if necessary, and 2) points given will also reflect the revisions to previous parts.Projects will be graded on quality as well as completeness.If you cannot make it to class to turn in the required project, you should fax it to me before class at (713) 743-4672.If you are working in groups, only one copy of the project should be turned in with all group member names on it.

 

ASSIGNMENT SCHEDULE

DateTopicReadings;Pages

Aug.22 Introduction to course------------

Aug.29 Introduction to Compensation Milkovich, chapts 1-2; 1-50

Sept.5 Internal Structure & Job Analysis Milkovich, chapts 3-4; 55-115

[In-class Exercise #2]

Sept. 12 Evaluating Work & International Milkovich, chapts 5, 16; 119-145 & 531-573

[In-class Exercise #6]

Sept. 19 MID-TERM #1

PROJECT PART 1 DUE

Sept. 26 Surveys and Pay Structures Milkovich, chapts 7-8; 191-272

[In-class Exercise #11]

Oct. 3 Person-based structures and Laws Milkovich, chapts 6, 17; 153-186 & 583-617

[In-class Exercise #1]

Oct. 10 Pay for Performance Milkovich, chapts 9-10; 277-338

PROJECT PART 2 DUE

Oct.17 MIDTERM #2

Oct.24 Performance Evaluation & Unions Milkovich, chapts11, 15; 353-419 & 515-528

[In-class Exercise #17]

Oct. 31 Guest Speaker

Nov.7 Benefits [In-class Exercise #22] Milkovich, chapts 12-13; 423-481

PROJECT PART 3 DUE

Nov.14 Pay Administration & Executives Milkovich, chapts 14, 18; 491-512 & 619-645

[In-class Exercise #24]

Nov.21 THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY – NO CLASS

Nov.28 MIDTERM #3

PROJECT PART 4 DUE

The schedule is tentative and may change due to situational factors.