Public Personnel Management

Public Personnel Management

As you progress through the course, keep in mind that you will be preparing a five page research paper (title page and references not included) on a selected Public Personnel Management topic. The research paper will be due during week 6 of the course and will be worth 15% of your final grade.

Basic guidelines:

Write the paper in your own words and use the American Psychological Association (APA) Style format. An APA template is provided for your convenience in the “Instructor and Course Materials” content area.
Use 12-point font and 1 inch margins throughout the paper.
Include an APA title page (title, your name, course and section number, and date).
Body of the paper should be double-spaced and should include headers (topic) and footers (page number).
When using acronyms, define the term the first time and place the acronym in parenthesis; after that, the acronym can be used. For example, The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).
Use the word “that” when introducing restrictive clauses (clauses that are necessary to the sentence). Use “which” should be used with commas to set off unrestrictive (unnecessary) clauses.
When citing references and direct quotes, use the (APA) format, Strict compliance). (Keep paraphrasing and use of direct quotes to a minimum… less than 10% of the paper.)
Complete information on every reference used should be listed at the end of the paper on a page titled References following the APA format. Refer APA Publication Manual and/or the SPC Library Online “Citation Help” link for APA guidelines and examples as well as the APA Website: http://www.apastyle.org/learn/faqs/index.aspx

The paper itself:

Start the paper with an introduction, that includes a brief introduction to the topic and historical perspective.
Include research that has been done on the topic, personal experiences (but avoid writing in the first person perspective, i.e. “I” and “we,” information from subject matter experts, etc.
End the paper with your conclusions.
For additional academic writing guidelines see the document named “General Writing Guidelines” located in the “Instructor and Course Requirements content area.

Papers will be evaluated based on the Writing Assignment Rubric.

Citations and common student writing errors:

All references in the paper should be identified by the author s last name and year of publication; when named within the text use: Mondy (2008); when the author is not named within the text use: (“First few words in the title of the work”, 2008).
When citing a direct quote you need to include the page number from print media sources or paragraph numbers from Web page sources, i.e. According to Mondy (2008), operative employees … (p. 3) or (Mondy, 2008, p. 3) immediately followin the quote.
When a direct quote is 40 words or more the quote needs to be presented in a block quote format. When using block quotes indent the whole quote by .5 for left and right margin and remove quotation marks.
If a publication has no date use n.d. Mondy (n.d.)… or (Mondy, n.d).
If citing a personal interview include the initials and last name of the person interviewed and date that the interview was conducted. Interviews are only cited in the text, i.e. A. J. Doe (personal communication, April 1, 2000) stated… or at the end of the sentence (A. J. Doe, personal communication, April 1, 2000).
When citing Web pages most commonly you should cite the title of the page or article if there is no author: the following link will provide you the more specific information on how properly cite and reference a Web page where there is no author. Further, if there is no date of use (n.d.) in the in text citation as well as in the reference. http://www.apastyle.org/learn/faqs/web-page-no-author.aspx
A URL or references to an academic database is not necessary if a print media source is accessed electronically. Cite and reference as a print media source.
For every reference listed their needs to be one or more in text citations and for every in text citation there needs to be a reference listed.

POSSIBLE TOPICS
The following list contains possible topics for student research projects. Some of the topics are very broad in nature and would have to be further defined; however, the list provides a comprehensive overview of the many different areas that Public Personnel Management has an impact on.
Absenteeism

Family Medical Leave Act

Privatization
Affirmative Action

Flex Time

Privacy Concerns
Age Discrimination

Flexible Benefits

Public Records
Alcoholism & Work

Generational

Public Sector vs Private
ADA

Glass Ceiling

Recruitment
Apprentice Programs

Grievances

Reduced Work Weeks
Assessment Centers

Health Care

Religious Discrimination
Arbitration

HMO s

Retention Strategies
At-Will Employment

HRIS (Information Systems)

Sabbatical Leaves
Behavior Anchored Ratings

Identity Theft

Safety Concerns
Career Planning

Incentives

Selection Methods
Changing Workforce

Internet

Seniority Systems
Civil Service Systems

Interviewing

Sexual Harassment
Collective Bargaining

Job Enrichment

Smoking
Recruitment

Job Evaluation

Social Security
Compensation

Job Sharing

Stress – Burnout
Cut-back management

Labor Relations

Succession Planning
Day Care

Legal Issues

Suggestion Systems
Demographics-Labor Force

Management Development

Telecommuting
Discipline

Medical Examinations

Terminating Employees
Diversity

Mentoring

Testing
Downsizing

Modified Retirement

Time-Off Policies
Drop Programs

Moonlighting

Training
Drugs – Drug Policies

Negligent Hiring/Retention

Turnover
Early Retirement

On-line Applications

Unemployment Comp
Elder Care

OSHA

Uniform Guidelines
Employee Assistance (EAP)

Outplacement

Unions
Employee Referral Programs

Outsourcing

Wage Compression
Employee Relations

Paid Time Off

Wellness programs
Equal Pay

Peer Evaluations

Work – Life Balance
Ethics

Performance Appraisals

Workers Compensation
Executive Compensation

Personality Tests

Workplace Violence
Exit Interviews

Physical Fitness

Social Networking