GINT 773 focuses upon public personnel administration, or as it is often know today Human Resource Management. This is an overview course in which we will attempt to give you a general understanding of the components of personnel management and some of the issues public managers confront as they deal with employees. We will be using one primary text and a supplemental textbook. In addition we will have guest speakers talk with the class to elaborate upon topics you will be reading about and to give you exposure to actual administrative settings and personnel involved in administering human resource policy today.

Texts:

Stephen E. Condrey (ed). Handbook of Human Resource Management in Government. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1998.

Ellen Rosen. Improving Public Sector Productivity: Concepts and Practices. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications, 1993 (paper).

Assignments: You will have three major assignments in addition to a final exam. Your first assignment concerns your weekly readings. Using the questions that I have prepared for you, you will write responses and organize them in a notebook organized by topic. I will check each week to see that you have written responses. Failure to have done so will result in a deduction of 5 points. At the end of the course, I will collect your notebooks and review them and assign a grade for the notes. Deductions will come from that grade. This will be 25 percent of your grade. Assignment number two is a practicum assignment. You are to find actual examples of employee appraisal forms and processes and bring them to class to review with the class and critique. You may do this as a group rather than as individuals. We will organize groups in class and assign people to them. This assignment is due October 4^th. This will be 25 percent of your grade. Assignment number three involves writing. You are to read the supplemental text by Rosen and write a book review. The review should be 8 to 10 pages, single spaced. This will also be 25 percent of your grade. Finally you will have a take home final which will be 25 percent of your grade.

Evaluation: The assignments discussed above and final exam each are 25 percent of your grade. The exam will be given to you on or about November 22. In addition, class participation will also be considered in determining each student's final grade. Attendance is required and excessive absences (more than 10 percent) may result in a grade reduction.

Students may contact me by phone or email. If you have questions about the class or the assignments, feel free to contact me. Also, if you know you will be absent, or have something unusual occur that will affect your attendance or performance in class, let me know. Conferences may be arranged by appointment by talking to me before or after class, or by phone or email. Syllabi and other class materials are also available from my web site should you need additional copies. I also have style guidelines to assist you there should they be needed and guidelines for your book review.