OLS 581

Human Capital Management

Spring, 2023

Purdue University

Instructor-Laura Boehme, Ph.D.

LBoehme@purdue.edu
Spring Term dates: January 9, 2023 – May 6, 2023
Office Hours: By Appt (zoom or phone)

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

Managing human capital involves creating and protecting value from the tacit knowledge held by
people. With looming skill shortages in critical areas of business (e.g. organizational leadership),
alarming rates of error in professional decision making (e.g. product recalls, medical mistakes), a
decade-long fall in the share of world patents and technical papers (slipping innovative edge) and a
growing brain drain (off-shoring and talent flights due to policy and the recent “Great Resignation”) the
U.S. faces a human capital crisis.

As human capital becomes increasingly vital to organizational success, future leaders must be adept at
competing for talent, developing that talent, and ultimately, retaining that talent. Also, leaders cannot
afford to delegate important decisions about people to the HR department; rather, line leaders need to
be actively leading all key talent decisions. The goal is that by the end of the course, students will have a
greater appreciation for the importance of human capital for achieving organizational goals.

We will investigate strategies for being leaders in human capital development. Utilizing HR Analytics,
students will explore and understand current issues, approaches, and practices for measuring,
maximizing and maintaining the human capital assets of an organization for competitive advantage.
Specifically, we will focus on the processes of talent acquisition, total reward systems, learning and
development, talent management, and career/succession planning and understand how these human
capital processes impact both the success of the organizational strategy and the engagement of people.

3 credit hours, Pre-requisites: graduate student status. Per Purdue requirements, this online course
consists of approximately 6-7 hours of assignments/work per week to account for what would be in-
class and out of class time.

REQUIRED TEXT AND MATERIALS:

Required Textbook #1: Humanizing Human Capital (HHC book)

Charas, S. & Lupushor, S. (2022). Humanizing human capital. Dallas, TX: Ben Bella and Matt Holt.

Required Online Textbook #2 Human Resources Management (OER book)

Open Education Resources (OER) Textbook, Technology, and Materials. This textbook is a resource,
supporting the primary textbook.

Note: Textbook available free online from https://open.lib.umn.edu/humanresourcemanagement/.

Students can access the book using the link provided and download as a PDF or Electronic Book. Access
the chapters online by using the “contents” link in the upper left corner.

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OER Publisher Information: University of Minnesota Libraries; Publication Date EBook ISBN DOI
March 22, 2016 978-1-946135-11-7 Digital Object Identifier (DOI);
https://dx.doi.org/10.24926/8668.0801

COURSE GOALS/OBJECTIVES:

The primary goals of this course are to help students become more effective organizational and human
resource leaders by sharpening their critical thinking, problem solving, and communication skills through
careful analysis of the intersection of policy, law, and ethics for global leaders. Students will examine
how good leaders are strategic, ethical, effective, inspiring, and distinguish themselves in the ways they
invest in and care about the people with whom they work. Good leaders actions and interactions inspire
the trust and confidence of others. Good leaders understand that issues may be vague, complex or
oversimplified. They know the real issue in decision making is often not what we can do, but what we
should do together. Sometimes, operations, compliance and process is just not enough, but rather
strategically investing in, developing and utilizing the human capital necessary to achieve amazing
outcomes. Good leaders proceed with an inclusive and expansive vision and purpose, while inspiring
good people and organizations to accomplish great things. 

For the purpose of this course and our common understanding, our definition of Human Capital
Management (HCM) will be: A set of practices related to people resource management. These practices
are focused on the organizational need to provide specific competencies and are implemented in three
categories: workforce acquisition, workforce management and workforce optimization.

The applications and concepts that help to enable human capital management include:

Core administrative support:

 Personnel administration
 Payroll
 Benefits administration
 Portal/employee self-service/service center activities
 Employee Relations
 Legal Compliance
 Labor relations

Strategic HCM support:

 Workforce planning
 Competency management
 Performance management
 Compensation planning and strategy
 Time and expense management
 Learning (education and training)

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 Recruitment (hiring and recruitment)

 Onboarding
 Organization visualization, culture, diversity/inclusion
 Globalization

HCM Analytics/Measurement:
 Reporting and analytics (workforce analytics)
 Workflow

20 Principles – Humanizing Human Capital ( https://www.humanizinghumancapital.com/blog)

 Treat everyone as a prospect
 Treat prospects like customers
 Promote your brand strengths
 Create a humanized interviewing experience
 Hire for a career, not a job
 Automate and humanize
 Be mindful of the worker experience
 Personalize the progression path
 Redefining the social contract: amplifying each other’s brands
 Shift focus from performance to impact
 Be inclusive by design
 Become a partner in the worker’s development
 Develop workers to enhance impact and promote brand
 Learn in the flow of work
 Enable and empower the team
 Turn transparency into your friend
 Create a customer-grade experience for your workers
 Treat people well on the way out
 Transform the relationship
 Telegraph the right message to the organization

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Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs)

What you should be able to do as a result of this course

Core Administrative Support:

1. Identify the conceptual differences, similarities, and connections between human resource
management and human capital management.
2. Demonstrate the importance of and relationships between transactional and transformational HCM
activities.
3. Describe and design solutions that maximize the human capital of an organization through the
processes of acquiring, supporting, developing, and retaining key talent.

Strategic and HCM Analytics/Measurement:

4. Utilize research, data, and analytics to identify gaps in current human capital processes and develop
recommendations to optimize results to achieve organizational strategies.
5. Apply strategic human capital management principles and concepts in alignment with workforce
planning and development efforts.
6. Explore and assess the impacts of a results-oriented performance culture model.
7. Identify and discover the various roles that leaders play within an organization related to human
capital management in order to more effectively encourage functional roles and reduce the impact
of dysfunctional roles.

Scholarly Application:

8. Assess and apply case studies and academic research techniques in order to demonstrate scholarly
methodologies and approaches.
9. Critically assess the merits of various references and sources.
10. Identify the differences between quality and non-quality citations.
11. Conduct proper academic research and utilize APA formatting.
12. Assess academic research techniques.

20 Principles – Humanizing Human Capital (https://www.humanizinghumancapital.com/blog )

13. Identify HCM principles to best address human capital investment and development.
14. Apply HCM principles in appropriate business and human resource situations and scenarios.

BrightSpace
This course is delivered online via Brightspace, where you will interact with your classmates and your
instructor. You will access the learning materials within the course site, such as the syllabus, class
discussions, assignments, and projects.

Communication
Please post all course-related questions in the Q&A Discussion Forum so that the whole class may
benefit from our conversation. Please contact me privately via email for matters of a personal nature. I

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will reply to course-related questions within 24-48 hours. I will strive to return your assignments and
grades for course activities to you within one week of the due date.

Weekly Schedule
The typical weekly schedule for the course will start on Mondays and end the following Monday by
midnight. This will allow students 8 days to access and complete assignments. Note: there may be
periodic assignments with different deliverables. See weekly announcements, and the assignment
schedule in BrightSpace.

Evaluation of student performance

Learning
Assignments Points
Outcomes
Discussions (5 x 5 pts each) 25 1 – 7; 13-14
Application/Critical Thinking Assignments (11 x 10 pts each) 110 1 - 14
Mind Maps/Graphic Organizers (5 X 10 pts each) 50 1-14
Case Study Exploration (3 X 15 pts each) 45 4-14
Journal Article Research (3 x 10 pts each) 30 8-14
HCM Paper Proposal 25 1-4,7,8-14
HCM Paper Peer Review 25 8-14
Final HCM Paper 100 1-14
Total Points 410

GRADING BREAKDOWN:

A 95-100%
A- 90-94%
B+ 87-89%
B 83-86%
B- 80-82%
C+ 76-79%
C 72-75%
C- 70-71%
D+ 67-69%
D 63-66%
D- 60-62%
F < 60%

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CALENDAR AND SCHEDULE OF COURSE DELIVERABLES

Week – due date Activities

Week 1-start Monday, January 9,  Intro and Chapter 1 HHC book; Chapter 1 OER book – Roles HRM/HCM
2023 – end Tuesday, January 18, 2023  Discussion: Introduction and What you do/do not know re: HCM
(*end date due to MLK holiday)  Application/Critical Thinking: Leadership vs. Management
Week 2-1/23  Chapter 2 HHC book; Chapter 2 OER book – Strategic HRM and
Technology Redefining the Workplace
 Application/Critical Thinking Activity
Week 3-1/30  Chapter 3 HHC book – Data Analytics and Decision-making
 Application/Critical Thinking Activity
 Resource: Graphic Organizer 1
Week 4-2/6  Chapter 4 HHC book; Chapter 3 OER book – Value Creation/Diversity
and Multiculturalism
 Application/Critical Thinking Activity
 Scholarly: Journal Article Research Part I (HCM topic identification)
Week 5-2/13  Chapter 5 and Part 2 Intro HHC book – Future of Work
 Discussion
 Application/Critical Thinking: Case Exploration 1
 Scholarly: Human Capital Management paper proposal
Week 6-2/20  Chapter 6 HHC book; Chapter 4 OER book – Brand Discovery,
Recruitment
 Application/Critical Thinking Activity
 Resource: Graphic Organizer 2
Week 7-2/27  Chapter 7 HHC book; Chapter 5 OER book - Interview and Selection
 Application/Critical Thinking Activity
 Scholarly: Journal Article Research Part 2 (HCM topic refinement)
Week 8-3/6  Chapter 8 HHC book; Chapter 7 OER book – Path to Success –
Motivation and Retention
 Discussion
 Application/Critical Thinking Activity
Week 9-3/12 * due date change for  Chapter 9 HHC book; Chapters 10, 11 OER book – Value Contract –
Spring vacation Performance Management, Inclusivity
 Application/Critical Thinking Activity
 Resource: Graphic Organizer 3
March 13 – 17 – Spring Vacation  Have Fun!
Weeks 10 and 11 – 3/27  Chapter 10 HHC book; Chapter 8 OER book – Growth, Development,
and Training
 Discussion
 Application/Critical Thinking: Case Exploration 2
Week 12-4/3  Chapter 11 HHC book; Chapter 6 OER book – Work/Life Balance;
Compensation and Benefits
 Application/Critical Thinking Activity
 Resource: Graphic Organizer 4
Week 13-4/10  Chapter 12 HHC book; Chapter 9 OER book – Exit Strategies; Employee

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Communications
 Application/Critical Thinking Activity
 Scholarly: Journal Article Research Part 3 (Globalization; Leadership)
Week 14 – 4/17  Chapter 14 HHC book; Chapters 12-13 – Business culture, Labor
Unions, Safety
 Application/Critical Thinking: Case Exploration 3
 Scholarly: Peer Review Human Capital Management Paper (draft)
Week 15 – 4/24  Chapter 15 HHC book; Chapter 14 OER Book – What’s Next in HCM
and HRM
 Discussion
 Application/Critical Thinking Activity
 Resource: Graphic Organizer 5
Week 16 and Finals -5/3  Final Course Reflection/Discussion
 Human Capital Management- Final Paper due

Grading and Course Success

Grading and assessment will be based on the rubrics provided in BrightSpace for the applicable
assignments. Some rubrics are provided here in the syllabus. It is highly recommended that you support
any argument you make, and use examples from the text to help substantiate these claims. Cite, cite,
cite, using APA format. A comment without a citation is merely conjecture and/or commentary.
Students are expected to read and use reference materials when responding to assignments and in the
analysis of case studies. The use of citations is encouraged to go beyond the textbook to include
additional references from journal articles.

Use the most recent edition of the Purdue University APA format guide -
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/
general_format.html. Other resources can included the Cornell University APA format guide at
http://www.library.cornell.edu/resrch/citmanage/apa.

To be successful in this course, students should also turn in work on time, demonstrate academic
integrity, conduct themselves in a professional manner, and actively demonstrate eagerness by
conducting quality research, identifying additional material and contributing those resources to the
discussions. The following descriptions of assignments are also included on brightspace:

Primary Assessments/Activities

Weekly Chapter Readings

Each week students will be assigned a chapter (or chapters) from the required textbook. These chapters
will introduce students to the main concepts that support human capital management as well as provide
reflective questions, real-life scenarios, and opportunities for critical thinking and reflection.

Discussion Boards

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Students will engage with one another over the term on HCM topics aimed at encouraging reflection,
collaboration, and personal/professional growth. Students are expected to address the assigned topic in
a collegial and engaging manner and respond to other students’ posts in a timely manner.

Application/Critical Thinking
Students will complete weekly application and critical thinking assignments on the various HCM topics.
These activities will immerse the student in the materials and allow further exploration and
demonstration of key academic, professional, and HCM skills.

Mindmap/Graphic Organizer
Students will create a mindmap/graphic organizer starting in Week 3 for the various HCM concepts,
principles, and approaches they are learning. The students will continue to develop the mindmap over
the term with (5) total submissions, each demonstrating their new learning and comprehension of the
learning materials and concepts. The intent of the activity is to allow the student to make connections
between various elements of the course as they relate to developing a comprehensive approach to
HCM.

Case Study Practice

Each student will be expected to complete (3) Case Study Practice assignments to gain exposure and
confidence with case study methods and recommendations. Students will share their findings with the
class, and participate in a class discussion about the case study. These activities will provide students
opportunities to examine and explore HCM case studies as a learner and practitioner.

Journal Article Research

Students will conduct ongoing research on HCM practices for the purpose of identifying a topic for their
final HCM paper. This activity will expose students to the many areas of HCM that exist and create new
awareness about the broad spectrum of opportunities for learners and practitioners of HCM. Students
will first identify HCM topics, then refine their topic, and finally incorporate globalization and leadership
ideas into their topic.

Human Capital Management paper proposal – due end of 5th week of semester
Students will develop a proposal for their final paper on a topic related to Human Capital Management.
Students should also include aspects of globalization and leadership in their proposal and final paper.
Students will have opportunities during the term to conduct journal research to find and refine a topic.

The proposal should include a brief overview of the topic that you plan to develop, a brief outline of the
proposed paper, and a list of at least three to five preliminary reference sources.  The purpose of the
assignment is to synthesize the scope of your paper. This proposal will be the first phase in the creation
of this paper. The topic of your paper should be based on your background, interests and any appealing
focus area of Human Capital Management. Elements of globalization and leadership should be included.
Proposal Length: 1 page, following APA format and requirements.

Human Capital Management – Final Paper – due during finals week

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Purdue University

Students will research and write a scholarly paper on Human Capital Management (HCM) based on the
concepts and principles learned this semester. The final paper will allow student to demonstrate
scholarly proficiency in assembling thoughts and writing on a topic of Human Capital Management
based on the class objectives, class content, and your own particular interest, and should serve to
further detail and research an area of Human Capital Management (and globalization). This is the
capstone project of the course and may be related to an issue presented in any of the learning materials
presented this semester. After their proposal is approved, students can begin to research the proposed
topic, organize their ideas, and write a research paper on this topic. The paper has a 5-page minimum
with no maximum (does not include tables, figures, and references). The paper will be expected to
depict a) review of “quality” literature (references) related to the topic, b) careful organization and
writing, c) attention to proper APA style citation form, d) appropriate grammar, and e) attributes of
publish-ability. Minimum expectation for references: At least 5 citations from the course texts and/or
learning materials; 2-3 references from books; 3-5 references from academic journal articles; and 2
references from current events news (magazines, newspapers, websites, broadcast media). (minimum
of 12). Expectation for page length: At least 5 pages. Note: Students will conduct a peer review of
another student’s draft HCM paper in Week 14 – this assignment will be 25 pts.

POLICIES/RUBRICS:

Late Penalties:

Since this is an online course, an emphasis is on student responsibility for learning through active
application of course content in assignments, research, and through individual participation in
discussion boards. Late work will not be accepted without prior authorization from the instructor. If you
need accommodations for a late submission, please contact your instructor to discuss your situation.
Additionally, the number of students in the course makes managing late work untenable.

Academic Integrity:
Academic Dishonesty Statement: Purdue prohibits "dishonesty in connection with any University activity.
Cheating, plagiarism, or knowingly furnishing false information to the University are examples of
dishonesty." [Part 5, Section III-B-2-a, University Regulations] Furthermore, the University Senate has
stipulated that "the commitment of acts of cheating, lying, and deceit in any of their diverse forms (such as
the use of substitutes for taking examinations, the use of illegal cribs, plagiarism, and copying during
examinations) is dishonest and must not be tolerated. Moreover, knowingly to aid and abet, directly or
indirectly, other parties in committing dishonest acts is in itself dishonest." [University Senate Document
72-18, December 15, 1972]. More information regarding Purdue’s student guide for academic integrity can
be found at http://www.purdue.edu/odos/osrr/academicintegritybrochure.php.

Accommodation:

Please let me know if you might need an accommodation that would better help your performance in
our classroom environment. I will try the best as I can to find a reasonable solution that will help you
out.