You are the Human Resources Director of your organization or an organization with which you are personally familiar and have access.  The Executive Director/CEO/Principal of your organization has asked

(The company at hand that will be used is United States Postal Service)

 Option 1: Original Format: You are the Human Resources Director of your organization or an organization with which you are personally familiar and have access.  The Executive Director/CEO/Principal of your organization has asked you to prepare an analysis of how various HR functions were altered during the recent pandemic and whether or not those changes should be continued into the future.  The Executive Director is particularly interested in what best practices and organizational takeaways occurred during this period of time. 

Specifically, the Executive Director has asked you to review the changes, improvements, challenges, or organizational learning that occurred in the following areas:  performance management, employee engagement, training and development, labor relations (or employee relations), and crisis management. 

Option 2:  Alternative Format:  If you are not currently affiliated with a workplace organization or you are not in a position where you can gather the type of information needed for Option 1, you may do the same assignment but from the perspective of pre-pandemic practices, pandemic practices, and post-pandemic practices, assuming a hybrid workplace where the work force has partially returned to the office and partially works at home.  Use the literature to talk about the evolution of HR practices through these three periods.  What were common best practices before the pandemic in each category below?  What changed during the pandemic and what are best practices now in each of the HR categories below.  Rely on the literature and speak generally rather than about a specific organization.  

Be sure to indicate on your title page, which option you are doing, i.e., Assignment 1: Original Format or Assignment 1: Alternative Format.

 

Assignment 3 Directions

Prepare an 8–10-page report (not counting the title page and references) in APA 7 format using the following first-level headings.

 

Introduction (Include a description of your organization, your job, and the charge the Executive Director/CEO/Principal has given you; no references required. If you are doing the Alternative Option, explain that you are discussing how HR functions have changed since before the pandemic, during the pandemic and now.  In either case, include a thesis statement clearly stating the purpose of the paper.

 

Performance Management (Examples: Performance assessment, performance feedback, Performance metrics) 

 

Employee Engagement (Examples: Empowerment, recognition programs, team building) 

 

Training and Development (Includes analysis of training needs) 

 

Labor Relations (Or Employee Relations, whichever applies) 

 

Crisis Management (Examples: Policies and procedures) 

 

Conclusion (No references required) 

 

References 

 

A Note About References:  You are required to include at least two current (2017 and newer), peer-reviewed, scholarly references in each paragraph as well as two separate references in each section, as noted above.  Some of the references may be repeated from section to section, but you must use at least eight peer-reviewed references in total. In addition to the eight scholarly articles, you may use textbook references and/or pertinent professional references from websites and publications such as SHRM.com, Forbes, and Fortune Magazines.  

Click on Rubrics to see the Grading Rubric for this assignment in this class.  The alternative rubric will be similar but without the emphasis on a specific organization.

 

 

Assignment 3 Grading Checklist
Assignment 3 Grading Checklist
Criteria	Ratings
The introduction provides a clear description of the organization, the author’s job, and the charge given by the Executive Director/CEO/Principal
The performance Management section analyzes changes, improvements, challenges, or organizational learning that occurred during the pandemic in the area of performance management
The Employee Engagement section analyzes changes, improvements, challenges, or organizational learning that occurred during the pandemic in the area of employee engagement
The Training and Development section analyzes changes, improvements, challenges, or organizational learning that occurred during the pandemic in the area of training and development, and includes an analysis of training needs
The Labor Relations section (or Employee Relations, whichever applies) analyzes changes, improvements, challenges, or organizational learning that occurred during the pandemic in the area of labor/employee relations
The Crisis Management section analyzes changes, improvements, challenges, or organizational learning that occurred during the pandemic in the area of crisis management, including policies and procedures
The conclusion provides a clear summary of the key takeaways and whether or not the changes observed should be continued into the future
The assignment is 8-10 pages and follows the required APA 7th edition format (e.g., font, margins, spacing, etc.)
Each of the five main sections has at least two current (2017 or newer), peer-reviewed, scholarly references, for a minimum of eight peer-reviewed references overall
The assignment follows the template provided in the Assignment 3 area of the Canvas course
The assignment shows exceptional command of writing conventions with few to no errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors