Master of Science in Human Resource Management PREPARATION GUIDELINES for the COMPREHENSIVE EXAMINATION
CASE STUDY FORMAT
I. General.
A. For those students who fail the examination or require remediation, it is usually not a lack of managerial knowledge that causes them difficulty, but a failure to organize and present that knowledge effectively in answering the three questions asked.
B. The comprehensive examination is 6 hours long. That is just enough time. It is not the amount of time available that can cause problems, but how it is organized and used.
C. Since you are completing the examination on the computer, remember to save often to the A: drive.
II. Getting Prepared.
Note: The clock symbol (¿) to the left of each task shows the total time, in hours and minutes, that should have elapsed from the start time of the examination by the time you begin the task described in that paragraph. The recommended planning time for each task is given at the end of the paragraph. You can practice specific components of the examination in advance by timing yourself on one task at a time.
0:00 A. When the examination period starts, scan the case study and highlight key ideas. In doing so, identify the organization’s stated or implied mission, objectives, strategies, threats and opportunities, and strengths and weaknesses. Where is the company today? Where does it need to be in the future? Also, highlight any and all discussions of HR actions or policies that you find. Be aware of the links between the overallstrategy and HR plans as separate but related issues. Planning time 1:00 hour.
1:00 B. Next, outline your answers to each of the three questions asked. Use the inside cover of the first blue book, for example, to outline your answer to the first two questions. Do the same in your second blue book for your answer to the third question. A good outline is an important first step toward a “Pass” grade! Planning time 0:30.
III. Negotiating the Questions.
Question 1. Identify and discuss key issues and problems related to the fit between the organization’s current (implied or stated) business strategy and its (implied or stated) HR strategic plan and practices.
1:30 A. The most important consideration is to answer the question as asked. Identify the organization’s current (a) mission, (b) objectives, and (c) strategies (stated or implied), applied to the business as a whole—not just HR. If any of these are not stated explicitly in the case, then explain what you think they probably are!Planning time 0:30 (1½-2 pages).
2:00 B. Next, identify the stated or impliedHR strategy (see the bullet notes below). Planning time 0:30 (1½-2 pages).
- HR Strategy. From your reading of the case, what is HR trying to do? Write one or two sentences to describe the firm’s strategy ineach HR area.
- HR Fit. How well does the HR strategy support the objectives of the business? Discuss where the “fit” is good and where it is poor. This should lead you to identify HR problems and issues that need to be addressed.
Question 2. Formulate an HR Strategic Plan to resolve key issues identified above, citing appropriate research and theoretical concepts to support your recommendation. With specific reference to the appropriate component listed below, explain how your proposed HR Strategic Plan supports the current business strategy.
1. HR Planning 5. Compensation & Benefits
2. Staffing 6. Health & Safety
3. Training & Development 7. Employee Relations
4. Performance Management 8. Work Systems/Job Design
2:30 A. Formulate your HR Strategic Plan. Examine the eight HR functional areas listed in Question 2 above. If an area is an HR strength, then your action plan should be to keep it, reinforce it, or strengthen it. If so, then restate what the organization is doing with it and why it is a strength. If an area is an HR weakness, then your plan should be to fix it or improve it. Show how you would do this by outlining the specific steps that you would take to make thatHR activity “fit.” If the case does not address a functional area, then outline what you would do in that HR activity to support the organization’s proposed mission, objectives, and strategies. Planning time 1:00 (½ page per area).
3:30 B. Now write a paragraph explaining how your proposed HR Strategic Plan supports the current business strategy. This should be a summary paragraph that pulls together the ideas you have just elaborated. Planning time 0:30 (½ page).
Question 3. Elaborate, as appropriate, the two HR activities (from those listed below) that should be key components of the HR strategic plan you discussed in Question 2. Be specific, and explain how those activities combine to support the HR Strategic Plan.
4:00 Now, address in detail two of the HR functional areas that you addressed in Question 2 above. Approach these in the same basic way as in Question 2, but make this treatment more thorough and specific. You action plan here should tell what you intend to do in detail and how you intend to do it. Planning time 1:30, or 0:45 per area (2-3 pages per area).
Again, it is not showing what you know in general about each functional activity that is important. Rather, what is important is to show what you know applied as an HR Plan for thisorganization (case situation).
IV. Review Your Work.
5:30 The final step to ensure your success in this examination is to read through what you have just spent the past 300 minutes writing. Now is not the time to make major changes, but look for coherence in your choice of words, and correct errors. Planning time 0:30.
6:00 Save your work. Inhale. Exhale. Assemble your materials. Turn everything in.
V. Critical Knowledge Areas.
Certain specific concepts are invariably likely to be present in your comprehensive examination. Be prepared to use them correctly and in the appropriate context:
• Job Analysis • Training Evaluation • External/Internal Recruitment
• Job Evaluation • Types of Benefits • Organizational Culture Change
• Career Planning • Types of Compensation • Organizational Change Methods
• Methods of Training • Validating Selection Tools • Types of Performance Appraisal
VI. Final Comment.
Do not just “show & tell” everything you know about the activity you are addressing. Rather, focusyour discussion on those areas within each activity that apply to the organization, given your previously identified Mission, Goals and Objectives, and Strategy. Don’t simply discuss what is going on in the case; analyze it. You must go into a sufficientlydetailed discussion that shows both your knowledge of the activity and how you can apply what you know to the organization in the case, to meet Question 3’s more detailed discussion standards.
