Human Resource Manangement

Order Description

Choose one essay to write about from file “short essay questions”, the relavent file to the essay is in file “Top Pay”and “Marsden”, make sure you use them as stated in the essay question.

Use about 9 references from the file “reading pack” and rest from other up to date academic articles.

“module outline” and “assessment criteria” are there to guide this essay.

BUS 320: Employment Relations
General Essay Guidelines

Structure

You essay should contain an introduction, main body, conclusion and a bibliography.

Introduction

A short introduction stating the goal of the paper and how it is organized helps the reader to understand and follow your argument. It will also help you to stick to the point and maintain an organized approach. Answer the question in the first paragraph, and then explain how you intend to go about supporting this answer in the body of your essay (statement of intent). Don’t go off into page-long descriptions of various theories without explaining how you propose to use these to answer the question or to prove a particular point.

Main Body

Literature review
A review of the literature should follow. The reviewed literature should be summarised and applied to the question at hand. It can be useful to go outside of the course readings for additional insight. The use of personal, professional, or published cases as support of an argument are also encouraged, but only when they support your argument. Both theoretical and empirical work should be cited.

Definition of terms
Be sure to define terms so the reader knows what you mean when you use them. Even if there are many available definitions, pick one to use for your essay. You might choose to include your definitions in your introduction.

Answering the question
Be sure to address and answer the question. Summarise the literature review and relate it back to the question. Use your time, effort and space effectively to argue your case. Ask yourself when writing, “Is this necessary to support my answer?” Long lists of every single aspect of a theory are of no use unless they have relevance to the question at hand. A short summary of the list would probably better serve time restrictions and the focus of your paper. Remember to address both sides of the issue. If the essay question asks you to “critically evaluate” a given statement, don’t just provide evidence for why this statement might be true. Explore reasons why it may be false. At the end, weigh up the evidence and come down on either one side or the other (or explain why you might prefer to sit on the fence).

Continuity
Link one paragraph to the next. E.g., if you’re switching from discussing motivation theories to explaining what performance related pay is, make it obvious how one relates to the other or how you plan to link the two later in your paper.

Citations
All statements of fact or empirical findings must be supported by cites inserted in the text. Ask yourself, “Who says so, or how do I know this?” For instance, if you write, “Studies have shown performance-related pay to be an effective motivational tool under certain circumstances”, make sure to show that you are not making this evidence up yourself. Cite the author(s) whose study provided the evidence by following the sentence with parentheses containing the author’s name and the date of the publication, e.g. (Smith et al., 1983). You might also wish to give a brief description of the study in question and its findings. Include the page number of the original document if you are using a direct quote from the author. All of these cites should then be listed in the Bibliography. Any author cited in-text must be included in the Bibliography, unless you state in the citation that you got the information from a cite in another author’s article: e.g., (Jones, 1981, cited in Smith et al., 1983). In this case, only Smith et al. need to be included in the Bibliography.

Conclusion
The conclusion should contain a summary of your case with references back to your strongest points. Again, the answer to your question should be clearly stated. Your conclusion should not contain any new information, theories or arguments.

Bibliography

The Bibliography should be on a separate page at the end of the essay. Use single spacing and separate each reference with a blank space. Examples of how to reference:

1. A journal article:
Barrett, A. and O’Connell, P.J. (2001) “Does training generally work? The returns to in-company training”, Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 54(3), 647-662

2. An article or chapter in a book:
Salas, E., Cannon-Bowers, J., Rhodenizer, L. and Clint B., (1999) Training in Organisations: Myths, misconceptions and mistaken assumptions in Ferris G.R. (ed) Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management, Vol. 17 pp123-161 Stamford, CT: JAI Press.

3. A whole book:
Beardwell, I. and Holden, L.  (2001) Human Resource Management: A Contemporary Approach, Prentice Hall: London.

Do not include any references to materials that have not been cited in the text of your essay. If you read the article or book but did not cite it within your essay, it should not be listed in your Bibliography.

Content

Your essay grade will be based on:

1. Clear organisation of ideas

2. Effective introduction and conclusion

3. Answering the question(s)

4. Understanding of material used

5. Relevance of material used

6. Awareness and understanding of different perspectives

7. Use of supporting evidence

8. Appropriate range of reading

9. Clarity of expression, sentence structure.

10. Referencing and Bibliography

11. Syntax, grammar, spelling (use Spellcheck!)