Research Paper

During the course, you will write a research paper on a DIRECT COMPENSATION (not benefits) topic of your choice approved in advance by the instructor (submit topic to dropbox by due date and see approval / comments returned).

Consistent with good management practice your compensation research and recommendations (based on your research) should be clearly stated, provide supporting statements justified on the basis of empirical data, strategic, practical, competitive, economic, legal, regulatory, ethical, and alternative considerations.

Why is research so important in this course?

Human resource professionals must be masters at researching issues and keep current with trends, legal and regulatory issues. To stay current or to provide effective recommendations to your organization, you must provide information and data that is objective, current and accurate to be effective.

Thinking about what to research? I would suggest you skim through the textbook and find an area that you want to learn more about. In general, go with a narrow topic as it will be easier to get focused research on.

The focus of the paper is on objective research and analysis.

Use only current U.S. sources unless the approved topic is based on international issues.

The topic MUST be focused on direct compensation as we have discussed in class. You may want to do some advance checking on research sources before submission.

DO NOT SUBMIT TOPICS RELATED TO EMPLOYEE BENEFIT PROGRAMS such as paid time off, tuition reimbursement, health care, employee loyalty awards, etc!

One of my "pet peeves" is grammatical and spelling errors. Please make every effort to write clearly and avoid these errors. It is very difficult to proofread your own documents. Please have a friend or colleague proofread your papers for content, clarity, spelling, grammar and sound logic.

If you have concerns on your writing, please use the Metro State writing center for assistance. It is a free service and most students find it very beneficial.

Each paper should contain reference citations and a bibliography/ resource page with all sources or quotes clearly identified. Any statements made beyond common sense or general knowledge should be used as quotes or noted using APA standards. As stated above, students are required to use external research beyond the internet.

WIKIPEDIA, USA TODAY, BUSINESSBALLS.COM, TIME, NEWSWEEK, FORTUNE, COMPUTERWORLD, DICTIONARY.COM AND SIMILAR SOURCES ARE NOT ACCEPTABLE! Be cautious of using consultant based web sites. Do not use company web sites as sources.

Papers should have the student name on them AND on the file names submitted (don't laugh- I list this requirement for a reason), be typed, double spaced documents with the student name(s) typed on a cover page. Papers are to be submitted via the course dropbox - BE SURE TO INCLUDE YOUR NAME ON THE FILENAME. Use APA standards when writing your paper- information is available on APA standards on the school's website.

Note the length requirements. The research paper should be a minimum of 10 - 12 pages with double spacing. Please try to contain the writing within this length; however no penalty is made for going over this limit. The length requirement does not include cover page, abstract, reference page, attachments with charts, graphs and supporting documents.

Use credible research sites and support any statements made. In general, use current research sources that are relatively recent (within the past few years) to keep current. Use US sources only. Use the MSU librarians for assistance. This paper is a significant portion of the course grade- treat it as such.

I would expect at least six academic / scholarly sources or peer reviewed articles from professional journals, formal academic studies (not from consultants) etc. More academic/scholarly articles will improve the quality of paper and therefore your grade. Use research sources to SUPPORT but not REPLACE your writing. In general, quotes from sources should not be more than 20-25% of the total content.

Personal experience may not be the best information. Do NOT write about personal experiences or your organizations compensation program, interview friends, colleagues, family members, HR persons working in companies for this assignment! Do not use company information or websites as sources.

This is a Compensation class and therefore the focus needs to be on designing a pay system that motivates employees. Here you can include the motivational theories and how different pay systems tap into the various motivational theories to increase performance and focus behaviors. So, the main focus needs to be on pay systems.

You can do your paper on pay for performance systems. You can tie in all those motivational theories, but use those as the basis for why certain pay for performance systems work and some don't, because the pay system does not match the motivational theories.

Group work with individual pay for performance would violate expectancy theory beliefs, etc. The pay system must support the design of the job and the motivational theory.

Anticipated sources for this research will include scholarly articles, books from the library, text book Compensation, (Milkovich,Newman, Gerhart, 2014), articles from shrm.org, hr.com, smallbusiness.org, class discussions, and possibly other scholarly papers written by students in master's programs.