Master of Science in Human Resource Management with an Emphasis in Diversity and Technology

The interdisciplinary course will develop highly effective transformational leaders in their respective professions who formulate sustainable, ethically sound solutions to practical management problems encountered in a complex global environment. Students will learn how to set direction and work with multiple constituencies with divergent needs through an ethical lens that includes social responsibility and the intersections of diversity, culture, and environment, and how these differences affect best practices in management in their disciplines.

The interdisciplinary Leadership and Talent Management course will enable students to acquire the skills necessary to strategically lead decisively across all functions in organizations, including recruitment and selection of employees, training and development, performance apprais- als, health and safety, labor relations, and change management. Students will be introduced to lead- ership and talent management within and across disciplines and apply strategies to the private, public and not-for-profit sectors. This course will integrate legal, management, and social science research with an action learning-based approach to executive-level leadership education. Students will have the opportunity to apply these skills through their own disciplinary lenses and will gain an in-depth understanding of how these skills are applied in other disciplines.

This course is an interdisciplinary approach to research methods and is designed to provide students with an introduction to statistical theory and practice. Students will learn how to research a current issue and interpret statistics for the fields of criminal justice, business, health sciences and public administration, assuming leadership roles in their discipline.

During the last two years​, ​the world has seen unprecedented growth in distributed employees as a consequence of COVID-19. Distributed workforces use a variety of telecommunication networks and tools to establish connectivity as well as provide organizational policies and procedures, email​, and interactive meetings. Distributed teams encompass organizations that (1) offer flexible work arrangements and whose employees work out of home offices rather than on-site​; and (2) have employees who are geographically distant. Employers have acknowledged that managing distributed employees is different than managing employees on-site, noting ​that it is difficult to keep employees engaged and connected. Thus, distributed workplaces have created challenges to organizational behavior. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has reported that the need for managers who know how to manage distributed employees is growing at a faster-than-average rate. Research has suggested that when strategically planned and implemented, distributed work programs increase productivity, increase job satisfaction, increase loyalty, ease work-life integration​, and reduce employee stress and burnout. This course will offer management and leadership strategies that will contribute to the success of organizations, including distributed organizations. You will discover how individual differences impact organizations, learn how to apply management and leadership skills to specific situations, apply proper business ethics, and examine how culture plays a role in today s global business world.

Improve your ability to communicate effectively by learning how to write for different audiences, how to create different types of documents, and how to produce verbal and visual presentations. Instruction covers computer-mediated communication, annual reports, management and business reports, methods of inquiry, nonverbal communication, intercultural communication, listening techniques, conflict management, negotiation, meeting management, formal presentations, networking, and interviewing skills.

Each year, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) reports the number of complaints of harassment and discrimination they receive due to protected categories, including: national origin, race, color, sex, genetic information, sexual harassment, age, disability, pregnancy, and retaliation. These complaints were not successfully resolved by employers. This course explores the way legislation directs and regulates the relationship between an employer and employee. Students will examine how legal principles relate to the organizations in which employees function. In addition, this course will address legal issues in non-profits and entrepreneurial firms. Students will also learn how to investigate complaints properly, as well as engage in preventative measures for harassment and discrimination.

This course will cover key principles and practices in staffing and employee development. The course curriculum focus is on interdependence of effective organizational performance with proper staffing including recruiting and selection function, and proper assessment of personnel and employment training involved in human resource management.

Henry Ford is credited with saying: "Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success." Teamwork plays a critical role in organizational success. Teamwork is important in organizations because it offers employees opportunities to collaborate with each other and thus improve their communication, social support, respect, trust and working relations. In addition, teamwork brings together diverse employees; consequently, stereotypes about diverse groups are replaced with realities. Collaborating on various projects enables employees to share responsibilities; every employee has a role that suits their expertise. Since 2020 the world has seen an unprecedented growth in distributed employees as a consequence of COVID-19. Distributed workforces use a variety of telecommunication networks and tools to establish connectivity as well as provide organizational policies and procedures, email and interactive meetings. Distributed teams encompass organizations that (1) offer flexible work arrangements and whose employees work out of home offices rather than on site and (2) have employees who are geographically distant. Employers have acknowledged that managing distributed employees is different than managing employees on site, noting it is difficult to keep employees engaged and connected. This course will provide an overview of managing virtual teams, including managing global teams. We will address conflict management, performance issues, knowledge sharing and data analytics for virtual teams.

Research has indicated that employee training is important in an organization because it allows employees to improve their skills and improve the quality of work they are providing to the organization. Furthermore, training is an essential part of every employer s safety and health program. Training protects employees from work-related injuries, but also improves productivity, performance, and morale. In addition, training in equal employment opportunity, including sexual harassment and race discrimination, is also required by law. In 2020 the world has seen an unprecedented growth in distributed employees as a consequence of COVID-19. Distributed workforces use a variety of telecommunication networks and tools to establish connectivity as well as provide organizational policies and procedures, email and interactive meetings. Distributed teams encompass organizations that (1) offer flexible work arrangements and whose employees work out of home offices rather than on site and (2) have employees who are geographically distant. This course will provide an overview of facilitating training programs in a virtual environment. We will address adult learning principles involved in the design of virtual training, strategies for engaging employees during training, the use of training methods for synchronous and asynchronous learning, and ways to assess the effectiveness of the training program.

This Capstone course for the MS in Human Resource Management with a Distributed Workforce Emphasis is the culmination of the degree program. This graduate degree program, based on the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Competency Model, will train you to strategically lead decisively across all functions of human resources in organizations, including recruitment and selection, training and development, performance appraisals, health and safety, labor relations, and communications. In this course you will be able to apply the advanced theoretical and practical knowledge attained throughout the Masters Program in Human Resource Management. In addition, you will demonstrate your understanding of the legal and human resource dimensions of organizations, including distributed workplaces, through analysis as well as integrate communication and leadership skills for remote employees. This capstone course provides you with opportunities to define, analyze and apply human resource theories and models to resolve complex organizational problems. You will learn strategic objectives to enhance organizational performance.