BUS 335 Human Resource Management, Edinger: Home

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BUS 335 Team Project

The project consists of a written paper and an oral debate.  Teams will be assigned either the affirmative or the negative side of a controversial issue in human resource management.  You will research the issue and draft a paper structured to convince the reader of the merits of your position.  The paper must use scholarly, authoritative sources as well as current periodicals such as The Wall Street Journal or Business Week.  The paper should also incorporate information from respected organizations’ websites or published materials regarding how these businesses are handling the issue.  Websites from consulting companies, Wikipedia, and other popular web sources are not acceptable.  Additionally, the two teams assigned opposing sides of an issue will participate in a debate where you will work to convince your classmates of the superiority of your position.

The written portion of the project is due on or before the beginning of class on April 4, 2019.  Debates sessions follow, according to the course schedule.

Debate Topics

Paper Guidelines:

• The written paper should describe the controversy, analyze both sides of the topic, and present compelling arguments for why your side is the correct one. 
• Use a title page.  An example is posted on the eLearn system.
• The paper should be between twelve and fifteen typed, double-spaced pages in 12 point Times New Roman font.  The page count does not include title or reference pages.
• Use one inch margins on all edges.
• Write an appropriate introduction, section transitions, and a conclusion. An abstract is not necessary.  It is important for the paper to read as if written by one person.
• Use section headings and sub-headings where appropriate to improve readability. 
• References must be correctly cited within the body of the paper.  APA style is required.
• Each paragraph in the paper should include at least one citation unless it is general introductory information.  The paper should include citations from at least 8 different sources.  At least 3 of these must be from good-quality peer-refereed scholarly journals.  These might include human resource journals such as Gender Work & Organization, Human Resource Management, Human Resource Management Journal, Human Resource Management Review, International Journal of Human Resource Management, Personnel Psychology, Personnel Review, Work and Occupations, Work Employment & Society, or journals from other related fields, such as organizational behavior, general management, economics or public policy.  If you are uncertain if a publication qualifies as a good-quality peer-refereed source, ask a librarian or contact me.  You may use (and cite) your textbook as a starting point when introducing your topic, but it should not be a significant source of information since you are expected to use scholarly sources to provide more detail than a text would provide. 
• Sources beyond the peer-refereed journal articles must be from a combination of reliable current periodicals such as The Wall Street Journal, Business Week, Financial Times, Forbes and other similar publications as well as company websites or published materials that describe how a specific well-known organization is managing the controversial issue.

Pay close attention when presenting the information from your sources so as not to plagiarize.  Use direct quotations or paraphrase properly paying particular attention to the definition of terms in the text—do not copy them directly without quotation marks or significant rephrasing.  Ask a Writing Tutor if you are unsure about how to properly cite material in your paper and how to prepare a reference page. ​

Debate Guidelines:

• Each debate will last approximately 20 minutes.  All team members are expected to share responsibility for speaking equally.  Organize your materials ahead of time so that you are able to respond to comments made by the other team involved in your debate.
• Your team’s initial speech should be prepared in advance.  This should be 2-3 minutes long and should give an overview of the major arguments you will use to uphold your case. 
• Beyond the initial speeches, this is an extemporaneous speaking exercise, so you do not need to prepare slides or practice the debate in advance.  You should, however, spend some time discussing what the most important points are that your team wants to make during the debate, and what points you believe the other team might focus on.  Where possible, you will want to try to rebut or cast doubt on the points made by the opposing team.
• Your job during the debate is to convince your classmates that your position on the issue is the stronger one.
• Business casual attire is appropriate for the debates