Business Management with an Option in Human Resources

Program Goal and Outcomes

Program Goal
To prepare students for entry-level employment in human resources management and provide a foundation for further training.

Program Outcomes
Upon completion of the program, students will be able to...

• Demonstrate effective written and interpersonal communication skills.
• Demonstrate a high level of inquiry, analytical, and problem-solving skills.
• Demonstrate effective quantitative skills.
• Demonstrate computer and information literacy.
• Demonstrate an understanding of the liberal arts, natural sciences, and social sciences.
• Demonstrate an understanding of the principles and processes involved in the functional areas and the need for collaboration among the different functions.
• Discuss the management function and its application to the business organization.
• Understand the steps of the accounting cycle and utilize financial document information as a management planning tool.
• Discuss and apply ethical and legal standards to the business environment.
• Demonstrate an understanding of economics and the business economy.
• Discuss the fundamentals of human resources as they relate to the business environment.
• Describe the basic components, development, implementation, and maintenance of a total compensation package.
• Describe the legally required social insurance programs for employees in the United States, the difference between group and individual insurance, and the requirements for qualified pension plans.
• Discuss the interaction between organized labor unions and company management pertaining to rights and responsibilities, negotiations, and collective bargaining.
• Explain accepted theories regarding training and the management of the training function in organizations; identify successful and unsuccessful training practices.

Semester 1

Basic Skills Assessment
All degree applicants are required to complete two Basic Skills Assessments, one in reading and one in math, to determine their level of readiness for beginning their selected program. Additional studies may be required.

Business Orientation (1 credit)
Succeed by learning how to use your Penn Foster program, and learn how to effectively manage your time, talents, and resources in your personal life, academics, and in your career.

Objectives:

• Understand how to use your Student Portal.
• Access the Penn Foster Community and use it to find answers.
• Connect with Penn Foster on various social media sites.
• Examine your individual life goals and the steps needed to fulfill them.
• Recognize how your personal financial goals mirror that of most businesses.
• Use time management skills to make the most of your day.
• Determine personal financial goals.
• Set up a typical budget.
• Explain why creative thinking, research, planning, gathering resources, and production and marketing are vital for the start-up and maintenance of a business.

Information Literacy (1 credit)
Get better at finding and using information!

Objectives:

• Search the Internet more effectively.
• Get tips about search engines and reliable websites.
• Learn how to search libraries and other information centers for important, useful information.

Graded Project

Introduction to Business (3 credits)
This course outlines the elements of business and the challenges businesses face in a global environment, such as competition and economic factors. You'll learn why accounting, technology and information systems, marketing, and management are essential to starting and growing a business. You'll also learn the basics of managing financial and human resources and the ethical and social responsibilities required of a successful manager.

Objectives:

• Identify different elements that distinguish capitalism, socialism, communism, and mixed economies
• Define the role of small business in the free enterprise system
• Assess elements of the global economy, such as labor, capital, trade, and natural resources, and how they influence business
• Analyze the functions of business, such as management, organization, human relations, marketing, financing, and ethics
• Identify the purpose of business policy and strategy

Textbook: Introduction to Business

Principles of Management (3 credits)
This course familiarizes the student with both the business environment and the manager’s role within it. It covers decision making, planning, organizing, leading, and controlling, as well as developing an ethical perspective.

Objectives:

• Summarize the functions of management and the basic steps in various planning processes
• Explain how to make effective decisions as a manager and a leader
• Describe the fundamental elements of an organization’s structure and the components of an organization’s competitive environment
• Explain principles for setting goals that motivate employees, why companies develop control systems, and why teamwork is beneficial
• Analyze why diversity is a critical organizational and managerial issue, and describe the criteria for technology decisions and managing change

Textbook: M: Management, 6th edition

Art Appreciation (3 credits)
In this course, you will gain an understanding of artistic media, historical periods and artistic movements, the roles of the artist and the viewer, and the principles of art criticism.

Objectives:

• Define the language, visual elements, and principles of design of art
• Identify two-dimensional media
• Identify three-dimensional media
• Explain the evolution of art from ancient Mediterranean cultures through eighteenth century Europe
• Identify features and popular examples of art throughout the history of African, Asian, Pacific, and American cultures
• Compare the genres of the Modern and Postmodern eras of art from around the world

Textbook: Living with Art, 11th Edition

Human Resources Management (3 credits)
This course provides an overview of Human Resources Management (HRM) as it's understood today. It illustrates the dynamic interaction of the personnel functions with each other and with the objectives of an organization.

Objectives:

• Describe the elements of human resource management, including labor considerations, regulation, and management of workflow
• Explain how companies should prepare for and implement HRM to hire new employees and create training programs
• Identify the aspects of employee, career, and turnover management
• Summarize how employees are paid, including legal requirements, performance-based pay, commissions, salaries, and benefits
• Describe other HRM functions including collective bargaining, labor relations, global HRM, and building a high-performance organization

Textbook: Fundamentals of Human Resource Management

Mathematics for Business and Finance (3 credits)
This course will provide you with a foundation in basic mathematical operations, including percentages, discounts, interest, present worth, sinking funds, installment buying, pricing, depreciation, investments, insurance, symbols, and statistics.

Objectives:

• Analyze functions of whole numbers, fractions, decimals, and percents
• Show calculations involved in simple interest, compound interest, and time value of money
• Prepare various business math applications involving financial reports, installment buying, and depreciation
• Analyze various financial concepts related to taxes, insurance, financial investments, and basic business statistics

Textbook: Practical Business Math Procedures

Proctored Examination
You will be required to complete a proctored exam on selected courses each semester. These assessments will evaluate the knowledge and skills that you learned during the semester. You choose the time, the location, and the qualified exam supervisor.

Semester 2

Computer Applications (3 credits)
Microsoft® Office allows people to create documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and databases. This course will teach you how to use three popular tools from the Microsoft® Office Suite — Word™, Excel®, and PowerPoint®. In this course, you'll learn how to use Word™ to create and edit text documents, insert figures and tables, and format pages for a variety of uses. You'll then learn how to use Excel® to organize and format data, including charts, formulas, and more complex tables. Next, you'll learn how to use PowerPoint® to create and deliver slide shows. Finally, you'll complete a graded project, which will test the skills acquired in Word™, Excel®, and PowerPoint®.

Objectives:

• Create various Microsoft® Word™ documents.
• Produce a thorough Microsoft® Excel® spreadsheet.
• Identify the basic skills needed to use Microsoft® PowerPoint®.
• Synthesize what you’ve learned by integrating Word™, Excel®, and PowerPoint®.

English Composition (3 credits)
This course teaches the skills and techniques of effectively developing, drafting, and revising college-level essays toward a specific purpose and audience: active reading, prewriting strategies, sentence and paragraph structure, thesis statements, varied patterns of development (such as illustration, comparison and contrast, and classification), critical reading toward revision of structure and organization, editing for standard written conventions, and use and documentation of outside sources. Students submit two prewriting assignments and three essays (process analysis, comparison and contrast, and argumentation).

Objectives:

• Use writing skills to construct well-written sentences and active reading skills to understand and analyze text
• Develop paragraphs using topic sentences, adequate detail, supporting evidence, and transitions
• Contrast the revising and editing steps of the writing process
• Distinguish between different patterns of development
• Write a process analysis essay using prewriting, drafting, revising, and editing skills
• Recognize how to determine the reliability of secondary sources and to give proper credit to sources referenced in an essay
• Write a comparison and contrast essay by using persuasive writing techniques to defend a claim
• Create a sound written argument using techniques of drafting and evaluating sources

Arts and Humanities Elective (3 credits)
(Choose one...)

HUM104 - Music Appreciation
In this course, you'll practice the skill of active listening. Learning to listen differently will allow you to experience all kinds of music in a new way. Most listeners are familiar with how music makes them feel, and we often say we like a particular piece of music because it has a "good beat" or a beautiful melody. This course will allow you to go deeper. You'll identify what the composer might have been trying to convey and listen for the way elements of musical composition and performance make each piece unique.

Objectives:

• Identify the building blocks of music a composer can use to create a piece, such as rhythm, melody, harmony, texture, form, and timbre
• Differentiate between the music of the baroque era and the musical styles of previous time periods
• List the major characteristics of classical music, including form, melody, and instrumentation
• Describe the musical trends and innovations that occurred during the romantic era
• Relate musical styles of the early twentieth century to comparable movements in art and literature
• Explain the evolution of American popular music in the twentieth century
• Describe the influence of world music on modern western composition
• Synthesize research comparing composers' influence in their respective genres

Textbook: Experience Music

ENG115 - Introduction to Literature
This course will allow you to develop your critical thinking skills and broaden your knowledge of the main genres of literature — fiction, poetry, and drama.

Objectives:

• Explain how to effectively read fiction for both knowledge and enjoyment
• Identify different styles and forms of poetry
• Use what you've learned in this course to discuss, write about, and understand literature
• Prepare a critical interpretation of fiction or poetry based on what you've learned in this course
• Discuss how literary dramas differ from fiction and poetry
• Identify different strategies of critical literary analysis

Science Elective (3 credits)
(Choose one...)

SCI110 - Earth Science
This course will allow you to learn about planet Earth and the various aspects of the environment.

Objectives:

• Describe specific characteristics of Earth.
• Describe different types of rocks and minerals.

SCI120 - Introduction to Biology
An introductory course that explains the origin of life and the relationships between all living things. It describes how a significant number of organisms are structured and how they work, in order to enable students to discuss intelligently the various forms of life and their processes.

Objectives:

• Analyze cells and their processes for obtaining energy and reproducing.
• Explain how traits are passed on from one generation to the next.
• Explain how different species of living things have evolved and are classified.
• Write responses to fundamental biology essay prompts.
• Identify the characteristics and behavior of plants and animals.
• Diagram the anatomy and physiology of the human body.
• Describe the ecology of living things.

SCI140 - Nutrition
Nutrition is the science that investigates how the body takes in, breaks down, and uses foods. The course will provide you with basic information on how these processes take place, including information about nutrients and how they contribute to the way the body functions. This will help you to have a better understanding of your decisions about food and diet. You’ll also learn about physical activities that can contribute to a healthier lifestyle. Because a central focus of nutrition studies is on health promotion, suggestions for individual nutrition choice will be discussed, as well as tactics for maintaining a healthy weight and keeping food supplies safe.

Objectives:

• Describe how nutrition supports a body's wellness
• Recognize the body's use of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins
• Identify the body's use of water, minerals, and micronutrients
• Discuss what nutritional needs are for a healthy weight and for an athletic lifestyle
• Define food safety and the nutritional needs of humans over a lifetime
• Prepare a research paper on a nutritional topic

Digital Textbook: Nutrition for Healthy Living

Training Concepts (3 credits)
Employee training takes place in every business. In some organizations, employee training is a formalized process that continues throughout an employee’s entire career. In other organizations, employee training is an informal event used to introduce new employees to the basic skills they’ll need to complete their tasks. Your current or future employer will approach training by some combination of the two methods. This course will help you make employee training a more efficient and effective process. After completing this course, you should be a valuable asset to any employer.

Objectives:

• Describe the various elements in the organizational training process
• Categorize the various training designs and methods
• Analyze the significance of development, implementation, and evaluation of training processes
• Describe the concept of adult learning theory and how it influences employee training
• Describe the interrelationships among the five phases of the training process model

Textbook: Employee Training and Development

Proctored Examination
You will be required to complete a proctored exam on selected courses each semester. These assessments will evaluate the knowledge and skills that you learned during the semester. You choose the time, the location, and the qualified exam supervisor.

Semester 3

Essentials of Psychology (3 credits)
This course covers the psychology of biology and behavior, consciousness, memory, thought and language, intelligence, personality and gender, stress, and community influences.

Objectives:

• Describe the science of psychology, basic structure and function of the human nervous system, and basic structure and function of the sensory system
• Explain various states of consciousness, learning theories, and thought processes and development
• Summarize the nature of human motivation and development, the human development cycle, and approaches to understanding and assessing personality
• Prepare an essay on the topic of conditioning, memory, or motivation and emotion
• Recognize psychological disorders and available treatments
• Explain social psychology as it relates to attitudes, influences, behaviors, and stress
• Use critical thinking skills to determine the likely causes of behaviors of individuals and groups discussed in case studies

Financial Accounting (3 credits)
This course will provide students with a basic understanding of the principles of financial accounting. Topics covered include analyzing transactions; completing the accounting cycle; merchandising businesses; inventories, assets, and liabilities; and corporations, stocks, bonds, and cash flow.

Objectives:

• Solve important accounting principles and concepts by creating four common types of financial statements: balance sheet, income statement, statement of retained earnings, and statement of cash flows
• Explain inventory systems, the inventory process, and the role of ethics in accounting
• Explain cash and receivables, assets, current liabilities, and debt
• Analyze stocks and the statement of cash flows and financial statements that are used to assess the value of a business

Compensation Management (3 credits)
The course covers the basic components of a total compensation package (salary, bonus, and benefits), the development, implementation, and maintenance of a program, the impact of internal and external equity, and additional factors which must be considered for the overall success of a program.

Objectives:

• Explain the factors and methods included in compensation strategies
• Describe how to evaluate employee performance and motivate workers using compensation strategies
• Explain how unions, laws, and special groups affect compensation
• Discuss labor regulation locally and globally
• Compare job postings for different pay models

Textbook: Compensation

Business and Technical Writing (3 credits)
This course provides an introduction to the various methods of organizing material for a professional setting. Students will compose business documents using the ABC method. These include memos, emails, outlines, reports and proposals, descriptions, and organizing materials. Students also work on honing their grammar skills.

Objectives:

• Describe the basics of the writing process and the ABC method of organizing material for a document
• Identify the parts of speech in a sentence
• Demonstrate correct pronoun use
• Choose proper and effective words for writing documents
• Identify the elements of a well-written sentence
• Demonstrate how to use length, directness, emphasis, and variety to craft impactful sentences
• Explain how to construct a coherent paragraph
• Describe how to write an effective cover letter and resume
• Format and write an interoffice memorandum, a routine business letter, and an effective email
• Identify the different ways to write for blogs, the Internet, and social media
• Describe how to create an organized formal outline
• Identify the types of research and methods of documentation used in business and technical writing
• Explain how to create visual interest and clarity in reports with illustrations, tables, graphs, charts, and overall design
• Explain the purpose and importance of various types of informal reports
• Describe the nature of formal reports and identify their components
• Differentiate among external, internal, informal, and formal proposals
• Describe an object or a process and prepare a set of instructions
• Describe the preparation and submission of professional and technical articles and manuals

Employee Benefits (3 credits)
This course examines employer and employee objectives for benefit plans.

Objectives:

• Discover legally required social insurance programs for employees in the United States.
• Learn about the characteristics of group insurance and individual insurance in the categories of life, medical, dental, and disability.
• Compare managed care plans with traditional medical expense plans.
• Study the general requirements that must be met by qualified pension plans with respect to eligibility and plan coverage; nondiscrimination in benefits and contributions; funding; vesting; limitations on benefits and contributions; payout restrictions; and top-heavy rules.
• Learn the difference in pension benefit formulas.
• Discover general features of pension funding instruments and when each might best be used.
• Interpret qualified and nonqualified pension plans.

Research Assignment

Textbook: Employee Benefits

Economics I (3 credits)
This course provides an overview of macroeconomics and the modern market economy. You will learn about economy-wide phenomena such as unemployment, national income, and price levels.

Objectives:

• Identify the basic function of economics in our society
• Examine various economic tradeoffs that people face
• Explain the laws of supply and demand
• Use the concept of elasticity to explain changes in a market
• Discuss the pros and cons of trade restrictions
• Calculate and interpret the unemployment rate and the labor-force participation rate
• Describe the notion of deadweight loss and its relevance to taxes
• Draw and interpret short-run and long-run Phillips curves
• Explain why economists focus on GDP, inflation, and unemployment when assessing economic health
• Describe how comparative advantage and specialization affect international trade
• Describe how differences between world prices and domestic prices prompt exports and imports
• Describe how changes in income affect consumption and saving

Textbook: Macroeconomics

Proctored Examination
You will be required to complete a proctored exam on selected courses each semester. These assessments will evaluate the knowledge and skills that you learned during the semester. You choose the time, the location, and the qualified exam supervisor.

Semester 4

Intermediate Algebra (3 credits)
Algebra is the mathematical language used to interpret and represent patterns in numbers by using variables, expressions, and equations. Algebra is an essential tool used in business, science, and computer technology. Throughout this course, you’ll be introduced to algebraic concepts, along with real-world application problems from a variety of fields. In addition to providing a springboard to the discovery of underlying mathematical properties, these applications illustrate the importance of mathematics in your world.

Objectives:

• Demonstrate effective quantitative skills
• Solve algebraic equations, linear equations, inequalities, and absolute value equations
• Solve and graph linear equations and inequalities
• Solve polynomials
• Apply algebraic operations to rational expressions and rational equations
• Solve problems involving radicals and complex numbers
• Solve quadratic equations, rational inequalities, nonlinear equations, and nonlinear inequalities
• Calculate exponential and logarithmic functions
• Solve binomial expansions, sequences, and arithmetic and geometric series
• Prepare for the final exam

Speech (3 credits)
This course provides students with a foundation in the basic concepts of public speaking. Students will learn how to research, organize and write effective speeches, incorporate presentation aids, and rehearse and deliver speeches effectively. Students will prepare, rehearse, record and submit speeches in a number of rhetorical styles to be graded.

Objectives:

• Describe how to effectively use of the 10 necessary steps to preparing and presenting a public speech
• Demonstrate effective delivery and presentation techniques through practice and rehearsal
• Show how to effectively organize and present a narrative/personal experience speech
• Make effective presentation aids to enhance your public speaking
• Produce a speech to inform your audience of a product or service
• Prepare a speech to persuade your audience on a topic in which you are personally invested
• Demonstrate the key elements of public speaking through a variety of formats and occasions

Business Statistics (3 credits)
In this course, you’ll learn how to make sense of the numbers that drive business decisions. You'll develop the skills to organize and visualize data effectively, enabling you to uncover relationships and draw meaningful conclusions. Probability will become your ally as you learn to express common knowledge using standardized language, allowing statisticians to communicate effectively. You'll explore unions, intersections, conditional probability, and the concept of random variables.

You’ll also gain experience estimating unknown population parameters and conducting hypothesis tests, preparing you to make reliable inferences. From analyzing variances to conducting ANOVA and linear regression, you'll gain a solid foundation in statistical techniques that are essential for making informed business decisions.

Objectives:

• Show the methods of collecting data and visualizing qualitative data in statistics
• Analyze the methods of computing probability for discrete and random variables
• Apply sampling distribution methods, estimation, and hypothesis testing in business applications
• Point out the process of computing inferences, linear regression, and least square

Textbook: Statistics for Business and Economics

Labor Relations (3 credits)
This course examines the interaction between organized labor unions and company management pertaining to rights and responsibilities, negotiations, and collective bargaining.

Objectives:

• Demonstrate an understanding of the liberal arts, natural sciences, and social sciences.
• Demonstrate effective written and interpersonal communication skills.
• Analyze the role played by labor unions and the impact of labor laws.
• Explain labor relations management and bargaining strategies, structure, and constraints.
• Discuss empowerment, partnership, globalization, and financialization.
• Analyze various labor relations standards and considerations and what's expected of the union.
• Analyze the successes and challenges facing ALPA.

Research Assignment

Textbook: Labor Relations

Legal Environment of Business (3 credits)
This course covers the nature and sources of law, the US court system, litigation and alternative methods of dispute resolution, constitutional and administrative law; tort law and product liability; contract law; agency law; business organizations; business ethics and social responsibility; and property rights for both personal and real property.

Objectives:

• Analyze the sources and structure of the U.S. legal system, and the business laws and organizations
• Point out the purpose, requirements, and criteria needed for contracts
• Distinguish between real and personal property and the relationship between principal and agent
• Analyze the principles of sales, goods, and services and laws by UCC that governs them
• Distinguish between the role of insurance, transactions, and bankruptcy in business law
• Create a case brief by following the instructions and procedure
• Prepare a written memorandum by applying your knowledge and following the instructions

Organizational Behavior (3 credits)
This course provides an overview of management approaches.

Objectives:

• Learn the process of human decision-making.
• Study conflict management, communication in groups, power and influence, and organizational environment, structure, and design.
• Learn about the fundamental forces of change.

Proctored Examination
You will be required to complete a proctored exam on selected courses each semester. These assessments will evaluate the knowledge and skills that you learned during the semester. You choose the time, the location, and the qualified exam supervisor.