Course Form
I. Summary of Proposed Changes
Dept / Program
Political Science
Prefix and Course #
Course Title
Strategic Human Resource Management
Short Title (max. 26 characters incl. spaces)
Strategic Hum Res Mgt
Summarize the change(s) proposed
New course
II. Endorsement/Approvals
Complete the form and obtain signatures before submitting to Faculty Senate Office
Please type / print name Signature
Requestor:
Jon Tompkins
Phone/ email :
X2683
Program Chair/Director:
Paul Haber
Other affected programs
PSCI 528
Date
Dean:
Jon Tompkins
(Assoc. Dean)
Are other departments/programs affected by this
Please obtain signature(s) from the
modification because of
Chair/Director of any such department/
(a) required courses incl. prerequisites or corequisites,
program (above) before submission
(b) perceived overlap in content areas
(c) cross-listing of coursework
III: To Add a New Course Syllabus and assessment information is required (paste syllabus into
section V or attach). Course should have internal coherence and clear focus.
Common Course Numbering Review (Department Chair Must Initial):
YES
NO
Does an equivalent course exist elsewhere in the MUS? Check all relevant disciplines if
NO
course is interdisciplinary. (http://mus.edu/transfer/CCN/ccn_default.asp)
If YES: Do the proposed abbreviation, number, title and credits align with existing course(s)? Please indicate
equivalent course/campus. 
If NO: Course may be unique, but is subject to common course review. Be sure to include learning outcomes
on syllabus or paste below. The course number may be changed at the system level.
See syllabus
Exact entry to appear in the next catalog (Specify course abbreviation, level, number, title, credits,
repeatability (if applicable), frequency of offering, prerequisites, and a brief description.) 
G 528 Strategic Human Resource Management 3 cr. Offered online alternate summers. This course
explores the value of strategic human resource management as a means for enhancing agency performance.
Justification: How does the course fit with the existing curriculum? Why is it needed?
It is an elective in the online MPA program; it extends the subject matter covered in the traditional human
resource management course (PSCI 522). It has been taught successfully several times as a Special Topics
course.
Are there curricular adjustments to accommodate teaching this course?
No
Complete for UG courses (UG courses should be assigned a 400 number).
Describe graduate increment - see procedure 301.30
http://umt.edu/facultysenate/committees/grad_council/procedures/default.aspx
Complete for Co-convented courses
Companion course number, title, and description (include syllabus of companion course in section V)
See procedure 301.20 http://umt.edu/facultysenate/committees/grad_council/procedures/default.aspx.
New fees and changes to existing fees are only approved once each biennium by the
Board of Regents. The coordination of fee submission is administered by
Administration and Finance. Fees may be requested only for courses meeting specific
conditions according to Policy 940.12.1 http://mus.edu/borpol/bor900/940-12-1.pdf .
Please indicate whether this course will be considered for a fee.
If YES, what is the proposed amount of the fee?
Justification:
IV. To Delete or Change an Existing Course – check X all that apply
Deletion
Title
Course Number Change
From:
Level U, UG, G
Co-convened
To:
Description Change
Change in Credits
From:
To:
Prerequisites
1. Current course information at it appears in catalog
(http://www.umt.edu/catalog) 
YES
NO
From:
To:
Repeatability
Cross Listing
(primary
program initiates
form)
Is there a fee associated with the
course?
2. Full and exact entry (as proposed) 
3. If cross-listed course: secondary program & course
number
4. If co-convened course: companion course number, title, and description
(include syllabus of companion course in section V) See procedure 301.20
http://umt.edu/facultysenate/committees/grad_council/procedures/default.aspx.
5. Is this a course with MUS Common Course Numbering?
http://mus.edu/transfer/CCN/ccn_default.asp
If yes, please explain below whether this change will eliminate the course’s common course
status.
YES NO
6. Graduate increment if level of course is changed to UG. Have you reviewed the graduate
Reference procedure 301.30:
increment guidelines? Please check (X)
space provided.
http://umt.edu/facultysenate/committees/
grad_council/procedures/default.aspx
(syllabus required in section V)
7. Other programs affected by the change
8. Justification for proposed change
V. Syllabus/Assessment Information
Required for new courses and course change from U to UG. Paste syllabus in field below or attach and send
digital copy with form.
Political Science 595
Strategic Human Resource Management
Summer 2010
Professor Tompkins
[email protected]
College of Arts and Sciences – LA136
University of Montana
406-243-2683
Missoula, MT 59812
Course Description
Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) is a conceptual label for efforts to align HR
policies and practices with an organization’s strategic objectives so that its mission is fulfilled with
distinction. In this course we will try to imagine how to “realize” the concept of SHRM in practice.
This will entail spending 10 weeks in largely unchartered waters. Although the subject matter is
highly abstract, we will work through each concept one at a time and you will then apply each to the
government or nonprofit agency with which you are most familiar.
Learning Outcomes
1. To master the newly emerging literature on strategic human resource management.
2. To internalize the concept of SHRM and its significance for organizational performance.
3. To build skill in developing an organizational “success strategy” and a “strategy map” for
realizing it in practice.
Required Text
None. A series of articles and book chapters have been posted to the Library’s Electronic Reserve
for you to read each week. (Click on the Readings button on Blackboard’s Welcome Page; your
password is PSCI595).
Course Requirements
Lessons must be completed each Thursday by roughly midnight.
Students are required to read all assigned readings, participate on the Discussion Board, submit
seven brief writing assignments (20 points each) and a final, integrated paper (100 points). A = 223240; A- = 216-222; B+ = 209-215; B = 199-208.
Note 1: You must choose a small nonprofit agency, small government program or office, or discrete
work unit within a larger agency for purposes of your writing assignments. The work being done
must be relatively narrow and focused if our analysis is to succeed.
Note 2: This is a readings-centered course that requires you to think deeply about core concepts and
how they might be applied to your organization. Thus, grading will be based primarily on
thoughtfulness/sophistication of analysis.
Note 3: We will attempt to write our term paper one section at a time by uploading a file on your
hard drive to a “weekly” Discussion Board thread. Let me know ASAP if something goes wrong
with the technical aspects of this.
Weekly Reading and Writing Assignments
Lesson 1: An Introduction to SHRM (Due May 27)
Read the mini-lecture and the article referenced below, and respond to the questions posed on the
Discussion Board. (No writing assignment this week).
Jonathan Tompkins, “Strategic Human Resources Management in Government: Unresolved
Issues,” Public Personnel Management 31 (Spring 2002), 95-109.
Lesson 2: A Conceptual Overview (Due June 3)
Read the mini-lecture and the chapter referenced below, respond to the Discussion Board questions,
and submit Writing Assignment #1 as a file attachment to the appropriate Discussion Board thread.
Brian Becker, Mark Huselid, and Dave Ulrich, The HR Scorecard: Linking People, Strategy,
and Performance (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2001), pp. 1-36.
Writing Assignment #1: a) Begin with an appropriate title for your paper, e.g., Optimizing Agency
Performance Through SHRM. b) Write a brief paragraph introducing subject, purpose and agency
in accordance with this example: The concept of strategic human resources management (SHRM)
refers to . . . . . The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential relevance of SHRM for [your
agency] as it continues its pursuit of excellence. [Your agency] is a unit within the Department of .
. . . [or a nonprofit employing 17 people . . . .] c) Create a major subheading (center of page)
entitled: Mission, Value Proposition, and Core Value-Creating Work Process. Next, create a minor
subheading (left margin) entitled: Mission. Then identify your agency’s mission in two tightlywritten sentences. Avoid all rhetoric; simply state what your agency/work unit exists to accomplish.
This whole assignment will be approximately three-quarters of a page, double-spaced. [We won’t
address Value Proposition until next week]
Lesson 3: Creating Public Value (Due June 10)
Read the mini-lecture and the two readings referenced below, respond to the questions posed on the
Discussion Board, and submit Writing Assignment #2 as a file attachment to the appropriate
Discussion Board thread.
Mark Moore, Creating Public Value (Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 1995), pp.
13-43.
Burt Nanus and Stephen M. Dobbs, Leaders Who Make a Difference (SF: Jossey-Bass,
1999), pp. 27-45.
Writing Assignment #2: Create a minor subheading (left margin) entitled: Value Proposition.
Consistent with the mini-lecture and today’s readings, add one or two paragraphs to your term paper
articulating your agency’s Value Proposition, i.e., in exchange for tax revenues or private funding
your agency strives to make society a better place by creating public value. Your task in this
assignment is to capture in words the public value that your agency strives to create. It may be
useful to begin by introducing the concept of Value Proposition itself.
Lesson 4: Human Capital and the Knowledge Worker (Due June 17)
Read the mini-lecture and the reading assignment referenced below, respond to the questions posed
on the Discussion Board, and submit Writing Assignment #3 as a file attachment to the appropriate
Discussion Board thread.
Davenport, Thomas, Human Capital: What It Is and Why People Invest In It (SF: Jossey-
Bass, 1999), Chapters 1, 2, and 3 (pp. 3-62).
Writing Assignment #3: Create a minor subheading (left margin) entitled: Core Value-Creating
Work Process. Consistent with the mini-lecture and the readings, describe the core value-creating
work process in your agency/program/unit, identify the core value-creating workers, and describe
how these workers use their human capital to transform something of lesser value into something of
greater value (either for internal or external stakeholders). Most agencies, for example, have a
predominant kind of worker, e.g. teacher, social worker, application processor. See if you can
capture what your agency’s core workers actually do as part of some larger, transformational
process that creates the public value discussed in the previous section. (If you can keep the analysis
tightly focused, this assignment should be no more than a page or so.)
Lesson 5: Vision of Excellence & Strategy for Success (Due June 24)
Read the mini-lecture and the two readings referenced below, respond to the questions posed on the
Discussion Board, and submit Writing Assignment #4 as a file attachment to the appropriate
Discussion Board thread. Note: whereas discussion board responses are due June 24, the
writing assignment is not due until July 1.
Paul R. Niven, Balanced Scorecard: Step-by-Step for Government and Nonprofit Agencies
(Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2003), pp. 3-44.
James Q. Wilson, Bureaucracy (Basic Books, 1989), pp. 8-10 and 21-23. (Be prepared to
identify Principal Hogan’s social vision, vision of school excellence, and success strategy for
bringing his vision into being.)
Writing Assignment #4: Create a major subheading (centered) entitled: Vision of Excellence and
Strategy for Success. Then create a minor subheading (left margin) entitled: Vision of Excellence.
Earlier you established the public value that your agency exists to create. Now paint a vivid
picture (vision) of what your agency/work unit will look like when it has succeeded in becoming
the best agency of its kind in the universe. Next create a minor subheading (left margin) entitled:
Success Strategy. Here you will articulate a strategy for bringing your vision into being.
Essentially, this section identifies and explains the key “performance drivers” that the agency must
focus its time, attention, and resources on if it is to become the very best (note: focusing on your
Drivers IS your success strategy). [Because this section may be several pages in length, it is not
due until July 1]
Lesson 6: The HR Value Proposition (Due July 8)
Read the mini-lecture and the chapters referenced below, respond to the questions posed on the
Discussion Board, and submit Writing Assignment #5 as a file attachment to the appropriate
Discussion Board thread.
Dave Ulrich and Wayne Brockbank, The HR Value Proposition (Boston: Harvard Business
School Press, 2005), pp. 1-15 and 74-80.
Writing Assignment #5: Create a major subheading (centered) entitled: HR Drivers and Enablers.
Earlier you identified the “performance drivers” central to your success strategy. Now, in 2-4 pages,
identify and describe specific HR Drivers and HR Enablers that are critical to the success of your
strategic vision. (Describe HR Drivers one at a time, along with the specific Enablers critical to
each.)
Lesson 7: Developing a Strategy Map (Due July 15)
Read the mini-lecture and the reading assignment referenced below, respond to the questions posed
on the Discussion Board, and submit Writing Assignment # 6 as a file attachment to the appropriate
Discussion Board thread.
Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton, Strategy Maps (Boston: Harvard Business School
Press, 2004), Chapters 2 and 14.
Writing Assignment #6: Add a one-page strategy map to your paper, using the examples on
electronic reserve as points of reference. Also, present just enough narrative so that the reader can
understand the map, i.e., your overall success strategy and HR’s contribution to making it work.
Lesson 8: Developing an HR Scorecard (Due July 22)
Read the mini-lecture and the reading assignment referenced below, respond to the questions posed
on the Discussion Board, and submit Writing Assignment #7 as a file attachment to the appropriate
Discussion Board thread.
Brian Becker, Mark Huselid, and Dave Ulrich, The HR Scorecard, pp. 53-77.
Writing Assignment #7: Create a major subheading (centered) entitled: Developing an HR
Scorecard. In 1 or 2 pages, discuss the feasibility of measuring your leading HR drivers and
enablers, and propose measurable indicators (HR Scorecard) for those drivers and enablers for
which measurement makes sense.
Lesson 9: Putting the Puzzle Pieces Together (Due July 29)
Final Paper: Polish up your paper, add a conclusion, and submit it today, tomorrow, or no later
than Monday morning. Perhaps tell the reader whether what you have learned about SHRM has
relevance for your agency, whether a line-staff partnership exists that might make it feasible, or
whether it is most likely impractical. Explain why.
VI Department Summary (Required if several forms are submitted) In a separate document list course
number, title, and proposed change for all proposals.
VII Copies and Electronic Submission. After approval, submit original, one copy, summary of
proposals and electronic file to the Faculty Senate Office, UH 221, [email protected].
Revised 5-4-11