Take My Liberty BUSI 645 Class

Martocchio is read two chapters a week for most of the term. Week one frames compensation as a strategic HR function and sets out the laws and outside forces that shape pay decisions.

In week two the reading looks at paying for time served and for rated performance, then at bonus and incentive schemes for individuals, teams and whole firms.

Week three covers pay for skills and knowledge, and how job analysis and job evaluation build pay that is consistent inside the organization.

Week four covers pay that competes in the labor market, using compensation surveys and a pay policy line, and pay structures that recognize individual contributions. The midterm falls here.

Week five is given to legally required benefits, and week six to discretionary benefits and executive compensation.

Week seven covers pay for contingent and flexible workers and for employees on international assignments, and week eight closes with putting a pay system into practice and the final exam, in a week that ends on Friday.

Forums fall in weeks one, three, five and eight, case studies in weeks two, four and six, the group outline in week five and the group paper with replies in week seven.

BUSI 645 is handled one week at a time, because each forum and case draws on that week's chapters and the course alternates between them almost exactly.

Case studies are answered in three to four full pages with five scholarly sources. A pay level case, for example, compares the firm's rates with survey data, explains whether it leads, matches or lags the market, and recommends a policy that fits its strategy and budget.

An incentive case asks whether the plan rewards the behavior the business needs. A sales commission plan that pays only on revenue might push discounting, and the answer would say so and suggest a margin-based measure.

Forum threads exceed 500 words with two citations and take a clear position; each of the two replies tops 250 words with two sources and adds something the classmate did not.

The group project is approached as a team member would approach it: your share of the outline in week five, your sections of the 1,000-word paper in week seven and your two replies to other groups.

You post and submit every item, and the exams are taken by you.

Total rewards thinking runs through the reading, so pay, benefits and the work experience are treated as one package rather than separate budgets.

BUSI 645 work goes to someone who has managed pay in practice: a compensation analyst, a total rewards manager or a consultant who has priced jobs and built salary structures, often with the WorldatWork CCP designation.

That experience shows in the cases. Answers use the language a compensation team uses, such as compa-ratio, range spread and midpoint progression, and they explain the numbers rather than just reporting them.

It shows in the forums, where a thread on pay transparency can describe what happens when ranges are posted and current employees discover pay compression.

The group paper's Christian worldview sections are written thoughtfully, tying principles of fairness, stewardship and care for workers to specific pay practices.

Every piece gets a second compensation specialist's read for length, sourcing and APA, and a single writer covers all eight weeks.

The source load is the first difficulty. Five scholarly sources for each three-to-four-page case and two for every forum post mean a large stack of compensation research in eight weeks.

Technical vocabulary is the second, from job evaluation point factors to pay grades, range overlaps and broadbanding.

The forums are the third. At 100 points each they cannot be treated as quick posts, and the replies need their own sources.

The group project is the fourth, since groups are assigned at random and the paper depends on every member's part arriving on time.

The exams are the fifth. The midterm in week four and the final in week eight cover the reading in detail and sit in weeks that also carry written work.

Forum 1 falls in week one, so handing the course over before it starts is easiest.

Discussion posts reach you at the start of their weeks; the responses come once classmates have written something to respond to.

Each case study reaches you several days ahead of the deadline with its five sources in the reference list.

Your outline share arrives before week five closes, your paper sections before the group's week seven date and the replies to other groups soon after the papers are posted.

On the quote, every forum, case and group piece has its own row, and the forums are the biggest share.

If you start late, the quote covers only the items still ahead of you.

Joining after the midterm still leaves two forums, a case and the group work, which together carry 400 points.