Executive Summary of HRM Skills (35%) Due by 11:59pm on Sunday, July 5 This assignment gives you the chance to explore what you believe, and based on the course readings, are necessary skills/techniques needed to effectively lead either a human resources department within a public organization, or one functional area of HRM. By “functional area” I mean one of the segments in the ‘Life-Cycle’ of an employee as noted in the chapters in Section II of our text (e.g., recruiting, performance management, compensation, benefits, training and development, etc.). This assignment also provides opportunities to link theory with practice, apply what has been learned and/or how the necessary skills could be acquired to effective lead an organization’s human resources department. I suggest this process: Decide if you will focus on the HRM department as a whole, or on a functional HRM functional area Decide the functional area of HRM which will be your focus Read and, if necessary, re-read the text chapter corresponding to your chosen functional area. Narrowly focus your selection to avoid the pitfalls of inadequate detail Locate at least 5 published references that are no more than 10 years old that pertain to the specific HRM function you have chosen to investigate. You must not use any of the sources used in the Research Paper in this course. You may wish to conduct a brief interview with a manager or HR professional who has extensive experience HRM or the functional area you have selected. I am not requiring you do this; however, if you are able to find someone who is willing to speak with you, this often can be a helpful learning experience. Create a WORD document that contains complete citation information of all your print and/or electronic source material. To be considered “complete,” citation information must include author(s), title, date, and publisher plus, if a journal or magazine article, the name of the journal or magazine, volume and issue numbers, and page numbers. A reference citation containing only a URL is insufficient. Our course text, additional course readings on Blackboard, Wikipedia, blogs, generic websites (e.g., about.com), and readings used in the first paper in this course cannot be used for this assignment. Your paper should be at least 8 pages using 12-point font, double-spaced, and one inch margins on all 4 sides excluding your reference list. You must also make this document available to the entire online class on the due date, via the “Executive Summaries” discussion forum. Your participation grade will be negatively affected if you do not do this, or if you post your document after the date of your presentation.