• Unit 1: The Nature of Human Resources

    Employers often profess that their employees are their most valuable resource in their recruitment materials, press events, and corporate values statements. During the past 50 years, U.S. corporations have focused more heavily on human resource (HR) management, especially with the rise of its service-based economy.

    In this unit, we review the role human capital management plays in any organization. We explore the nature of HR management strategies and planning, the legal framework for equal employment for managing diversity, and affirmative action. Note that we could devote entire courses to these complex and diverse topics. For example, the U.S. federal government created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to ensure individuals receive fair and equal treatment in employment-related activities. In this unit, we introduce these topics so you can focus on the core of human capital management in the rest of the course.

    Completing this unit should take you approximately 13 hours.

    • 1.1: The Changing Nature of Human Resource Management

    • 1.2: Strategic HR Management and Planning

    • 1.3: The Legal Framework for Managing Equal Employment and Diversity

        • 1.3.1: Workplace Diversity: What Is It? Can It Be Done?

        • 1.3.2: Equal Employment Opportunity

      • 1.4: Do We Still Need Affirmative Action?

      • Unit 1 Assessments

        • Receive a grade
        • Receive a grade
        • Receive a grade