Prepare and submit a preliminary literature review of at least four sources per topic (i.e. at least four sources for the main topic, four additional sources for subtopic 1, and four additional sources for subtopic 2 so that’s 12 minimum). Connect the problem to the specific topical area of scholarly work in strategic human resource management, as identified in Module 2 submission. Name the topical area that you identified in Module 2 (e.g. talent management, recruitment and selection, compensation, etc.). Then write your synthesis of at least five scholarly or peer reviewed articles and at least two contemporary articles that seem relevant to your inquiry. Be sure to cite all your sources in your paper. See literature review guidelines for additional information. Refer to Module 2 Research Project Description for complete overview of the final research project.
Literature Review Guidelines
A literature review is a written discussion of published or unpublished research, commentary, and information on a topic. The “literature” refers to books, journal articles, magazine and newspaper articles, company records and documents, and even personal interviews with knowledgeable industry observers.
Important: Your task is to search the human resource management literature to: (1) discover the most common underlying causes of the type of problem symptoms you have observed; and (2) discover the various solutions to the problem that have been recommended and tried in other organizations. For example, if your problem is high turnover, you will find a large number of articles and studies that have identified a list of common causes and another list of recommended solutions. Your job is to compile those two lists and to cite your sources.
You should supply some commentary on what you find. Don’t just describe what’s written in 5 articles. You should talk about the concepts, ideas, or insights that have the most value for helping you make sense of your project. What theories can you use? What writers say something of value? And why? Which models are the most helpful, and why?
You should cite at least 12 sources in addition to the course text (8 sources should be from scholarly or peer-reviewed journals and 2 from contemporary literature such as professional magazines is “B” level work, “A” level work would cite more). Note the Citing Your Sources: Citing Basics document from the SUNY Empire Library. While newspaper articles can be excellent sources of information, it’s important that not all of your citations be newspaper articles. You should access articles in management and human resource management journals as well.
A good place to start your review is in the course text and in the chapter notes at the end. Then, you can access SUNY Empire’s online library and its search engines. You can enter key words such as “employee turnover” and you will access recent articles on the subject. Scan the titles of the articles that come up and look for interesting ones to read in full. Also, be sure to check the references of interesting articles or books. They will lead you to others. If initial searches don’t produce what you’re looking for, try using different key words. If you find yourself totally spinning your wheels, send me an e-mail and ask for help.
Your objective in this section is to demonstrate that you can access the human resource management literature to help you diagnose and identify possible solutions for specific management problems. The long-term benefit is that after this class is over, you will be able to use the literature to confront unfamiliar problems.