THE JOURNAL
The Journal is a document whereby individuals use the course material to evaluate their ownexperiences and observations in an organizational setting. I prefer the use of your own current
employment for the journals. It is not acceptable to use second- hand situations (e.g., spouse, friend- of- a- friend). By the same token, events should not be excessively dated. The latter maybe open to negotiation. The content of the journal entries must address the three criteria below. Objective I: The paper must “describe” the situation or practice to which a concept will beapplied. Best are current as yet unresolved issues. Next best would be immediately recent events. The rest of the paper will be dedicated to showing how violation of or adherence to the courseconcepts created a particular experience or pattern of experiences. You will need to giveanarrative illustration of the event. Be sure to provide enough “hard facts” to give the reader apicture. Be careful not to provide so much that you do not stay focused on your chosen topic, or
that one begins to get lost in the trees. But do not be so generic or ambiguous that one does not
feel familiar with the situation. “Sufficient data” typically means the use of people and specific
behaviors as illustration. Later sections will use the concept to analyze why the situation exists, and possibly what went wrong. Objective II: The paper must “explain” the situation or experience. I anticipate each class sessionwill provide two or more “key learnings.” These issues may be enlightened self-awareness, alabeling of previous knowledge, a realization of the importance of a previous event, or somethingcompletely new. You will identify the key learnings to be used for the journal. You shouldreference the dates of the class; the discussion topics, exercises, or readings that you will beutilizing; and the theoretical objectives of the topic. Advice here is to consider both class andreading material. You will apply the course to the selected incident. The objectives here are to demonstrate your
familiarity with the concepts in two ways. On the one hand you will show your learning throughyour ability to present the concept, while showing your understanding of the concepts throughtheir application to the situation. The major emphasis here is on using the course material toshow why the situation occurred; how the material helps you understand how and why it
occurred, and how this reflection has enlightened your understanding of human resourcemanagement. This objective is critical to your grade. Objective I above is the story/descriptionaspect of the paper, while this objective addresses the analysis aspect. Objective III: In building on your prior analysis, the paper should extrapolate your learningtowards human resources improvement. Using your discussion up to this point, consider ways
you could embark on using the “key learnings” to better the situation and/or the organization. You should also use this section to develop specific action plans to guide your improvement
strategy.
