For this paper, select some organization that you find interesting, and about which you would like to know more. This could be a company you currently work for, an organization you would like to work for in the future, or just some organization that is of interest. The main requirement is that you are able to access information about the company’s Human Resource Management practices through its website, other websites with job related information, or from someone who has direct access to the company’s HRM practices.  (This could be you, or a friend or relative.)  The organization could be a business, a government agency, or a non-profit organization.

Refer to Figure 1-2, the “Ability-Motivation-Opportunity Model” (in Section 1-2b of the textbook, page 8 in the print version).  This simple graphic suggests HR practices can be skill-enhancing, motivation-enhancing, and opportunity enhancing, all of which can help enhance employees’ sense of competence and dedication to the organizational goals.  With a simple internet search, you can find additional sources of information on this model, and through the library you can find academic papers that analyze and test this model.  However, just spend as much time do background reading from other sources as you feel you need to better understand the model. Describing the model in more detail is not important for this paper, but understanding and applying it is important.  

The focus of this paper should be on trying to ascertain the ways your selected organization has HR practices that are consistent with this model.  It is unlikely that you will find information on all the items listed in the figure, and you may find information on other items that are not listed, but you think do help enhance employee experiences.  The point of the paper is to show linkages between the model and the organization’s HR practices.

This is a very open-ended paper, as every organization is different, and many may provide examples of practices that could be hard to characterize.  For example, some firms provide employees with a benefit that helps the employees pay down any student debt each year, up to some amount (e.g., $5,000 a year for each year the employee works and still has student debt). This would perhaps best be viewed as an incentive to remain with the employer (since this is not a common benefit), just like a retention bonus, but more focused. It would also be valuable only to some specific demographic groups, and maybe that also provides some indication of what sorts of employees the company is trying to attract.  For some potential or current employees, a student debt paydown would not be motivating.

In writing the paper, don’t just copy and paste a list of employee benefits or practices from some website. Instead, focus on what you think really fits best with this model, and explain why you think the HR practices you identify are “enhancing” to both the employee and the organization. You may conclude that some HR practices the organization promotes actually are inconsistent with this model, and it would be appropriate to comment on these practices as well. I’d rather read about 6-12 practices carefully described and thoughtfully analyzed relative to the “Ability-Motivation-Opportunity Model” than a list of 33 items, including the fact that employees have New Year’s Day and ten other holidays days off (this is pretty common, and hence not likely to be viewed as enhancing employee competence or motivation).