1. ADVANCED TOPICS IN
HUMAN RESOURCES
PRACTICUM
INSTRUCTOR: Dr. Mark Whitmore
Team Chen: Chennan Jia, Aliza Pennington, Muidh Alharbi,
Lorenza Dwight, Joshua Tingle, Taylor McGuire
2.
3. SCOPE
● Worked with Ms. Richardson to create and retool existing Human Resource policies for the Kent Free
Library.
● Used a phased approach to meet deadlines.
● To meet deadlines, these policies were split into phases.
○ Phase 1
■ Create nine new policies that included Federal and State Laws and regulations..
○ Phase 2
■ Retool existing policy by making requested changes.
4. PURPOSE
● To revise/update HR policies currently utilized by the Kent Free Public Library
and to create 9 new policies
● The policies will better suit the library’s current employee needs, encapsulate
the desire and expected outcomes of Ms. Richardson and the Board of
Trustees, and assure the creation of a cohesive and defensible policy manual
which suits the culture of the library while protecting the rights and
responsibilities of the staff who support its mission.
5. PROJECT BACKGROUND
● The library leadership approved 14 new policies, 9 for which we created and
completed within phases 1 and 2. There were additional, existing policies
which needed to be reformatted and resubmitted for change.
● Ms. Richardson requested our team manage all of the activities listed within
the scope and provide her with a project deliverables schedule.
● The new policies had not been written, nor did they have Federal or State
regulations contained within.
● Our team managed to complete the policies which had not been updated for
10 years, reformatted the policy manual and created the nine new policies by
March 10th .
7. GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
Phase #1
● Draft 9 new policies
● Attach appropriate Federal and State laws
Phase #2
● Streamline current policies with current trends in HR policy creation
● Attach appropriate Federal and State laws
● Utilize library specific policies for Ohio whenever possible
Conclusions
● Document new and reformatted policies into updated employee handbook
8. Key Steps and Milestones
Pre-planning Stage
● Initial client interview
● Determine goals of project /number of policies written/rewritten
● Identify timelines
● Identify templates, audience, styles, employee class, etc.
9. Key Steps and Milestones
● Draft project plan -scope document
● Finalize project plan
● Draft project proposal
● Present proposal to client for their review and feedback
● Modify proposal based on client feedback
● Write project proposal
● Finalize proposal - sign off by client
10. Key Steps and Milestones
Research Stage
● Interview Kent Free Library Staff
● Policies related to topics / parse policies to team
● Exempt/Non-Exempt policies
● Policies specific to Ohio Libraries
● Federal State Regulations
● Best practice policy templates
11. Key Steps and Milestones
Communication Stage
● Draft initial communication to Stacy Richardson
● Send periodic communication to Stacy Richardson
● Keep Stacy Richardson abreast of progress and garner concurrence on all changes to
communication plan
● Draft communication for sending policies
● Progress communication with team and client - progress reports
12. Key Steps and Milestones
Development Stage
● Developed project plan
● Developed project report
● Developed policies - in phased approach
13. PROJECT RISKS
AND MITIGATION
● Busy Client
Building into the project schedule all deliverables which allow Ms. Richardson 1-3 days to response
● Learning Curve
Group is focusing on several different types of research
● Project Length - Could take longer than semester will allow
The project length and the requirements for producing the required policies is enough time to produce the policies
within phases 1&2
● Team members and client missing commitments and milestone deadlines
We have designed our schedule to ensure there is enough time between milestone for Ms. Richardson and the
different teams to complete their work on time.
14. PROJECT RISKS
AND MITIGATION
● Team Creation
Our team has discussed this at length and we have thus far been tracking according to schedule
● Conflicts between policies and Federal/ State laws
All conflicts to laws and regulations will be addressed in our draft documents to Mr. Richardson
with our recommendations.
● Client does not like the policies we create
Since we discussed outcomes, style for policies and policies groups, Ms. Richardson requested the
policies be sent to her at least 7-10 business days in advance for return, so we have time to make
adjustments
15. PROJECT / LEARNING
OUTCOMES
● Completed Kent Free Library Employee Handbook
● Nine New policies complete with Federal and Ohio regulations - Phase 1
● Refreshed existing policies adding Federal and Ohio regulations - Phase 2
● New experience/background in writing and Employee Handbook
● New experience/background in writing policies and putting an Employee
Handbook into policy groups
● New experience/background working with an agreeable and supportive client
16. PROJECT / LEARNING
OUTCOMES
● New experience/background and understanding of library needs and
environment
● New experience/background in researching policies and regulations
concerning specifics of a library
● New experience working with a client who is transforming an organization in
a positive way - Employee’s first!!!
● New experience/background working within a group construct which
required adaptation and scheduling
