Learning Objectives

The Management Department offers degrees in entrepreneurship and human resource management. The learning objectives for the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business apply to both of our undergraduate degrees. In addition, each of our degrees also focuses on degree specific knowledge and objectives.

Undergraduate Programs

Entrepreneurship: Program Learning Objectives

Our newly-designed entrepreneurship major is in its first official year. The curriculum for the major was developed by the departmental e-team (entrepreneurship faculty members). After a comprehensive literature review and interviewing numerous practitioners, the following list constitutes our content-specific learning objectives for students choosing the entrepreneurship major.

  • Entrepreneurial Environment

    • This includes the role of entrepreneurship in the global economy and an understanding of factors that are more or less favorable to entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship.

  • Entrepreneurs

    • Who are entrepreneurs? How, why, and when do they get involved in entrepreneurship?

  • Opportunities

    • How do individuals identify opportunities and turn them into viable businesses?

  • Entrepreneurial Competencies

    • Opportunity competencies
    Relationship competencies
    Conceptual competencies
    Organizing competencies
    Strategic competencies
    Commitment competencies

  • Business Planning

    • Operational and planning.

  • Compliance Issues

    • Legal forms, licensing, regulation, taxation.

  • Ethical Issues

    • Ethical issues in new venture creation and growth

  • Harvest

    • Creating value, evaluating value, harvesting decisions and processes

Human Resource Management: Program Learning Objectives

The purpose of the undergraduate program in human resource management is to prepare students to assume entry-level management and HR-specialist positions in a variety of private and public sector settings. The following are the learning objectives for the human resource management undergraduate program:

  • Legal and Ethical Environments

    • Understand the legal and ethical environment of business and how it relates to employment practices, systems, decisions, and behaviors.

  • Leadership and Teamwork

    • Understand and apply the principles of effective self-management, teamwork, and leadership in team, intra-organizational, and inter-organizational environments.

  • Strategic Human Resources Decision-making

    • Understand and apply rational and intuitive decision-making strategies for making HR-related decisions in a complex organizational environment.

  • Planning and Staffing

    • Understand and apply the principles of effective employee recruiting, selection, and retention, as well as human resources forecasting and planning.

  • Compensation and Benefits

    • Understand and apply the principles of effective compensation and benefit system design and how they impact employee motivation, productivity, business viability, and fairness.

  • Human Resources Development

    • Understand and apply the principles of effective training and development system design and how to apply them in the delivery of integrated training.

  • Employee and Labor Relations

    • Understand and apply the principles of building effective labor relations in union and non-union environments.

  • International

    • Understand how the international environment of diverse cultures, regulations, and systems impacts the HR policies and practices.

Graduate Programs

Master of Science in Human Resource Management: Program Objectives

The Management Department offers a Master of Science degree in human resource management. The degree requires completion of the business core. In addition to the business core the degree seeks to provide leading-edge education in the practice of human resource management. Since 2002, the MSHR degree program has been designed around a competency framework developed by the faculty at Utah State. This framework was developed based on similar models in industry and academia and has been presented at numerous conferences and published in the Journal of Management Education. The model lays out a set of knowledge areas, skills, and traits that, in combination, create competence for HR professionals in training.

  • Category 1: Cognitive

    • Thinking analytically and critically
    Thinking strategically and globally
    Thinking on ones feet

  • Category 2: Communication

    • Supportive communication
    Listening
    Oral communication and platform skills
    Written communication

  • Category 3: Collaboration

    • Group facilitation task
    Group facilitation maintenance

  • Category 4: Consulting

    • Psychological contracting
    Goal setting and action planning
    Negotiation, mediation, and conflict management
    Change management

  • Specific Topic Areas

    • MHR 6330: Applied Research Methods
    MHR 6510: Performance Management
    MHR 6550: Human Resource Planning and Staffing
    MHR 6620: Training and Organizational Development
    MHR 6630: Compensation and Benefits
    MHR 6650: Team and Interpersonal Effectiveness
    MHR 6670: Employee Relations and the Labor Movement
    MHR 6680: Human Capital Management
    MHR 6690: Human Resource Strategy
    MHR 6760: Employment Law