Human Resources Management Emphasis

Human Resources Management Emphasis

Develop and maintain company relationships.

Gain the skills required to find and recruit employees, train staff, create an inclusive and diverse workplace, negotiate salaries and compensation and work with labor leaders and unions. Human resource (HR) managers perform a number of tasks, including matching skills to job requirements, developing fair compensation practices, appraising employees' performance levels, developing employees' skills and abilities through training and career planning and implementing productivity improvement programs. The human resources management emphasis prepares students for careers in human resources by covering such topics as recruiting, staffing, training and development, performance appraisal, evaluation, compensation, career planning, safety and health, equal employment opportunity and affirmative action and labor relations. 

Why study Human Resources Management at UCCS?

  1. AACSB Accredited

    The UCCS College of Business is accredited by the Association to Advance College Schools of Business (AACSB) which ensures your professors, classes and fellow students are of the highest quality. Only 5% of business schools worldwide have achieved this distinction.

  2. Exceptional Faculty

    Our leading instructors are nationally and internationally recognized for their research and instruction. Receive personalized guidance from professors with real-world experience in their field. 

  3. Ethical Curriculum

    The Daniels Fund Ethics Initiative Collegiate Program at UCCS instills principle-based ethics education throughout the business school, resulting in a high standard of ethics in our students and graduates.

  4. Community Support

    UCCS offers a various ways to connect and engage across campus. The College of Business sponsors several business-oriented clubs and organizations, including the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM).

  5. Real-World Experience

    The College of Business houses its own Career Development Center, dedicated to providing business students with assistance in career development, internship opportunities and job placement. 

  6. Global Perspectives

    The College of Business incorporates international business cases into the curriculum to ensure you are prepared for cross-cultural and international business opportunities. For those who wish to study abroad, the College of Business maintains partnerships with business schools across the world.

Human Resources Management Courses

  • Human Resource Management for Managers

    This course presents an overview of the entire Human Resource (HR) function. Topics include recruiting, staffing, job descriptions, health and safety laws, training and career development, performance management, compensation and benefits, employee relations and workplace issues.

  • Labor/Employee Relations and Engagement

    This course examines the employment relationship between employers, employees and labor unions. Topics include fundamentals of organizational culture, employee engagement, onboarding, performance management, training/development, employee relations, problem/conflict resolution and negotiation, labor relations and unionization processes and labor relations and employment related laws.

  • Total Rewards for Motivating and Retaining Employees

    This course examines the compensation and benefits practices to attract, engage and retain employees. Emphasis is placed on a total rewards strategy to meet the organization's strategic goals, job analysis and job descriptions, compensation and benefits plan design and administration, pay and benefits laws, recognition, wellness and reward practices.

  • Talent Acquisition: Recruiting, Interviewing and Selecting Employees

    This course covers the practices involved in building and maintaining an effective workforce that meets the organization's needs by identifying and hiring candidates who can make a significant contribution and are most likely to be retained. The major focus of the course is on the development of your skills and use of pre-employment testing/assessment methods and internet recruiting tools, workforce planning, selection, placement, applicant tracking systems and knowledge of key hiring-related laws.

  • Advanced Topics in Human Resource Management

    This course examines the key competencies and practices that are required for HR professionals to be effective in organizations. Topics include HR strategies and structures, ethical foundations for HR, an HR professional's role in business partnering with internal organizational clients, business management for attaining organizational goals, consultation and facilitation skills, HR Technology and HR data reporting and analysis.

  • Improving Personal and Team Creativity

    This course covers the concepts and theories of creativity, but devotes most of the course time to specific, proven approaches to unlock and surface your innate creativity. Examples of creative approaches in business and industry are illustrated. Both individual and group creativity techniques are reviewed and practiced, with emphasis on how to form a creative work team.

  • Experiences in Leadership

    This is a guided self-development course to learn and apply the scientifically proven principles and skills of effective leadership in modern times. Content focuses on the ideological styles of authentic, transformational and servant leadership.

  • Organizational Development and Change

    This course provides students with critical skills for today's times of unprecedented change and fierce competition. The course introduces students to the field of Organization Development and Change that prepares leaders and those committed to being change champions with skills in improving the health and performance of individuals, groups and organizations and in effectively managing change.

  • Managing Projects for Competitive Advantage

    This course covers the fundamental project management topics necessary for implementation of and excellence in project management. Emphasis will be from a management perspective that addresses the basic nature of managing projects for business, information systems and the public. You will deal with the problems of selecting projects, initiating them, operating them and controlling them. Also covered are the issues associated with terminating a project and with conducting a project that involves what project managers like to call the “real world.”

  • Managing Service Operations

    This course prepares you for operations management opportunities in service industries such as financial services, entertainment, hospitality, logistics services and health care. Focusing on the management of service operations, this course will explore topics in three modules: 1) understanding services, 2) designing the service enterprises and 3) managing service operations. Sample topics include service strategy, new service development, service quality, service facility location, managing capacity and demand for services, managing waiting line and queuing models and managing service projects. Managing Service Operations equips students with the concepts and tools necessary to effectively manage a service operation, and should provide entrepreneurially-inclined students with the foundation to open their own service businesses.

Potential Careers

Career
Average Salary
Outlook Through 2028
Number of New Jobs Through 2028

Human Resource Director

$88,000

+7%

10,800

Recruiter

$50,000

+5%

33,000

Labor Relation Specialist

$67,800

+8%

6,500

Benefit Administrator

$54,000

+3%

1,800

Risk Manager

$87,000

+19%

N/A

Leadership Development Specialist

$69,000

+9%

28,900

Organizational Development Specialist

$63,000

+11%

28,200

Training/Development Manager

$76,000

+8%

3,100

Human Resource Consultant

$74,000

+7%

10,500

Human Resource Information System Manager

$76,000

+11%

46,800

Bureau of Labor Statistics

HR Management Faculty Spotlight
Jill Bradley-Geist, Ph.D.
Jill Bradley-Geist received her Ph.D. in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from Tulane University. Her two main research focuses are 1) managing workplace diversity and 2) individual differences as they relate to employee selection, job performance, and employee well-being. Her research has been published in top-tier journals including Journal of Applied Psychology, Personnel Psychology, and Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.

What Our Students Are Saying

Ann Richards
Class of 2019
"UCCS offers top-notch education and more personalized service than most other large state schools or community colleges. You will be challenged, but you will also be supported. Smaller classes mean that it’s much easier to get help from your professors. Most professors have prior experience and connections with the business community, as well. That’s worth a lot more than what you’ll get out of your textbooks. Learning how to apply your education to the real world is what really matters."