Thought Paper

There are three goals of the Thought Paper assignment enabled in two written parts (Part A and Part B). 

Goal One

The first goal is to enable you to think over pressing issues in employee compensation and benefits to help you determine your position on the issue. A sample issue: Should companies abandon the use of compensation surveys?

In your paper, you will take a position on the issue (e.g., I believe that companies should not abandon the use of compensation surveys because...), and provide a rationale for your position, calling on outside sources to help substantiate it. Your position stated before the word because is Part A of the written paper.

Goal Two

The second goal is to find your voice as an aspiring professional. Your opinion should be informed by an analysis of credible sources and experiences to earn respect in your profession, and your opinion and analysis is the information that follows the word because in Part A. This section is Part B of the written paper.

Goal Three

The third goal is to provide an opportunity for you to express information clearly and concisely in written form. This is a general goal.

Your Role

In preparing this assignment, assume the role of a compensation professional who is briefing HR colleagues on a timely employee compensation topic. In the example, you would provide a rationale for each point that you raise after the word because.

Base your paper on two or three articles from HR-practitioner publications (e.g., HRMagazine, published by the Society for Human Resource Management), business periodicals (e.g., Forbes), major newspapers (e.g., New York Times, The Wall Street Journal), or other news outlets (e.g., cnn.com). Please cite your sources in the text using a consistent style and list each source as a reference on the last page of your assignment. There should be sufficient information to enable me to obtain the item (that is, author name, source such as a website, year if it is a book or journal, and the pages numbers if it is a book or journal). And formulate a rationale for your position based on your chosen sources and professional experience.

Assignment Grading

You will receive credit for this assignment (20 to 30 points based on the quality of your answer) if you satisfy Parts A and B. Stating your position (Part A) without providing any coherent rationale based on your thoughts and outside sources (Part B) earns you 3 points—10% of the total points. Stating your position (Part A) and providing a rationale that does not include your own thoughts or information from relevant sources to substantiate it (Part B) earns you 15 points—50% of the total points.  Please spell- and grammar check your work. Having more than two errors will lead to a reduction of 1 point per error (that is, 1 point for the 3rd error, 1 point for the 4th error, and so forth).

Thought Paper 1 (Due September 13, 11:59 pm, Central Time)

Your Topic for This Assignment

The U.S. federal government should mandate regular increases (either set by time such as yearly or by an objective index such as the cost-of-living index) to the federal minimum wage rather than states and cities.

Your Task

Indicate whether the U.S. federal government should mandate regular increases to the federal minimum rather than states and cities. This is Part A.

Provide a rationale for your position. This is Part B.

Please limit your write-up to 250 to 300 words (excluding references).

Prepare your paper as a Microsoft Word file and upload to Turnitin.