| Course | HRM-8030 Seminar in Human Resource Leadership |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 1 |
| Paper type | Module 1 written assignment: human resource leadership |
| Length | About 603 words, 5 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Thomas Edison State University |
| Program | Doctor of Business Administration |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for HRM 8030 Module 1
Loyalty, Seniority and the Next Generation: HR Leadership at a Family-Owned Manufacturer
Student Name
Doctor of Business Administration, Thomas Edison State University
HRM-8030: Seminar in Human Resource Leadership
Mentor Name
Month Day, Year
Loyalty, Seniority and the Next Generation: HR Leadership at a Family-Owned Manufacturer
Introduction
Monmouth Packaging Group is a composite third-generation family company that makes folding cartons and pressure-sensitive labels for food and personal care brands. It employs about 1,100 people at two plants in Edison and one in Pennsylvania. Turnover is low, many employees have worked there for twenty years or more and the owners are proud of a culture they describe as "family." In the next five years, however, eleven of its fourteen plant and department managers will reach retirement age. The company's new HR vice president has been asked to prepare the organization for that transition.
Reading the Culture
Schein and Schein (2019) layer culture in three: artifacts that can be seen, values people profess and assumptions so deep that people rarely discuss them. At Monmouth, the artifacts include long-service award dinners, promotions announced at the annual picnic and supervisors who came up from the press floor. The espoused values are loyalty, safety and taking care of customers. The underlying assumption, revealed by how decisions are actually made, is that loyalty earns promotion: when a manager position opens, the longest-serving qualified supervisor is expected to get it.
That assumption served the company well when its processes changed slowly. It now creates two problems. Many long-serving supervisors are themselves close to retirement, so promoting by seniority would replace one retiring manager with another. And younger employees with digital printing and data skills, which the company's customers increasingly require, see no path upward and are leaving after three or four years.
The HR Leader's Role
HR leadership in this setting means changing policies that rest on a cultural assumption without signaling that the values behind it, loyalty and care for employees, no longer matter. Schein and Schein (2019) warn that leaders who attack a culture head-on provoke resistance, while those who build on its strengths can change specific assumptions. The HR vice president's task is therefore to keep the value, loyalty is rewarded, while changing what it means in practice: loyalty is rewarded with development and recognition, and promotion depends on readiness for the role. Ulrich (1997) described the HR leader as a change agent as well as a strategic partner, and this situation calls on both roles: the policies must serve the business strategy, and the change must be led so employees accept it. Day (2000) adds that leadership capacity grows through relationships and experience over time, which is why the change must begin years before the retirements arrive.
Policies to Change
Three policies would carry the change. First, managerial openings will be posted with written criteria that include both experience and the capabilities the role now requires. Second, the company will create development programs that let long-serving employees prepare for new roles, so seniority becomes an advantage in getting development rather than an automatic claim on promotion. Third, recognition for long service will continue and grow, so employees see that the company still values loyalty.
Leading the Change
The HR vice president should build a coalition with the owners and respected senior supervisors, explain the business reason for the change, the retirement wave and customers' new demands, and involve employees in designing the new criteria. Changes should be piloted in one plant first so their effects can be seen.
Conclusion
Monmouth's culture rests on an assumption that loyalty earns promotion. HR leadership can preserve the value of loyalty while changing how promotion works, through posted openings, development for long-serving employees and continued recognition, so the culture stays stable while the company prepares its next generation of leaders. Culture will change slowly.
References
Day, D. V. (2000). Leadership development: A review in context. The Leadership Quarterly, 11(4), 581-613. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1048-9843(00)00061-8
Schein, E. H., & Schein, P. A. (2019). The corporate culture survival guide (3rd ed.). John Wiley & Sons.
Ulrich, D. (1997). Human resource champions: The next agenda for adding value and delivering results. Harvard Business School Press.
What the HRM 8030 Module 1 instructions ask for
In HRM-8030, three papers count 30 percent, beside four forums, a peer review of the project outline and one live session. The Module 1 assignment covers human resource leadership: the role HR leaders play in crafting policies that support organizational effectiveness and cultural stability. Expect to apply Schein and Schein's The Corporate Culture Survival Guide and scholarly research to an organization, identify cultural assumptions that shape HR practice and propose how an HR leader should act. Doctoral-level work calls for sources beyond the textbook and for analysis that weighs alternatives. Choose an organization you can study across all three assignments. Questions often ask what kind of leader HR needs to be in the organization you chose.
How this HRM 8030 Module 1 example is built
The paper introduces the organization and the business problem facing it, a wave of retirements. A culture section applies Schein's three levels and identifies the underlying assumption that loyalty earns promotion, explaining how it once worked and why it now fails. A section on the HR leader's role explains how to change policies built on that assumption while keeping the value behind it. Three policy changes follow, then a short plan for leading the change. The analysis moves from culture to policy to leadership action, as the module intends. Research on HR's role as change agent and on how leadership capacity develops supports the recommendations.
Reading the HRM 8030 Module 1 grading rubric
Credit follows complete answers, correct use of the text and research, a real organization and orderly prose. Answers that use Schein's model to identify an underlying assumption, rather than listing artifacts, show the depth the course expects. Recommendations that protect cultural stability while changing practice demonstrate the balance HR leadership requires. Research past the textbook and doctoral prose finish the mark. Mentors also credit a plan for leading the change, such as building a coalition and piloting policies, because culture changes through how leaders act. Explaining why the old assumption worked in the past shows a fair reading of the culture rather than a critique of it. Papers that connect culture to a specific leadership action show applied insight.
HRM 8030 Module 1 help from the desk
Marks slip when culture is reduced to slogans and picnics, when changes ignore how staff will respond or when HR is cast as able to swap one culture for another. Identify the assumption behind a practice. Explain why it worked and why it now fails. Keep the value while changing the practice. Plan how to involve employees. A free first sample on your own HRM-8030 Module 1 organization is available on request. Choose an organization you know well, since the same organization carries through the remaining assignments and the final project. Show the business reason for any cultural change. Keep each policy change tied to the assumption it addresses.
Write yours, or have the desk draft it
This paper is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Thomas Edison State University document. Read it for the moves, then write your own to the instructions in your classroom. If you want one built to your exact prompt and rubric, the first custom sample is free and arrives in 24 to 48 hours.
More HRM 8030 and Doctor of Business Administration sample papers
- HRM 8030 Module 2: Written Assignment: Workforce Development for a Changing Skill Mix
- HRM 8030 Module 3: Written Assignment: A Talent Management System for Critical Roles
- HRM 8030 Module 4: Final Project: A Succession Management System for a Family Manufacturer
- DBA 8040 Module 2: Written Assignment: External and Internal Analysis of an HVAC Distributor
- DBA 8010 Module 5: Discussion: Negotiating a Supply Agreement With a Japanese Confectioner
- DBA 8090 Module 4: Final Project: Consultant's Report for a Family Marine Contractor
- DBA 8060 Module 7: Discussion: Batch, Stream or Managed Cloud? Choosing DAKOKOO's Big Data Tools
HRM 8030 Module 1 questions, answered
Where can I find a free HRM 8030 Module 1 sample paper?
Monmouth Packaging Group's HR leadership, read through Schein's levels, is analyzed above.
What textbook does HRM-8030 use?
Schein and Schein's The Corporate Culture Survival Guide, third edition, from Wiley.
What are Schein's three levels of culture?
What you can see, what people claim to value and the deep assumptions nobody questions, which change slowest.
How can HR change culture without destabilizing it?
By keeping the values employees care about while changing the specific practices and assumptions that no longer serve the organization.
Why do seniority-based promotions create problems?
They can promote people near retirement and discourage employees with new skills who see no path upward.