MS-02 Management of Human Resources

Importance and act as significant player in the process of various dimensions of Role Efficacy in an organisational set up.

2011-05-18T02:16:00.000-07:00

‘An organisation can be defined as a system of roles, while a role itself is a system’. ‘The system of various roles which the individual carries and performs, and the system of various roles of which his/her role is a part.’ Explain with relevant examples, how the above statements assume importance and act as significant player in the process of various dimensions of Role Efficacy in an organisational set up. Give relevant details of the organisation, you are referring to for examples.

Ans. ORGANISATIONAL AND INDIVIDUAL ROLES

The efficiency and effectiveness of an organisation depends directly on how capable its personnel are and how effectively that are utilised for achieving organisational objectives. Capability of a person depends on his abiity to work and the types of training he receives. While the personal ability is evaluated through proper selection process, his training is taken care of by the organisation which involves developing appropriate skills and competence in people art different levels of the organisation. Integrated and systematic development of personnel in the organisation is referred to as human resources development.

HRD focuses on human resources as a means for organisation health. Though the ultimate objective of any activity or process in an organisation is to contribute to its well being, each process may have specific focus on a particular aspect. Management does this by focusing on personnel their competencies and their pride in the organisation. The focus of HRD on human resources is based on following assumptions:-

(i) Human Resources are the most valuable assets of any organisation
(ii) Unlike other resources human resources can be developed and increased to an unlimited extent.
(iii) A conductive organisational climate characterised by openers, trust, mutuality and collaboration is essential for developing human resources
(iv) People feel committed to their work and organisation, if the organisation develops the feelings of belongingness.
(v) People will develop this feeling if they are taken care of properly by the organisation
(vi) Peoples commitment is increased with the opportunity to discover develop and use their potential.
(vii) Everyone in the organisation is responsible for human resource development.

AS A SYSTEM OF ROLES

HRD does not view the development of an individual employee in isolation but it tries to integrate this with the total system of development, which is undertaken at four levels. –individual, dynamic, group and organisation.. At the individual level, HRD makes individual employees aware of the expectations that other persons have about their roles so that they are able to develop their skills and attitude accordingly.

At the dynamic level stronger superior-subordinate relationship is develop by developing the attitudes of mutual trust and help. At the group level focus is on developing collaborative team spirit and intergroup cooperation. At the organisation level, development of competencies involves the development of self renewal mechanism in the organisation which enables it to adapt environmental changes and to proud.

An organisation can be defined as a system of roles, in the context of present day competitive business, the quality of human capital of an organisation determines the degree of success which it can achieve since there is keen competition for human resources and not only competition for customers, the human capital can be created within the organisation and not acquired from outside. From this point of view, HRD has created its own needs in every organisation.

Fist and foremost role of HRD is to develop the competencies in people in all the levels in the organisation. Basically human resource development has two roles; to provide employees with greater opportunity to succeed and grow within the company and to strengthen management and professional teams at all levels of organisation level. Competency can be developed by increasing ability through increasing knowledge, skills and change in attitudes. Knowledge refers to the possession of information and ideas in a particular field which may be helpful in developing relationships among different variables related to that field.

Skill refers to expertise, expertness, practical ability or facility in an action of doing something. Attitude refers to the orientation of an individual in terms of settled mode of thinking or behaviour. Developing of competencies among individuals and teams consisting them is required in all types of organisations, business or non business. However in business organisations, their role is more focused because of increased competition.

HRD is also needed in an organisation to facilitate system wide changes. According to Mekinsey model , the interrelated aspects in an organisation are s8, Strategy, structure, system, staff, skills, styles and shared values. Change in any one element necessitates the change in other elements to absorb the change initiated in one element. HRD makes efforts to bring this system wide change and make all elements coherent;

Another role of HRD is to create conducive organisational climate congenial to individual growth as well as organisational growth by replacing the old and traditional assumptions about human beings with contemporary and more realistic assumptions about human beings.

Following conclusions can be drawn about people in an organisation regarding conducive organisational climate.

• People in the organisation become more competent because of the skills that are developed in them and the clarity of roles that they perform.
• Involvement in and commitment to job increase because of linkage between job performance and rewards both intrinsic and extrinsic.
• People develop better understanding to each other based on mutual trust and confidence which creates better cooperation.
• Top management becomes sensitive to human resources in terms of their utilisation and solution of problems.

ORGANISATION AND INDIVIDUAL GOALS
This is one of the areas of conflict between an organisation and its members. In order to bring congruency in there goals and consequently, organisational effectiveness, There is a need for integrating organisational and individual goals. The relationship between organisational and individual goals can be presented on following continuum.

Totally
Opposing Neutral Identical
I-------------------I--------------------I------------------I----------------I
Partially Compatible
Opposing

[Relation ship between organisational and industrial goals)

The relationship between individual and organisational goals can be identified by exploring what individuals want from the organisation and what the organisation wants from the individuals.

Human aspect is the predominant factor affecting his relations with others in the society. Man is a complicated human being with various emotions, fears, desires, ambitions, likes and dislikes. There is a constant interaction and interplay of there various dynamic human factors and it is necessary to chanelise them to work towards the common goals of the organisation.

EXAMPLE
Ashok Leyland Chennai is leading manufacturing firm in production of transports. It not only carter to the needs of the domestic requirements but also is a front runner in exporting its products to other countries. The organisation has very sound system of interpersonal relationships. Director of personnel is responsible for assisting management in the formulation of policies on personnel administration including employees training, manpower planning, industrial relations, employee’s welfare including community development and their implementation. He also does planning, direction, coordination and control of activities and personnel of the departments under him. The firm has an excellent work environment through transparent HR policies which are highly motivating and future positive self discipline. The essence of human relation philosophy of the firm is to cultivate and develop an environment where employees as individuals and as a group would wish to contribute their goals. Executives in upper and middle management recognise that the organisation involves a complicated network of relationships among people. The management’s job is to coordinate the efforts among people so that they will work towards the common goal.

What are the bare necessary Human Resource Function’s data required by a manager for conducting Human Resource Audit and why?

2011-05-18T02:03:00.000-07:00

What are the bare necessary Human Resource Function’s data required by a manager for conducting Human Resource Audit and why? Critically evaluate with you experience with the organisation you have been working with or any organisation you are familiar with. Briefly give relevant details of the organisation, you are referring to.

Ans. HUMAN RESOURCES AUDIT

Audit is one of the important management control devices. HR audit is used widely to check the organisations performance in its management of human resources. To facilitate control, the audit reveals important facts such as absenteeism, labour turnover, employee grievances etc,. The primary objective of the audit is the critical review and evaluation of manpower management programme in the organization. HR audit is not limited to a review of the work of the personal department. All managers of an organization have personal responsibility. They all take part in developing policies and operate under there in handling their personnel responsibilities.

Therefore, HR audit goes beyond the limits of personnel department activities and considers the role of management in effective manpower utilisation.

“HR Audit refers to an examination and cultivation of policies, procedures and practices to determine the effectiveness of personnel management. It is an investigative analytical and comparative process. It undertakes a systematic search of the effectiveness of personnel programmes.

Personal audit is different from the measurement of employee moral. Attitudes and moral represent only a portion of the total facts and figures to be considered. HR Audit checks the indicators of the quality of leadership, motivation, communication, effectiveness of supervision etc.

From the above discussion it can be said that the HR Audit refers to :

(i) The measurement of the effectiveness of the human resource management’s mission, objectives, strategies, policies, procedures, programmes and activities.

(ii) The determination of what should or should not be done in the future as a result of such measurement.

According to “Gray”, “the primary purpose of personnel audit is to know how the various units are functioning and how they have been able to meet the policies and guidelines which were agreed upon, and to assist the rest of the organization by identifying the gap between objectives and results for the end product of an evaluation should be to formulate plans for corrections or adjustment.

Areas of Audit
The areas of HR audit include.
(i) Mission statement relating to human resource management
(ii) Objectives, goals and strategies of human resource managemen.
(iii) Accomplishments of human resource management.
(iv) Programmes of HRM including the detailed practices and procedures
(v) HRM policies
(vi) Role of HRM is total quality management.

QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE INDICATORS FOR PERSONNEL AUDIT

Under following headings qualitative and quantitative indicators of HR Audit can be determined.

1. PROCUREMENT : Qualitative indicator for this function are personal inventory, replacement tables, organizational planning, job description and specification, source evaluation. Exit interviews and induction programmes etc. Quantitative indicators under procurement functions are turnover rates, selection rations, retrenchment, dismissals and lay-offs, recruitment time –lag and recruitment time langend recruitment ratios.

2. TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT: Qualitative indicators: Training programmes, supervisory and management development programmes, systematic promotions career planning and formal appraisal.
Qualitative indicators: Time taken in training, Apprentice ratios, scrap losses, productivity increases.
3. COMPENSATION: Qualitative indicators: Job evaluation programmes, wage and salary surveys, complain from employees about wages and salaries.
Quantitative indicators: Wage and salary differentials benefit range and costs, number of employees earning bonus in excess of standard rates.

4. INTEGRATION AND MAINTENANCE : Under qualitative indicators are employee handbook, employee voluntary participation in option service programmes. Under Quantitative indicators are measured moral, measured communication, Absenteeism and turnover rates number of grievances, suggestions ratios, Accident rates.

5. LABOUR RELATIONS: Qualitative indicators: Labour management committees, contract interpretations, no strike clause. Quantitative indicators: Work stoppages grievances and their settlement, arbitrations, costs etc.

Certain records are statistics which are properly maintained for HR Audit include the following.

(1) Employment Statistics such as number of new hires, voluntary quits, forced separations, are number entering and leaving the organisations.
(2) Statistics describing characteristics of present work force such as age, length of service, education etc.
(3) Grievance Statistics including number of new grievances, number handled at each level of management etc.
(4) Miscellaneous statistical data such as absenteeism, suggestions, received and approved, average lowly rate etc.

After examining the various HR policies, practices and procedures and their results, the auditors provide written reports of their findings, conclusions and suggestions. Summaries and evaluation of factual information present the most common content of auditors report. The report should be based solely on the findings. Reports also include recommendations which may meet the primary needs of top management. The auditor should ensure that the following essentials are included in the report.

(i) Table of contents
(ii) Preface giving a brief statement of the audit
(iii) Summary and conclusions
(iv) The report proper, in which each major division or department is covered separately. Each department may be devoted a separated section.
(v) Summary – it is general nature and is relevant to all the persons concerned. It does not include the matters reported to the top management.
(vi) Appendix. This includes supporting data that might be too voluminous to appear in the body of the report.

HR AUDIT IN ASHOK LEYLAND CHENNAI

HR Audit is given due consideration in the firm. The organization Ashok Leyland is premier manufacturing firm of Chennai and producing variety of motor vehicles. It not only caters to the national requirements, but also is exporting its products to the neighboring countries. HR Audit department carries out examination and evaluation of policies, procedures and practices to determine the effectiveness and efficiency of HRM.

HR auditors of the firm review the whole system of management programmes in which a management develops, allocates and supervises human resources.
2. They also seek explanations and information’s, that is, to get answers to such questions as “Why did it happen?” and “What happened?”.
3. One of the important function HR auditors do is that they evaluate the extent to which line managers have implemented the policies which have already been initiated.
4. They also evaluate the personnel staff and employees.
Thus in Ashok Leyland the HR auditors carry out specification of standards, collection and evaluation of information and preparation of audit reports.

Briefly describe various methods of job Analysis.

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Briefly describe various methods of job Analysis. Evaluate and identify the method applied in an organisation known to you or you are familiar with. Critically analyze the role and importance of job Analysis on Work Flow in an organisational setup.

Ans. Job Analysis is very vital step in human resources planning process. A Job is a bundle of related tasks; A synonym of job is work. Work is understood as physical and mental activity that is carried out at a particular place and time, according to instructions, in return for money. Monetary consideration is necessary in determining whether an activity is really a work. Housewife does not do work as she is not doing it for money. Where as a servant’s job becomes work as with work job also carries monetary consideration. The job incumbent attends to all the allied tasks for wages or salaries.
The nature of work and how mangers organize work is a critical element affecting human resources activities. Before discussing design and organization of work it is desirable that we know “Job analysis” the tool of collecting job related data.
JOB ANALYSIS refers to the process of collecting information about a job. The process of job analysis results in two sets of data (i) job description and (ii) Job specification. Job description describes what a job involves- tasks and responsibilities tagged on to a job, Job title, duties, machines tools and equipment, working conditions and hazards from part of job description.
The capabilities that job holder should posses from part of job specification. Education training experience, judgment skills, communication skills and the like are a part of job specification.

Now what is very important is that there should be fit between job demands (job description) and abilities required to discharge the tasks (job-specification) any mismatch is likely to result in job dissatisfaction that carries dis- functional consequences like how productivity, absenteeism and turnover.

METHODS OF JOB ANALYSIS

The process of analyising a job is essentially one of data collection various approaches can be utilized for this purpose. They are:
(a) Observation Method
(b) Interview
(c) Questionnaire
(d) Check list
(e) Technical conferences
(f) Diary

METHODS OF COLLECTING JOB DATA

OBSERVATION
Here job analyst carefully observes the job holder at work and records what he or she does, how he or she does, and how much time is needed to complete a given task. This method is simple. Data collected is accurate because of direct observation. But this is time consuming method and in applicable in jobs which involve high properties of unobservable mental activities. The analyst needs to be trained to carefully observe and record the competence of the job incumbent and training means additional cost. For better results the method should be used along with other methods of job analysis.

INTERVIEW
In this method the analyst interviews the job holder and his supervisor to elicit information about the job. This method is usually structural one. It is time consuming method. The time problem will be compounded if the interviewer talks with 2 or more employees doing the same job. Further more managerial and professional jobs are more complicated to analyse and require a longer interview. There is also a problem of bias. Bias may cloud the accuracy and objectivity of the data obtained. But face to face contact makes it more meaningful and effective method.

QUESTIONNAIRE.
Job holders fill in the given structural questionnaire, which are then approved by the supervisors. Questionnaires whether standard or prepared one must contain the following data.

(i) Job title of the jobholder.
(ii) Job title of the job holders supervisor
(iii) Job titles and numbers of the staff reporting to the job holder.
(iv) A brief description of the overall role or purpose of the job.
(v) A list of the main tasks or duties that the job holder has to perform as specified these should specify the resources controlled, the equipment used, the contracts made and the frequency with which the tasks are carried out.
In this method information of a large number of jobs can be collected in a relatively short period of time. Further more, all the job holders participate in the method unlike in an interview where one or two workers only would participate.
But the accuracy of the information obtained through the questionnaire leaves much to be desired. Job analysis work requires specialized knowledge and training. An average employee although know what his/her duties are, he/she is not trained to identify the essential aspects of his/her work and often cannot express the information in a meaningful and clear fashion. To depend exclusively upon questionnaire as the source of job information is bound and creates some errors in the programme.

CHECKLIST.
Check list is similar to a questionnaire, but the response sheet contains fewer subjective judgments and tends to be either ‘yes-or-no’ variety. Preparation of a check list is a challenging job. The job holder is asked to check all the listed task in check list that he performs and indicate the amount of time spent on each task as well as the training and experiences required to be proficient in each task. Check list method is useful in large firms that have a large number of people assigned to one particular job. Also this technique is amendable to tabulation and recording on electronic data processing equipment. The technique however is costly and not suitable to small firm.

TECHNICAL CONFERENCE METHOD
In this method, services of supervisors who possess extensive knowledge about a job are used. The analyst initiates discussion which provides details of data collection, this method lacks accuracy as the actual job holders are not involved in collecting information.

DIARY METHOD
This method requires the job holders to record in detail their activities each day. If done accurately, this method is accurate and eliminates errors caused by memory lapse the job holder makes while answering questionnaires and checklist. But it is time consuming as recording has to be done for a number of days. It also engages considerable time of a production worker.

EXAMPLE
Method Applied in Heavy Vehicle Factory for the job analysis is not a single one. But it was observed that the observation and interview methods of collecting data or job information hold the greatest promise of completeness accuracy and better utilisation of time. Heavy Vehicle Factory (HVF) Chennai is premier organization responsible for producing heavy vehicle for defence organization. Job analysis in the firm has its impact on all the functions of HRM. Job analysis has helped the firm enhance the effectiveness of all HR activities.
Job analysis has helped the organization in the following ways:

(i) Laying the foundation for human resources planning.
(ii) Laying the foundation for employee hiring
(iii) Laying the foundation for training and development
(iv) Laying the foundation for performance appraisal
(v) Laying the foundation for salary and wages fixation
(vi) Laying the foundation for safety and health

If the particular job is simple and repetitive, observation is followed by the management. In most cases however interviews coupled with observation constitute the preferred approach.

ROLE OF JOB ANALYSIS
Job analysis is useful for overall management of all personnel activities. Job related data obtained from a job analysis programme are useful in HRP, employee hiring, training, job evaluation compensation etc.
Job analysis also play vital role in performance appraisal, computerized personnel information system and safely and health.
As for HRP the number and type of personnel are determined by the jobs which are to be staffed. The objective of employee hiring is to match the right people with the right jobs, which can be achieved only with adequate job information. For establishing wage and salary differentials job evaluation is done which is based on job description and job specification.

Hazardous conditions and unhealthy environments are identified with the help of job analysis and corrective measures are taken to improve them.

Challenges require organisations to build new capabilities.

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‘Regardless of their industry, size or location, today’s organisations are faced with five critical challenges viz; Globalization, profitability through growth, Technology, Intellectual capital and change, Change and more Change. Collectively these challenges require organisations to build new capabilities.’
Critically comment on the above statements with respect to your experiences with the organisation you have been working for/known to you. Give relevant details of the organisation you are referring to.

Ans. CHALLENGES OF ORGANISATIONS

Regardless of their industry, size or location, today’s organisations are faced with many critical challenges. Such as globalization, profitability through growth technology, intellectual capital and change, change and more change. Collectively there challenges require organisations to build new capabilities. Above statement gives an insight how modern organisations small or big are to face variety of challenges. It is the prerequisite for the management to face there challenge effectively and effectively in order to turn them into their strength and win competitive advantage for their organisations.

The last decade of 20the century has brought management practices across the world and India has not been an exception to that. There changes have put various challenges before the management to adopt new strategies for managing business since HRM is the prime mover of management of people at work; it has to encounter that challenges effectively in order to enable organisations to achieve their objectives. Following trends which are emerging at the global level as well as in India, have far reacting impact on human resources management practices.
(i) Globalisation of economy
(ii) Corporate Restructuring
(iii) Newer Organisational designs
(iv) Emphasis on total quality management (TQM)
(v) Emphasis on Kaizen
(vi) Changing job profile
(vii) Changing work force profile
(viii) Increasing role of women employees
(ix) Emphasis on knowledge management

1. Globalisation of economy:
Today geographical boundaries of a country have only political relevance. The economic relevance has extended beyond that. Today, the market classification does not take into account only national parameters, but also global parameters. Many Indian companies have spread their wings beyond their national territory. Globalisation of business is helpful in earning profit but at the same time, it creates many challenges for management, particularly in the area of HRM. HRM practices are culture-bound and the culture of a nation differs from that of other countries. Therefore many of the HRM practices which are relevant for its operations in the country of its origin may not be relevant for its operation in other countries. HR managers are required to be familiar with the attitudes, beliefs and values prevalent in the host countries of other conditions prevailing in those countries which have bearing on HRM practices.

2. Profitability through growth:
Organisational development and growth efforts broadly aim at improving the organisational effectiveness and job satisfaction of the employees. There aims can be attained by humanising the organisations and encouraging the personal growth of individual employees. The objectives of this development and growth are to increase the communication among people, to increase commitment, self direction and self control, to enhance personal enthusiasm and satisfaction levels and to increase the level of trust and support among employees, to increase the level of individual and group responsibility in planning and execution. Thus the major task of HR managers is to harmonise the individual goals to those of broad organisational objectives

3. Technology:
With the removal of restrictions on technology import and acquisitions, many organisations have opted for newer technologies increased use of computers have added new dimension to technological innovation. With the result, old skills are fast becoming obsolete. In their place the operatives have to acquire new skills which has increased the training needs in such organisation and HR developments have to be more active. Technology brings the changes in the span of control, delegation of authority. These changes influence the changes in the present organisational structure. Technology influences the organisational structure through job redesign and change in job description demand for men. Skills and knowledge from the employees . There factors invariable necessitate the development of human resource.

Intellectual Aspects:
Enhancement of the level of the technology needs high level skills and knowledge. There high level skills and knowledge should be incorporated in the job description. Job handled by semi-skilled employees are how to be handled by a computer programmer Advance technology degrades some employees and retrenches some employees from, employment unless they are trained and developed on the application of new technology and methods. These factors demand for development of human resources. Hence it becomes imperative for the Human resource managers to take adequate steps to build the competencies and capabilities of their employees in order to make them important assets for the organisations.

Management of change
Change the order of the day. “Change before the change changes you”. And “change or decay” are the buzz words of the day. The factors that force the change include nature of the work force, technology, economic shocks, competition, social trends and world of politics. There is cultural diversity and need for unification. Also there is increase in professionalism, increase in formal education, increased level of soft skills and positive attitude in the employees. In the field of technology there is the advent of faster and cheaper computers, total quality management and business processing re-engineering. Then there are global competition, mergers and acquisitions and e-business fostering fierce competition. In social trends there are new concepts as (c1o2) Career first and others two, and increased career orientation among young ladies. In the world of political system changes major issues are collapse of Soviet Union, opening of markets in china and china becoming world number two economy. India is not far behind and is bound to catch up in near future if present trend continuous.
There changes require individuals and organisations to make new adjustments. Complexity and fear of adjustment give rise to resistance and problem to change management, especially the HRM is said to be an agent of change. HRM has to overcome the resistance and make it a successful venture. Management can take following steps for smooth transition of change;

• Participation of employees in decision making
• Planning for change
• Protecting Employees interests
• Group Dynamics and positive relationship among people
• Cautious and slow introduction
• Sharing the benefits of change
• Training and development
• Career planning and Development
• Organisational Development

Apart from above mentioned challenges there are plethora of other challenges organisation have to face, such as changing job profile, changing work force profile. Emphasis on total quality management and increasing role of women employees

EXAMPLE

Hindustan Organic Chemicals (HOC) has adopted various strategies to tope up various challenges put forward by changing scenario. They have adopted three-tier workers participation system, which is practised by most of the public sector enterprises. Three-tier participation operates through shop councils, joint councils and worker director.
Shop councils have equal representation from management and workers. The decisions of the council are made on the basis of consensus. Unsettled issues are referred to joint councils. Joint council also has equal representation from management and workers. CEO of firm is its chairman. The decisions of the councils are implemented within one month period. Meetings are held at least once in three months. A workers director is appointed from workers side to two years. He should have eligibility criteria as per ARC Administration Reforms Commissions of PSUs. Work director is appointed by the government. He takes parts in Board of Directors proceedings and draws fees and allowances as admissible to non executive directors.
Due to this healthy and purposeful participation of the workers the HOC management is able to face the challenges imposed by globalisation, technological advancement and social cultural aspects, very effectively and efficiently.

Discuss the changing role of HRM.

2011-05-17T05:11:00.001-07:00

Discuss the changing role of HRM. Explain the challenges associated with HRM effective policies and practices in the context of present business scenario citing examples from your organization or any other organization you are familiar with. Briefly describe the organization you are referring to.

CHANGING ROLE OF HRM
In an organization, there are tall people, short people, fat people, thin people, black people, white people, elderly people, young people and so on. Even within each category there are enormous individual differences. Some will be intelligent, others not so intelligent, some are committed to jobs, others are not, some will be outgoing, others reserved and so on. “The point is that these differences demand attention so that each person can maximize his or her potential, so that organizations can maximize their effectiveness and so that the society as a whole can make the wisest use of its human resources” (Cascio). The challenge of HR managers today is to recognize talent and nurture the same carefully and achieve significant productivity gains over a period of time. The enterprise is nothing but people. Technological advances, globalize competition, demographic changes, the information revolution and trends toward a service society have changed the rules of the game significantly. In such a scenario, organizations with similar set of resources gain competitive advantage only through effective and efficient management of human resources (Dessler).

The role of a HR manager is shifting from a protector and screener to the planner and change agent. In present day competitive world, highly trained and committed employees are often a firm’s best bet. HR professionals play a key role in planning and implementing downsizing, restructuring and other cost-cutting activities. They enable a firm to be more responsive to product innovations and technological changes. For example, team based work assignments and productivity linked rewards could replace manufacturing systems. In service enterprises like anking, hotels, insurance firms, etc., discourteous employee responses may ruin the relationships with customers.

Employees who lack the temperament, maturity, social skills and tolerance for frequent contact should not be selected at all for service-oriented activities. HR professionals can help an organization select and train employees for such emerging roles. Employees are the primary pillars of corporate success. Machines neither have new ideas nor they can solve problems or grasp opportunities. Only people who are involved and thinking can make a difference. Through open communications, proper feedback and fair treatment of all employees’ grievances and discipline matters, HR professionals promote employee commitment at various levels. In such a case employees perform the assigned tasks willingly and enthusiastically and thus offer a competitive advantage to the organization. As rightly pointed out by Charles Creer, (Strategy and Human Resources, 1995), “in a growing number of organizations human resources are now viewed as a source of competitive advantage. Increasingly it is being recognized that competitive advantage can be obtained with a high quality workforce that enables organizations to compete on the lines of market responsiveness, product and service quality, differentiated products and technological innovation”.

In the new economy, winning will spring form organizational capabilities such as speed, responsiveness, agility, learning capacity and employee competence. Successful organizations will be those that are able to quickly turn strategy into action; to manage processes intelligently and efficiently; to maximize employee contribution and commitment; and to create the conditions of seamless change. The need to develop those capabilities brings us back to the mandate for HR set forth at the beginning of this article. Let’s take a closer look at each HR imperative in turn, becoming a Partner in Strategy Execution. Strategy is the responsibility of the company’s executive team – of which HR is a member. To be full-fledged strategic partners with senior management, however, HR executives should impel and guide serious discussion of how the company should be organized to carry out its strategy. Creating the conditions for this discussion involves four steps. First, HR should be held responsible for defining an organizational architecture. In other words, it should identify the underlying model of the company’s way of doing business. Several well-established frameworks can be used in this process. Jay Galbraith’s star model, for example, identifies five essential organizational component: strategy, structure, rewards, processes and people.

The well-known 7-S framework created by McKinsey & Company distinguishes seven components in a company’s architecture: strategy, structure, systems, staff, style, skills and shared values. It’s relatively unimportant which framework the HR staff uses to define the company’s architecture, as along as it’s robust. What matters more is that an architecture be articulated explicitly. Without such clarity managers can become myopic about how the company runs – and thus about what drives strategy implementation and what stands in its way. They might think only of structure as the driving force behind actions and decisions, and neglect systems or skills. Or they might understand the company primarily in terms of its values and pay inadequate attention to the influence of systems on how work – that is, strategy execution – actually gets accomplished. In India, the borderless world is shaking the roots of business. While some companies are feeling the excitement and facing up to the challenges, the demand for a tilted playing field6 indicates the anxiety among many Indian business leaders about competition. Increasingly, the mantra of the global economy is performance and competition.

Explain the major components of industrial wage structures in India.

2011-05-17T05:08:00.001-07:00

Explain the major components of industrial wage structures in India. Discuss the salient features of the compensation system of the organization you are working in or any organization you are familiar with.

What are the components of a compensation system?
Compensation will be perceived by employees as fair if based on systematic components. arious compensation systems have developed to determine the value of positions. These ystems utilize many similar components including job descriptions, salary ranges/structures, and written procedures.

The components of a compensation system include:

Job Descriptions: A critical component of compensation and selection systems, job descriptions define in writing the responsibilities, requirements, functions, duties, location, environment, conditions, and other aspects of jobs. Descriptions may be developed for jobs individually or for entire job families.

Job Analysis: The process of analyzing jobs from which job descriptions are developed. Job analysis techniques include the use of interviews, questionnaires, and observation.

Job Evaluation: A system for comparing jobs for the purpose of determining appropriate compensation levels for individual jobs or job elements. There are four main techniques: Ranking, Classification, Factor Comparison, and Point Method.

Pay Structures: Useful for standardizing compensation practices. Most pay structures include several grades with each grade containing a minimum salary/wage and either step increments or grade range. Step increments are common with union positions where the pay for each job is pre-determined through collective bargaining.

Salary Surveys: Collections of salary and market data. May include average salaries, inflation indicators, and cost of living indicators, salary budget averages. Companies may purchase results of surveys conducted by survey vendors or may conduct their own salary surveys. When purchasing the results of salary surveys conducted by other vendors, note that surveys may be conducted within a specific industry or across industries as well as within one geographical region or across different geographical regions. Know which industry or geographic location the salary results pertain to before comparing the results to your company.

Policies and Regulations:
Compensation will be perceived as fair if it is comprised of a system of components developed to maintain internal and external equity.

What are different types of compensation?
Different types of compensation include:
• Base Pay
• Commissions
• Overtime Pay
• Bonuses, Profit Sharing, Merit Pay
• Stock Options
• Travel/Meal/Housing Allowance
• Benefits including: dental, insurance, medical, vacation, leaves, retirement, taxes...

What are regulations affecting compensation?

Compensation Plans

• Develop a program outline.

• Set an objective for the program.

• Establish target dates for implementation and completion.

• Determine a budget.

• Designate an individual to oversee designing the compensation program.

• Determine whether this position will be permanent or temporary.

• Determine who will oversee the program once it is established.

• Determine the cost of going outside versus looking inside.

• Determine the cost of a consultant's review.

• Develop a compensation philosophy.

• Form a compensation committee (presumably consisting of officers or at least including one officer of the company).

• Decide what, if any, differences should exist in pay structures for executives, professional employees, sales employees, and so on (e.g., hourly versus salaried rates, incentive-based versus non-contingent pay).

• Determine whether the company should set salaries at, above, or below market.

• Decide the extent to which employee benefits should replace or supplement cash compensation.

• Conduct a job analysis of all positions.

• Conduct a general task analysis by major departments. Who must accomplish what tasks?

• Get input from senior vice presidents of marketing, finance, sales, administration, production, and other appropriate departments to determine the organizational structure and primary functions of each.

• Interview department managers and key employees, as necessary, to determine their specific job functions.

• Decide which job classifications should be exempt and which should be nonexempt.

• Develop model job descriptions for exempt and nonexempt positions and distribute the models to incumbents for review and comment; adjust job descriptions if necessary.

• Develop a final draft of job descriptions.

• Meet with department managers, as necessary, to review job descriptions.
• Finalize and document all job descriptions.

• Evaluate jobs.

• Rank the jobs within each senior vice president and manager's department, and then rank jobs between and among departments.

• Verify ranking by comparing it to industry market data concerning the ranking, and adjust if necessary.

• Prepare a matrix organizational review.

• On the basis of required tasks and forecasted business plans, develop a matrix of jobs crossing lines and departments.

• Compare the matrix with data from both the company structure and the industry wide market.

• Prepare flow charts of all ranks for each department for ease of interpretation and assessment.

• Present data and charts to the compensation committee for review and adjustment.

• Determine grades.

• Establish the number of levels - senior, junior, intermediate, and beginner - for each job family and assign a grade to each level.

• Determine the number of pay grades, or monetary range of a position at a particular level, within each department.

• Establish grade pricing and salary range.

• Establish benchmark (key) jobs.

• Review the market price of benchmark jobs within the industry.

• Establish a trend line in accordance with company philosophy (i.e., where the company wants to be in relation to salary ranges in the industry).

• Determine an appropriate salary structure.

• Determine the difference between each salary step.

• Determine a minimum and a maximum percent spread.

• Slot the remaining jobs.

• Review job descriptions.

• Verify the purpose, necessity, or other reasons for maintaining a position.

• Meet with the compensation committee for review, adjustments, and approval.

• Develop a salary administration policy.

• Develop and document the general company policy.

• Develop and document specific policies for selected groups.

• Develop and document a strategy for merit raises and other pay increases, such as cost-of-living adjustments, bonuses, annual reviews, and promotions.
• Develop and document procedures to justify the policy (e.g., performance appraisal forms, a merit raise schedule).

• Meet with the compensation committee for review, adjustments, and approval.

• Obtain top executives' approval of the basic salary program.

• Develop and present cost impact studies that project the expense of bringing the present staff up to the proposed levels.

• Present data to the compensation committee for review, adjustment, and approval.

• Present data to the executive operating committee (senior managers and officers) for review and approval.

• Communicate the final program to employees and managers.

• Present the plan to the compensation committee for feedback, adjustments, review, and approval.

• Make a presentation to executive staff managers for approval or change, and incorporate necessary changes.

• Develop a plan for communicating the new program to employees, using slide shows or movies, literature, handouts, etc.

• Make presentations to managers and employees. Implement the program.

• Design and develop detailed systems, procedures, and forms.

• Work with HR information systems staff to establish effective implementation procedures, to develop appropriate data input forms, and to create effective monitoring reports for senior managers.

• Have the necessary forms printed.

• Develop and determine format specifications for all reports.

• Execute test runs on the human resources information system.

• Execute the program.

• Monitor the program.

• Monitor feedback from managers.

Discuss the concept of Team.

2011-05-17T05:06:00.000-07:00

Discuss the concept of Team. Explain various approaches to team development you have came across with respect to your own organization or any organization you are familiar with. Briefly describe the organization you are referring to.

THE CONCEPT OF TEAM
The concept of team is important, their effectiveness depends, to a large extent, on the teams of which they are members. In modern organisations individuals are required to work in different types of teams. In fact, new organisations can be described as composed of teams. What is a team? A team consists of individuals. However, collection of individuals in a place may be only a crowd. When the individuals come together for certain tasks, then we have formation of a group. The main function of a group is to exchange task- related information and discuss task-related issues. The countability in the group Building Roles and Teams remains of the individual. Each individual brings his/her competencies as well as the relevant information related to the task. Thus the group can be defined as a collection of individuals working in face-to-face relationship to share information and resources for a task to be achieved. The team is qualitatively different from the group in several ways. The team functions almost like an individual. In other words, the team is accountable for results; collective responsibility is taken. There is mutuality and complementarity of the members of the team. The most important characteristics of a team is that it creates synergy, i.e., the performance of the team is more than the collective performance of the individual members. A team can be defined as a group of individuals working in face-to-face relationship for a common goal, having collective accountability for the outcome of its effort.

TEAM DEVELOPMENT
Teams take time to develop. A team is not formed merely by declaring some individuals as a team. A lot of research has been done on group formation and development, and different theories of groups development have been suggested (e.g.Bennis & Shepard, 1956; Bion, 1961; Gibb, 1964; Schutz, 1958, 1982; Tuckman, 1965; Tuckman & Jensen, 1977; and Yalom, 1970). Tuckman (1977) summarising the various theories suggested five stages of group development. Tuckman’s model has been widely accepted: forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning. Kormanski & Mozenter (1987) integrated the various theories and suggested the following stages of team development. These stages are sequential (each stage is followed by the next one).

1) Awareness: At this stage individuals get to know each other. By knowing the goals of the team they commit themselves to the goals. The members get to know and accept to work together for a goal about which they have enough knowledge.

2) Conflict: At the first stage (awareness) the members know the team goals and accept to work together; but this is at the surface level. At the second stage they search and begin to ask questions. As a result several matters are clarified. They also fight with each and in this process of interaction resolve any hostilities they may have, resulting in the feeling of belonging to the group.

3) Cooperation: In the third stage the members own the team goals and get involved in those goals. Having resolved feelings, they also support each other.

4) Productivity: This is the stage of real achievement of the goals/outcomes, and the team members achieving these objectives feel proud of their achievement.

5) Separation: Having accomplished the goals or the outcomes, some task-specific teams may decide to get dissolved, or a time-bound time comes to a close. The excellent work done by the members is recognised, and the team members have a high sense of satisfaction of working with each other. This is the stage of closure of the team, or closure of one task on which the team was working.

Some of the approaches are as follows:

1) Johari Window Approach : According to this approach team building will involve helping individuals to take risk and frankly express their opinions and reactions, help them to accept feedback from others with enough opportunity to explore further and increasing their sensitivity to and perceptiveness of others’ needs and orientations. This can be done by developing a profile of a team based on individual members responses to an instrument (eg. The Instrument in Pareek, 2002).

2) Role Negotiation Approach: Team building can be done by using role negotiation (Harrison, 1971). Members of the team share each others’ images and then list expectations of what they would like the other group to continue to do, stop or reduce, and start or increase doing something which will make ones own group more effective. Based on such expectations negotiation between the two teams are to develop more and more collaboration between the two teams.

3) Team Roles Approach: As already mentioned Belbin (1981) suggested eight ‘team roles’ which ople take (chairman/coordinator, shaper, plant, monitor/ evaluator, company worker, resource investigator, team worker, completor/ finisher). Team building can be done by setting up effective teams and developing teams (Pareek, 1993).

4) Behaviour Modification Approach: Team building can also be done by helping people to become more effective in their individual orientations. . Collaboration depends on the individual’s orientation styles and attitudes. According to this approach some instruments (Pareek, 2002) are used to help individuals examine their styles and orientation and then increase their own effectiveness by modifying their behaviour. This is seen as an important way to nhance individuals’ potential for collaboration and team building. Using the concept of power, as already suggested, an instrument (Pareek, 2002) can be used to help team members examine their bases of power, and plan to increase their persuasive power.

5) Simulation Approach: Team building can be attempted by creating artificial teams in which people have an opportunity to experiment and learn from their behaviour in less threatening context. Various games or exercises are used for this purpose, like Broken Squares, Hollow Square, Win As Much As You Can, Maximising Your Gains etc. (Pareek & Rao, 1991). After people participate in such games they also discuss how similar dynamics operate in their backhome situation, and how they can use their learnings from simulations to make theirown teams effective.

6) Action Research Approach: In this approach team building is done through several steps which are generally taken in action research or organization development. Dyer (1978) has used this approach in his elaborate discussion of team building through five stages: data strengthening, data analysis, action planning, implementation, evaluation. In this approach diagnosis is done on the basis of questionnaires, interviews or observations. The steps involved in action research and OD are taken in this approach.

7) Appreciative Inquiry Approach: In this approach emphasis is given more on the positive aspects, including inspiring future dreams or goods, and appreciating positive qualities in each other. Appreciative Inquiry (Cooperrider & Whitney, 1999) has become quite popular as a method of increasing collaboration amongst people for building strong teams.

Explain the concept of Human Resource Accounting (HRA).

2011-05-17T05:04:00.001-07:00

Explain the concept of Human Resource Accounting (HRA). Describe the process of Human Resource Accounting of your organization or any organization you are familiar with. Bring out the advantages and limitations of HRA. Briefly describe the organization you are referring to.

HUMAN RESOURCE (HR) ACCOUNTING
Human resource is an important asset in the organization whose value goes on increasing with its right placement, application and development in the organization. In spite of vast physical resources with latest technology, an organization may quite often find itself in financial crisis if it does not have the right persons to manage its affairs. Thus human resource is a very valuable asset for the organization which aims to progress in all directions amidst heavy competition. Though the concept of Human resource Accounting is very old, organizations have-not made any effort to assign ay monetary value to this in their accounting practice till the recent past. The real efforts for viewing the human resource as an asset was started by behavioral scientist from 1960 onwards who tried to develop appropriate methodology and procedure for finding out the cost and value of the people in the organization. They attached the failure of conventional accounting practice to value the human resource of an organization along with material resources. Hence, human resources were identified as the value of production capacity of an organization, and the value of customer goodwill. There are two major reasons why human resource accounting has been receiving so much attention in the recent years.
a) There is genuine need for reliable and complete management of human resources.

b) Traditional framework of accounting is in the process to include a much broader set of measurement than was possible in the past.

c) People are the most important assets of an organization and yet the value of this asset does not appear in financial statements.

This information does not get included in management information systems. Conventional accounting of human resources consists of taking note of all expenses of human capital formation which does not seem either to be correct or meeting the actual needs. Human resource accounting, in simple terms, means accounting for people as the organizational resources. Human resource accounting is the process of identifying and measuring data about human resources and communicating this information to the interested parties. It is the measurement of the cost and value of people to the organization. It involves measuring costs incurred by private firms and public sector units to recruit, select, train and develop employees and judge their economic value to the organization.

Objectives of HR Accounting
The objective of HRA is not merely the recognition of the value of all resources used by the organisation, but it also includes the management of human resource which will ultimately enhance the quantity and quality of goods and services. The main objectives of HR Accounting system are as follows:

a) To furnish cost value information for making proper and effective management decisions about acquiring, allocating, developing and maintaining human resources in order to achieve cost effective organisational objectives.

b) To monitor effectively the use of human resources by the management.

c) To have an analysis of the human assets i.e. whether such assets are conserved, depleted or appreciated.

d) To aid in the development of management principles. and proper decision making for the future by classifying financial consequences of various practices.

e) In all, it facilitates valuation of human resources recording the valuation in the books of account and disclosure of the information in the financial statement.

f) It helps the organisation in decision making in the following areas: Direct Recruitment vs. promotion, transfer vs. retention, retrenchment vs. retention, impact on budgetary controls of human relations and organisational behaviour, decision on reallocation of plants closing down existing units and developing overseas subsidiaries etc.

Advantages of HR Accounting
Human Resource Planning anticipates not only the required kind and number of employees but also determines the action plan. The major benefits of HR accounting are:

a) It checks the corporate plan of the organisation. The corporate plan aiming for expansion, diversification, changes in technological growth etc. has to be worked out with the availability of human resources for such placements or key positions. If such manpower is not likely to be available, HR accounting suggests modification of the entire corporate plan.

b) It offsets uncertainty and change, as it enables the organisation to have the right person for the right job at the right time and place.

c) It provides scope for advancement and development of employees by effective training and development.

d) It helps individual employee to aspire for promotion and better benefits.
e) It aims to see that the human involvement in the organisation is not wasted and brings high returns to the organisation.

f) It helps to take steps to improve employee contribution in the form of increased productivity.

g) It provides different methods of testing to be used, interview techniques to be adopted in the selection process based on the level of skill, qualifications and experience of future human resources.

h) It can foresee the change in value, aptitude and attitude of human resources and accordingly change the techniques of interpersonal management

Limitations of HR Accounting
Human Resource Accounting is the term used to describe the accounting methods, system and techniques, which coupled with special knowledge and ability assist HR management in the valuation of personnel in financial terms. It is based on the assumption that there is great difference among the employees in their knowledge, ability and motivation in the same organization as well as across organizations. There are some who produce more, understand faster and show efficiency in training programmes as compared to others. HR accounting facilitates decision making about the personnel, either to keep or dispense with their services or to provide training accounting development and application in different industries and organizations has not fully grown. There are many limitations which make the management reluctant to introduce HR accounting in their organizations. Some of these limitations are given below:

a) There is no proper clear-cut and specific procedure or guidelines for finding cost and value of human resources of an organization
.
b) If the period of existence of human resource is uncertain, valuing them under uncertainty in future would be unrealistic
c) There is a fear that HR accounting may dehumanize and manipulate employees.

For example an employee with a comparatively low value may feel discouraged and develop a complex which will affect his competency to work.

d) The much needed empirical evidence is yet to be found to support the hypothesis that HR accounting as a tool of the management facilitates better and effective management of human resources.

e) In what form and manner, their value to be included in the financial statement is the question yet to be classified on which there is no consensus in the accounting profession.

f) There is a constant fear of the opposition from the trade unions that placing a value on employees would make them claim rewards and compensation based on such valuation.

g) As human resources are not capable of being owned, retained and utilized, unlike the physical assets, there is a problem for the management to treat them as assets in the strict sense.

h) Inspite of its significance and necessity, tax laws do not recognize human beings as assets.

Discuss the need and objectives of Human Resource planning (HRP).

2011-05-17T04:55:00.000-07:00

Discuss the need and objectives of Human Resource planning (HRP). Describe the salient features and the process of Human Resource Planning undertaken by the organization you are working in or any organization you are familiar with. Briefly describe the organization you are referring to.

WHAT IS HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING?
Human Resource Planning (HRP) may be defined as strategy for acquisition, utilization, improvement and preservation of the human resources of an enterprise. The objective is to provide right personnel for the right work and optimum utilization of the existing human resources. HRP exists as a part of the planning process of business. This is the activity of the management which is aimed at co-ordinating requirements for and the availability of different types of employers. The major activities of HRP include: forecasting (future requirements), inventorying (present strength), anticipating (comparison of present and future requirements) and planning (necessary programme to meet future requirements).
OBJECTIVES OF HRP
The objectives of HRP are mainly to:
a) Ensure optimum utilization of human resources currently employed;
b) Assess or forecast future requirements;
c) Cope up with the changing scenario;
d) Attaching with business plans of organization;
e) Anticipate redundancies;
f) Provide basis for human resource development (HRD); and
g) Assist in productivity bargaining.
Benefits of HRP
Proper HRP results into a number of benefits. Some of them are:
a) Create reservoir of talent.
b) Preparation for future HR needs.
c) Promote employees in a systematic manner.
d) Provide basis for HRD.
e) Help in career and succession planning.
Need for HRP at Macro Level
Major reasons for the emphasis on HRP at macro level include:
Employment-Unemployment Situation:
Though in general the number of educated unemployed is on the rise, there is acute shortage for a variety of skills. This emphasises the need for more effective recruitment and retaining people.
Technological Changes:
The myriad changes in production technologies, marketing methods and management techniques have been extensive and rapid. Their effect has been profound on job contents and job contexts. These changes cause problems relating to redundancies, retraining and redeployment. All these suggest the need to plan manpower needs intensively and systematically.
Organizational Changes:
In the turbulent environment marked by cyclical fluctuations and discontinuities, the nature and pace of changes in organizational environment, activities and structures affect manpower requirements and require strategic considerations.
Demographic Changes:
The changing profile of the work force in terms of age, sex, litercy, technical inputs and social background have implications for HRP.

Skill Shortages:
Unemployment does not mean that the labour market is a buyer’s market. Organizations have generally become more complex and require a wide range of specialist skills that are rare and scarce. Problems arise when such employees leave.
Governmental Influences:
Government control and changes in legislation with regard to affirmative action for disadvantaged groups, working conditions and hours of work restrictions on women and child employment, casual and contract labout, etc. have stimulated the organizations to become involved in systematic HRP.
Legislative Controls:
The days of executive fiat and ‘hire and fire’ policies are gone. Now legislation makes it difficult to reduce the size of an organization quickly and cheaply. It is easy to increase but difficult to shed the fat in terms of the numbers employed because of recent changes in labour law relating to lay-offs and closures. Those responsible for managing manpower must look far ahead and thus attempt to foresee manpower problems.
Impact of Pressure Groups:
Pressure groups such as unions, politicians and persons displaced from land by location of giant enterprises have been raising contradictory pressures on enterprise management such as internal recruitment and promotions, preference to employees’ children, is place persons, sons of the soil etc.
Systems Concept:
The spread of systems thinking and the advent of the macrocomputer as part of the on-going revolution in information technology which emphasises planning and newer ways of handling voluminous personnel records.

Lead Time:
The long lead time is necessary in the selection process and for training and deployment of the employee to handle new knowledge and skills successfully.

PROCESS OF HRP
The process of HRP is entirely based on the corporate plans and objectives. HRP is a continuous process of review, control and assessment. Figure 1 clearly indicates the
HRP process.

The major stages of HRP are as follows:

a) Analysing Operational Plans
It consists of the following substages:
i) Objectives and strategic plans of the company are analyzed.
ii) Plans concerning technological, finance, production are analyzed and HRP is prepared keeping these in mind.
iii) Future plans, goals, and objectives of the company are also taken into account.

b) Human Resource Demand Forecasting
HR demand forecasting mainly involves three sub functions:

i) Demand Forecast:
Process of estimating future quantity and quality of human resources required.

ii) Manpower Gaps:
Depending upon the requirement existing surplus human resources having desired skills are matched, if not found then shortage is shown.

iii) Supply Forecast:
Basing on the existing HR inventory and the demand forecast, the supply forecast of human resources is carried out in an organization.

PROBLEMS IN HRP PROCESS
The main problems in the process of HRP are as follows:

a) Inaccuracy: HRP is entirely dependent on the HR forecasting and supply, which cannot be a cent per cent accurate process.

b) Employee resistance: Employees and their unions feel that by HRP, their workload increases so they resist the process.
c)Uncertainties: Labour absenteeism, labour turnover, seasonal employment, technological changes and market fluctuations are the uncertainties which HRP process might have to face.

d) Inefficient information system: In Indian industries, HRIS is not much strong. In the absence of reliable data it is not possible to develop effective HRP.

e) Time and expense: HRP is time consuming and expensive exercice, so industries avoid.

Discuss the compensation function and objectives.

2011-05-17T04:51:00.000-07:00

Discuss the compensation function and objectives. Describe the components of wage structure of your own organization or any organization you are familiar with. Briefly describe the organization you are referring to.

The compensation function and objectives
- An ideal compensation system will have positive impact on the efficiency and results produced by employees. It will encourage the employees to perform better and achieve the standards fixed.
- It will enhance the process of job evaluation. It will also help in setting up an ideal job evaluation and the set standards would be more realistic and achievable.
- Such a system should be well defined and uniform. It will be apply to all the levels of the organization as a general system.
- The system should be simple and flexible so that every employee would be able to compute his own compensation receivable.
- It should be easy to implement, should not result in exploitation of workers.
- It will raise the morale, efficiency and cooperation among the workers. It, being just and fair would provide satisfaction to the workers.
- Such system would help management in complying with the various labor acts.
- Such system should also solve disputes between the employee union and management.
- The system should follow the management principle of equal pay.
- It should motivate and encouragement those who perform better and should provide opportunities for those who wish to excel.
- Sound Compensation/Reward System brings peace in the relationship of employer and employees.
- It aims at creating a healthy competition among them and encourages employees to work hard and efficiently.
- The system provides growth and advancement opportunities to the deserving employees.
- The perfect compensation system provides platform for happy and satisfied workforce. This minimizes the labour turnover. The organization enjoys the stability.
- The organization is able to retain the best talent by providing them adequate compensation thereby stopping them from switching over to another job.
- The business organization can think of expansion and growth if it has the support of skillful, talented and happy workforce.
- The sound compensation system is hallmark of organization's success and prosperity. The success and stability of organization is measured with pay-package it provides to its employees.

What is performance coaching?

2011-05-17T04:49:00.000-07:00

What is performance coaching? Discuss the phases of performance coaching and its importance in organizations.

There constitutes many benefits one could experience from a performance coaching relationship, whether or not the focus is on personal issues, or business. Here are a pack that you can expect:

• Clarifying what the individual wants from life. performance coaching will help a client to recognize what is important in life, where energy is best focused to realize this importance, and where to begin.
• Setting healthy and motivating goals. performance coaching helps the client to recognize what goals and dreams they really want to achieve instead of focusing on expectations that are often instilled in the individual by society and family.
• Accelerate business and personal growth. Individuals will learn how to focus and work towards finalizing their goals.
• Increased communication skills. Individuals will learn how to effectively communicate their needs and desires both in a professional and personal environment.
• Set priorities and follow through. Performance coaching clients will learn to be persistent and complete a task. They will learn how to become more effective, efficient, and productive in all areas of life.
• Find a healthy balance in life. Individuals will understand the importance of having a balanced spiritual, mental, and physical lifestyle.
The person in charge used to have unquestioned authority and ability to command and compel. Strict obedience was believed to be a necessity. Today, managers must focus on leading and persuading rather than ordering and forcing. In more and more industries today, especially retail, the never-ending supply of job applicants has dried up. Instead of "fire and replace," managers must develop the skills to "improve and correct." Leaders must learn effective performance coaching techniques and know how to convince workers to change their behavior in order to achieve organizational objectives.

The word "performance coaching" has been abused by some business experts, perhaps because they are less skilled in performance coaching techniques than they could be. Coaches in the business world run the gamut from well-trained professionals to rank amateurs who deal in unscientific methodologies. The true coach is a trained expert who understands the application of behavioral science concepts and human relations principles. It is important for us to remember that it is possible for managers to improve their coaching skills to the point where they can effectively change the inappropriate behaviors of employees into productive behaviors that drive organizational results.

One of the most critical skills a manager or executive must have is the ability to coach others to not only reinforce positive behaviors, but to also correct ineffective behaviors. I have studied a dozen different performance coaching systems and models in my professional career, but clearly the best one I’ve used is an Eight Step Model created by Drs. Steven Stowell and Matt Starcevich. It is described in their book titled The Coach, published by The Center for Management and Organization Effectiveness. As we explore performance coaching in this and subsequent articles you can gain additional information from the CMOE website. First of all let’s define what performance coaching is. It is an interactive communication and relationship process between leaders to team members, peers to peers, or even team members to leaders with the purpose of exerting a positive influence on people and/or the organization. Coaching enhances the behavior change, motivation, performance, awareness, and development of another person. Performance Coaching is typically an ongoing process of building a partnership for continuous improvement. Now, let’s consider when coaching is appropriate. This is an important discussion, because inexperienced coaches believe that coaching only takes place when something goes wrong. I’ve found eight situations when performance coaching should be considered by managers and executives. Notice that these situations are not all negative in nature. They are:

- When performance improves and deserves to be rewarded
- When performance declines and deserves to be corrected
- When a goal is achieved and deserves to be rewarded
- When a goal is missed and deserves to be discussed
- When an employee exhibits an inappropriate behavior that doesn’t affect his/her performance
- During the regular performance appraisal process
- When the employee deserves to understand his/her career opportunities
- When it’s just a good time to talk about how things are going
In every performance coaching workshop I have taught I have been asked if everyone will respond to a coach’s attempts at coaching. In other words are there some people who are not coachable or resistant to coaching? The answer to that question is, regrettably, yes. Here is how the numbers break down. Fifty percent of the general population will respond favorably to a coach’s attempts at coaching. In fact, the coach doesn’t necessarily have to be highly effective or even follow the model very closely in order to achieve moderate results. So if you have ten employees and they are "average," or represent "general population," and you have a little training in coaching, then about half the time you should get at least reasonable results from your attempts at performance coaching. Now that’s pretty encouraging! Another twenty-five percent of the general population will respond to coaching, but it will take longer and require greater skills from the coach. This means that as a manager you will need to sharpen your coaching skills and develop patience with the coaching process. Twenty percent or one person in five of the general population is what psychologists label a "performance coaching challenge." These people may respond performance coaching, but it’s likely to be a long-term process and any results you achieve may not be dramatic. Oftentimes, coaches get frustrated and give up before they see the results begin. Remember, these coaching challenges are capable of behavior change. It’s important to give them a chance to improve. Patient coaches many times achieve good results from these employees; it just takes time, skill, effort and a little luck. The final category of five percent is a group of our general population who struggle to even stay in the workplace. Turnover is higher in this category than in any of the other categories. Employees from this five percent group cause more frustration and irritation than from any other group. And, if there are any employees who could be classified as difficult to coach, or even "resistant to coaching," this would the category." Richard L. Williams is a business consultant specializing in performance coaching, quality improvement, team development, leadership development and organizational development/diagnostics. He has conducted more than 6,000 workshops to more than 250,000 managers and executives.

Explain the performance appraisal process.

2011-05-17T04:46:00.000-07:00

Explain the performance appraisal process. Describe the performance appraisal method and its merits & demerits in an organization you are familiar with. Briefly describe the organization you are referring to.

The history of performance appraisal is quite brief. Its roots in the early 20th century can be traced to Taylor's pioneering Time and Motion studies. But this is not very helpful, for the same may be said about almost everything in the field of modern human resources management. As a distinct and formal management procedure used in the evaluation of work performance, appraisal really dates from the time of the Second World War - not more than 60 years ago.
The human inclination to judge can create serious motivational, ethical and legal problems in the workplace. Without a structured appraisal system, there is little chance of ensuring that the judgments made will be lawful, fair, defensible and accurate.
Performance appraisal systems began as simple methods of income justification. That is, appraisal was used to decide whether or not the salary or wage of an individual employee was justified. The process was firmly linked to material outcomes. If an employee's performance was found to be less than ideal, a cut in pay would follow. On the other hand, if their performance was better than the supervisor expected, a pay rise was in order. Little consideration, if any, was given to the developmental possibilities of appraisal. If was felt that a cut in pay, or a rise, should provide the only required impetus for an employee to either improve or continue to perform well. Sometimes this basic system succeeded in getting the results that were intended; but more often than not, it failed. For example, early motivational researchers were aware that different people with roughly equal work abilities could be paid the same amount of money and yet have quite different levels of motivation and performance.
ESTABLISHING PERFORMANCE STANDARDS
The first step in the process of performance appraisal is the setting up of the standards which will be used to as the base to compare the actual performance of the employees. This step requires setting the criteria to judge the performance of the employees as successful or unsuccessful and the degrees of their contribution to the organizational goals and objectives. The standards set should be clear, easily understandable and in measurable terms. In case the performance of the employee cannot be measured, great care should be taken to describe the standards.
COMMUNICATING THE STANDARDS
Once set, it is the responsibility of the management to communicate the standards to all the employees of the organization.

The employees should be informed and the standards should be clearly explained to the. This will help them to understand their roles and to know what exactly is expected from them. The standards should also be communicated to the appraisers or the evaluators and if required, the standards can also be modified at this stage itself according to the relevant feedback from the employees or the evaluators.

MEASURING THE ACTUAL PERFORMANCE
The most difficult part of the Performance appraisal process is measuring the actual performance of the employees that is the work done by the employees during the specified period of time. It is a continuous process which involves monitoring the performance throughout the year. This stage requires the careful selection of the appropriate techniques of measurement, taking care that personal bias does not affect the outcome of the process and providing assistance rather than interfering in an employees work.

COMPARING THE ACTUAL WITH THE DESIRED PERFORMANCE
The actual performance is compared with the desired or the standard performance. The comparison tells the deviations in the performance of the employees from the standards set. The result can show the actual performance being more than the desired performance or, the actual performance being less than the desired performance depicting a negative deviation in the organizational performance. It includes recalling, evaluating and analysis of data related to the employees’ performance.

DISCUSSING RESULTS
The result of the appraisal is communicated and discussed with the employees on one-to-one basis. The focus of this discussion is on communication and listening. The results, the problems and the possible solutions are discussed with the aim of problem solving and reaching consensus. The feedback should be given with a positive attitude as this can have an effect on the employees’ future performance. The purpose of the meeting should be to solve the problems faced and motivate the employees to perform better.

DECISION MAKING:
The last step of the process is to take decisions which can be taken either to improve the performance of the employees, take the required corrective actions, or the related HR decisions like rewards, promotions, demotions, transfers etc.

Discuss the importance of job analysis.

2011-05-17T04:40:00.001-07:00

Discuss the importance of job analysis. Describe the methods of job analysis being followed in an organization you are acquainted with. Briefly describe the organization you are referring to.

Importance of Job Analysis
• Place employees in jobs that use their skills effectively
• Determine needs for new and experienced employees
• Plan for future human resource requirements

Analysis of jobs in the organization is a primary task for setting a baseline that enables human resources (HR) professionals to effectively manage job-related activities. Job analysis consists of two components: job description and job. The job description states job related details such as duties and responsibilities, salary and incentives, working conditions and facilities, etc whereas the job specification gives the related details like qualifications and qualities required by job holders, experience and training required, etc.. A job analysis is an efficient way to gather useful information about a job, and its cost-effectiveness makes it affordable for any organization (Adams). The main purpose of conducting job analysis is to prepare job description and job specification which in turn helps to hire the right quality of workforce into the organization. The general purpose of job analysis is to document the requirements of a job and the work performed. Job and task analysis is performed as a basis for later improvements, including: definition of a job domain; describing a job; developing performance appraisals, selection systems, promotion criteria, training needs assessment, and compensation plans. In the fields of Human Resources (HR) and Industrial Psychology, job analysis is often used to gather information for use in personnel selection, training, classification, and/or compensation. The field of vocational rehabilitation uses job analysis to determine the physical requirements of a job to determine whether an individual who has suffered some diminished capacity is capable of performing the job with, or without, some accommodation. Professionals developing certification exams use job analysis (often called something slightly different, such as "task analysis") to determine the elements of the domain which must be sampled in order to create a content valid exam. When a job analysis is conducted for the purpose of valuing the job (i.e., determining the appropriate compensation for incumbents) this is called "job evaluation." Any attempt to apply HR resources and talent to the organizationÆs jobs will be more effective if those jobs are clearly specified in terms of their variables. An effective training program for a particular job cannot be developed unless information about what the job entails is elucidated, for example. Details about the jobÆs content, systems, standards, and demands can be used to choose or develop a training program that specifically meets the needs of the employees analysis helps in analyzing the resources and establishing the strategies to accomplish the business goals and strategic objectives. Effectively developed, employee job descriptions are communication tools that are significant in an organization's success.
The main purpose of conducting job analysis is to prepare job description and job specification which helps to hire right quality of workforce.
Job Analysis can be used in training to identify or develop, training content, and assessment tests to measure effectiveness of training, equipment to be used in delivering the training and methods of training. Job Analysis can be used in compensation to identify or determine: skill levels, compensable job factors, work environment, responsibilities and required level of education. Job Analysis can be used in selection procedures to identify or develop job duties that should be included in advertisements of vacant positions, appropriate salary level for the position to help determine what salary should be offered to a candidate, minimum requirements for screening applicants, interview questions, selection tests/instruments (e.g., written tests; oral tests; job simulations), applicant appraisal forms and orientation materials for new hires. Job Analysis can be used in performance review to identify or develop goals and objectives, performance standards, evaluation criteria, length of probationary periods, and duties to be evaluated

An ideal job analysis should include

Duties and Tasks: The basic unit of a job is the performance of specific tasks and duties. This segment should include frequency, duration, effort, skill, complexity, equipment, standards, etc.
Environment: This segment identifies the working environment of a particular job. This may have a significant impact on the physical requirements to be able to perform a job.
Tools and Equipment: Some duties and tasks are performed using specific equipment and tools. These items need to be specified in a Job Analysis.
Relationships: The hierarchy of the organization must be clearly laid out. The employees should know who is under them and who they have to report to.
Requirements: The knowledge, skills, and abilities required to perform the job should be clearly listed.
There are several ways to conduct a job analysis, including: interviews with incumbents and supervisors, questionnaires (structured, open-ended, or both), observation, critical incident investigations, and gathering background information such as duty statements or classification specifications.
It is important for organizations to hire the right candidates who suit their work environment and requirements otherwise they will end up stagnating. It also important for the job seekers to pick up a job that suits their personality and interest as the first step will play a deciding role in shaping their career and position in life. This can be possible only when job seekers and organizations are able to communicate their requirements to each other. Plastopedia.com, the world’s leading International job portal which offers an interactive medium to job seekers and providers in the domain of plastic industry worldwide.

Explain the changing role of HRM.

2011-05-17T04:23:00.000-07:00

Explain the changing role of HRM. Discuss the challenges associated in the HRM in present business scenario citing examples from the organizations you are familiar with. Briefly describe the organization you are referring to.

The Foremost and prime HR function in any organization is recruiting the right person and then getting requisite quality and quantity of work (Read productivity) for a reasonable period of tenure, in line with organizational goals (Do most of organizations and the top HR Bosses themselves know about it?). One can call it Strategic Human Resource Management, which uses various tools and techniques for motivation, appraisal, training, cross cultural management, emerging issues in personnel laws like, sexual harassment and competence mapping, etc. In fact HR function is main responsibility of a supervisor and not of a HR Department, and higher goes the role and scope of responsibilities, higher the supervisor in Organization Hierarchy. In many organizations, for instance, IT industry, one has very loose or flattish hierarchy due to knowledge workers outfit. Over the decades HRM became a separated out function graduating from a simple Time Office function to a high profile Division in organizations until recently when most of HRM functions have been leased out (Outsourced) and what is left with HR departments is Planning and Strategy. But unfortunately the supervisors have abandoned their prime responsibility to manage men and think that this better be taken care of by HR Specialists. This is simply a myth. Increasing globalization and migration of labor in both directions like the financial capital, the challenges of staffing, retention and motivation of highly skilled workers from wider canvass and background and even education background, is really serious issue that better be not ignored by Businesses. My experience in corporate sector in India in various types of organizations ranging from Steels to Textiles, Chemicals and Services sector has been quite amusing and educative as far as the way HR has been handled by various types of entrepreneurs in India right from SBEs to the so called large corporate units. Majority of Indian businesses still treat employees as commodities and expect them to come trained and skilled in specific areas they are hired for (Even in US it is not feasible despite Industry Institutes interface). Hire and fire has been very popular policy in India and suppressing welfare laws regarding labor has been a favorable pass time, and matter of satisfaction & pride for Indian Businessmen. It was often observed by me that rapid expansion of businesses were scarcely accompanied by timely organizational structuring, expansion, training and growth in pace with such expansions and thus most of such expansions fell flat, even destroying their existing business lines and profitability.
The problem with HRM is that one cannot use clear cut formula that can be applied in particular situations due to highly subjective, emotional and cultural deviation amongst the employees. Secondly skilled and committed workers will become more and more scarce commodity due to rapid global expansion of business, high aspiration levels, fast growth mentality of youth including job-hopping, mobility of labor across borders and rapidly changing technologies. This is just too much to handle for traditional HR experts and involvement of Top line functional supervisors is essential for strategic growth of organizations. Indian businesses have a soft belly there due to still continuing contemptuous and casual attitude towards employees. As we move from Time Office to Personnel Management and on to HR Management to Human Asset management to Intellectual Capital paradigms, drastic changes in HR practices and HR organizations in Businesses is inevitable. Another thing to understand is that there is not very strong correlation between wages & incentives and motivation level of employees as is generally thought. Motivation and stability of employees is rather complicated task determined by several volatile factors, for instance, cultural background, family unit, education level and type, age, job satisfaction and so many others still not fully understood. It is another myth of HRM that giving doses of some foreign trip and 50 or 100 hrs of boring and stereotyped training sessions (requirement of TQM, ISO 9000 also) will raise motivation, skills and work style standards of employee. Most important change required is commitment, interest and achievement motivation within framework of organizational goals. One thing is very clear from above discussions that Quality and stability of Employees in organizations is going to be key differentiator and even main foundation for survival of a business in coming times and that too in highly nebulous environment of labor markets.
The third Myth worth mentioning is that employees always work better by giving better facilities, rewards and training sessions. I have found it to be doubtful in most situations. In fact the best way to train and induce employee to work and achieve higher is to create slight stress in work environment and little bit of job in security. As they say, throw the child in waters and it will pick swimming faster- very well applies to all human activities. There is no substitute for experience gained repeatedly by varied situations of decision-making and it is really confounding as to why inexperienced graduates from B-schools colleges are paid unreasonably high wages. Some one may like to deeply probe the issue whether such high remunerations are really effective in extraordinary achievements of organizations? One of the main reason for rise in corruption and materialistic pursuit by public sector employees is envy towards unusually high wage rates in so called hi-fi and MNC organizations around the globe, particularly in countries like India that are having poor quality of Public Administration, public awareness and legal systems. We can see that there is acute crisis facing the HR Managers who are yet to get their own roles re-defined and who have to find or create leaders in multi cultural setting in a highly competitive business environment and tight job market, with very high attrition rates in some sectors, like in Call Centers and software industries, and developing requisite inner motivation levels and soft skills that are often neglected in promotions and wage fixations (Here 'wage' is being used as a generic term for all kinds of compensation structures at all levels). While loyalty can be developed and maintained in employees, I would like to explode fourth Myth in HRM by revealing the fact that loyalty also has frequently roots in ethical, community and genetic background (We may call these attitudes, or inherent attitudes or life positions taken by an employee during initial grooming in young age). There is need to develop yet more effective psychometric tests or procedures to sift the candidates for right combination of IQ, EQ and loyalty index (I would like to find a formula for this term). One big damage globalization has done is to popularize the western materialistic high-growth rate focused employee culture prevalent in US where employees have little emotional concern with organizations they work (Even Japan is fast becoming victim to this epidemic!). Another challenge facing Organizations is to handle legal pressures relating to employee related laws of newer types like gender bias, racial or caste bias in employment, sexual harassment (At least two very senior officials of Indian Organizations have already been charges or accused of this in USA), ethical issues in handling organization information and challenges of multi-ethnic or multi-cultural staffed work places. Work place diversity is a good major of challenge in Organizations. This will grow in near future. According to Thomas (1992), dimensions of workplace diversity include, but are not limited to: age, ethnicity, ancestry, gender, physical abilities/qualities, race, sexual orientation, educational background, geographic location, income, marital status, military experience, religious beliefs, parental status, and work experience. The future success of any organizations relies on the ability to manage a diverse body of talent that can bring innovative ideas, perspectives and views to their work. The challenge and problems faced of workplace diversity can be turned into a strategic organizational asset if an organization is able to capitalize on this melting pot of diverse talents. With the mixture of talents of diverse cultural backgrounds, genders, ages and lifestyles, an organization can respond to business opportunities more rapidly and creatively, especially in the global arena (Cox, 1993), which must be one of the important organizational goals to be attained. A key issue that influences success in international arena is the awareness of cultural differences and thus development of both a business strategy and corresponding HR strategy that is consistent with the culture of host country. The interface between culture of the organization and culture of host country become important. Instead of leaving these issues to be tackled by HR personnel, the senior executives in international business arena have to take the HR strategies and solutions in their own hands. More and more Informational technology is being used in organizations to deliver HR services (Example HRSC of IBM) and a good part of these are being outsourced. This is natural outcome in changing business environment and brings in both advantages of expertise and economics. Large organizations otherwise also cannot cope with information exchange requirements in huge staffed organization in traditional manner unless they follow IBM like I nitiatives. The example of IBM HRSC is an attempt to combine people, technology and customer service, much as it does with its external customers. The center service about 20 business units in areas including benefits, retirement planning, compensation, employee suggestions, staffing, job posting, orientation, performance management, EEO compliance, employee separations, leave of absence, and skill development through 80 customer service representatives. This will be more or less true for all leading organizations in services sector in particular in near future. IBM too had repositioned itself as service driven organization.
Impact of technology can be viewed as challenges in:
- Necessary expansion/contraction of work force.
- Training needed to utilize new technology (A major reason of failures in Indian Small & mid size organizations from 80s to end of 90s)
- Effective change Management
- Impact on work group dynamics and concept of human face
- Costs for hiring, severance, training.
- Unwillingness of entrepreneurs to understand, recognize and adopt technology that can drive productivity, quality, customer satisfaction and new market opportunities.
- Sliming down of organizations particularly at lower levels and reduced hierarchy.
Another Myth of US based HR Practices is non-relevance of old employees or problem of graying workforce. The reason could be higher health care costs and perception of lower productivity. This may be true, but not in all circumstances. The element of loyalty may weigh favorably in favor of older employees as also their vast experience particularly useful in handling crises and negotiations, grievance handling within and outside organizations and networking advantage. I strongly decry the US corporate culture largely derived from social attitudes towards old in devaluing them .One serious disadvantage of old employees is their resistance to change in practices and call of business environment changes. As supply of baby boomers exceeds the demand, HR challenge is to handle this tricky issue including retirement and retraining or rehabilitation plan. INDIA culture simply does not suit Indian culture and ethos and we should not blindly go for INDIA system. HRM will not have to deal only with cultural diversity of employees and organization but also issues of minorities, backward classes and racial preferences in employment. Neither many-grounded theories are available in HR, nor the traditional HR practices will apply to most of organizational settings in coming times.

Traditional HR Versus Strategic HR
Indicator Traditional HR Strategic HR
Responsibility for HR

Focus

Role of HR

Initiatives

Time Horizon

Control

Job design

Key investments

Accountability Staff Specialists

Employee Relations

Transactional, Change follower and respondent

Slow, reactive and fragmented

Short-term

Bureaucratic-roles, policies, procedures

Tight division of labor, independence, specialization

Capital, Products

Cost center Line Managers

Partnership with internal and external customers

Transformational, change leader and initiator

Fast, proactive and integrated

Short, medium, Long (as necessary)

Organic-Flexible, whatever is necessary to succeed

Broad, flexible, cross training, teams

People, knowledge

Investment center

The traditional HR assumes a role of handling transaction as they arise. In India in most of organizations that are still bossed by 60+ adults from orthodox family business background (Babu ji culture), the role of HR personnel is not understood by them and they mostly serve as front for the CEO's decisions ranging from hiring, firing, wages, promotions and all kinds of manipulations. The traditional HR itself branched out as scientific division of labor relieving line managers from highly subjective, time consuming and inconvenient activities related to employee and which were not considered crucial to profit making and growth of organization. Strategic HR plays role of transformational change agent with focus on and in line with long term or strategic goals of organization. To become strategic the HR managers will have to be drawn from general Management rather than specialist training background, have to adopt long term and strategic focus and persuade management to look beyond current performance. Further, most of senior executives including entrepreneurs themselves hardly appreciative benefits and possibility of HRM as strategic partner. In fact most managers view HR with dislike being rule machines that hinder flexibility and carrying out of jobs. It is surprising but true that most senior executives in India as well as owners view human assets as liability and not owned by them and therefore a high-risk investment. HR activities in organizations are mostly taken up to do face lifting and present modernized face of organization because the direct benefits of HR are difficult to see and quantify. The HR and training budgets get axe first when need arises to do so.

Explain the basic principles of compensation policies and its objectives.

2011-05-17T04:21:00.001-07:00

Explain the basic principles of compensation policies and its objectives. Discuss the executive compensation system of any organization you are familiar with. Does compensation system motivate the executives, explain with examples?

Answer. Compensation is the HRM activity that deals with every type of reward that individuals receive for performing organizational tasks. It is basically an exchange relationship. Employees exchange their labour for financial and non-financial rewards. Financial compensation is both direct and indirect. Direct financial compensation consists of the pay an employee receives in the form of wages, salary, bonuses, and commissions. Indirect financial compensation (also called “benefits”) consists of all the rewards that are not included in direct compensation, such as vacation time and insurance coverage.

From the employees’ perspective, pay is a necessity in life. The compensation received from work is one of the chief reasons people seek employment. Pay is the means by which they provide for their own and their families’ needs. For some people, compensation may be the only (or certainly a major) reason why they work. Others find compensation a contributing factor to their efforts. But pay can do more than provide for employees’ psychological needs. It can also indicate their value to the organization.

Compensation Policy has the objective to establish and maintain a compensation program that will:
• Attract and retain qualified employees at all levels of responsibility who perform in a manner that permits the College to achieve its objectives and goals;
• Reflect the relative value of jobs;
• Be externally competitive and internally consistent and fair;
• Provide the flexibility (based upon availability of funds) toward employees on the basis of individual performance and contribution to the achievement of college goals;
• Foster good employee understanding and relationships; and
• Comply with all Board of Regents, State, and Federal Laws and regulations.

Traditionally, the focus of compensation management has been primarily on enabling an organization to recruit and retain employees while complying with legal and statutory requirements. Pay was primarily related to status and hierarchical position. It is now being viewed increasingly as the key to acquire a competitive advantage.

Innovations in compensation are considered necessary to do more with less by reducing labour cost per unit of output, motivating employees to higher performance, providing an impetus to skill development and higher quality and so on.

Some Basic principles
1. There general level of wages and salaries should be reasonably in line with that prevailing in the market. The labour market criterion is most commonly used.
2. There should be definite plan to ensure that differences in pay for jobs are based upon variations in job requirements, such as skill effort, responsibility or job or working conditions, and mental and physical requirements.
3. The plan should carefully distinguish between jobs and employees. A job carries a certain wage rate, and a person is assigned to fill it at that rate. Exceptions sometimes occur in very high-level jobs in which job-holder may make the job large or small, depending upon his ability and contributions.
4. Equal pay for equal work, i.e., if two jobs have equal difficulty requirements, the pay should be the same, regardless of who fills them.
5. An equitable practice should be adopted for the recognition of individual differences in ability and contribution.
6. There should be a clearly established procedure for hearing and adjusting wage complains.
7. The wage should be sufficient to ensure for the worker and his family reasonable standard of living.
8. Prompt and correct payments of the dues of the employees must be ensured and arrears of payment should not accumulate.

Executive compensation
The pay of executives is merely a special case within the topic of compensation, but it does have several twists that deserve attention. First, the base salaries of executives are higher than those of low-level-managers or operative personnel. Second, executives frequently operate under bonus and stock option plans that can dramatically increase their total compensation. A senior executive at General motors, IBM, Data General, or General Electric may in good year earn $500000 or $1000000 or more on top of his base salary. Executives receive perquisites or special benefits that others do not.

How do organizations justify such extraordinary salaries for their executives? The answer is simple: economics and motivation. In economic terms, we know that top managers are expected to demonstrate good decision making abilities. This skill is

not widely held in our society. As a result, the supply of qualified senior executives is scarce, and organizations have bid up the price for this talent. High salaries also act to motivate both top level-managers to perform well in order to keep their jobs.

Retaining and rewarding leadership is a hot button issue facing most organizations. Increasing complexity of hiring leadership talent in the face of burgeoning market demand is bringing companies under pressure to retain their top talent. “The only way to reward and retain top leadership is by sharing the success of the company with them,” says Piyush Mehta, senior V-P, Genpact, India.

Motivating for high performance can cost a lot of money. Not everyone can be motivated by money alone, however much. Incentive pay plans should be designed not only to reward good performance but also to minimize the negative side-effects, such as conflict and grievance. At times it is difficult to develop a valid, equitable and acceptable means of performance. Many pay plans fail because of either not being suited to the particular situation or because of poor implementation. It is essential to consider the following aspects before designing a pay plan to motivate performance:
™ preference of individual employees;
™ size of pay rewards for high performance;
™ method of motivating individual job performance;
™ subjective

For effective and sustained motivation, the reward must be prompt and immediate. The example of Foxboro has been quoted. In its early days, the company's very survival depended on technical innovation. Late one evening a scientist walked into the president's office with a working prototype. The president was dumbfounded by the elegance of the solution and sought to reward him immediately and on the spot. Rummaging through the drawers of his desk, all he could find was a banana and this had to suffice. This was the forerunner of the 'gold banana' concept, a very apt and fitting reward. Likewise, Thomas Watson Snr. had made a practice of writing out a check on the spot for any unusual achievement that he observed.

Example: Signet
Signet is the world’s largest specialty retail jeweler by sales, with stores in the US, UK, Republic of Ireland and Channel Islands.

The Compensation Committee believes that to be effective, compensation policy must be based on sound, clear principles which are well understood and recognize the long term interests of the Group, its shareholders and employees.
(i) Signet’s primary business objective is to deliver results which should consistently outperform the average of the industry sector.
(ii) It is recognized that to consistently deliver above industry average performance Signet will need to retain, and where necessary attract, executives of well above industry average ability and leadership potential.
(iii) It is recognized that in order to retain or recruit senior executives of the caliber necessary to deliver above industry average results, the Group must provide very competitive levels of total compensation. Therefore, the total compensation of Signet’s senior executives will be targeted at the median of industry compensation, with an acceptable range of + or – 10 percentile points. Positioning within this range will be based on performance (both of the Group and the executive), potential (i.e. the executive’s potential to grow in responsibility and performance), and scarcity (i.e. the availability of candidates to replace the executive should he/she leave the Group). As noted in principle (iv) below, when the Group significantly outperforms the industry, the performance based elements of compensation should result in significantly higher total compensation than that achieved by executives in competitor companies.
(iv) Total compensation for executive directors and other senior executives should be highly geared towards performance with the proportion of “at risk” pay increasing according to: a) the level of performance achieved, and b) the ability of the executives to influence results. Excluding pension contributions, the provision of a company car and private health insurance, there should only be one element of guaranteed compensation: base salary. The performance related portion of total compensation should separately reward short term performance (through the annual bonus) and long term performance (through share and other long term incentive awards).
(v) Surveys will be undertaken on a regular basis to ensure that total compensation packages remain in the percentile range described in (iii) above. Recognizing that more than 70% of the Group’s sales and profits are generated in the US and that significant compensation differences exist between the US and the UK markets, separate surveys are conducted in each country.

The components of total compensation:
(a) Base salary

The base salary of each senior executive reflects the size and scope of his/her responsibilities and is reviewed annually, based upon individual performance, experience, surveyed competitive data and trends and geographic location of each position as well as the movement of base pay in the Group.

(b) Annual bonus plan
Annual bonus targets are set by the Compensation Committee each year after considering the Group’s current business plans. There is a maximum bonus level set each year on such awards, which is equal to twice the target level, and a threshold performance below which no payments are made.

(c) Share option plans
The Compensation Committee believes that executive share options are an appropriate element of compensation in order to execute the compensation principles set out above, and are an effective tool to incentivize executives to deliver the long term performance needed to generate strong returns to shareholders.

It is the policy of the Compensation Committee that all employees, including directors, who satisfy certain qualifying conditions, should have the opportunity to participate in the equity of the Company. This is achieved through savings-related share option plans, for which invitations are normally made annually. Under the relevant legislation the exercise of these share options is not subject to performance criteria.

(d) Long term incentive plan
The Company has established a Long Term Incentive Plan. The policy to date has been to make annual awards expressed as a percentage of salary with vesting dependent on the achievement of challenging performance conditions set by the Compensation Committee at the time the awards are made.

Explain the concept of Human Resource Development.

2011-05-17T04:18:00.000-07:00

Explain the concept of Human Resource Development. Discuss the principle in designing HRD system in any organization you may be familiar with. Briefly describe the organization you are referring to.

Answer. Human Resource Development (HRD) is the integrated use of training, organizational development, and career development efforts to improve individual, group, and organizational effectiveness.

Human resources are the assets, which do not find a place for mentioning in the balance sheet of company. But it is one of the most important assets as human resources are a resource of production as well as they are utilizing other resources of production like a material, machines, money etc. Any investment made on training and development of people is sure to show the results in the years to come. The results of any HRD plan or scheme appear in long term.

HRD is neither a concept nor a tool, but is an approach using different personnel systems, depending upon the needs and priorities of the organization. The basic assumption is the belief in human potential and its development by providing a suitable and congenial environment.

HRD is a process, not merely a set of mechanisms and techniques. The mechanisms and techniques such as performance appraisal, counselling, training, and organisation development interventions are used to initiate, facilitate, and promote this process in a continuous way. Because the process has no limit, the mechanisms may need to be examined periodically to see whether they are promoting or hindering the process. Organisations can facilitate this process of development by planning for it, by allocating organisational resources for the purpose, and by exemplifying an HRD philosophy that values human beings and promotes their development.

Pareek and Rao (1975) outlined a philosophy for the new HRD system. They outlined principles to be kept in mind in designing the HRD System.
1. Focus on enabling capacity
2. Integrating the development of people with Organization Development
3. Maximizing Individual Autonomy and Growth through increased responsibility
4. Decentralization through Delegation and Shared Responsibility
5. Participation Decision-making
6. Balancing adaptation to and changing organizational culture
7. Balancing differentiation and integration
8. Balancing Specialization and Diffusion of the Function

9. Ensuring Responsibility for the Function
10. Balancing Linkages within and with other functions
11. Building Feedback and Reinforcing Mechanisms
12. Balancing quantification and qualitative decisions
13. Balancing internal and external help
14. Planning evaluation of the function
15. Continuous review and self-renewal

Some Subsystems
Training
This is the most frequently used and focused subsystem of HRD. This has been so significant in the past HRD was equated in some of the companies with Training. Even today it is not uncommon for an organization to redesignate their training centre as HRD centre or the Training department as HRD Department.

Performance Appraisal
In the past this system was an independent system to ensure role clarity, performance planning, job-related competency identification and development, development of critical attributes required by the job as well as those valued by the organization and identification of training needs. In the last few years this system is slowly being replaced by a better term called as Performance Management to include the following:

Performance Planning or Work Planning; Performance Development, Performance Analysis, Performance Review discussion (Coaching Counselling), Performance Appraisal or Monitoring and Performance Rewards and Recognition.

Of these the first four are developmental and the rest are both developmental and monitoring to ensure accountabilities.

Feedback and Counselling System

The assumption here is that every senior should be conducting feedback and counselling sessions with his/her junior periodically to help the development of each other and to develop together. The periodicity is left for the organization and the levels of the persons. It is recommended that at senior levels it should be at least every quarter and even monthly and at junior levels it could be half-yearly. It is a system of communicating expectations, understanding difficulties, empowering,

influencing, communicating, problem solving and mutuality building. To day most organization treat as a part of their performance management system.

Career Development and Career Planning
"Hope and advancement in one's career is one of the main motivating factors at any level of management. Some expectations of possible future opportunities of the individual is necessary to keep the manager's motivation high. Career planning does not mean predicting or envisaging what higher jobs will be available for each person. It essentially means helping the employee to plan his career in terms of his capabilities within the context of organizational needs. Career planning need not imply any specific commitment on the part of the management to promote an employee. It only implies that the individual after becoming aware of some of his capabilities and career opportunities and development opportunities, chooses to develop himself in direction that improves his chances of being able to handle new responsibilities.

Example: HRD FOR HEALTH PROFESSIONALS
Health professionals include Doctors, Nurses, other paramedical staff, Support service staff, Administrators at various levels (clinic, hospital, PHC, District, State and national Level etc.). Largely they can be divided into clinical staff or technical staff and non technical staff. The technical staff are medical paramedical and support. The non clinical staff are largely administrators, managers, and policy makers at various levels. In a changing world where knowledge is developing, expectations are going up, clients are becoming more and more intelligent and sophisticated medical technologies are being available it is important to ensure continuous development of various categories of health professionals. It is this continuous learning and development of professionals that ensures increased health services delivery, influences life expectancy and hence results in healthy living. HRD for health professionals would be the continuous and systematic activity that motivates the individuals to acquire latest knowledge and technology in order to provide better services to respective customers or clients. Creating and/or developing competencies of individuals in the area of healthcare management, national and organisational levels, is one such agenda linking HRD with Health professionals.

HRD therefore aims at continuous development of competencies needed to enhance the health status of people among all the health professionals who attend to the various preventive, curative and health building activities. Health here includes all forms of health as defined by WHO or similar agencies i.e. mental and physical

health as well as prevention, and cure, of contagious diseases (curable or non- curable, with or without known cures) or epidemics like plague, bird flu, mad cow etc.

Developing Human Resources in the context of Health Professionals implies competency building. Basic Competencies which are most essential in today's modern world, independent of role/position/post/designation, at the National and Organisational level in common, affecting performance/output and hence influencing health of individuals, would be the following:

1.Communication skills
2.Performance Management, monitoring and Feedback systems
3.Interpersonal skills
4.Basic Educational qualification
5.Quality of service, customer satisfaction

HRD at Individual level for Doctors
A Doctor is in healing profession. There are continuous developments taking place in the world of medicine. There are also new discoveries and new developments in diseases, their antecedents and consequences as well as management of health. This era can be called as knowledge era. Hence it is a inevitable imperative that Doctors and other healing professionals get out of date in their knowledge in short period of time after they graduate from the medical college. Hence they need to constantly update their knowledge and skills by reading and earning. HRD for doctors may be defined as continuous effort made by them to learn on the newer developments relating to their field, besides generating knowledge new skills on the basis of their own observation, analysis, and experience.

Every Doctor should use a variety of sources of learning and on a continuous basis to update his/her knowledge and skills. The sources of learning for Doctors should include:
1.Journals
2.Newspaper
3.Radio, television and other media
4.Internet
5.Patients
6.Medical representatives
7.Fellow Doctors
8.Shot term courses offered by other specialist, hospitals and institutions etc.

9.Visits to other hospitals and clinics
10.Own research and analysis

Discuss the concept of competency mapping.

2011-05-17T04:15:00.000-07:00

Discuss the concept of competency mapping. How does it help development of an organization? Explain with the help of examples from the organization you are familiar with. Briefly describe the organization you are referring to.

Answer. Competency can be defined as the process of identifying key attributes and skills for each position and process within the company. Competency mapping is of great importance in any organization.

Competency mapping plays a vital role in selecting, recruiting and retaining the right people. When the competency required for a particular position is mapped, an accurate job profile is created. With the job profile well defined, the entire recruitment process becomes easier. The candidate who applies for the position is aware of what the position demands. The interviewers who interview the candidate are sure of what to look for in him. This increases the chances of retention as the new employee and the company know what to expect from each other. Too often, ambiguity about the roles desired by the company and the expectations carried by the new employee is a cause of disappointment for both the employee and employer after the employee joins the company.

Competency Mapping Process
The competency mapping process does not fit the one-size-fits all formula. It has to be specific to the user organization. It is better to develop models that draw from but are not defined by existing research, using behavioral interview methods so that the organization creates a model that reflects its own strategy, its own market, its own customers, and the competencies that bring success in that specific context (including national culture). Start with small, discrete groups or teams, ideally in two directions-a ‘horizontal slice’ across the business that takes in a multi-functional or multi-site group, more or less at the same organizational level, and a ‘vertical slice’ taking in one whole department or team from top to bottom. From that, the organization can learn about the process of competency modeling, and how potential alternative formats for the models may or may not fit the needs of the business.

It is important to focus on one or two key areas of implementation rather than the whole HRD agenda in one scoop. So if recruitment and selection or performance management are the key strategic needs of the business, and where the pain is being felt, then start there. It is advisable to begin with a ‘horizontal’ slice of the management or senior-most team as the benefits will percolate down to the whole organization.

Methodology for designing: The most effective route to employ recognized best- practice internal research methodology using behavioral event interview (BEI) techniques to selectively sample the target population (supplemented with expert panels and ‘Competency Requirement Questionnaires’ to engage wider population samples) and so build up the models from the data that emerges. This data should be triangulated against clear top-down input in terms of organizational strategy and business objectives, and also against external research relevant and analogous to the organization’s situation-not as a driver, but as a reference point. Once the behavioral data is collected, it should be sorted, categorized and leveled carefully to create models that are both concise and comprehensive, simple and sophisticated. Developing BEI skills within the organization has the added benefit that once the model is complete, it can be used more effectively by transferring these skills to selection interviewing, development assessments, and so on.

International organizations must ensure that the methodology does not screen-out those competencies that do not match the culturally-influenced pre-conceptions of the head office (wherever it is situated) of what high-performance competencies are. This is a common error…the universalist, all-powerful ‘global leadership model’.

Competency Based Employee Development
To some extent, many employee development initiatives have functioned as a response—to a crisis or a trend—rather than a strategic, long-term HR component designed to provide the organization with the necessary bench strength when the organization needs it. What is missing in many employee development efforts is a strategic link that aligns the organization's long-term success with its employees' competencies and life-career needs and preferences in ways that benefit both parties.

Why should organizations take a competency-based approach to employee development? To win the proverbial war for talent, managers should focus on involving people strategically and investing in their career ambitions, even at the risk of losing them. Many workers are interested in understanding their place in the overall organization, and this fit can be defined in terms of how well each one contributes his or her talents in meaningful ways to the organization's competency pool.

No longer is salary necessarily the reason for employees to leave one organization for another. Individuals have unique needs and require a performance arena in which those needs can be met. If the current work setting does not provide an appropriate arena, they will seek another one, perhaps in a different work assignment in the same organization or in another organization. Consequently, it is to an organization's advantage to achieve the greatest alignment possible between its employees' work and life-career preferences and the work it needs to accomplish.

Our approach to competency-based employee development serves as the essential strategic link between organizations and their employees by emphasizing the development of worker competencies and global competence in ways that benefit the organization as well as the worker. Both workers and organization leaders must be satisfied with their answers to the question "What's in it for me?" A competency- based approach shifts the focus from job-specific training to development of competencies that can be applied in many situations.

To ensure that employee development is competency based, senior managers need to endorse employee development plans that address two key issues. First, the effort must develop those employee competencies that are aligned with achievement of the organization's strategic business objectives. Second, the plans must also address employees' issues in identifying and meeting their life-career needs.

The Advantages of Competency-Based Employee Development
The process enables senior managers to communicate the
organization's competency needs in a clear, straightforward manner to all employees. At the same time, its use expresses management support of employees, who are viewed as an important factor in organizational success. A comprehensive competency-based process provides employees with the tools for taking charge of their life-careers and work development by exploring and understanding their interests, values, aptitudes, personality factors, current areas of competence, and the competencies they need to build for future life-work roles and responsibilities. The concept of life-career becomes an integral part of the organization's employee development philosophy.

Example
CBaySystems has a vision, approach, and perspective on how hospitals and physician practices operate by looking beyond traditional boundaries to solve these challenges using technology.

Building on the success of other industries that look to the global stage for business services, cBay developed a similar service model for healthcare business solutions addressing such back office processes as medical transcription and receivables management.

CBay Systems has the advantage of employees delivering and exceeding requisite performance levels since the former has mapped out competencies that are required to perform specific roles. New hires are pegged against these that are required for the role before being hired to ensure they fit as per their deliverables. Existing employees are periodically reviewed with the help of assessment tools and based on the gap analysis we provide them necessary training and development to hone the requisite competency. The action plans for the competency development outcome based on such assessments are finalized and the entire initiative is institutionalized.

Competency mapping not only helps know your competencies but also your weak areas which can be worked upon. Besides increasing employee morale and enhancing productivity, it induces fresh thinking, fosters innovation and thereby aims to provide an enriching job experience.

Explain the importance and the process of job Analysis.

2011-05-17T04:14:00.001-07:00

Explain the importance and the process of job Analysis. Describe the methods of job analysis being practiced in an organization you are familiar with. Briefly describe the organization you are referring to.

Answer. Job analysis involves developing a detailed description of the tasks involved in a job, determining the relationship of a given job to the other jobs, and ascertaining the knowledge, skills, and abilities necessary for an employee to successfully perform his job. It is essentially a process of collecting and analyzing data relating to job.

The scope and process of Job Analysis includes the following:
1. Collection and recording job information
2. Checking the job information for accuracy
3. Writing job descriptions based on the information
4. Using the information to determine the skills, abilities and knowledge that are required on the job
5. Updating the information from time to time.

The process of Job analysis is

depicted in the following figure:

Methods of Job Analysis
Interview Methods
Unstructured Interviews: Here the interview is a conversation with no prepared questions or predetermined line of investigation. However, the interviewer should explain:
• the purpose of the study is and
• the particular focus of this interview
The roles and the purposes give structure. The interviewer generally uses a questioning strategy to explore the work the job holder performs. Listening and taking notes are very important. These enable follow up questions to be posed. The questions and responses - with summaries enable the interview to be controlled. The conversation takes on a structure with areas being considered, explored, related to each other and revisited to secure the depth of information required in job analysis.

An unstructured interview involves question and response and may be free flowing but it becomes structured in the sense that the interviewer has a purpose and needs skill to
• establish a relationship
• ask well-structured questions to generate a conversational flow in which the interviewee offers information - factual, opinion, subjective and objective about aspects of the job
• to ensure information received is heard and understood - listening, clarifying and reflective summarising

Structured Interviews: A structured interview may assume a definite format involving:
• charting a job-holder's sequence of activities in performance
• an inventory or questionnaire may be used

A structured interview may be akin to a staff appraisal or job evaluation interview carried out by a manager with a subordinate. The manager is the analyst.

Direct Observation of incumbents performing their jobs enables the trained job analyst to obtain first-hand knowledge and information about the job being analyzed.

The Observation method of Job Analysis is suited for jobs in which the work behaviors are 1) observable involving some degree of movement on the part of the incumbent, or 2) job tasks are short in duration allowing for many observations to be made in a short period of time or a significant part of the job can be observed in a

hort period of time, or 3) jobs in which the job analyst can learn information about the job through observation. Jobs in which the Observation method is successful include:
• Machine Operator/Adjuster
• Construction Worker
• Police Officer/Patrol Officer
• Flight Attendant
• Bus Driver
• Housekeeper/Janitor
• Skilled Crafts Worker

Questionnaire: There are two types of questionnaires: The structured questionnaire uses a standardized list of work activities, called a task inventory, that job incumbents or supervisors may identify as related to the job. In addition, the respondent may also identify additional information such as how much time is spent on the task, the amount of supervision required, and/or the expertise required. The open-ended questionnaire asks the job incumbent to describe the work in his or her own words.

Critical incident technique: The critical incident technique involves observation and recording of examples of particularly effective or ineffective behaviors. Behaviors are judged to be "effective" or "ineffective" in terms of results produced by the behavior.

The following information should be recorded for each "critical incident" of behavior: (1) what led up to the incident and the situation in which it occurred; (2) exactly what the employee did that was particularly effective or ineffective; (3) the perceived consequences or results of the behavior; and (4) a judgment as to the degree of control an employee had over the results his or her behavior produced (to what degree should the employee be held responsible for what resulted?).

The critical incident method differs from direct observation and work methods analysis in that observations of behavior are not recorded as the behavior occurs, but only after the behavior has been judged to be either particularly effective or ineffective in terms of results produced. This means that a person using the critical incident method must describe a behavior in retrospect, or after the fact, rather than as the activity unfolds. Accurate recording of past observations is more difficult than recording the behaviors as they occur.

Work methods analysis: A sophisticated observation method, work methods analysis is used to describe manual and repetitive production jobs, such as factory or assembly-line jobs. These methods are used by industrial engineers to determine standard rates of production which are used to set pay rates. Two types of work methods analysis are time and motion study and micro-motion analysis. In time and motion studies, an industrial engineer observes and records each activity of a worker, using a stopwatch to note the time it takes to perform separate elements of the job. Micro-motion analysis uses a movie camera to record worker activities. Films are analyzed to discover acceptable ways of accomplishing tasks and to set standards relating to how long certain tasks should take. Such data are especially useful for developing training programs and setting pay rates.

Diary: The job incumbent records activities and tasks in a log as they are performed.

Checklist: A worker or supervisor check items on a standardized task inventory that apply to the job. Checklists may be custom-made or purchased from an outside vendor.

Technical Conference: Several experts (often called "subject matter experts") on the job collaborate to provide information about the work performed. A job analyst facilitates the process and prepares the job description based on the consensus of the technical experts.

Example
I am familiar with department of labour. Job analyst uses observation and interview methods to gather information about an employee. Information is organized into 3 categories
• Data
• People
• Things

The categories refer to how data is processed or used by the employee, to whom the employee speaks or interacts with, and what tasks are actually handled, respectively.

Work Functions
Data People Things
0. Synthesizing 0. Mentoring 0. Setting up
Coordinating 1. Negotiating 1. Precision work
Analyzing 2. Instructing 2. Operating
Compiling 3. Supervision 3. Driving
Computing 4. Diverting 4. Manipulating
Copying 5. Persuading 5. Tending
Comparing 6. Speaking 6. Feeding
7. Serving 7. Handling
8. Helping

Each job is coded using an aspect from each column.

Job titles are listed in the Dictionary of Occupational Titles Each job is given a code. Ex. A recruiter might be assigned the code 2, 6, 7 if the job entails analyzing data (2), speaking to people (6), and handling different things (7) See previous table.

Discuss the challenges of Human Resource Management in the present business scenario.

2011-05-17T04:13:00.000-07:00

Discuss the challenges of Human Resource Management in the present business scenario. Explain why HRM has become more important than ever. Explain with respect to the organization you know about, while describing the organization as well.

Answer. Human Resource Management is based on ideas and techniques developed to enhance worker motivation, productivity and performance. Human resource management involves all management decisions and practices that directly affect or influence the people, or human resources, who work for the organization.
The HRM challenges are
1. Managing the Vision: Vision of the organization provides the direction to business strategy and helps managers to evaluate management practices and make decisions. So vision management becomes the integral part of Man management in future.
2. Internal environment: Creating an environment which is responsive to external changes, providing satisfaction to the employees and sustaining through culture and systems is a challenging task.
3. Changing Industrial Relations: Both the workers and managers has to be managed by the same HRM Philosophy and this is a daunting task for the managers.

4. Building Organizational capability: Even in the adverse circumstances the employees have to be made to live in psychological state of readiness to continually change.

5. Job Design & Organizational structure: Instead of depending on foreign concepts we need to focus on understanding the job, technology and the people involved in carrying out the tasks.

6. Managing the large work force: Management of large workforce poses the biggest problem as the workers are conscious of their rights.

7. Psycho-Social environment: Nowadays employees participation required not only in performing job but also in democratizing and humanizing the institution.

8. Employee Satisfaction: Managers should be aware of techniques to motivate their employees so that their higher level needs can be satisfied.

9. Modern technology: There will be an unemployment due to modern technology and this could be corrected by assessing manpower needs and finding alternate employment.

10. Computerized Information System: This is revolutionary in managerial decision making and is having impact on coordination in the organization.

11. Legal environment: To meet the changes in legal environment, adjustments have to be made to the maximum utilization of human resources.

12. Managing Human Relations: As the workforce comprises of both educated and uneducated, managing the relations will be of great challenge.

Significance/Importance
Human resources play a crucial role in the development process of modern economies. There are great differences in development between countries which seem to have roughly equal resources, so it is necessary to enquire into the difference in human behavior. It is often felt that, though the exploitation of natural resources, availability of physical and financial resources and international aid play prominent roles in the growth of modern economies, none of these factors is more significant than efficient and committed manpower. It is in fact, said that all development comes from the human mind.

Why HR matters now more than Ever?

Companies today face five critical business challenges. Collectively, these challenges require organizations to build new capabilities. HR can play a significant role to meet the following competitive challenges:
‰ Globalization: Globalization requires that organizations increase their ability to learn and collaborate and to manage diversity, complexity, and ambiguity.

‰ Profitability through growth: Companies seeking to acquire new customers and develop new products must be creative and innovative, and must encourage the free flow of information and shared learning among employees.
‰ Technology: From video conferencing to the Internet, technology has made our world smaller and faster. The challenge for managers is to make sense and good use of what technology offers.
‰ Intellectual capital: Knowledge has become a direct competitive advantage.
Successful companies will be the ones that are the most adept at attracting, developing, and retaining individuals who can drive a global organization that is responsive to both its customers and the burgeoning opportunities of technology.
‰ Change: To thrive, companies will need to be in a never-ending state of transformation, perpetually creating fundamental, enduring change.

Objectives
The objective of Human Resources is to maximize the return on investment from the organization's human capital and minimize financial risk. It is the responsibility of human resource managers to conduct these activities in an effective, legal, fair, and consistent manner. Human resource management serves these key functions:
‰ Recruitment Strategy Planning
‰ Hiring Processes(recruitment)
‰ Performance Evaluation and Management
‰ Promotions
‰ Redundancy
‰ Industrial and Employee Relations
‰ Record keeping of all personal data.
‰ Compensation, pensions, bonuses etc in liaison with Payroll
‰ Confidential advice to internal 'customers' in relation to problems at work.

EXAMPLE CASE- HR DEPARTMENT FUNCTIONS AT PTU

Introduction

Punjab Technical University, Jalandhar was established in January 1997 for advancement of technical education & development. The University has under its affiliation 40 Engineering colleges,56 Management, 17 Pharmacy colleges ,6
Architecture 2 Hotel Management and 13 colleges imparting courses in Medical Lab Technolgy& IT disciplines. The University has an intake of more than 12700 and total strength of more than 60,000 approx. University has established 12 Regional Centres for M-Tech courses and has established school of Entrepreneurship.

About the Department of Human Resources

The Human Resources Department is responsible for the employment staff at the University and provides advice and guidance on recruitment, probation, promotion, terms and conditions and contracts of employment, appraisal, reward management, equal opportunities, grievance and discipline and retirement. The Department incorporates:
‰ HR Operations
‰ Staff Development
‰ Health & Safety
‰ Childcare Services.

Human Resources Operations

Human Resources Operations is responsible for ensuring that employees and associated personnel of the University have ready access to a range of quality HR services which are relevant, reliable, responsive and cost effective.

The main activities cover:
‰ HR Strategy, Policy & Planning
‰ Recruitment & Selection
‰ Employment contract administration
‰ HR Information & Records
‰ Employee Relations
‰ Equalities & Diversity

Each University department or service has an HR Manager & HR Administrator as designated points of contact which helps us to better understand their needs and work towards offering a more personalized service.

Define HRM and differentiate it from traditional personnel management.

2011-05-17T03:41:00.000-07:00

Define HRM and differentiate it from traditional personnel management. Write an overview on the HRM functions of your organization or an organization you are familiar with. Briefly describe the organization you are referring to.

Some experts assert that there is no difference between human resources and personnel management. They state that the two terms can be used interchangeably, with no difference in meaning. In fact, the terms are often used interchangeably in help-wanted ads and job descriptions.
For those who recognize a difference between personnel management and human resources, the difference can be described as philosophical. Personnel management is more administrative in nature, dealing with payroll, complying with employment law, and handling related tasks. Human resources, on the other hand, is responsible for managing a workforce as one of the primary resources that contributes to the success of an organization.
When a difference between personnel management and human resources is recognized, human resources is described as much broader in scope than personnel management. Human resources is said to incorporate and develop personnel management tasks, while seeking to create and develop teams of workers for the benefit of the organization. A primary goal of human resources is to enable employees to work to a maximum level of efficiency.
Personnel management can include administrative tasks that are both traditional and routine. It can be described as reactive, providing a response to demands and concerns as they are presented. By contrast, human resources involves ongoing strategies to manage and develop an organization's workforce. It is proactive, as it involves the continuous development of functions and policies for the purposes of improving a company’s workforce.
Personnel management is often considered an independent function of an organization. Human resource management, on the other hand, tends to be an integral part of overall company function. Personnel management is typically the sole responsibility of an organization’s personnel department. With human resources, all of an organization’s managers are often involved in some manner, and a chief goal may be to have managers of various departments develop the skills necessary to handle personnel-related tasks.
With human resources, work groups, effective strategies for meeting challenges, and job creativity are seen as the primary motivators.
When looking for a job in personnel management or human resources, it is important to realize that many companies use the terms interchangeably. If you are offered a job as a personnel manager, you may be required to perform the same duties as a human resource manager, and vice versa. In some companies, a distinction is made, but the difference is very subtle.
Human resource (or personnel) management, in the sense of getting things done through people. It's an essential part of every manager's responsibilities, but many organizations find it advantageous to establish a specialist division to provide an expert service dedicated to ensuring that the human resource function is performed efficiently.
Answer. HRM is the study of activates regarding people working in an organization. It is a managerial function that tries to match an organization’s needs to the skills and abilities of its employees.

Human Resource Management is the organizational function that deals with issues related to people such as compensation, hiring, performance management, organization development, safety, wellness, benefits, employee motivation, communication, administration, and training.

The concept of HRM
Many people find HRM to be a vague and elusive concept - not least because it seems to have a variety of meanings.

HRM is a strategic approach to the acquisition, motivation, development and management of the organization’s human resources. It is a specialized field that attempts to develop an appropriate corporate culture, and introducing programmes which reflect and support the core values of the enterprise and ensure its success.

HRM is proactive rather than reactive, i.e., always looking forward to what needs to be done and then doing it, rather than waiting to be told what to do about recruiting, paying or training people, or dealing with employee relations problems as they arise.

Broadly, there are three meanings attached to the concept of HRM. In the first place, persons working in an organization are regarded as a valuable source, implying that there is a need to invest time and effort in their development. Secondly, they are human resources which means that they have their own special characteristics and, therefore, cannot be treated like material resources. The approach focuses on the need to humanize organizational life and introduce human values in the organization. And thirdly, human resources do not merely focus on employees as individuals, but also on other social realities, units and processes in the organization.

Some functions that come under the purview of HRM are:
i) Human Resource Planning: It is a process for determination and assuring that the organization will have an adequate number of qualified persons, available at proper times, performing jobs which would meet the needs of the organization and which would provide satisfaction for the individuals involved.

ii) Recruitment and Selection: Recruitment is concerned with developing a pool of candidates in line with the human resources plan.

Selection is the process of matching people and their career needs and capabilities with the jobs and career paths. It ends with the ultimate hiring of a candidate.

iii) Training and Development: This involves identification of individual potentialities and helping in the development of key competencies through planned learning process. The competencies are to be developed to enable individuals to perform current as well as future jobs.

iv) Employee motivation: To retain good staff and to encourage them to give of their best while at work requires attention to the financial and psychological and even physiological rewards offered by the organization as a continuous exercise.

Basic financial rewards and conditions of service (e.g. working hours per week) are determined externally (by national bargaining or government minimum wage legislation) in many occupations but as much as 50 per cent of the gross pay of manual workers is often the result of local negotiations and details (e.g. which particular hours shall be worked) of conditions of service are often more important than the basics. Hence there is scope for financial and other motivations to be used at local levels.

v) Organizational Development: This element assures healthy inter and intra-unit relationships. It helps work groups in initiating and managing change.

vi) Career Development: It is assuring an alignment of the management. It is a process of achieving an optional match of individual and organizational needs.

vii) HR Research and Information Systems and Audit: This element ensures a reliable and proof HR information base. It is not only evaluates personnel policies and programmes but also highlights the need and areas of change.

viii) Provision of employee services: Attention to the mental and physical well-being of employees is normal in many organizations as a means of keeping good staff and attracting others. The forms this welfare can take are many and varied, from loans to the needy to counseling in respect of personal problems.

EXAMPLE - HR FUNCTIONS AT CENTER FOR ASTROPHYSICS
Introduction
The Center for Astrophysics combines the resources and research facilities of the Harvard College Observatory and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory under a single director to pursue studies of those basic physical processes that determine the nature and evolution of the universe. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) is a bureau of the Smithsonian Institution, founded in 1890. The Harvard College Observatory (HCO), founded in 1839, is a research institution of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University, and provides facilities and substantial other support for teaching activities of the Department of Astronomy. The long relationship between the two organizations, which began when the SAO moved its headquarters to Cambridge in 1955, was formalized by the establishment of a joint center in 1973.

Today, some 300 Smithsonian and Harvard scientists cooperate in broad programs of astrophysical research supported by Federal appropriations and University funds as well as contracts and grants from government agencies. These scientific investigations, touching on almost all major topics in astronomy, are organized into six divisions.

HR: Functions
• Hiring
• Promotions
• Reassignments
• Position classification and grading
• Salary determination
• Performance appraisal review and processing
• Awards review and processing
• Personnel data entry and records maintenance
• Consultation and advisory services to management and employees
• Conduct problems
• Performance problems
• Policy development
• Technical policy interpretation
• Work Permitting Immigration Visa Program
• Benefits
• Health care insurance
• Life insurance
• Disability insurance
• Retirement
• Voluntary accidental death and dismemberment insurance
• Leave Transfer Program
• Tuition Assistance Plan
• Training opportunities
• Combined Federal Campaign
• Employee assistance referral
• Workers' compensation

New Roles of the Human Resources Manager
The role of the HR manager must parallel the needs of his changing organization. Successful organizations are becoming more adaptable, resilient, quick to change direction and customer-centered. Within this environment, the HR professional, who is considered necessary by line managers, is a strategic partner, an employee sponsor or advocate and a change mentor.

Strategic Partner
In today’s organizations, to guarantee their viability and ability to contribute, HR managers need to think of themselves as strategic partners. In this role, the HR person contributes to the development of and the accomplishment of the organization-wide business plan and objectives.

The HR business objectives are established to support the attainment of the overall strategic business plan and objectives. The tactical HR representative is deeply knowledgeable about the design of work systems in which people succeed and contribute. This strategic partnership impacts HR services such as the design of work positions; hiring; reward, recognition and strategic pay; performance development and appraisal systems; career and succession planning; and employee development.

Employee Advocate
As an employee sponsor or advocate, the HR manager plays an integral role in organizational success via his knowledge about and advocacy of people. This advocacy includes expertise in how to create a work environment in which people will choose to be motivated, contributing, and happy.

Fostering effective methods of goal setting, communication and empowerment through responsibility, builds employee ownership of the organization. The HR professional helps establish the organizational culture and climate in which people have the competency, concern and commitment to serve customers well.

In this role, the HR manager provides employee development opportunities, employee assistance programs, gainsharing and profit-sharing strategies, organization development interventions, due process approaches to problem solving and regularly scheduled communication opportunities.

Change Champion
The constant evaluation of the effectiveness of the organization results in the need for the HR professional to frequently champion change. Both knowledge about and the ability to execute successful change strategies make the HR professional exceptionally valued. Knowing how to link change to the strategic needs of the organization will minimize employee dissatisfaction and resistance to change.

The HR professional contributes to the organization by constantly assessing the effectiveness of the HR function. He also sponsors change in other departments and in work practices. To promote the overall success of his organization, he champions the identification of the organizational mission, vision, values, goals and action plans. Finally, he helps determine the measures that will tell his organization how well it is succeeding in all of this.

What are the forms and causes of indiscipline in an organization?

2011-05-17T03:31:00.000-07:00

What are the forms and causes of indiscipline in an organization? Study and present the existing disciplinary action mechanism in your organization or an organization you are referring to. Describe the organization you are referring to.

FORMS OF INDISCIPLINE.
*Talking out of turn (eg, by making remarks, calling out,
distracting others by chattering)
*Calculated idleness and work avoidance (eg, delaying start to
work set, not having essential equipment)
*Hindering other EMPLOYEES (eg, by distracting them from work,
interfering with equipment or materials)
*Not being punctual TO WORK.
*Making unnecessary non-verbal noise (eg, by scraping
chairs, banging objects, moving clumsily)
*Persistently infringing rules
*Cheeky or impertinent remarks or responses
*General rowdiness, horseplay or 'mucking about'
*Verbal abuse towards other EMPLOYEES (eg, offensive or insulting
remarks)
*Physical aggression towards other EMPLOYEES (eg, by pushing,
punching, striking)
*Verbal abuse towards the MANAGERS/SUPERVISORS (eg, offensive, insulting,
insolent or threatening remarks)
*Physical destructiveness (eg, breaking objects, damaging
furniture and fabric)
ETC ETC
=====================================
CAUSES OF INDISCIPLINE
*destructive behavior
*excessive naughtiness.
*habitually unorganized
*lack of concentration
*lack of confidence
*lack of attention
*low performance
*moody behavior
*non-particpant behavior
*peer pressure
*stress
*weak memory.
======================================

The organisation I am referring to

The organization, I am familiar with is a
-a large manufacturer/ marketer of safety products
-the products are used as [personal protection safety] [ industrial safety]
-the products are distributed through the distributors as well as sold directly
-the products are sold to various industries like mining/fireservices/defence/
as well as to various manufacturing companies.
-the company employs about 235 people.
-the company has the following functional departments
*marketing
*manufacturing
*sales
*finance/ administration
*human resource
*customer service
*distribution
*warehousing/ transportation
*TQM
==============================================
THE ABOVE COMPANY USES THIS MECHANISM
TO MANAGE INDISCIPLINE.

DICIPLINARY CODE

6.1 Introduction

a) This document is an expression of ORG’s policy on discipline and a guide to all company employees.

b) Discipline is a system designed to promote orderly conduct.

c) Formal disciplinary action should be the final course of action in rectifying employee behaviour.

d) Disciplinary action should be supported through investigation, reasonable evidence of guilt and careful consideration of the circumstances of each case before formal action is taken.

e) Disciplinary action should always be prompt, fair and firm.

f) While every attempt has been made to ensure that this Disciplinary Code is applicable to general disciplinary instances in SBCGT, the requirement for use of discretion within the framework of and in accordance with the spirit of the code may be required.

g) A successful disciplinary system and climate is dependant on the good judgement, understanding and consistent treatment of the parties involved in disciplinary action.
6.2 Procedure and Documentation

6.2.1 Action of supervisor when an alleged offence has been committed or is reported to have been committed

When an offence is alleged to have been committed, the Supervisor concerned will investigate or have the matter investigated, and take any form of the following actions:

a) Dismiss the case;
b) Counsel the employee;
c) Give a verbal warning;
d) Give a recorded warning;
e) Initiate a formal disciplinary enquiry;

6.2.2 Informal disciplinary action

It is desirable for sound interpersonal relations within ORG that Supervisor where possible resolves disciplinary matters by means of informal disciplinary action. Informal disciplinary action can take the form of either a verbal warning or counselling.

An employee found to have committed an offence of a minor nature should be counselled by the Supervisor, without an entry being made on the employee’s personal record. The Supervisor may however, make a record of the counselling session to allow for an assessment of the employee’s performance record, should this be necessary at the time, and with the employee’s knowledge and understanding thereof, formulate a plan of corrective action.

During the counselling, the Supervisor should ensure that the employee is made aware of the nature of the offence and the standard of the conduct or performance that will be expected in the future.

6.2.3 Procedure for formal complaints

a) A supervisor handling a formal complaint must investigate the case with the assistance of the Human Resources Officer, where possible, and ensure that the relevant sections of the complaint form are correctly completed within 48 hours of the offence having been committed or the supervisor having been made aware of the fact that an offence has been committed.

b) A copy of the complaint form should be passed without delay to the Human Resources Officer who will advise whether:

c) The accused should be suspended pending full investigation (if this has not already been done);

d) Advise the supervisor on whether to continue with a formal complaint

e) The Complainant and the accused must provide names of all persons who should be regarded as witnesses as their statements will assist in ensuring a fair hearing of a case. Where possible, should there be witnesses who are non-employees, formal statements should be recorded from them as they may be invited to attend the disciplinary hearing.

6.2.4 Disciplinary Inquiries

The Human Resources Officer will be responsible for the overall application of the code and should where possible:

a) Advise and guide all participant on the Disciplinary Code;

b) Ensure that the code is applied fairly and consistently in all cases (procedurally and substantively);

c) When all documentation pertinent to the matter has been collected, the Human Resources Officer shall serve the papers on the accused and/or his/her representative to allow the employee to fully prepare himself prior to the hearing;

d) The Hearing Chairperson will hear the case within four full working days of the complaint being lodged – only when further investigate is required shall this period be extended;

e) The Human Resources Officer will be responsible for arranging a suitable venue and date for the inquiry, informing all the relevant parties; informing the accused of his/her rights to representation; informing the accused of his/her right to appeal against the decision and arranging for all relevant statements to be taken.

f) The complainant shall be responsible to complete the Complaint form.

Attendance at the Inquiry

The following persons must be in attendance at any hearing inquiry:

a) Hearing Chairperson
b) Complainant
c) Alleged Offender (accused)
d) Representative of alleged offender (if requested by alleged offender)
e) Witness (as) (as and only when required for the duration of the testimony)
f) Human Resources Officer.

The Hearing/Inquiry

a) The accused should be given at least 48 hours notice in advance of the disciplinary hearing (Notice for Disciplinary hearing see Appendix 8), indicating the date, time and venue of the hearing. In addition, the responsible person convening the hearing should advise the accused of his/her right of representation.

b) In the event that the accused alleges that the Hearing Chairperson is implicated in the case and therefore will not be unbiased, the accused may request the appointment of an alternative Hearing Chairperson, giving a full motivation for such a request. The decision whether to appoint another Hearing Chairperson or not rests with the Human Resources Officer. Such requests shall however not be unreasonable withheld

Define and discuss the need of human resource planning.

2011-05-17T03:30:00.000-07:00

Define and discuss the need of human resource planning. Take an account of the human resource planning in your organization or an organization you are familiar with and give a brief note on that. Describe the organization you are referring to.

Sol:3 When it concerns human resources, there are the more specific criticisms that it is over-quantitative and neglects the qualitative aspects of contribution. The issue has become not how many people should be employed, but ensuring that all members of staff are making an effective contribution. And for the future, the questions are what are the skills that will be required, and how will they be acquired.
There are others, though, that still regard the quantitative planning of resources as important. They do not see its value in trying to predict events, be they wars or takeovers. Rather, they believe there is a benefit from using planning to challenge assumptions about the future, to stimulate thinking. For some there is, moreover, an implicit or explicit wish to get better integration of decision making and resourcing across the whole organization, or greater influence by the centre over devolved operating units.
Cynics would say this is all very well, but the assertion of corporate control has been tried and rejected. And is it not the talk of the process benefits to be derived self indulgent nonsense? Can we really afford this kind of intellectual dilettantism? Whether these criticisms are fair or not, supporters of human resource planning point to its practical benefits in optimizing the use of resources and identifying ways of making them more flexible. For some organizations, the need to acquire and grow skills which take time to develop is paramount. If they fail to identify the business demand, both numerically and in the skills required, and secure the appropriate supply, then the capacity of the organization to fulfill its function will be endangered.
Why human resource planning?
Human Resource Planning: an Introduction was written to draw these issues to the attention of HR or line managers. We address such questions as:
• what is human resource planning?
• how do organizations undertake this sort of exercise?
• what specific uses does it have?
In dealing with the last point we need to be able to say to hard pressed managers: why spend time on this activity rather than the other issues bulging your in tray? The report tries to meet this need by illustrating how human resource planning techniques can be applied to four key problems. It then concludes by considering the circumstances is which human resourcing can be used.
EXAMPLE - HR FUNCTIONS AT CENTER FOR ASTROPHYSICS
Introduction
The Center for Astrophysics combines the resources and research facilities of the Harvard College Observatory and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory under a single director to pursue studies of those basic physical processes that determine the nature and evolution of the universe. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) is a bureau of the Smithsonian Institution, founded in 1890. The Harvard College Observatory (HCO), founded in 1839, is a research institution of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University, and provides facilities and substantial other support for teaching activities of the Department of Astronomy. The long relationship between the two organizations, which began when the SAO moved its headquarters to Cambridge in 1955, was formalized by the establishment of a joint center in 1973.

Today, some 300 Smithsonian and Harvard scientists cooperate in broad programs of astrophysical research supported by Federal appropriations and University funds as well as contracts and grants from government agencies. These scientific investigations, touching on almost all major topics in astronomy, are organized into six divisions.

HR: Functions
• Hiring
• Promotions
• Reassignments
• Position classification and grading
• Salary determination
• Performance appraisal review and processing
• Awards review and processing
• Personnel data entry and records maintenance
• Consultation and advisory services to management and employees
• Conduct problems
• Performance problems
• Policy development
• Technical policy interpretation
• Work Permitting Immigration Visa Program
• Benefits
• Health care insurance
• Life insurance
• Disability insurance
• Retirement
• Voluntary accidental death and dismemberment insurance
• Leave Transfer Program
• Tuition Assistance Plan
• Training opportunities
• Combined Federal Campaign
• Employee assistance referral
• Workers' compensation

New Roles of the Human Resources Manager
The role of the HR manager is to perform complete human resources planning. And there being followed the system based on some points which are as follows.
1. Determining the numbers to be employed at a new location
If organizations overdo the size of their workforce it will carry surplus or underutilized staff. Alternatively, if the opposite misjudgment is made, staff may be overstretched, making it hard or impossible to meet production or service deadlines at the quality level expected. So the questions we ask are:
• How can output be improved your through understanding the interrelation between productivity, work organization and technological development? What does this mean for staff numbers?
• What techniques can be used to establish workforce requirements?
• Have more flexible work arrangements been considered?
• How are the staff you need to be acquired?
The principles can be applied to any exercise to define workforce requirements, whether it be a business start-up, a relocation, or the opening of new factory or office.

2. Retaining your highly skilled staff
Issues about retention may not have been to the fore in recent years, but all it needs is for organizations to lose key staff to realize that an understanding of the pattern of resignation is needed. Thus organizations should:
• monitor the extent of resignation
• discover the reasons for it
• establish what it is costing the organization
• compare loss rates with other similar organisations.
Without this understanding, management may be unaware of how many good quality staff are being lost. This will cost the organization directly through the bill for separation, recruitment and induction, but also through a loss of long-term capability.
Having understood the nature and extent of resignation steps can be taken to rectify the situation. These may be relatively cheap and simple solutions once the reasons for the departure of employees have been identified. But it will depend on whether the problem is peculiar to your own organization, and whether it is concentrated in particular groups (eg by age, gender, grade or skill).

3. Managing an effective downsizing programmed
This is an all too common issue for managers. How is the workforce to be cut painlessly, while at the same time protecting the long-term interests of the organization? A question made all the harder by the time pressures management is under, both because of business necessities and employee anxieties. HRP helps by considering:
• the sort of workforce envisaged at the end of the exercise
• the pros and cons of the different routes to get there
• how the nature and extent of wastage will change during the run-down
• the utility of retraining, redeployment and transfers
• what the appropriate recruitment levels might be.
Such an analysis can be presented to senior managers so that the cost benefit of various methods of reduction can be assessed, and the time taken to meet targets established.
If instead the CEO announces on day one that there will be no compulsory redundancies and voluntary severance is open to all staff, the danger is that an unbalanced workforce will result, reflecting the take-up of the severance offer. It is often difficult and expensive to replace lost quality and experience.

4. Where will the next generation of managers come from?
Many senior managers are troubled by this issue. They have seen traditional career paths disappear. They have had to bring in senior staff from elsewhere. But they recognize that while this may have dealt with a short-term skills shortage, it has not solved the longer term question of managerial supply: what sort, how many, and where will they come from? To address these questions you need to understand:
• the present career system (including patterns of promotion and movement, of recruitment and wastage)
• the characteristics of those who currently occupy senior positions
• the organization’s future supply of talent.
This then can be compared with future requirements, in number and type. These will of course be affected by internal structural changes and external business or political changes. Comparing your current supply to this revised demand will show surpluses and shortages which will allow you to take corrective action such as:
• recruiting to meet a shortage of those with senior management potential
• allowing faster promotion to fill immediate gaps
• developing cross functional transfers for high fliers
• hiring on fixed-term contracts to meet short-term skills/experience deficits
• reducing staff numbers to remove blockages or forthcoming surpluses.
Thus appropriate recruitment, deployment and severance policies can be pursued to meet business needs. Otherwise processes are likely to be haphazard and inconsistent. The wrong sort of staff are engaged at the wrong time on the wrong contract. It is expensive and embarrassing to put such matters right

Summaries the recent trend of reward systems in India.

2011-05-17T03:23:00.000-07:00

Summaries the recent trend of reward systems in India. Analyze it with respect to your
organization or an organization you are familiar with and discuss its impact on productivity. Describe the organization you are referring to.

Rewarding employee performance and behaviour is an important part of HRD. Appropriate rewards not only recognize and motivate employees, but also communicate the organization’s values to the employees. Rewards may be given to individualists as well as to teams, departments and other units within the organization. Rewards reinforce specific behaviors, thereby arousing and sustaining specific motives. Consequently, what is rewarded in an organization influences the motivational climate.

The only way employees will fulfill your dream is to share in the dream. Reward systems are the mechanisms that make this happen. “However, reward systems are much more than just bonus plans and stock options. While they often include both of these incentives, they can also include awards and other recognition, promotions, reassignment, non-monetary bonuses (e.g., vacations) or a simple thank-you.

RECENT TRENDS – A FEW EXAMPLES
It’s an annual affair at Genpact to identify 35 star leaders within the company and fly their families on a vacation. This is apart from regular ritual of recognizing high performing leaders in every board meeting. Even as salary levels soar and are a given in the current war for talent, more and more companies are fumbling for the ideal mix of non-compensation rewards to retain leaders.

Retaining and rewarding leadership is a hot button issue facing most organizations. Increasing complexity of hiring leadership talent in the face of burgeoning market demand is bringing companies under pressure to retain their top talent. “The only way to reward and retain top leadership is by sharing the success of the company with them,” says Piyush Mehta, senior V-P, Genpact.

It is common to see firms ring fence their senior executives by devising long-term wealth certain opportunities in the form of retention pay, deferred bonus plans, stock options and shadow options. Companies are arriving at a reward system, which is linked with the company’s performance.

As a business leader in Accenture moves higher, the variable component in his compensation goes up. “Equity has been quite effective as a leadership reward system. Conversely too, it works well as it makes leaders conscious of the fact that they carry the weight of the organization,” says Rahul Varma, senior HR director, Accenture India.

Employee stock plans offered by Indian firms in the past few years have been able to create the right setting than that MNC counterparts, says K Sudarshan, managing partner, EMA Partner International. “Key employees feel a lot closer to centre of action with a belief that they are making a difference to the fortunes of the organization as opposed to large MNCs where the India business is still a small percentage of their overall numbers,” he says.

The attractiveness quotient for Indian companies is increasing all the time. Even though we see emergence of several “employee millionaires”, analysis caution, relying on generous compensation as the only strategy for retaining your key resources is a sure shot recipe for disaster.

There is interplay of multiple factors which makes the organization a preferred destination for top talent and creates a long-term sustainable employer brand. That’s why the best employers need not necessarily be the best paymasters.

“First and foremost is to create a sense of ownership and belonging to the organization. Successful organizations have a culture which supports and encourages entrepreneurial behaviour, the freedom to make informed business decisions and above all eliminates the fear of failure,” says Mr Sudarshan. This will work only if it goes hand-in-hand with standard compensation levels in the industry.

HR fraternity believes ICICI Bank has done well on both fronts. They have provided great opportunities to their stars plus have locked in their key people with significant stock options. It also helped that ICICI bank is growing more rapidly when compared to HDFC Bank and there is a great passion at work one can experience with senior people in ICICI group.

“HDFC Bank has largely adopted the ESOP route to reduce fixed cost but this has backfired in the long term because people moved on once the stocks vested and their exit barriers significantly reduced,” says a head of headhunting firm.

Bharti has largely taken the compensation route both fixed as well as long-term wealth creation opportunities for their people. Hutch has always retained their key people on the basis of the work culture and freedom to operate though the compensation levels have always been pegged lower than Bharti and Reliance.

Aditya Birla Group has built a great sense of belonging for their leaders and has always been looked upon with the larger picture in mind. The chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla says a company executive also deploys his personal touch with his key managers who are valued.

“There is a great sense of security built in for key people,” adds a senior HR consultant who has worked with the group. The Tata Group has always institutionalized the group and managers are empowered to take critical decisions like no other business house and there is a deep sense of loyalty to the group at senior levels.

An ambitious business leader, believe HR fraternity, is constantly evaluating headroom for professional learning and growth and it is critical that the organization is capable of creating such opportunities. This keeps senior managers motivated with fresh challenges all the time. “Today, there’s a need to customize rewards – both monetary or otherwise – to suit individual’s specific needs,” says Mr. Mehta of Genpact.

REWARD SYSTEM IN MY COMPANY: COGNIZANT
A company gifting a small mug or a T-shirt with its logo may not be a very big thing for an employee who has decided to leave the organization. But, for those staying on, such gifts can make a lot of difference.

Giving instant gifts to reward employees is catching up. Cognizant Technology Solutions with large software development centers in India, have used the instant reward scheme to motivate their employees.

‘Outwehing Others’
Wahl Cognizant is an incentive scheme for Cognizant’s employees. The instant reward is for contributing to the company, above and beyond the call of duty or for any exceptional performance.

The scheme follows Cognizant’s earlier incentives for employees, such as iPods, cruises to the Bahamas, chartered trains to Pondicherry and chartered flights to Malaysia.

Designed on the lines of a frequent flyer programme, Wah! helps Cognizant employees to earn reward points that can be accumulated and redeemed against Cognizant merchandise ranging from denim shirts to signature coffee mugs, watches to jackets, or even a DVD player.

On its employee information portal, Cognizant publishes the reward points that employees can obtain for the efforts that they put in, beyond their core work definition. For example, works such as training, knowledge harvesting, recruiting, participation in quality audits and assessments and external certifications quality for reward points based on certain defined parameters.

“Wah! has been a big hit in Cognizant, so much so that it is one of the projects to be expeditiously institutionalized after being piloted in Hyderabad. It simply has outwahed every other spot reward and recognition programme attempted by Cognizant earlier.

Wah! was piloted at Cognizant’s Hyderabad development centre in early 2005 and was institutionalized across all of its development centers in India early this year. Till date, 8,250 of the company’s associates have been awarded Wah! points that can be redeemed for Cognizant branded merchandise.

As one enters any of Cognizant’s offices, the branded merchandise is prominently displayed to remind and motivate employees to earn the gift of their choice, he says. This motivation prompts them to excel and take advice interest in contributing to multiple areas such as certification, quality or training. Even prospective applicants or interviewees notice the array of gifts that adorn the reception area.

Discuss the concept of competency mapping.

2011-05-17T03:22:00.000-07:00

Discuss the concept of competency mapping. Briefly explain the methods of competency mapping citing suitable examples.

Answer. Competency mapping is a process of identifying key competencies for a particular position in an organization, and then using it for training and development, performance management, and succession planning. Large organizations frequently employ some form of competency mapping to understand how to most effectively employ the competencies of strengths of workers. They may also use competency mapping to analyze the combination of strengths in different workers to produce the most effective teams and the highest quality work.

Competency mapping can also be done for contract or freelance workers, or for those seeking employment to emphasize the specific skills which would make them valuable to a potential employer. These kinds of skills can be determined, when one is ready to do the work.

Competency mapping also requires some thought, time, and analysis, and some people simply may not want to do the work involved to sufficiently map competencies. Competency mapping alone may not produce accurate results unless one is able to detach from the results in analyzing past successes and failures. Many studies find that people often overestimate their abilities, making self-competency mapping results dubious.

The value of competency mapping and identifying emotional strengths is that many employers now purposefully screen employees to hire people with specific competencies. They may need to hire someone who can be an effective time leader or who has demonstrated great active listening skills. Alternately, they may need someone who enjoys taking initiative or someone who is very good at taking direction. When individuals must seek new jobs, knowing one’s competencies can give one a competitive edge in the job market.

Usually, a person will find themselves with strengths in about five to six areas. Sometimes an area where strengths are not present is worth developing. In other cases, competency mapping can indicate finding work that is suited to one’s strengths, or finding a department at one’s current work where one's strengths or needs as a worker can be exercised.

A problem with competency mapping, especially when conducted by an organization is that there may be no room for an individual to work in a field that would best make use of his or her competencies. If the company does not respond to competency mapping by reorganizing its employees, then it can be of little short-term benefit and may actually result in greater unhappiness on the part of individual employees. A person identified as needing to learn new things in order to remain happy might find himself or herself in a position where no new training is ever required. If the employer cannot provide a position for an employee that fits him or her better, competency mapping may be of little use.

However, competency mapping can ultimately serve the individual who decides to seek employment in an environment where he or she perhaps can learn new things and be more intellectually challenged. Being able to list competencies on resumes and address this area with potential employers may help secure more satisfying work. This may not resolve issues for the company that initially employed competency mapping, without making suggested changes. It may find competency mapping has produced dissatisfied workers or led to a high worker turnover rate.
COMMON STEPS IN COMPETENCY MAPPING
First: A job analysis is carried out by asking employees to fill in a questionnaire that asks them to describe what they are doing, and what skills, attitudes and abilities they need to have to perform it well. There would be a bit that requests them to list down attributes needed to make it up to the next level, thus making it behavioural as well as skill-based.

Second: Having discovered the similarities in the questionnaires, a competency-based job description is crafted and presented to the personnel department for their agreement and additions if any.

Third: Having agreed on the job requirements and the skills and attitudes needed to progress within it and become more productive, one starts mapping the capability of the employees to the benchmarks. There are several index points within the responsibility level. An almost (but not quite) arbitrary level of attainment is noted against each benchmark indicating the areas where the assessee is in terms of personal development and achievement.

These give an adept HR manager a fairly good picture of the employee to see whether he (or she) needs to perform better or to move up a notch on the scale. Once the employee `tops' every indicator at his level, he moves on to the next and begins there at the bottom - in short, he is promoted.

This reasonably simple though initially (the first year only) tedious method helps everybody to know what the real state of preparedness of an organization to handle new business (or its old one) because it has a clear picture of every incumbent in the organization.

It helps in determining the training and development needs and importantly it helps to encourage the best and develop the rest. A win-win situation for everyone.

EXAMPLE: L & T INFOTECH
Introduction: Larsen & Toubro Infotech Limited (L&T Infotech), a 100% subsidiary of the US$ 3.5 billion Forbes Global 2000 and BusinessWeek Asia Top 50 technology-driven engineering and construction major, Larsen & Toubro Limited, offers comprehensive, end-to-end software solutions and services. Leveraging the heritage and domain expertise of the parent company, its services encompass a broad technology spectrum, catering to leading international companies across the globe.

L&T Infotech, a PCMM Level 5 company, has a successful competency-based HR system. Recruitment, training, job rotation, succession planning and promotions-all are defined by competency mapping. Nearly all HR interventions are linked to competency. Competencies are enhanced through training and job rotation. All people who have gone through job rotation undergo a transformation and get a broader perspective of the company. For instance, a person lacking in negotiation skills might be put in the sales or purchase department for a year to hone his skills in the area.
When the company started competency mapping the whole process took eight months for six roles and two variations. Eventually, 16-18 profiles were worked out. The company uses PeopleSoft for competency mapping. Behavioural competencies do not change every month. Two appraisals are done subsequently… every project-end for skills, and annual for behavioural competencies. There was resistance from the line people, but when the numbers started flowing they sat up. Every quarter, an SBU-based skills portfolio is published. As far as training and development is concerned, instead of asking people to attend classes, they themselves get pulled to the classes. Introduction of competency mapping has also involved introducing skill appraisals in performance appraisals. This has also led to training people on how to assess subordinates on competencies.

Explain what is reward system?

2011-05-17T03:15:00.000-07:00

Explain what is reward system? Describe the reward system of your organization or any organization you are acquainted with. How financial reward systems have been helping in improving organizational performance? Explain with example.

Ans. Reward System : -

Since positive consequences are so important to employee behaviour, reward systems become critical to employee performance and organizational success. The organization may have the latest technology, well thought out strategic plans, detailed job descriptions, and comprehensive training programme, but unless the people are rewarded for their performance related behaviours, the ‘up-front’ variables or the rules that govern their behaviour have little impact. In other words, going back to skinners original conception, the antecedent cues have power to control or provide rules for behaviour only if there are reinforcing consequences. As one behavioural management consultant points out : -

A company is always perfectly designed to produce what it is producing. It is has quality problems, cost problems, productivity problems, then the behaviours associated with those undesirable outcomes are being reinforced. This is not conjecture. This is the hard, cold reality of human behaviour.

The challenge for management is to understand behavioural reality, eliminate the reinforces for the undesirable behaviours, and more importantly and effectively, reward the desirable behaviour. Thus, organizational reward systems become the key, often overlooked, factor in bringing about improved performance and success.

When anyone mentions organizational reward systems, money comes quickly to mind. Monetary reward systems do play a dominant role. As organizations in recent years have become leaner and more efficient, monetary rewards have become very limited and increasingly are just not available. More and more interest is now being given non financial rewards.

In the past, most reward systems were geared to the individual. With the emergence of teams in most of today’s organizations, systems are being revamped to reward teamwork. A good example is Behlen Manufacturing in Columbus, Nebraska. The 1100 mostly production employees are organised into 32 teams. Some of these teams have only a handful of members, while others have as many as sixty. Although each individual receives a base pay component, which comes to about $8 an hour, the rest of the compensation is variable and is determined in a number of different ways, including how one’s team is performing.

The centrepiece of the manufacturing company’s variable reward plan is gain-sharing, an increasingly popular form of compensation whereby all members share a usually fixed percentage of the documented savings or performance gain accomplished by the team. Behlen employees can earn monthly gain-sharing of up to $1 an hour when their teams meet productivity goals. The CEO explained this team reward system as follows: “If you’re in a group that makes stock tanks, for example; from the start of the process to the end of the process, overall shifts, all month long, if the team achieves certain levels of productivity, each of its members is rewarded anywhere from Ocents to $1 an hour for every hour worked in that area . “Documentation of the gains is based on actual pounds of products, so that everyone on the team knows exactly how well they are doing. Another part of the company’s variable reward system involves profit sharing. Employees receive 20 percent of the profits. In recent years this has resulted in everyone’s getting a profit-sharing bonus equivalent to three week’s salary. Still another part of the reward package is the employee stock ownership plan. Each employee receives company stock equal in value to 2 percent of his or her base salary each year. Senior managers in the company participate in the same reward system as the workers, receiving the same proportional benefits. In the case of managers, performance is calculated on the gross margin of their business unit before selling and administrative costs are deducted.

HELP OF FINANCIAL REWARD

Money as a Reward

Despite the tendency in recent years to downgrade the importance of money as an organizational reward, there is ample evidence that money can be positively reinforcing for most people and, if the pay system is designed properly to fit the strategies, can have a positive impact on overall organizational performance. The downgrading of money is partly the result of popular motivation theories, such as Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, plus the publicity given to surveys that consistently place wages and salaries near the middle of the list of employment factors that are important to workers and managers. In terms of Maslow’s well-known hierarchy of needs, money, is often equated only with the most basic requirements of employees. It is viewed in the material sense of buying food, clothing and shelter. Money has a symbolic as well as an economic, material meaning. It can provide power and status and can be a means to measure achievement. In the latter sense, money can be used as an effective positive reinforcement intervention strategy to improve performance.

New Pay Techniques : -

The standard base pay technique provides for minimum compensation for a particular jobn and is a type of continuous reinforcement schedule. Pay by the hour for workers and the base salary for managers are examples. The technique does not reward above average performance or penalise below average performance, and it is administered on a continuous basis controlled largely by the job rather than by the person performing the job. A variable pay technique is an intermittent type of reinforcement schedule and attempts to reward according to individual or group differences. It is more human than job controlled. Seniority is a traditional variable pay plan which recognises age and length of service differentials. The increasingly popular merit pay and individual or group incentive plans attempt to reward contingently on the basis of performances.

1. Commissions beyond sales to customers : - As with all the new pay plans, the commissions paid to sales personnel are aligned with the organization’s strategy and core competencies, specifically, besides sales volume, the commission is determined by customer satisfaction and sales team outcomes such as meeting revenue or profit goals.

2. Rewarding leadership effectiveness : - This newly emerging technique is based on factors beyond just the financial success of the organization, it also includes an employee satisfaction measure to recognise a manager’s people management skills.

3. Rewarding New Goals : - Besides being based on the traditional profit, sales, and productivity goals, rewards under this approach are aimed at all relevant employees (top to bottom) contributing to goals such as customer satisfaction, cycle time, or quality measures.

4. Pay for Knowledge workers in teams : - with the increasing use of teams, pay is being linked to the performance of knowledge workers or professional employees who are organized into reengineering, product development, inter-functional, or self-managed teams.

5. Skill Pay. This technique recognises the need for flexibility and change by paying employees based on their demonstrated skills rather than the job they perform. Although it is currently used with procedural production or service skills, the challenge is to apply this concept to the more varied, abstract skills needed in the new paradigm organizations (e.g. design of information systems or cross-cultural communication skills).

6. Competency Pay : - This approach tries to go beyond skill pay by rewarding the more abstract knowledge or competencies of employees such as those related to technology, the international business context, customer service, or social skills.

• A recent laboratory study of merit raise is at least 6 to 7 percent of base pay, it will not produce the desired on employee behaviour.
• Beyond ascertain point, increases in merit raise size are unlikely to improve performance.
• When merit raises are too small, employee morale will suffer.
• Cost-of-living adjustments, seniority adjustments, and other non-merit components of a raise should be clearly separated from the merit component.
• Smaller percentage raises given to employees at the higher ends of base-pay ranges are de-motivating.

A recent comprehensive review of the more popular gain-sharing plans was generally positive about their results, but it also noted that gain-sharing is still used mostly by large companies (e.g. Inland container, Eaton, GE, Whirl pool, and Ingersoll-Rand) and pointed out some of the problems involved. A study conducted first in 1989 and again in 1993 found that about two thirds of the gain-sharing plans were flops because of employee lack of confidence in how the payout was calculated, the overselling of the plan, the lack of support from middle management, and changes in the production process and personnel policies. As these gain-sharing plans mature and become increasingly important in the team based workplace, they can still be an effective reward system. For example, a recent field experiment found that a gain-sharing program even a short-lived one, can stimulate and sustain long-term performance.

Describe the methods of building roles and teams.

2011-05-17T03:14:00.001-07:00

Describe the methods of building roles and teams being followed in your organization or any organization you are acquainted with. Also discuss their utilities. Describe the organization you are referring to :

Ans.1. In their interpersonal roles, managers act as the figurehead and leader of their organizational unit, interacting with employee, customers, suppliers and peers in the organization. Mint berg cites studies, indicating that managers spend about 45 percent with people outside their units, and only about 10 percent with superiors.

2. In their informational roles, managers seek information from peers, employees, and other personal contacts about anything that may affect their job and responsibilities. They also disseminate interesting or important information in return. In addition, they provide suppliers, peers, and relevant groups outside the organization with information about their unit as a whole.

3. In their decisional roles, managers implement new projects, handle disturbances, and allocate resources to their unit’s members and department. Some of the decisions that managers make are reached in private, but even these are based on information that has been communicated to them. Managers, in turn, have to communicate these decisions to others.

ANDERSON CORPORATION

The Anderson corporation was started in 1962 as a small consumer product company. During the first twenty years the company’s R&D staff developed a series of new products that proved to be very popular in the market place. Things went so well that the company had to add a second production shift just to keep up with the demand. During this time period the firm expanded its plan on three separate occasions. During an interview with a national magazine, the firm’s founder, Paul Anderson, said “we don’t sell our products we allocate them”. This comment was in reference to the fact that the firm had only.
Methods of team building in Anderson Corporation are :-
1. Unfreezing : - The first task is to make the team aware of the need for change. A climate of openness and trust is developed so that the group is ready for change.

2. Moving : - Using a survey- feedback technique, the team makes a diagnosis of where it is and develops action plan to get to where it wants to go.

3. Refreezing : - Once the plans have been carried out annual an evaluation has been made, the team starts to stabilize into more effective performance.

The above represents only a very general idea of what team building is all about and car also apply to the other OD techniques. As an OD technique, team building is more directly concerned with obtaining and analyzing data about a team and how it functions, and then using this data to make changes in order to make the team more effective. A more specific team building program actually used in a large manufacturing plant is described as follows in Anderson Corporation.
1. Team Skills Workshop : - The production team in this plant first went through a two day workshop that consisted mainly of a series of experience based exercises. The purpose of this first phase was essentially to unfreeze the various teams and get them ready to accept change.
2. Data Collection : - Ina questionnaire survey, data were collected on organizational climate supervisory behaviour, and job content from all first line supervisors in the program.
3. Data Confrontation : - The consultants presented the teams with the data gathered in step 2. The teams, with the consultant present, openly discussed problem areas, established priorities, and made some preliminary recommendations for change.
4. Action Planning : - On the basis of what went on in Step 3, the teams developed specific plans for the changes to be actually carried out on the job.
5. Team Building: - The first four phases were preliminary to the actual team building. In this phase, each team met as a whole to identify barriers to effectiveness, developed ways of eliminating barriers, and agreed upon plans to accomplish the desired changes.
6. Intergroup building : - In this final phase there were two day meetings held between various teams that were interdependent in accomplishing goals. The purpose of this phase was to establish collaboration on shared goals and problems and generalize the OD effort to the total organization.

UTILITIES OF TEAM BUILDING ARE : -

“Team building is not a fun day away from the office, a strategy for saving a falling manager, a place to go and ‘dump’ the teams anger, or a group psychotherapy session. Team building is a process for helping a team become more effective.” The characteristics of such an effective or high performance team were recently summarised as : -

1. Strong core values:
2. Being able to turn a general sense of purpose into specific performance objectives;
3. Having members with the right mix of skills; and
4 . Coming up with creative ways to continuously improve operations and develop new products, services, and markets. The advantages of team building are all those that are attributed to old fashioned team work. The process can create a team effort in an open, participatory climate. There can be improved communication and problem solving, and individual team members can experience psychological growth and improve their interpersonal skills. For example, one research study found that four trained teams reported signification and personal involvement and participation than the eight control groups. Evaluation of the six step program described above also found that the program produced a positive impact on organizational performance (quality of output and profit but not quantity of output) and favourably affected the attitudes and perceptions of the members of the teams studies.
There is relatively more and better research on team building than on any of the other OD techniques. Porras and Berg found far more acceptable research designs on team building. Of team building studies that examined process variables, 45 percent had a substantial positive change, and of the three studies that analyzed the impact on outcome variables, 53 percent were deemed to have had a substantial positive change. The later Nicholas review looked at four team building studies and found that there was a 50 percent overall positive impact on work force monetary, and productivity had measures of performance. Team building came out better than survey feedback, but was behind structural laboratory training. Also a more recent meta-analysis that examined the effects from 126 studies that employed OD interventions found that team building was the most effective technique of changing employee satisfaction and other attitudes. Similar is the case with Anderson Corporation.

Role Building and its utilities

Similarly, role building plays an important role in Anderson Corporation.
Informational role plays an important role in the company employees provides information to all the levels of management.

Anderson Corporation has employees who provide decisional roles. They are able to take decisions on their own. Different departments have senior managers who can easily take decisions to allocate resources properly in various matters. Some employees play interpersonal roles. This means that they act as communicator. These employees communicate their decisions, others decision etc using verbal non-verbal and written communication.

These methods are very useful for the company _

(i) It can work efficiently and properly.
(ii) Role building is important in the company to decide hierarchical order of the employees.

(III) This smoothens the proper building of atmosphere in the company.

(iv) Proper role building is required to motivate employees to work efficiently for the progress of Anderson Corporation. Therefore, role and team building in Anderson Corporation have benefited the company.

Define competency mapping briefly discus the steps involved in competency mapping and its limitations, if any.

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Define competency mapping briefly discus the steps involved in competency mapping and its limitations, if any. Explain the methods of competency mapping being followed in your organization or any organization you are familiar with and its effects.

Ans. Competency Mapping

Competency means the competence to do something. Mapping means to rate and map the competence of employed in any organization on graphs, tables, rating scales etc. Competency mapping is done to rate employees’ efficiency of completing the job. We also call it performance appraisal.

Steps in competency mapping

The main objective of competency mapping is to appraise the efficiency and actual performance. It is associated with specific objectives like training and development, transfer and promotion, increase in pay etc. The steps in competency mapping are : -

(a) Establishing standards of Competence

For effective mapping of competence of employees, it is necessary to establish the standards of competence against which their performance should be compared. An approach that is more preferable is to establish, in writing, definite standards of accomplishment which the employee can reasonably be expected to meet. Competence standards are relative to the group and organization.

(b) Who is to do mapping?

The person doing competence mapping is the immediate superior of the person to be mapped. He is most familiar with the employees. Work and is in contact with him and so he is considered to be able to map his competence well. But there are certain limitations:-
• Personal bias are possible.
• If more rating scales are desired, it may become a complex task for the superior.
• If more persons are doing competence mapping, the other persons may not be contact with the employee.
• A well adjusted person is less subject to projecting himself into others than a poorly adjusted person.

(c) Deciding the frequency of mapping

The frequency of mappings differs from organization to organization and with the nature of duties performed. There are spot mappings, monthly, quarterly, six monthly, yearly or half yearly. There are certain limitations of frequent mappings : -
• They may create a sense of fear amongst rates.
• High frequency may diminish the rate of performance.

(d) Deciding the scales

Next step is to design the scales necessary. These could be rating scales as O to S, graphs etc. It is necessary to decide this in advance.

(e) Designing of forms

This is an important step in competence mapping to design the rating / mapping forms to be utilised in the programme. The forms should be related to job families such as clerical, mechanical, sales, technical and supervisory. The first category of forms is designed to evaluate employees competence for the purpose of making wage adjustments, layoffs, promotions etc and second category of forms is used to improve the competence.

(f) Mapping the competence

After deciding everything, mapping the competence function is performed. Merit of every person is mapped on scales. Actual are compared with standards. Then decisions are taken on this basis. Limitations in this step are:-

• Evaluation and judgement could be wrong.
• Evaluator may have some personal bias.
• Merits may not be judged on few standards only.

INTRODUCTION

Unique funds ltd is a reputed finance company having to branches in different parts of the country. Its staff includes 290 operative employees and to executives. The company has a competence mapping plan under which the staff members are rated at the end of each financial year by the committee of the executives by the means of different methods.

Methods and effects of competence mapping in Unique Funds Ltd are: -

(a) Graphic Rating Scales

Under this method, company establishes scales for a number of factors and qualities. Five degrees are established for each factor and general definitions appear at points along the general scale the later is supplied with a printed form, one for each person to be mapped. The selection of factors to be measured on the graphic rating scale is an important point under this system. These are two types : (i) Characteristics such as initiative and dependability, and contributions such as quantity, quality of work etc.

Effects
Graphic scales have imposed heavy burden on managers of the company. He has to report and evaluate the performance of his subordinates on scales involving five degrees in perhaps ten different factors. But often, the managers have biased in this system and they rate high in order to avoid any criticism.

(b) Forced distribution method

This method has been devised to force the rather to fit the employee being mapped into predetermined range of scales. It is based on presumption that employees can be divided into five point’s scale of outstanding, above average, below average and poor.

Effect

This method has eliminated the room of subjective judgement on the parts of company superiors in Unique funds Ltd. It has also reduced criticism in the country and has shown feasibility in the company.

(c) Ranking method

It is a simple process of placing employees in a rank according to their job performance. It permits comparison of all employees in any single rating group regardless of the type of work. All workers are judged on the same factors and they are rated on overall basis with the reference to their job performance instead of individual assessment of traits.

Effects

Here, the company is able to compare every employee in a company with other employee. This method has given a more reliable rating than the order of ranks.

(d) Management By Objectives

This method is also used in Unique Funds Ltd. Here the steps are : -

• The subordinate discusses his job descriptions with the superior and they agree on the contents of his job and the key result areas.
• The subordinate prepares a list of reasonable objectives for the coming period of 6th to 12 months.
• He sits with his superiors to discuss these targets and plans and a final set is worked out.
• Check points are established for the evaluation of progress and the ways of measuring progress are selected.
• The superior and the subordinate meet at the end of the period to discuss the results of the subordinate’s effort to meet the targets mutually established.

Effects

This method has made available the company the setting up of goals. Superiors have trust in the subordinates to establish reasonable goals. There is an emphasis on problem solving rather than criticism of the competence of the employees. It has also played a judgemental role. It has led to greater satisfaction, greater agreement, greater comfort and less tension and hostility between the employees and the management. It has also emphasized on training and development of individuals. This approach has also got a built in device of self rating / mapping as they know their goals.

Explain the process of job design.

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Explain the process of job design. Discuss different functions related to recruitment, selection and out sourcing in your organization or any organization you are familiar with. Describe the organization you are referring to.

Ans. Job analysis is a detailed and systematic study of jobs to know the nature and characteristics of people to be employed for each job. It is a process of discovering and indentifying the pertinent information relating to the mature of a specific job. It is the determination of the tasks which comprise the job and of the skills, knowledge, abilities and attitudes required of the worker for successful performance of the job. The process of job analysis is essentially one of data collection and then analysing that data. It provides the analyst with basic data pertaining to specific jobs in terms of duties, responsibilities, skills, knowledge, degree of risk, etc. The emphasis in job analysis is upon determining the principal duties of a job, the nature and level of skills and aptitudes required to perform these duties, the relation of the job to other jobs in the organization, responsibilities involved, and working conditions. Its purpose is to describe and define the distinctions among various hobs. Considerable emphasis is placed upon an accurate listing of the human characteristics-physical and mental skills, personality traits and son on needed to adequately perform the job. This will facilitate the process of job evaluation which is concerned with determining the relative worth of various jobs.

Process of job analysis :-

There are eight major steps in a job analysis programme :-
1. Organise and plan for the programme. The company must determine who will be incharge of the programme and must assign responsibilities to the designated persons. A schedule should be established and a budget estimated for carrying out analysis of jobs.
2. Obtain current job design information. The job analyst should next obtain organization charts, current position descriptions and job specifications, procedure manuals, and systems flow charts as are available.
3. Conduct “needs research”. The job analyst should investigate to determine which organization, managers, or staff people required job analysis or output from job analysis. The analyst should also determine for what purpose and to what extent jobs must be analysed and how the information will be used.
4. Establish priorities in the jobs to be analysed. The personnel department, working with managers of the various organizational units should indentify the jobs to be analysed and the priority of each job analysis.
5. Collect job data, collect data about the selected jobs as they are currently being performed using established systematic techniques.
6. Redesign the jobs, if necessary.
7. Prepare job descriptions and job classification. Job information collect must be processed to prepare the job descriptions. This is a written statement which describes the main features of the job along with duties, location and degree of risk involved.

8. Developing job specifications. This step involves conversion of the job descriptions in terms of human qualifications, traits of temperament, physical and psychological attributes required for successful performance of the job.

JOB DESIGN: -

1. Works Simplifications

In work simplification, the complete job is broken down into small sub ports, usually consisting of few operations. This is done so that employees can do these jobs without much specialised training. Many small jobs can also be performed simultaneously so that the complete operation can be done more quickly. Time and motion studies are often used for work simplification.

2. Job Rotation

Job Rotation refers to the practice of shifting people from one job to another within a work group so that there is some varieties and relief from the boredom of routine. Herzberge characterised this approach age merely substituting “one zero for another zero” as it implies horizontal or lateral transfer to job of the same level and status.

Job Rotation means lateral transfer. Horizontal rotation may take place in course of a development programme whereby the employee spends two or three months in one activity and is then moved on to another. Job rotation may also be on a situational basis i.e. by moving the person to another activity when the first is no longer challenging to him, or to meet the needs of work scheduling.

3. Job Enlargement

Job enlargement means assignment of varied tasks or duties of the jobs of employees all the same level. The additional tasks or duties do not require new skills but can eperforme3d with similar skills and efforts as before. In this case, there is enlargement in the horizontal dimension and it may be the monotonous job remains monotonous only on a larger scale than before. Herzberg, a pioneer in job design, has characterised job enlargement has simply “adding zero to zero” meaning that one set of boring tasks (zero) is simply added to another set of boring tasks (zero).

4. Job Enrichment

Job Enrichment implies increasing the contents of a job or the deliberate upgrading of responsibility, scope and challenge in work. Job enrichment is a motivational technique which emphasises the needs for challenging and interesting work. It leads to a vertically enhanced job by adding functions from other organizational levels, making it contain more variety and challenge and offer autonomy and pride to the job holder.

INTRODUCTION OF ORGANIZATION (SANDO BANK)

Sando Bank is a foreign bank and has a far reaching international network with 95 outlets in 29 countries in the US, Europe, Asia and Oceania. It is ranked No. 1 in tense of profits earned and No. 2 in tense of assets, Worldwide. The Indian branch at New Delhi was set up in Dec 1990. Rather than merely coping with the challengers presented by the liberalisation, the bank in principle believes that it must go beyond and pave the way for continued growth in the years that follow. To realise its aim of being “The global leader in Universal Banking” in the first approaching 21st century, it is determined to seize the opportunities for further growth and development that changes in the operating environment present, by expanding the scope of its business activities and upgrading the quality of its services.

RECRUUITMENT PROCEDURE

1. Responsibility for recruitment in Sando bank

In a small organization, recruitment is usually done rather informally by the owner or manager. But in a large organization like Sando Bank, human resource development is usually responsible for developing sources of applicants. Within the human resource department, there is likely to be an employment office to do the recruiting and even initial selection of candidates for a job. Big organizations employing large number of professional and managerial employees, may gave a separate department engaged entirely in recruiting. At the same time, individual managers and employees may be referring promising applicants to the personnel department. Similarly, the human resource department may be requesting recruitment assistance from the managers as may be the case when campus recruitment is proposed at the alma mater of one of the managers. Still other firms prefer to put together recruiting teams consisting of human resource specialist s and other executives.

Requisition for Recruitment : -

Recruitment is an on-going process, where by the firm attempts to develop a pool of qualified applicants for future human resource needs even though specific vacancies do not currently exist. This practice is also necessary to maintain contacts with sources of recruitment.

SELECTION IN SANDO BANK

1. Selection involves a series of steps by which the candidates are screened for choosing the most suitable persons for vacant posts. The process of selection leads to employment of persons who possess the ability and qualifications to perform the jobs which have fallen vacant in an organization. It is the candidates for employment into two categories, namely, those who will be offered employment and those who will not be called rejection since more candidates may be turned away than employed. That is why, selection is frequently described as a negative process in contrast with the positive nature of recruitment. This [process is followed in Sando Bank.

SELECTION PROCEDURE IN SANDO BANK

1. The procedure of selection will vary from organization to organization and even from department to department within the same organization according to the kinds of the jobs to be filled. The number of steps in the procedure and the sequence of steps also carries.
For instance, some organizations do not hold preliminary interview, test or screening, whereas in other organizations such as commercial banks, preliminary tests are given to eliminate a large numbers of applicants. The main steps could be incorporates in the selections procedure are as under in Sando Bank : -

Preliminary Interview Employment Interview
Receiving Applications Physical Examinations
Screening of applications Checking references
Employment test Final selection

OUTSOURCING OF SANDO BANK

1. Direct Recruitment
2. Casual callers or unsolicited applications
3. Media Advertisement
4. Employment agencies
5. Management Consultants
6. Recommendations

1. We can describe these sources as follows : -

Direct recruitment

In Sando Bank, direct recruitment is used by placing a notice on notice board specifying the details of job available. It uses this method to fill vacancies for unskilled workers or trainees.

Casual Callers or Unsolicited Applications

This method is used less in Sando Bank. The company maintaining pending application folders for various jobs and use them whenever required.

Media Advertisement

Advertisement in newspapers or trade and professional journals is used by Sando bank when qualified and experienced professional are not available from other sources. Most of the senior positions in bank are filled by this method.

Employment Agencies

Employment exchanges run by the Government are regarded as a good source of recruitment for unskilled, semi-skilled and professional jobs. This method is also used by the bank where it contacts employment agencies.

Management Consultants

Management consultancy firms help organizations to recruit technical, professional and managerial personnel. They specialise in middle level and top level executive placements. Sando Bank has recruited several employees by the help of folders maintained by management consultants.
Recommendations

Sando Bank many times prefer that their won employees should recommend the persons. Many employers prefer to take such recommended persons because something about their background is known.

Explain the meaning and concept of HRM.

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Explain the meaning and concept of HRM. Discuss the functions of HR in your organization or any organization you are familiar with. Discuss the role of managers in the current scenario.

Ans. HUMAN RESOUUCE MANAGEMENT (HRM):-
Meaning:-
HRM has come to be recognised as an inherent part of management which is concerned with the human resources of an organization. Its objective is the maintenance of better human relations in the organization by the development, application and evaluation of policies, procedures and programmes relating to human resources to optimise their contribution towards the realisation of organizational objectives. In other words, personnel management is concerned with getting better results with the collaboration of people.
According to the Institute of Personnel Management (UK) “Personnel management is an integral but distinctive part of management, concerned with people at work and their relationships within the enterprise”. It seeks to bring together into an effective organization the men and women who staff the enterprise, enabling each to make his/her best contribution to its success, both as a member of working group and as an individual. It seeks to provide relationships within the enterprise that are conducive both to effective work and human satisfaction.
Concept:-
Human resource management refers to holistic approach to managing people. It has welfare, recruitment and establishment role, potential development is a composite framework of management. HRM believes that entire heurist of human management has to be treated together and not in parts.
Introduction (Apollo software):-
This is a next generation group in the information technology industry. The group has six companies out of which three are extensively helping Indian industry to adopt and appreciative the latest technology and the other three companies are US based
In India the company acts as a distributor of certain software which has created a niche for itself in the market. It was invariably the first to bring a new technology to India with regard to client/server.
A. Management functions:-
The human resources manager is a member of the management. So he must perform the basic managerial functions of planning, organising, directing and controlling in relation to his department. These functions are briefly discussed below.
1. Planning :-
To get things done through his subordinates a manager must plan a head. Planning is necessary to give the organization its goals and directions to establish best procedures to reach the goals. Effective managers recognise the substantial part of their time should be devoted to planning. For a personnel manager, planning means the determination in advance of personnel programmes that will contribute to the goals established for the enterprise.
2. Organising:-
Once the personnel manager of Apollo software has established objectives and developed plans and programmes to reach them, he must design and develop organization structure to carry out the various operations. The organization structure basically includes the following :-
• Grouping of personnel activity logically into functions or positions.
• Assignment of different groups of activities to different individuals.
• Delegation of authority according to the tasks assigned and responsibilities involved.
• Co-ordination of activities of different individuals.
3. Direction :-
The plans are to be put into effect by people. But how smoothly the plans are implemented depends on the motivation of people. The direction function of the personnel manager involves encouraging people to work willingly and effectively further goals of the enterprise. In other words the direction function is meant to give and motivate the people to accomplish the personnel programmes. The personnel manager can motivate the employees in organization through career planning, salary administration, ensuring employee morale, developing cordial relationships and provision of safety requirements and welfare of employees.
4. Controlling:-
Controlling is concerned with the regulation of activities in accordance with the plans, which in turn have been formulated on the basis of the objectives of the organization. Controlling completes the cycle and leads back to planning. It is the observation and comparison of results with the standards and correction of deviations that may occur. Controlling helps the personnel manager to evaluate and control the performance of the personnel department in terms of various operative functions. It involves performance appraisal, critical examination of personnel records and statics and personnel audit.

B. Operative functions :-
The operative functions are those tasks or duties which are specifically entrusted to the personnel department under the general supervision of personnel manager. These are concerned with employment, development, etc of the organization. The personnel department performs the following operative functions:-
i. Employment :-
The first operative function of personnel department is the employment of proper kind and numbers of persons necessary to active the objectives of the organization. This involves recruitment, selection, placement, etc of the personnel.
ii. Development:-
Training and development of personnel is following up of the employment function. It is a duty of management to train each employee properly to develop technical skills for the job for which he has been employed and also to develop him for the higher jobs in the organization.
iii. Compensation:-
This function is concerned with the determination of adequate and equitable remuneration of the employees in the organization for their contribution to the organizational goal. The personnel can be compensated both in terms of monetary as well as non-monetary rewards. Factors which must be born in mind while fixing the remuneration of personnel are their basic needs, requirements of jobs, legal provisions regarding minimum wages, capacity of the organization to pay, wage level afforded by competitors etc.
iv. Maintenance (Working condition and Welfare):-
Merely appointment and training of people is not sufficient; they must be provided with good working conditions so that they may like their work and work place and maintain their efficiency. Working conditions certainly influence the motivation and morale of the employees.
v. Motivation :-
Employees work in the organization for the satisfaction of their needs. In many of the cases, it is found that they do not contribute towards the organizational goals as much as they can. This happens because employees are not adequately motivated. The personnel managers to design a system of financial and non-financial rewards to motivate the employees.

C. Advisory functions:-
Personnel/Human resource manager has specialised education and training in managing human relations. He is expert in his area and so can give advice on matters relating to human resources of the organization. He offers his advice to:-
i. Top Management:-
Personnel manager advises the top management in formulation and evaluation of personnel programmes, policies and procedures. He also gives advice for achieving and maintaining good human relations and high employee morale.
ii. Departmental heads :-
Personnel manager offers advice to the heads of various department on matters such as manpower, planning, job analysis and design, recruitment and selection, placement, training, performance appraisal, etc.
In most of the big enterprises, personnel department is set up under the leadership of personnel manager who has specialised knowledge and skills. The personnel manager performs managerial as well as operative functions.
a. Policy Initiation:-
Policy initiation and formulation is one of the important tasks of a personnel manager. It is with a view to overcome problems of recurring nature, or to present anticipated problems in the area of human resource management that company policies are framed to communicate to the employees the basic ground rules under which the organization functions and could discrimination, inconsistency, and holism, and confusion.
b. Decision-making role :-
The personnel manager also plays in effective role in decision-making in issues related to human resources. He formulates and designs objectives, policies and programmes of human resource management.
c. Leadership Role :-
The personnel manager provides leadership and guidance to the workers and their groups. He ensures effective communication in the organization and influences the workers for extending their cooperation in the extending the organization objectives.
d. Welfare Role :-
The personnel manager acts as welfare officer in the organization. As welfare officer, he is concerned with provision of canteen, crèches, transport, hospital and other welfare services for the benefit of workers and their family members.
e. Research Role :-
The personnel manager maintains the records of the employees working in the enterprise. On the basis of records, he undertakes research in various personnel areas such as absenteeism, labour turnover etc. And suggests suitable measures for important to the top management.

Discuss the essential prerequisites of a grievances handling procedure.

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Discuss the essential prerequisites of a grievances handling procedure. Study the grievances procedure and practice in your organization and present a brief report.

Ans. MEANING:-
According to Michael j. jucius, the term ‘grievances’ means “any discontent or dissatisfaction, whether expressed or not and whether valid or not, arising out of anything connected with the company that an employee thinks, believes or even feels, it unfair, unjust, or inequitable”,

INTRODUCTION:-
Keith Davis has defined grievances as “any real or imagined feeling of personal injustice which an employee has concerning his employment relationship.” A grievances represents a situation in which an employee feels that something unfavorable to him has happened or is going to happen. In an industrial enterprise, grievances many arise because of several factor such as:-
(a) Violation of managements responsibility such as poor working conditions,
(b) Violation of company’s rules and practice.
(c) Violation of collective bargaining agreement.
(d) Violation of labour laws
(e) Violation of natural rules of justice such as unfair treatment in promotion
The prerequisites of a grievances in an organization are as under
(i) The discontentment arises out of something connected with the organization;-
The sources of grievances lie with in the company such as unfair

treatment by the supervisor, violation of company rules, etc. Personal reasons such as illness in the family, conflict with a neighbour etc. do not constitute a grievances. Such outside sources are beyond the control of the employers.
(ii) A grievance may be expressed or implied:-
It is comparatively easier to identify express grievances. They are manifested in several ways, e’g, gossiping, active criticism, argumentation, increased labour turnover, carelessness in the use of tools, materials and poor workmanship, etc. Grievances are also implied by indifference to work, day dreaming, absenteeism, tardiness, etc. It is not wise to recognise only expressed grievance and overlook the unexpressed ones. In fact, unexpressed or implied grievances are more dangerous than the grievances which are stated because it is not known when the implied grievance may explode. It requires a high order of skill for an executive to identify such grievances.
(iii) The discontent may be rational or irrational:-
Rational grievance is a genuine one which must be removed by the management. On the other hand, these are grievances which are emotional in nature and are based on sentiments, distorted perception, lack of proper thinking etc. These are totally irrational or psychological. It is difficult to handle such grievances.
INTRODUCTION
Mc Donald’s: Servicing Fast Food Around the World:-
Ray Knoc opened the First Mc Donald’s restaurant in 1955. He offered a limited menu of high quality, moderately priced food served fast in spotless surroundings Mc Donald’s “QSC & V” (quality, service,

cleanliness and value) was a hit, The Chain expanded into every state in the ration. By 1983 it had over 6000 restaurants in the United states.
In 1967 Mc Donald’s opened its first restaurant outside the United states, in Canada. By 1985 international sales represented about one fifth of Mc Donald’s total revenues Yet fast food has barley touched many cultures. While 90 percent of the Japanese in Tokyo have catch Mc Donald’s hamburger, few outside the cities know what a hamburger is. In Europe, Mc Donald’s maintains a very small percentage of restaurant sales but commands a large market share of the fast food market.
The taste for fast food, American style, is growing more rapidly abroad than that at home. Mc Donald’s international sales have been increasing by a large percentage every year, Everyday more than 18 ,million people in over 40 countries eat at Mc Donald’s.
GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE OF Mc DONALD (REPORT)
A grievances is the embryo of more serious trouble to come because accumulation of minor grievance may lead to major explosions. Therefore, prompt and effective handling of grievances is the key to industrial peace. This calls for a systematic procedure of handling grievances for the just and speedy disposal of grievances. There are two types of grievance procedures for redressing the grievances of the employees. These include:
(i) Open Door Policy:-
Under this procedure, the employees were free to meet the top executive of the organization and get their grievances redressed, Such a policy might work well in the small organizations, but in big organizations thus might not be practicable because the top executive will be too busy in other matters.

Another disadvantage of open-door policy was that lower level executives felt by passed. This might complicate the human relations problem. Top management was not too familiar with the working conditions of the operative employees. It might be difficult for it.
to attend to employee grievances because of lack of sufficient information. Lastly, it was also said that the open door policy was suitable for executives to walk through and not the operative employees. The employees might even hesitate to go to top executives with their grievances. Because of these difficulties, step ladder procedure was adopted as discussed below:-
(ii) Step-ladder Procedure:-
Under this procedure, the aggrieved employee was proceed step by step in getting has grievance heard and redressed as shown in the given figure, Firstly, he was to present his grievance in writing to his supervisor. If he was not satisfied with his decision, he might go the head of the department. There might by a joint grievance committee after the decision of the department was not acceptance to the employee. If the committee also failed to redress his grievances, the matter might be referred to the chief executive. The grievance procedure would be said to be exhausted if the chief executive was also not able to redress the grievances. The workers should not make any action against the management (such as going to the labour union or labour court) Until the whole grievances procedure has been exhausted.

Summarise the recent trend of reward systems in India.

2011-05-17T01:49:00.001-07:00

Summarise the recent trend of reward systems in India. Analyse it with respect to your organization or an organization you are familiar with and discuss its impact on productivity. Describe the organization you are referring to.

Ans. The various incentive plans can be classified into-two groups:
(a) Individual Incentive plans, and
(b) Group incentive plans
• Halsey premium plan:-
Halsey premium plan is a simple combination of time and speed bases of payment. Under this plan, a minimum time wage is guaranteed to every worker. A standard time is fixed for the completion of a job. If a worker performs his job in less than the standard time fixed. The slow worker is paid the time wages and the efficient worker is paid some bonus in addition to the time wages. The bonus is in proportion of the wages which he could have earned during the time saved.
• Rowan plan:-
The Rowan plan is a modification of the Halsey plan. It also guarantees the minimum time wages and does not pernlise a slow worker. A standard time is fixed for completion of a job and bonus to a worker on the basis of time saved. Here, the bonus is that proportion of the wages for the time taken which the time saved bears to the standard time. Efficiency is thus measured as,

As the time saved increases, time taken will be reduced and as such the bonus would increase at a diminishing rate. This will check over speeding and overcome the major drawback of Halsey plan.
• Emerson’s Efficiency Plan:-
In his plan, Emerson suggested guaranteed wage payment to all workers on time rate basis. In addition, bonus or extra payment was suggested to those who prove to be efficient. For determining efficiency, standard output per unit of time or standard time for the job is determined. Efficiency is to be measured on the basis of comparison of actual performance with the standard fixed.
• Bedeavx Point Plan:-
In this plan, the minute is the time unit described as the standard minute and accounted as Bedeavx point B. In determining the Bs, the time of operation and the time of rest are taken into account. Thus, B may be defined as a fraction of a minute of effort plus a fraction of a compensating rest always aggregating unity. The standard time for each job is fixed after undertaking time and motion study and expressed inn terms of B. The standard time for a job is the number of Bs allowed to complete it.
DELFI SOFTWARE
• Incentives:-
A Sales Department: The company has a sales force of 10 sales Engineers. They report to the sales Managers who in turn reports to the sales Manager who in turn reports to the Direction (Marketing).

The company makes its sales targets and accordingly distribution it among sales. Engineers catering to different territories. Since most of the business comes straight to the company from OEM manufacturers, so every engineer is given an approximate target of 2.5 lakhs per month and is offered 5 percent commission on his total sales. There is no incentive on sales less than Rs 1 lakh. The Branch Managers (sales) receives 2 percent commission of the total sales made by his engineer. On an average an engineer is able to make a monthly sale Rs1000 per month as incentives. The Branch Manager similarly receives approximately Rs 4000 as incentives/month.
B. Service Department:-
The company has a servicing team of ten engineers whose qualifications are similar tot he sales engineers. Servicing engineers have the benefit of an incentive scheme which is based on the following parameters.
1. Response Time and Breakdown Time.
2. Number of preventive Maintenances done per month.
3. Number and values of spare parts consumed.
4. Number of complaints received per month.
A service engineer has to give a response time of more-than 80 percent with in the Time limit given by the company. After a lot of hard work and optimum use of spare parts one service engineer is able to get a monthly incentive of Rs 250-300 per month. If the number of spare parts used crosses a certain limit, it affects the incentive amount of the engineer.

Result:-
1. Since the per month income of a sales engineer is more than that of a service engineer, the satisfaction level in the sales department is naturally higher.
2. Due to those income disparities the job turnover in the service department is higher than in the sales department.
3. The sales personnel have no defined upper limit on sales incentives and these keep on increasing percentage wise with an increase in sales. But there is a defined limit on incentives received by the service engineer which results in further disparities in the income level of the two.

Discuss the methods of determining training needs.

2011-05-17T01:47:00.000-07:00

Discuss the methods of determining training needs. Discuss how it is
in your organization or an organization which you are familiar with, Describe the organization you are referring to.

Ans. INTRODUCTION
Training is important not only from the point of view of the organization, but also for the employees. Training is valuable to the employees because it will give them greater job security and an opportunity for advancement. A skill acquired through training is an asset for the organization and the employee. It can be taken away only by the complete elimination of the need for that skill because of technological changes.
METHODS OF DETERMINING TRAINIG NEEDS:-
1. Identification of Training Needs:-
The technological changes taking place is the main cause of identification
of the training needs in an organization. Earlier the people were acquiring training trough apprenticeship and vocational courses, which are not sufficient in the modern era of industrialization. It is necessary to identify the training needs because of the following reasons:-
(a) Adoption of new techniques in an organization and introduction of modern working methods. For example, computerization of the office as has been done in Railway booking or Airlines bookings.
(b) Poor performance by the workers as reflected by low output, lack of initiative, incompetence, bad decisions. This requires systematic training of the work force.
(c) Wide gaps between what workers should be doing and what they are doing.

(d) Analysis of the strengths and weakness of an organization may reveal the areas of weakness which need to be handled seriously.
Training needs can be identified through the following types of analysis:
(i) Organizational analysis:-
It is a systematic study of the organization in terms of its objectives, its resources, resources allocation and utilization, growth potential and its environment. Its purposes is to determine where training emphasis should be placed in the organization for increasing organizational effectiveness. Organizational analysis involves the following elements:-
(a) Analysis of Objectives:-
The long-term and short-term objectives and their relative priorities should be properly analyzed. Specific goals for various departments should be stated which will serve as means for achieving the overall organizational objectives. The management would have to examine what are specific training inputs that would contribute towards the achievements of these objectives.
(b) Resources Utilization Analysis:-
The allocation of human and physical resources and their efficient utilization in meeting the operational targets should be analyzed. In order to examine the need fro training the questions need to be answered.
Whether adequate number of personnel are available to ensure the fulfillment of the goals?
Whether the personnel performance is up to the required standards?
(c) Climate Analysis:-
Organizational climate reflects the attitudes of organizational members

as regards trust, loyalty, openness, commitment to organizational goals. Analysis of organizational climate should aim at determining whether the environment in different departments is conducive to fulfillment of their goals. This will help in knowing areas where training is needed to improve the climate of the organization.
(ii) Task Analysis:-
It is a systematic analysis of jobs to identify job contents knowledge, skills and aptitudes required to perform the job. Particular attention should be paid to the tasks to be performed, the methods to be used, the way employees learn these methods and the performance standards required of employees. Questionnaires, interviews, personnel records, observation and other methods can be used to collect information about jobs in the organization.
(iii) Manpower Analysis:-
The quality of manpower required by the organization has to be carefully analyzed. It has to be done in the light of both internal and external environment of the organization. The economic, social, technological and
political environment of the organization should be properly scanned to determine the quality of human resources desired. To achieve these quality standards, specific training needs should be determined on the following lines:-
(a) specific areas where individuals need training.
(b) the capability of present workforce to learn new skills and behaviors.
(c) the time frame with in which training must be imparted, and
(d) job designing and redesigning introduction of new york work methods and technology

INTRODUCTION (VESTA):-
Vesta, a consumer non-durable company, based at Delhi, has a turnover of about Rs 500 Crores.
Training and development needs of the employees of the company are directly related to the product profile. Emphasis on training is primarily to increase the effectiveness of the organization. Training becomes necessary for the company to maintain morale internally as well as t adopt itself to the external environment.
Need for Training:-
There are both theoretical & practical requirements for training. Studies conducted at Harvard University have shown that employees can retain their jobs by working at a mere 20-30 percent of their potential Research has also shown that if the same employees are properly motivated they could work at 80-90 percent of their capabilities. Training is, one of the means to achieve improvements in performance. The specific reasons which compelled the given organization for regular training of its employees and their development are a follows:-
(a) To keep pace with technological advances.
(b) To maintain the organization morale internally.
(c) Training in human such as inter-personal skills, group problem solving etc.
(d) To improve the effectiveness of the interface between organization and its employees.
Areas of Training:-
The company imparts training to its employees in the following areas-

1. Training in company policies and procedures:-
This is usually for new employees with a view to provide the requisite orientation and to establish familiarity with the company.
2. Training in particular skills:-
This is done for different departments such as marketing. accounts, production etc. The aim of this training is limited like training in sales or improving machine skills. It enables the employee to be more effective on the job.
3. Human relations training:-
This is a broad category embracing many different aspects, such as motivation, attitudes, decision-making and leadership etc. Training in this area is oriented towards development of the individual, fostering team work and ultimately increasing organizational effectiveness.
4. Training in problem-solving:-
At this company, once in a year, all divisions which handle are particular line gather together both from headquarters as well as the field offices. Participants discuss common problems and provide solutions across the table.
5. Managerial and supervisory training:-
This is a specific training which combines both techniques and concepts. If the field of training is specialized like finance or production, emphasis would be on techniques.
On the other hand, if it is a general management job, emphasis is on principles of management like planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling.

Discuss the concept of competency mapping.

2011-05-17T01:32:00.000-07:00

Discuss the concept of competency mapping. Briefly explain the methods of competency mapping citing suitable examples.

Ans. Competency mapping
Competency means capacity of a person to work up to his or her finest ability. Mapping means to represent on map or graph or any other way togetherly we can say that competency mapping means to represent abilities of employees and workers on a map or graph or any other method. It makes easy for employers and organization to find that at which level they lie. Competence mapping is done to judge the abilities of an employee various methods of competencies mapping are:-
(a) Rating Scale
The rating scale method providers a form wherein, for each person who is to b rated or mapped, the number of qualities and characteristics are enumerated, for example, analytical ability, leadership, decisiveness, job performance, emotional stability etc. One form of rating scale is the continuous wherein the rater places a mark somewhere on a continuous. Work attitudes also can be rated easily.
(b) Employee comparison methods
(i) Ranking System
The ranking system requires the map per to rank his subordinates on overall performance. This consists in simply mapping the competency man in a rank order.

(ii) Forced distribution
This method is designed to prevent the employees from clustering their men mostly on the high side or on the low side. It tackles the errors due to excessive linens, stiffness and central tendency. It requires the map per to allocate the rating of his subordinates in a pattern conforming to a normal curve for example-the supervisor must put 10% of his people in the top few, 20% in the next highest category, 40% in the middle and 10% at the bottom.
(b) Checklist
(i) Weighted checklist method
In this system, a large number of statements that describe a particular job are given. Every statement has a weight or a scale value attached to it while mapping the competence of employee the supervisor checks all those statements closely describe the behavior of the individual under assessment. The rating sheet is then scored by average the weights of all the statements.
(ii) Forced choice method
This method was developed during the Second world wide by a group of industrial psychologists to evaluate the competence of officers in the U.S army. In this system a rating form is specifically constructed for a type or group of jobs with a group of four to five statements for every factor.

(c) Critical incident method
Some organizational follow this method which requires every superior
to adopt the practice of keeping a notebook of significant incidents in each employees behavior that indicates his poor or good performance. There are specifically designed note books containing appropriate characteristics mapping is done
(d) Field Renew System
The essence of this method is that line officers do not themselves of personnel department come to the shop floor and interview the employers to obtain the information. This information is then sent to the supervision for their approval. Then, the men are mapped on this basis.
(e) Group Approval
The group appraised method is in vogue in some organizations. Decisions pertaining to the promotions pay increases, job changes and other such issues are discussed in a meeting between the supervisor and his subordinates.
(f) Free form essay
In this method no scale, checklists, or other devices are used, but a supervisor simply required to write down his impressions about an individual on a sheet of paper.

(g) Behaviorally Anchored rating scale method (BARS)
BARS combines major elements from the critical incident and graphic rating scale approaches. The appraised rates the employees on the
actual behavior on the job given or general traits of employees.

Explain the concept and purpose of mobility.

2011-05-17T01:31:00.000-07:00

Explain the concept and purpose of mobility. Take an account of the promotion practice in your organization or an organization you are familiar with and give a brief note on that, Describe the organization you are referring to.

Ans. MOBILITY
A workers job may change following his promotion, demotion, transfer or separation. The effect of a job should never be underestimated. Every job change affects the entire organization. The whole organization tends to be affected by change in any part of it. One promotion in a plant leads to a chain of 10 other promotions, some of them requiring moves to another city. similarly, hundreds of employees may be affected by one lay-off. As a result of job change, employees are required to make new adjustments. Employees generally resist those changes which result in their dislocation
by requiring new habit patterns or sacrifice on their part. But this tendency is offset by their desire for new experience and for the rewards that come with change. This is known as mobility.
It is the responsibility of management to handle change in such a way that the employees resistance is reduced to the least following three methods may be adopted by management to cause people to accept the changes or mobility.
(i) Alteration in the environmental forces affecting the employees.
(ii) Alteration in the persons perception of the forces affecting the employees.
(iii) Alteration in the basic value system of the persons involved in the change.

PURPOSES OF MOBILITY:-
From the company’s point of view, mobility have following four useful
purposes.
1. Mobility help in improving the organization structure:-
Decisions to abolish superfluous positions on the organization chart, to change job descriptions and to make clear cut authority delegations generally require for their execution and number of jobs changes and position reassignments.
2. To maximize employee effectiveness:-
Through mobility employees is assigned to positions where their capabilities may be used to the maximum.
3. Mobility help management in adjusting to changes in operations
Mobility is used in adjusting company operation to changing economic conditions. In periods of recession, when total manpower requirements of a company fall, lay offs help management to reduce its direct labour costs by adjusting the work force to the operating level. Transfer are also made in the process of economic adjustment to make best utilization of the number of the workers left after lay offs.
4. Mobility functions tools of disciplinary action:-
Demotions and lay offs are sometimes used to punish a worker for they cause him a loss of status and earnings.
INTRODUCTION (APOLLO SOFTWARE)
This is a next generation group company and was established in 1992.

It is one of the leading groups in the Information Technology Industry. The group has six companies out of which three are extensively helping Indian industries to adopt and appreciate the latest technology and the other three companies are US based.
In Indian the company acts as a distributor of a certain software which has created a niche for itself in the market. It was invariably the first to bring a new technology to India with regard to client/server.
PROMOTION
In Apollo software employees are given promotions to higher posts and positions as and when vacancies are available or when new posts are created at the higher levels promotions are quite common in all types of employment. Promotion is treated as a better policy as compared to direct recruitment at the higher level posts. Even in government department, promotions are given on the basis of seniority or merit or both promotions are also common in the case of banks, insurance companies and other establishments.
Promotion means giving higher position to an employee which carries means status, more responsibilities and higher salary. Higher status and salary are the two important features of a promotion. The purpose of a promotion is to staff a vacancy which, in general, is worth more to the organization than the incumbent’s present position. In other words, promotion means advancement of an employee to a higher post with greater responsibilities and higher salary. better service conditions and higher status.

UPGRADATION
When the scale of salary of an employee is increased without corresponding change in job, it is called upgrading. The job itself may be upgraded to a higher scale of pay; or if there are variable scales of pay for the same job according to the skills required, upgrading may mean moving to a higher scale without changing the job. But promotion involves a change in salary grade of job and status. Both promotion and up gradation are devices used by management to reward employees for better performance and to increase their morale. They generate in the employee a sense of loyalty to the organization and stimulate him for greater effort to get further promotions.
In Apollo software promotion is used as a means of filling up vacancies in higher or senior positions. Whenever a higher post falls vacant, sound personnel policy requires that is filled up by promotion from with in the organization if a person of required skills, ability and caliber is available. If all such vacancies are filled up from outside, there is no inducement
for the existing staff to improve their efficiency. Absence of such prospects is apt to make the employees dissatisfied, demoralized and frustrated. This is reflected in low quality output, wastage, absenteeism, indiscipline and turnover of employees. The morale of the working is also by low and promotion from with in to fill up the senior post have the following advantages:-
(i) Insiders are intimately connected with organization structure, production process, products and different problems and they can handle the new jobs easily.

(ii) It keeps the morale of the employees high.
(iii) It ensures sincere effort on the part of employees because they know that they may rise to senior positions by promotions.
(iv) The costs of training the insiders on the senior posts is less.

Explain the scope and importance of Human Resource Management.

2011-05-16T06:28:00.000-07:00

Explain the scope and importance of Human Resource Management. In the current scenario explain the HR department’s functions in your organization or an organization you are familiar with. Describe the organization you are referring to.

Ans. INTRODUCTION:-
Human resource management has come to be recognized as an inherent part of management which is concerned with the human resources of an organization. Its objective is the maintenance of better human relations in the organization by the development application and evaluation of policies, procedures and programmes relating to human resources to optimize their contribution towards the realization of organizational objectives. In other words, personnel management is concerned with getting better results with collaboration of people.
According to the Institute of personnel Management (U.K), :Personnel management is an integral but distinctive part of management, concerned with people at work and their relationships with in the enterprise. It seeks to bring together into effective organization the men and women who staff the enterprise, enabling each to make his/her best contribution to its success, both as a member of a working group and as an individual. It seeks to provide relationships with in the enterprise that are conducive both to effective work and human satisfaction.
SCOPE:-
The field of personnel management is very wide as is obvious from the fact that it is called by several terms such as labour management, manpower management’

human relationships, human management and so on.
The Indian Institute of personnel Management has laid down the scope of personnel management as follows:-
(i) The welfare aspect concerned with working conditions and amenities such as canteens, creches, housing, personal problems of workers, schools, and recreation;
(ii) The labour or personnel aspect concerned with recruitment placement of employees, remuneration, promotion, incentives, productivity, etc.
(iii) The industrial relations aspect concerned with trade union negotiation, settlement of industrial disputes, joint consultation and collective bargaining. All these aspects are concerned with human element in industry as district from the mechanical.

IMPORTANCE:-
1. The personnel function of management deals with the proper handling of personnel in the organization. If people working in the organization are not handling or managed properly, good industrial relations will not develop which will jeopardise the survival of the organization. I t is not possible to achieve the organizational goals without active cooperation of the personnel.

2. The various aspects of personnel function relate to procurement development, compensation and motivation of the personnel. Every manager has come responsibility towards these areas, but not it has been recognized that the functions cannot be the specialty of every line manager.

3. Personnel function has become a specialized task and so it entrusted to the person who is well conversant with the principles and techniques of personnel management. The personnel manager organizes the personnel department to carry out the functions entrusted to him. Personnel department develops the sources of recruitment, selects the people and helps the line manager to place and adjust them.

4. Personnel department is also responsible for training and development of the employees. It develops various programmes for increasing the knowledge and skills of the employees in consultation with line managers. personnel department also helps the other departments in evaluating the performance of the employees for use in the future by developing a suitable system of merit rating or performance appraisal. Determining the wages and salaries to be paid to different categories of employees in the organization is another important function of the personnel department.

INTRODUCTION OF ORGANIZATION ( SANDO BANK )
Sando bank is a foreign bank and has so far reaching international network with 95 outlets in 29 countries in the U.S, Europe, Asia and Oceania. It is ranked number one in terms of profits earned and number two in terms of assets, worldwide. The Indian branch at New Delhi was set up in December 1990, Rather than merely coping with the challenges presented by liberalization, the bank in principle believes that it must go beyond and pave the way for continued growth in the years that follow.

The personnel department of Sando Bank is performing following functions :-
(A) Managerial Functions:-
The Human Resource Manager is a member of the management sore must perform the basic managerial functions of planning, organizing, directing and controlling in relation to his department.
(i) Planning:-
To get things done through his subordinates, a manager must plan ahead. Planning is necessary to give the organization its goals and directions to establish best procedures to reach the goals. Effective managers recognize that a substantial part of their time should be devoted to planning. For a personnel manager, planning means determination in advance of personnel programmes that will contribute to the goals established for the enterprise.
(ii) Organizing:-
Once the personnel manager of sando Bank has established objectives and developed plans and programmes to reach them, he must design and develop organization structure to carry out the various operations. The organization structure basically includes the following:-
- Grouping of personnel logically into functions or positions:
- Assignment of different groups of activities to different individuals.
- Coordination of activities of different individuals.
(iii) Direction:-
The plans are to be put into effect by people. But how smoothly the plans are implemented depends on the motivation of people. The direction function of the personnel manager involves encouraging people to work willingly and effectively for the goals of the enterprise.

(iv) Controlling:-
Controlling is concerned with the regulation of activities in accordance with the plans, which in turn have been formulated on the basis of the objectives of the organization. controlling completes the cycle and leads back to planning. controlling helps the personnel manager to evaluate and control the performance of the personnel department in terms of various operative functions.
(B) Operative Functions:-
The personnel department of sando Bank performs the following operative functions:-
(i) Employment:-
The first operative function of personnel department is the employment of proper kind and number of persons necessary to achieve the objectives, etc. of the personnel.
(ii) Development:-
Training and development of personnel is a follow up of the employment function. It is a duty of management to train each employee properly to develop technical skills for the job for which he has been employed and also to develop him for the higher jobs in the organization.

(c) Advisory Functions:-
Human resource manager of sando Bank has specialized education and training in managing human relations he is an expert in his area and so can give advise on matters relating to human resources of the organization.
(i) Top Management:-
Personnel manager advises the top management in formulation and evaluation of personnel programmes. policies and procedures.
He also gives advice for achieving and maintaining good human relations and high employee morale.

What are the forms and causes of grievance in an organization?

2011-05-16T06:26:00.000-07:00

What are the forms and causes of grievance in an organization? Study
the existing grievance handling mechanism in your organization or an
organization you are referring to. Describe the organization you are referring
to.

Answer. In any organization both employer and employee have mutual
expectations. When an employees expectations are not fulfilled he will have a
grudge against the employer because of the disagreement or dissatisfaction it
causes. Similarly when an employees expectations about an employee are not
fulfilled, the employer will have a grudge against such employee. It may be a
problem of indiscipline. Broadly, a grievance can be defined as any discount or
dissatisfaction with any discount or dissatisfaction with any aspect of the
organization. It can be real or imaginary, legitimate or ridiculous, stated on
invoiced, written or oral. It must, find expression in some form or the other.
Discount or dissatisfaction parse is not a grievance. They initially find expression
in the form of a complaint. When a complaint remains unattended and the
employee concerned feels a sense of lack of justice and fair play, the
dissatisfaction grows and assumes the status of a grievance. Usually, grievances
relate to problems of interpretation or perceived non-fulfillment of ones
expectations from the organization. Aggrieved employees usually manifest deviant
behavior.
The pre-requisites of such a procedure may be summed-up as follows:
 It gives an opportunity to the workers to express their feelings.
 The management comes to know that what the workers think.
 It highlights the morale of the people.
 There may be some complaints, which cannot be solved at supervisory level.
They must have been resolved by a systematic grievance handling procedure.
 It improves the policies and practices of the company.
Grievance has the following features:
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 It reflects dissatisfaction if discontent arises out of employment.
 A grievance may be expressed verbally or in writing. Verbal grievance includes
gossiping, jealous, argumentation, poor workmanship etc. Written grievance
are often called complaints.
 The dissatisfaction may be valid and legitimate or irrational and ridiculous or
false.
 A grievance arises only when an employee feels that injustice has been done
to him.
 Grievance not redressed in time tends to lower morale and productivity of
employees.
Forms of Grievance
There are three basic types of grievances:
A. The INDIVIDUAL grievance, as the name indicates, involves a single individual
in the grievance procedure. the following example could constitute grounds to
write an individual grievance:
Example: Mary Jones was underpaid 250 when a deduction was taken for life
insurance for her spouse even though the spouse expired last month. Employer
refused to adjust.
B. The GROUP grievance, as the name indicates, involves two or more
individuals. In a situation involving a group grievance, the Grievance Handler
should try to get everyone in the bargaining unit within their jurisdiction (groups,
departments, etc.) to sign the grievance. This is especially true in cases of
"Production Standards" or "Speedup" grievances under the Grievance Handler's
jurisdiction, where ALL of the workers involved should sign the grievance. The
following example could constitute grounds for a group grievance:
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Example: Maintenance engineers received an upgrade in classification and in pay.
The increase was not in their last pay cheque.
C. The POLICY grievance is much broader in scope than either the individual or
the group grievance. Policy grievances may involve several departments within the
bargaining unit structure. As such, they may effect more than one or two workers;
they effect several such workers, even the entire workplace.
Policy grievances may include new jobs, new classifications, new wage rates,
mutual understandings and past practices (union practices) that have been in
effect a long time. They may include working conditions, employer concessions,
workable practices that exist in departments, offices, and other areas of the
union's jurisdiction. Policy grievances are the responsibility of the grievance
committee rather than of the individual Grievance Handler in the workplace,
because it may affect other workers in the union beyond those whom the
Grievance Handler represents. The following example could constitute grounds for
a policy grievance:
Example: The annual improvement factor was to be paid on the first of the month.
management did not pay on the first week, but instead, the second week.
Causes of Grievances
When the number of people are working together, differences are likely to take
place. When things are not as per expectation of employees, this gives
dissatisfaction to them. There are many reasons or causes of grievances. Some of
the causes of the grievance are following:
 Wage fixation and revision
 Payment of overtime
 Inadequate bonus
 Demand for welfare and equipments
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 Poor working conditions
 Faulty machines and equipments
 Attitude of supervisor
 Behaviour of top management
 Favoritism and nepotism
 Strained relations
 Excessive discipline
 Defective promotion
 Lay off and retrenchment
 Inadequate health and safety devices
 Victimization
Grievance Procedure: The employees should not keep their dissatisfaction for a
long period. It becomes necessary to handle the grievances of employees. Hence,
personnel management should try to find out the best possible way to handle the
grievances. It should help the people at different levels to formulate and implement
the rules and regulations regarding handling grievances. Grievance redressal
procedure is a problem solving and dispute setting machinery, which has been set
up under agreement between employer and employees or trade union. It is the
machinery by which grievances are handled to the satisfaction of unions' workers
and owners. It helps to detect the defects and to take correction steps. Following
are the features of grievance procedure:
 It is a problem solving machinery.
 For management it is a problem detector.
 A channel through which employees present their grievances.
 It ensures proper handling of grievances.
 A method which helps employees to get relief from dissatisfaction.
 Brings uniformity in grievance handling.
 Develops confidence in employees.
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Organizational Example: Grievance Resolution at
University of Melbourne
The University of Melbourne is committed to ensuring fair, equitable and safe work
practices. Grievances may arise from decisions, which affect one individual. The
grievance procedures in the University of Melbourne Enterprise Agreement apply
to all staff grievances, except where specific procedures exist. In all cases, the
grievance must relate to an issue arising from the employment relationship.
General principles for handling grievances
In the case of all grievances, the University investigates the allegations and
responds to the staff member who raised the grievance. Confidentiality, natural
justice and protection of the individual are important principles underpinning the
University's grievance procedures.
Before entering into the formal process, unless the grievance relates to unlawful
discrimination or sexual harassment, the aggrieved staff member should attempt
to resolve the grievance with his or her supervisor, or other person in the
Department who has the power to resolve the grievance. Most grievances should
be able to be resolved at local level.
In addition, nothing in the policy precludes a staff member of the University raising
a grievance directly with a senior University staff member.
Grievance Resolution Procedures
The following is a summary of the University's provisions for grievance resolution.
Local Resolution: Where a local grievance arises, every effort is made to resolve
the matter through discussion between the supervisor and the staff member
concerned. Staff members are expected to raise issues of concern with their
supervisor as soon as they arise. Advice on the grievance process is available
from Human Resources. The staff member must outline the grounds for the
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grievance in writing to their supervisor or the person who has made the decision
about which the staff member is aggrieved. The supervisor initiates discussions
within two (2) working days of receiving a staff member's request. Where local
grievances arise, work shall continue according to custom and practice while these
grievance resolution procedures are implemented.
In circumstances where the grievance relates to the behaviour of the supervisor,
and the staff member considers that it would be inappropriate to discuss that
grievance with the supervisor, the staff member may discuss the grievance with
the next level of management or supervisor.
Where Local Resolution Fails: Where discussions between the staff member and
their supervisor fail to resolve the matter, the staff member may refer the matter to
the next level of management for resolution.
Appointment of a Grievance Conciliator: In the event that the grievance is not
resolved through the above process within ten (10) working days, the staff
member may undertake the procedures outlined below.
The staff member must outline in writing the grievance and the efforts taken to
resolve it to the Vice-Chancellor. The Vice-Chancellor will then select a grievance
conciliator from a pool of independent conciliators agreed upon by the unions and
the University.
Where unusual circumstances exist, the parties may agree that persons other than
those nominated to the pool (whether staff member or not) may be appointed as a
grievance conciliator.
The grievance conciliator shall first determine whether the subject matter of the
grievance reasonably constitutes a genuine grievance. If the grievance is not
considered to be genuine (i.e. if the nature of the alleged grievance is frivolous,
28
vexatious, or not relevant to the employment relationship), the grievance
conciliator may choose not to proceed with the matter. Should the grievance
conciliator choose not to proceed with the matter, s/he shall notify the parties of
the reasons for this decision.
The grievance conciliator shall investigate the matter having access to all relevant
documents and shall attempt to facilitate a fair and reasonable conclusion to the
grievance as quickly as possible.
If the grievance is not resolved within a reasonable time, the grievance conciliator
shall provide a written report and recommendations on the terms of resolution to
the Vice-Chancellor for approval.
Vice-Chancellor's Determination: The Vice-Chancellor shall make a decision on
the grievance having due regard for the recommendations of the grievance
conciliator, and shall advise the aggrieved staff member and other relevant parties
of the decision.
Resolution of a Grievance: A grievance is regarded as resolved if it is withdrawn,
in writing, by the staff member, or if a written agreement is reached between the
staff member and the supervisor relating to or resulting from the grievance. The
aggrieved staff member must be advised that he or she may consult with the
relevant union before signing any agreement.
External avenues of appeal: In addition to these internal procedures staff have the
right to lodge grievances with an appropriate external body. The University
understands that the advice of these external bodies is that ordinarily staff should
first attempt to resolve their grievances internally using the documented
procedures of the University before seeking external review.

Discuss the relationship between motivation and reward system in an organization.

2011-05-16T06:24:00.000-07:00

Discuss the relationship between motivation and reward system in an
organization. What is gain- sharing and cite an organization where it is
practiced effectively. Briefly describe the organization you are referring to.

Answer. Motivation in simple words may be understood as the set of forces that
cause people to behave in certain ways. It is a process that starts with a
physiological deficiency or need that activities behaviour or a drive that is aimed at
a goal or an incentive.
The concept of motivation occupies a central place in the discipline of
Organizational Behaviour. It is a concept, which has received the maximum
attention from the academicians and researchers alike. Since a motivated
employee is highly productive and highly quality oriented, the managers are also
interested the concept of motivation.
Most people understand the concept of intrinsic satisfaction or intrinsic motivation,
i.e. when an activity is satisfying or pleasurable in and of itself. Naturally, these
17
activities are things we like and want to do. For most of us, intrinsically enjoyable
activities are things like eating, resting, laughing, playing games, winning, creating,
seeing and hearing beautiful things and people, being held lovingly, having sex,
and so on. To do these things we don't need to be paid, applauded, cheered,
thanked, respected, or anything--commonly we do them for the good feelings we
automatically and naturally get from the activity. Intrinsic rewards also involve
pleasurable internal feelings or thoughts, like feeling proud or having a sense of
mastery following studying hard and succeeding in a class.
Many, maybe most, activities are not intrinsically satisfying enough to get most of
us to do them consistently, so extrinsic motivation needs to be applied in the form
of rewards (positive reinforcements), incentives, or as a way to avoid some
unpleasant condition ("negative reinforcement" or punishment). Examples: You
work doing an ordinary job for pay. You study for good grades or to avoid failing or
to prepare for a good future. You do housework to get a clean, organized house
and/or a spouse's appreciation or to avoid her/his disapproval. A teenager comes
home from a date on time in order to avoid being grounded. These are all activities
that are commonly sustained by external pay offs, not because you love working,
studying, cleaning, and coming home early.
Are rewards, particularly money rewards, really motivators? The answer to this
question is YES and NO.
Money is understood to be powerful motivator for more than one reason. In the
first place, money is fundamental for completion of a task. The employee takes
pay as the reward for his or her work, and the employer views it as the price for
using the services of the employee. Second, as a medium of exchange. Third,
money is one of the hygiene factors, and improving maintenance factors is the first
step in efforts directed towards motivation. Fourth, money also performs the
function of a score card by which employees assess the value that the
organization places on their services and by which employees can compare their
18
values to others. Fifth, reinforcement and expectancy theories attest to the value
of money as a motivator. Sixth, money acts as a punctuation in ones life. It is an
attention getting and effect producing mechanism. Money, has therefore
tremendous importance in influencing employee behaviour. Seventh, money is
easily vulnerable to manipulation. Finally, money will be a powerful motivator for a
person who is tense and anxious about lack o money. But behavioural scientists
think otherwise. They downgrade monetary rewards as a motivator. They prefer,
instead, other techniques such as challenging jobs, goals, participation in decisionmaking
and other non-monetary rewards for motivating employees.
Gain Sharing
Gain-Sharing is a financial incentive in which the performance gains of a company
(or of a particular new initiative) are shared with the employees who helped bring
about the improvement. This simple, powerful, and flexible technique can be a
cost-effective way of motivating employees and focusing them on the goals of your
company.
Gain-Sharing can take many forms, but all Gain-Sharing programs include the
following elements:
 Employees are involved in a program for suggesting or making process
improvements
 Performance, usually in terms of cost per unit of productivity, is frequently
measured
 A portion of the financial gains from performance improvement (e.g., cost
reduction, increased productivity) is shared with employees.
Gain-Sharing provides motivation and focus
The central tenet of employee motivation states that employees will work towards
goals when they believe: (a) their efforts will lead to successful performance, and
(b) that successful performance will lead to a desirable outcome. Gain-Sharing is
particularly well-suited for leveraging this principle. Gain-Sharing (a) is centered
19
on work processes and activities that employees can impact and (b) rewards
improved performance with a percentage of the financial gains from that
improvement. Other types of organization-wide incentive plans, such as Profit-
Sharing and Employee Stock Ownership Plans involve aspects of performance
that are less directly controlled by employees (e.g., general economic conditions
and the activities of competitors can obviate the impact of employee efforts on
profits and stock price), and, thus, do not demonstrate as powerful a connection
between effort and reward as does Gain-Sharing.
Gain-Sharing also specifies the companys priorities and signals where employees
should focus their effort. This strong focus is a very positive attribute, but it also
necessitates careful consideration of what should be rewarded. For example, if
Gain-Sharing is tied to increased speed of production, employees may focus on
speed to the detriment of quality. With Gain-Sharing, as with any other reward
system, be careful in choosing your target behaviors in order to avoid unintended
consequences.
Gain-Sharing can also be focused quite narrowly, targeting a particular workplace
initiative and particular groups of employees. In my opinion, Gain-Sharing is best
used when applied to a particular initiative with a particular group of employees.
Here are a few examples:
 A manufacturing company may tie Gain-Sharing to a workplace safety initiative
by sharing a portion of the Workers Compensation cost savings with its
production employees.
 An electronics chain can use Gain-Sharing to encourage its sales staff to sell
more extended warranties by offering higher rates of commission on the sale of
warranties.
 A company can use Gain-Sharing to encourage innovation and ideas for new
products by agreeing to share 20% of the first-year revenues from the new
product with the research and development department employees involved in
that product.
20
 My favorite real-life example of Gain-Sharing occurred in a beverage
distribution company that paid very high insurance premiums for its fleet of
delivery trucks and drivers because of a high number of accidents. The CEO
went to the drivers and told them that 50% of any reductions in next years
insurance premiums would be split evenly among the drivers. The company
did not incur a single accident for the rest of the year and reaped several
thousand dollars in savings.
Example: The Yellow Bus Company
The Yellow Bus Company operated a fleet of around 500 buses in the city of
Auckland, New Zealand. It carried people on some 25 million passenger trips each
year, covering a total distance of around 22 million kilometers annually. There
were close to 900 employees, all of whom were included in the Gain sharing
system (except for the top four executives).
Gainsharing was part of the company's strategy for integrating its team together
and achieving a common set of aims.
The former Chief Executive, Barry Turley, wrote: "Gainsharing has a simple, but
essential purpose. To involve staff in helping to improve our business". To start off,
the Company opened a special "Gainshare" account and put money into it. Every
quarter after that a share of the "Gain" earned by the company (income less costs
and necessary payments) was added to this pool and an agreed proportion was
shared out between the employees.
The amount paid to employees depended on overall company performance on key
performance indicators; and all the details of Gain-sharing at the Yellow Bus
Company were developed in a consultative way.
There were many changes introduced in the Yellow Bus Company as a direct
result of Gain-sharing. The bus operators, maintenance engineers, service staff,
21
and managers turned their attention to finding ways to make the company more
successful. The employees of the Yellow Bus Company wanted to provide the
best bus service to the people of Auckland! They were so successful that in late
1998 the company was sold to an international company, Stagecoach, for a sum in
excess of one hundred and ten million dollars. Not bad for a company that a few
years before had been losing nearly a million dollars

What is HR audit?

2011-05-16T06:14:00.001-07:00

What is HR audit? Discuss how it is carried out in an organization and
cite an organization where it is carried out successfully. Briefly describe
about the organization you are referring to.

Answer. An HR audit is like an annual health check. It plays a vital role in instilling
a sense of confidence in the management and the HR functions of an
organization.
Typically the basic reason why organizations prefer to conduct an HR audit is to
get a clear judgement about the overall status of the organization and also to find
out whether certain systems put in place are yielding any results. HR audit also
helps companies to figure out any gaps or lapses and the reason for the same.
Since every company plans certain systems and targets, an HR audit compares
the plans to actual implementation.
The concept of HR audit has emerged from the practice of yearly finance and
accounting audit, which is mandatory for every company, to be done by external
statutory auditors.
This audit serves as an examination on a sample basis of practices and systems
for identifying problems and ensuring that sound accounting principles are
followed. Similarly, an HR audit serves as a means through which an organization
can measure the health of its human resource function.
Organizations undertake HR audits for many reasons:
 To ensure effective utilization of human resources.
 To review compliance with tons of laws and regulations.
 To instill a sense of confidence in the human resource department that it is wellmanaged
and prepared to meet potential challenges and opportunities.
 To maintain or enhance the organizations reputation in a community.
12
An audit is a systematic process, which examines the important aspects of the
function and its management, and is a means to identify strengths, weaknesses
and areas where rectification may be warranted. An audit is done on sampling
basis. And in sampling, not every instance or situation can be examined.
An HR audit can be used by an organization for multiple purposes. Some of the
more common reasons are:
 To identify and address HR-related problems.
 To seek out HR-related opportunities.
 To conduct due diligence for mergers and acquisitions.
 To support initial public offerings.
How an audit is conducted is very often determined by its intended use. For
instance, the type of audit used to ascertain HR practices may be significantly
different from the type of audit used to support an initial public offering. Although
the areas examined may be similar, the process used and the depth of inquiry will
vary from the intended outcome.
The audit process
The HR audit process is conducted in different phases. Each phase is designed to
build upon the preceding phase so that the organization will have a very strong
overview of the health of the HR function, at the conclusion of the audit. These
phases include:
Pre-Audit Information: This phase involves the acquiring and review of relevant HR
manuals, handbooks, forms, reports and other information. A pre-audit information
request is forwarded to the client who compiles the necessary information for
review by auditors.
13
Pre-Audit Self-Assessment: In order to maximize the time spent during
subsequent portions of the audit, a pre-audit self-assessment form, if sent to the
client can be of use. The self-administered yes/no questionnaire asks a number of
questions about current HR policies and practices.
The completion of this self-administered questionnaire allows auditors to identify
key areas for focus during the HR audit.
On-site Review: This phase involves an on-site visit at the clients facility
interviewing staff regarding HR policies and practices. A very in-depth HR audit
checklist is completed.
Records Review: During the on-site visit, a separate review is conducted of HR
records and postings. Employee personnel files are randomly examined as well as
compensation, employee claims, disciplinary actions, grievances and other
relevant HR related information are checked.
Audit Report: The information gathered is used to develop an HR audit report. The
audit report categorizes action needs into three separate areas. The areas that are
urgent and important (UI), not urgent needs but important (NUI), not urgent but not
important needs (NNI)), and important opportunities needs (IO). As a result of this
scheme of classification, managements can prioritize their steps.
Example of the Audit of the Local HR Department of a
Multinational Bank
The bank to which this audit relates is a well-known multinational organization with
offices in many countries. Under the present operating principles, the HR
department is audited once every two years. As it is an international organization,
the practice usually followed is that an Audit Team is compiled from one or more
14
countries, on the basis of the auditors previous experience in a functional area, as
well as the overall understanding of the workings of the HR department.
The local HR department is usually given notice in advance of the upcoming audit.
Proper arrangements are made for the travel and stay of the auditors. A pre-audit
report is also formulated by the HR department, which consists of the overall
structure of the department, the functional responsibilities of the members, the
number of years of experience and background of the personnel in terms of
education and training etc. This report is sent to the leader of the audit team in
advance, usually two weeks before the start date of the audit, so that he/ she can
identify areas to focus upon, share the information with the area specialist in his
team, and formulate a more accurate audit plan. The team leader will have
considerable experience in setting overall status of the audit plan, an
understanding of the business areas and dynamics of the country in question.
Upon arrival, the team leader will meet with the Country Business Manager and
the HR Head, as well as Senior Executives of the various business lines. This is to
gain a familiarization with the state and goals of the business and its key
personnel, as well as their expectations. These can then be translated into what
should be the focus of the audit (Compliance and Risk Review vs. Functional
Competence, for example). It also gives the HR head an idea of the scope and
depth of the audit to be conducted.
The HR head will then meet with the key personnel in the HR department and
discuss the audit deliverables and discuss the audit deliverables and records that
will need to be on hand or submitted to the auditors for their review. Usually the
Deputy HR head is appointed as the Liaison Person for the duration of the audit,
acting as a bridge between the auditors and the HR department- in relation to the
needs of the auditors, explaining the objectives, policies and procedures of the HR
department and answering queries and making clarifications of the questions that
may be brought up. However the auditors should have a free hand in contacting
the area specialists regarding a particular function or responsibility for explanation,
15
clarification or query. It will strengthen the understanding and perspective of the
functional area executives and broaden their horizons from a management and
audit point of view.
The HR department in question has been divided into the following functional
areas:
1. Hiring & Recruitment
2. Policies, Procedures & Staff Legal Aspects
3. Training
4. Compensation & Benefits
5. Management of the Human Resources Information System (HRIS) and Data
Feeds
6. Employee Loans
Thus there are six functional managers, each reporting to the HR head. The HR
head in turn reports to the Country Business Manager, with dotted line reporting to
the Regional and Divisional HR heads.

Define and discuss the need of human resource planning.

2011-05-16T06:12:00.000-07:00

Define and discuss the need of human resource planning. Take an
account of the human resource planning in your organization or an
organization you are familiar with and give a brief note on that. Describe the
organization you are referring to.

Answer. Human resource planning can be defined as an information-decisionmaking
process designed to ensure that enough competent people with
appropriate skills are available to perform jobs where and when they will be
needed As such, it entails defining the organization's human needs for particular
positions and assessing the available pool of people to determine the best fit.
Planning is not as easy as one might think because it requires a concerted effort to
come out with a programme that would easy your work. Commencing is
complicated, but once you start and finish it you have a smile because everything
moves smoothly.
Planning is a process that have to be commenced form somewhere and
completed for a purpose. It involves gathering information that would enable
managers and supervisors make sound decisions. The information obtained is
also utilized to make better actions for achieving the objectives of the
Organization. There are many factors that you have to look into when deciding for
an HR Planning programme.
HR Planning involves gathering of information, making objectives, and making
decisions to enable the organization achieve its objectives. Surprisingly, this
aspect of HR is one of the most neglected in the HR field. When HR Planning is
applied properly in the field of HR Management, it would assist to address the
following questions:
1. How many staff does the Organization have?
2. What type of employees as far as skills and abilities does the Company have?
3. How should the Organization best utilize the available resources?
7
4. How can the Company keep its employees?
HR planning makes the organization move and succeed in the 21st Century that
we are in. Human Resources Practitioners who prepare the HR Planning
programme would assist the Organization to manage its staff strategically. The
programme assists to direct the actions of HR department.
The programme does not assist the Organization only, but it will also facilitate the
career planning of the employees and assist them to achieve the objectives as
well. This augment motivation and the Organization would become a good place to
work. HR Planning forms an important part of Management information system.
HR have an enormous task keeping pace with the all the changes and ensuring
that the right people are available to the Organization at the right time. It is
changes to the composition of the workforce that force managers to pay attention
to HR planning. The changes in composition of workforce not only influence the
appointment of staff, but also the methods of selection, training, compensation and
motivation. It becomes very critical when Organizations merge, plants are
relocated, and activities are scaled down due to financial problems.
Inadequacy of HR Planning
Poor HR Planning and lack of it in the Organization may result in huge costs and
financial looses. It may result in staff posts taking long to be filled. This augment
costs and hampers effective work performance because employees are requested
to work unnecessary overtime and may not put more effort due to fatigue. If given
more work this may stretch them beyond their limit and may cause unnecessary
disruptions to the production of the Organization. Employees are put on a
disadvantage because their live programmes are disrupted and they are not given
the chance to plan for their career development.
8
The most important reason why HR Planning should be managed and
implemented is the costs involved. Because costs forms an important part of the
Organizations budget, workforce Planning enable the Organization to provide HR
provision costs. When there is staff shortage, the organization should not just
appoint discriminatory, because of the costs implications of the other options, such
as training and transferring of staff, have to be considered.
EXAMPLE: HRP AT MCDONALDS
McDonalds in India is a 50-50 joint venture partnership between McDonalds
Corporation [USA] and two Indian businessmen. Amit Jatias company Hardcastle
Restaurants Pvt. Ltd. owns and operates McDonald's restaurants in Western India.
While Connaught Plaza Restaurants Pvt. Ltd headed by Vikram Bakshi owns and
operates the Northern operations.
9
Amit Jatia and Vikram Bakshi are like-minded visionaries who share McDonald's
complete commitment to Quality, Service, Cleanliness and Value (QSC&V).
Having signed their joint-venture agreements with McDonald's in April 1995, they
trained extensively, along with their Indian management team, in McDonald's
restaurants in Indonesia and the U.S.A. before opening the first McDonalds
restaurant in India.
Reasons, Motives and Approaches to HRP
McDonalds develops a HRP that reaches three years ahead and is reviewed
quarterly and annually. Much of the HRP work at McDonalds is focused on career
planning and succession planning in order to develop individual plans for the
employees. According to McDonalds, the HR work consists mainly of education
and development and they say that it is impossible to look further than three years
ahead.
HRP at McDonalds has taken a drastic change compared to what it used to be in
the past. McDonalds did not have an HR function up until 1994. In 2001,
McDonalds added a leadership program to its HRP with the motive to retain
leaders within the company. Before the start of this program there were no
descriptions or qualification criteria expressed for any of the positions in the
organisation. Since the start of the program the turnover rate of leaders has
decreased considerably. McDonalds argues that the leadership program can
explain the reduced turnover rate, as todays leaders are able to forecast their
futures within McDonalds.
The HRP work and the recruitment process involve a top management team
consisting of four people and a lower level management team consisting of ten to
fifteen people. Each business unit manager leaves proposals based on their
business units needs, both for recruitment and the overall work for HRP.
10
McDonalds use different support instruments such as job profiles, developed by
an outside expert, in their attempt to minimize subjectivity in the recruitment
process. However, the continuous and most of the time sub-conscious work (the
evaluation of an employees daily work by his/her manager) with finding potential
successors to leadership positions is to a great extent influenced by subjectivity,
but it is not perceived as a problem.
At McDonalds, the linkage between the general business strategy and HRP is
scarce, if any linkage at all. The competencies profiles that are used in the
recruitment process are purely based on todays reality and are not affected by the
three-year plan.
According to McDonalds, the purpose of HRP is to achieve a more competent
workforce and to retain employees, especially leaders, by developing career plans
for everyone in the organization. McDonalds say that, this plan should be
presented as career possibilities and then provide the environment that facilitates
those possibilities. By doing this, the employee is responsible for his/her own
careers.
McDonalds argue that it can be dangerous to follow a plan rigorously. They revise
the three-year HRP annually and sometimes even quarterly in order to update and
adjust the plan according to changes and current conditions. According to
McDonalds, it is difficult to say whether or not it is possible to measure the
outcomes of the planning. However, it is possible to measure the returns on
investments made in the HR work and they are currently developing a system that
measures the outcomes/returns from such investments. McDonalds scans the
business environment annually by looking at trends in the society and the world
economy in order to analyze customer purchasing power and recruitment
opportunities. The market department does all the research and therefore the HR
department must leave a proposal to the market department if they want any
research for their own account to be carried out.

Enlist the functions of Human Resource Management.

2011-05-16T06:09:00.000-07:00

Enlist the functions of Human Resource Management. In the current
scenario explain the HR departments functions in your organization or an
organization you are familiar with. Describe the organization you are
referring to.

Answer. Human resource management involves all management decisions and
practices that directly affect or influence the people, or human resources, who
work for the organization. In other words, Human resource management is
concerned with people centric issues in management.
The Human Resources Management (HRM) function includes a variety of
activities, and key among them is deciding what staffing needs you have and
whether to use independent contractors or hire employees to fill these needs,
recruiting and training the best employees, ensuring they are high performers,
dealing with performance issues, and ensuring your personnel and management
practices conform to various regulations. Activities also include managing your
approach to employee benefits and compensation, employee records and
personnel policies. Usually small businesses (for-profit or nonprofit) have to carry
out these activities themselves because they can't yet afford part- or full-time help.
However, they should always ensure that employees have -- and are aware of --
personnel policies which conform to current regulations. These policies are often
in the form of employee manuals, which all employees have.
Some functions that come under the purview of HRM are:
i) Human Resource Planning: It is a process for determination and assuring that
the organization will have an adequate number of qualified persons, available at
proper times, performing jobs which would meet the needs of the organization and
which would provide satisfaction for the individuals involved. It involves
2
 Estimation of present and future requirement and supply of human resources
basing on objectives and long range plans of the organization.
 Calculation of net human resources requirement based on present inventory of
human resources.
 Taking steps to mould, change, and develop the strength of existing employees
in the organization so as to meet the future human resources requirements.
 Preparation of action programs to get the rest of human resources from outside
the organization and to develop the human resources of existing employees.
ii) Recruitment and Selection: Recruitment is concerned with developing a pool of -
candidates in line with the human resources plan.
The main sources of recruitment are:
 Internal promotion and internal introductions (at times desirable for morale
purposes)
 Careers officers (and careers masters at schools)
 University appointment boards
 Agencies for the unemployed
 Advertising (often via agents for specialist posts) or the use of other local
media (e.g. commercial radio)
Selection is the process of matching people and their career needs and
capabilities with the jobs and career paths. It ends with the ultimate hiring of a
candidate.
iii) Training and Development: This involves identification of individual potentialities
and helping in the development of key competencies through planned learning
process. The competencies are to be developed to enable individuals to perform
current as well as future jobs.
iv) Employee motivation: To retain good staff and to encourage them to give of
3
their best while at work requires attention to the financial and psychological and
even physiological rewards offered by the organization as a continuous exercise.
Basic financial rewards and conditions of service (e.g. working hours per week)
are determined externally (by national bargaining or government minimum wage
legislation) in many occupations but as much as 50 per cent of the gross pay of
manual workers is often the result of local negotiations and details (e.g. which
particular hours shall be worked) of conditions of service are often more important
than the basics. Hence there is scope for financial and other motivations to be
used at local levels.
v) Organizational Development: This element assures healthy inter and intra-unit
relationships. It helps work groups in initiating and managing change.
vi) Career Development: It is assuring an alignment of the management. It is a
process of achieving an optional match of individual and organizational needs.
vii) HR Research and Information Systems and Audit: This element ensures a
reliable and proof HR information base. It is not only evaluates personnel policies
and programmes but also highlights the need and areas of change.
viii) Provision of employee services: Attention to the mental and physical wellbeing
of employees is normal in many organizations as a means of keeping good
staff and attracting others. The forms this welfare can take are many and varied,
from loans to the needy to counseling in respect of personal problems. Among the
activities regarded as normal are:
 Schemes for occupational sick pay, extended sick leave and access to the
firm's medical adviser;
 Schemes for bereavement or other special leave;
 The rehabilitation of injured/unfit/ disabled employees and temporary or
permanent move to lighter work;
4
 The maintenance of disablement statistics and registers (there are complicated
legal requirements in respect of quotas of disabled workers and a need for
'certificates' where quota are not fulfilled and recruitment must take place);
 Provision of financial and other support for sports, social, hobbies, activities of
many kinds which are work related;
 Provision of canteens and other catering facilities;
 Possibly assistance with financial and other aid to employees in difficulty
(supervision, maybe, of an employee managed benevolent fund or scheme);
 Provision of information handbooks,
 Running of pre-retirement courses and similar fringe activities;
 Care for the welfare aspects of health and safety legislation and provision of
first-aid training
The location of the health and safety function within the organization varies.
Commonly a split of responsibilities exists under which 'production' or 'engineering'
management cares for the provision of safe systems of work and safe places and
machines etc., but HRM is responsible for administration, training and education in
awareness and understanding of the law, and for the alerting of all levels to new
requirements.
EXAMPLE CASE- HR DEPARTMENT FUNCTIONS AT PTU
Introduction
Punjab Technical University, Jalandhar was established in January 1997 for
advancement of technical education & development. The University has under its
affiliation 40 Engineering colleges,56 Management, 17 Pharmacy colleges ,6
Architecture 2 Hotel Management and 13 colleges imparting courses in Medical
Lab Technolgy& IT disciplines. The University has an intake of more than 12700
and total strength of more than 60,000 approx. University has established 12
Regional Centres for M-Tech courses and has established school of
Enterprennership.
5
About the Department of Human Resources
The Human Resources Department is responsible for the employment staff at the
University and provides advice and guidance on recruitment, probation, promotion,
terms and conditions and contracts of employment, appraisal, reward
management, equal opportunities, grievance and discipline and retirement. The
Department incorporates:
 HR Operations
 Staff Development
 Health & Safety
 Childcare Services.
Human Resources Operations
Human Resources Operations is responsible for ensuring that employees and
associated personnel of the University have ready access to a range of quality HR
services which are relevant, reliable, responsive and cost effective.
Our main activities cover:
 HR Strategy, Policy & Planning
 Recruitment & Selection
 Employment contract administration
 HR Information & Records
 Employee Relations
 Equalities & Diversity
 Each University department or service has an HR Manager & HR Administrator
as designated points of contact which helps us to better understand their needs
and work towards offering a more personalized service.

Summarise the recent trend of reward systems in India.

2011-05-16T05:40:00.000-07:00

Summarise the recent trend of reward systems in India. Analyse it with respect to your organisation or an organisation you are familiar with and discuss its impact on productivity. Describe the organisation you are referring to.

Ans:- Human resource management is the planning, organizing, directing and controlling the operative functions of procurement, development, compensation and maintenance of human resource of an organizations goals or objectives. It is responsible fro getting the best people, training them and providing mechanism to ensure that these employees maintain their productivity affiliations with the organizations. There are many emerging issues, which are divided into two:
a) Organisational problems:
The top management often presumes that sending the managers for the HRD programmes will automatically improve their performance. This is not the fact.
b) The line managers do not show interest in developing the human resources. They argue that developing the human resources is the duty of the HRD department. This feeling is a hurdle in the process of HRD.
c) HRD receives only lip service because of the heavy expenditure involved in the development process. Lack of genuine support makes the HRD programme futile.
d) Organizations transfer administrative and industrial relations managers/ staff to HRD department without adequate training. This adversely affects the HRD programmes because the badly needed ‘ human touch’ is missing.
GENERAL PROBLEMS :
H) The HRD programmes fail due to poverty, social injustice, low quality education and illiteracy.
I) The development of HR in India is also made difficult by the high fertility rate, poor health conditions, sexual discrimination and inter group intolerance.
J) The high population growth adversely affects the qualitative and quantitative dimensions of HRD programmes. Added to this are issues like high dependent population and unemployment.
K) The unscrupulous attitude of our politicians also impairs the moral fear and behavior of HR India.
L) The differences in the religious faiths among the people is another hurdle in the HRD. Religious conflicts hinder the development of HR in India.
M) The widening gap between have and have not is also a hurdle in HRD.
N) Indians have a strong faith in the traditional methods which are linked with their religious philosophies. This generates a strong resistance to change and impairs the HRD process.
O) The Organisation We are referring to is saffron MNC organisation which function like this:-
HRD approach will assist in evolving policies which will be useful in generating job satisfaction, career development opportunities and in alleviating the sense of frustrations among the human beings. Many organisations in India have started implementing the HRD programmes. The objectives HRD cannot be achieved without an effective HRM system. Every HRD system developed by an organisation should be based on the following elements of HRM
e) It evolves a system of Human Resources Planning them.
f) Selection of the right people for the right job at right time.
g) Imparting proper training based on the principle of learning, teaching basic work skills, motion study and training to foremen.
h) Evolving suitable compensation plan
i) Evolving a good performance appraisal system.

Discuss the characteristics and benefits of empowered organisations.

2011-05-16T05:38:00.000-07:00

Discuss the characteristics and benefits of empowered organisations. Cite an empowered organisation which you are familiar with and narrate the mode of operations of that organisation. Describe the organisation you are referring to.

National LambdaRail (NLR) is a major initiative of U.S. research universities, regional networking organizations, and private sector technology companies providing a state-of-the-art national scale networking infrastructure. NLR exists both to serve “big science” and other discipline-based research initiatives in advancing knowledge and understanding and to support network research in developing new networking technologies and capabilities.
The NLR 11,000 mile nationwide infrastructure, already fully operational, enables the simultaneous deployment of multiple networks for experimental and production purposes. In addition, a comprehensive range of services is currently available to users.
Listed below are the unique characteristics enabling NLR to provide the research and education community with the powerful, flexible, and scalable networks that are increasingly critical to successful collaborative efforts across the country and around the globe.
NLR Serves the Research Community
NLR is by researchers and for researchers, allowing the actual users of this infrastructure to design networks to their needs and specifications. And history has demonstrated that networks built to provide advanced services to researchers will be immensely beneficial to educators, students, and other members of society.
The primary mission of NLR is to serve the research community (academia, government, and industry). Accordingly, it has established strong links and relationships with this community by a "can (and will) do" attitude towards the community's needs and requests. To ensure these linkages NLR has created the position of Chief Scientist, currently filled by David Farber, Distinguished Career Professor of Computer Science and Public Policy, School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University. NLR has also created a Network Research Council and a Science Research Council, comprised of leading researchers and scientists, to ensure that the organization is responsive to the needs of major research initiatives now and into the future.

NLR is for all researchers in all disciplines, especially those working on major science initiatives and network research projects. Indeed, NLR's bylaws specify that up to 50% of the infrastructure capacity is available for network research. Currently several network research projects utilize lambdas (wavelengths) on the NLR backbone that are funded by NLR's partner, Cisco Systems.
NLR Owns Its Infrastructure
NLR is owned by its members, who are also its users. These members make the rules.
NLR's owned nationwide infrastructure enables the users to be independent of carrier service constraints and requirements. NLR is in charge of its own destiny. The deployment of a nationwide networking infrastructure by NLR is a major shift for the research and education community. It is the first time our community has owned, controlled, and operated all of the network assets. As a result, we have the ability to deploy a flexible infrastructure capable of supporting multiple, advanced research and education networks, not just one shared network. It is truly a "network of networks."
NLR's Uses of the Infrastructure are Unconstrained
NLR members determine the appropriate uses, applications, and services.
NLR does not have an Acceptable Use Policy. Indeed, NLR's bylaws provide that NLR cannot "implement any conditions of use . . . or any other restrictions on network infrastructure or services." Members can, however, set policies for uses of the capacity they control directly. In essence, NLR makes way for any AUP that is not inconsistent with "standard industry practice" or is required to preserve the 501(c) (3) status of its members. In short, NLR is AUP-Free.
NLR Focuses on User-Empowered Networking Resources and Capacity
This nation's scientists and researchers can have greater impact on national research agendas because NLR puts the control, the power, and the promise of networking in their hands.
NLR is a pure network play. That is, NLR is dedicated solely to providing and supporting the networking needs of the research and education community. It neither offers nor engages in ancillary activities that would divert it from this focus or that would dilute its efforts and financial resources.
NLR Enables Leading-Edge and Experimental Technologies
Researchers and educators can elect to create, deploy and manage their own leading-edge capabilities over NLR or to let NLR operate and manage leading-edge services for them.
NLR recognizes the importance of being at the leading edge and is positioned to stay there. NLR's most unique and important characteristic is its flexible infrastructure that can support multiple advanced research networks, and therefore permit multiple research groups/projects to be aggressive in experimenting with and adopting leading-edge technologies and services. At its foundation, NLR has deployed commercial-grade optronics; an 18-site Gigabit Ethernet switched network nation-wide--a first; and, nine advanced Cisco CRS-1 routers that can serve both the experimental and production needs of the research community. In addition, NLR can provide access to additional dark fiber for targeted network research uses. NLR is currently deploying optical switches in partnership with the Regional Optical Networks (RONs) to enable on-demand switched control plane services. More importantly, research groups and projects may link their own prototype or developmental devices to this infrastructure, run unique experiments, and capture traffic data for research purposes. In essence, NLR is positioned to push the envelope and respond to the most forward-looking research groups, institutions, and RONs.
NLR Operates a Revolutionary Reintegrated Layer 3 Facility
The entire research and education community benefits from the revolutionary integration of Layer 3 Internet Services, which provides powerful research, financial, support, and performance benefits.
PacketNet, a shared Layer 3 service with dedicated 10-gigabit wavelengths and next generation Cisco routers, is part of the NLR core architecture. PacketNet provides services not currently found on other layer 3 networks and is fully consistent with the needs and requirements of research and education. These services and capabilities include: (1) default connection type of 10 Gigabit Ethernet (GE), (2) built-in redundancy, and (3) no AUP.

PacketNet was architected to enable a Layer 3 facility that was sufficiently AUP-free to serve simultaneously as an ultra-high-performance Internet fabric among the research and education community, and as a full-service peering fabric, enabling educational (.edu) institutions to peer with the commodity Internet and with specific major commercial (.com) sites.
NLR is Guided by the Regional Optical Network Organizations
Regional Optical Networks (RONs), as majority NLR owners, provide the technical direction necessary to guarantee end-to-end interconnection and interoperability of the RONs via NLR, and to support data intensive applications that require persistent large data flows, real-time visualization and collaboration, and/or remote instrumentation scheduling. RONs work locally with their members, but think globally to ensure interoperability across the NLR fabric.
NLR was created by investor members, which own and govern it – and 14 of our 15 members, in turn, own and operate 21 regional optical networks (RONs). Consequently RONs, and their aggregation of several hundred institutional members and participants, define NLR. (While The Quilt is not directly related to NLR, 16 of its 24 members participate in NLR.) NLR from its inception considered RONs as the pillars of future development of advanced networking, since they are the entities that directly serve the community's institutions and research projects. Indeed NLR is proud to have stimulated the creation of several RONs, including FLR in Florida and LEARN in Texas. The synergy of NLR and the RONs has been critical to the creation of NLR and will be equally important in the future.
NLR Provides Diverse Partnership and Strategic Relationship Opportunities
Researchers from a broad range of organizations can join forces to facilitate end-to-end networking in support of strategic research initiatives using the forum that NLR and the RONs have created.
The NLR structure enables a variety of partnership and strategic relationship models involving a wide mix of research groups, universities, corporations, non-profit organizations, non-governmental research organizations, and government research entities. Some of these partnerships are between NLR and an entity; others are between entities and do not directly involve NLR as an organization; and yet others involve several entities including NLR.

In the first category NLR has several strategic relationships that bring value to the enterprise, including relationships with the Southeastern Universities Research Association (SURA), the Department of Energy's UT Battelle/Oak Ridge National Laboratory, NASA, and Cisco Systems. Indeed, a keystone to NLR's success has been the investment and commitment of Cisco. NLR considers Cisco a strategic partner of NLR, and not simply a vendor of equipment; without Cisco's investment of resources (estimated at $39 million so far) to develop NLR for the purpose of advancing research in this country, and specifically for advancing network research, NLR would not be the reality it is today. NLR is also actively pursuing diverse opportunities to partner with a select number of non-profit, private sector corporations and governmental entities.

In the second category examples include the NSF TeraGrid and OptIPuter projects and Pacific Wave. Each of these initiatives involves partnerships among research groups enabled by NLR-provisioned high-capacity dedicated network connectivity. The NSF-funded Extensible TeraGrid Facility involves researchers at numerous institutions focused on major facets of collaborative research activity. The OptIPuter project, spearheaded by University of California, San Diego, and University of Illinois at Chicago, has teamed with NASA Goddard and other groups in several research areas. Pacific Wave is a partnership of two NLR members, Corporation for Education Network Initiative in California (CENIC) and Pacific Northwest GigaPoP, providing services on the west coast, including connectivity for international partners.

In the third category Southern Light Rail, the University of Alabama System, NLR, and NASA have joined forces to develop a regional optical network capability linking Atlanta-Birmingham-Huntsville-Nashville-Atlanta to serve researchers in that region.
NLR is Developing Strategic Relationships with International and National Network Organizations
Increasingly, science is global and independent of geographic boundaries. The linkages of NLR to sister networks around the globe and connections back to members RONs enable researchers throughout the US to be active participants in major research initiatives, regardless of their location.
As an organization, NLR is a relative newcomer to the research and education network arena and is working hard to earn a place in this worldwide endeavor. NLR has been a participant in the Global Lambda Integrated Facility (GLIF) initiative for the past two years. NLR is working with principal investigators of the National Science Foundation’s International Research Networks Connection (IRNC) Program to carry USA traffic to collaborator sites throughout North America, South America, Asia and Europe. And, as needed, NLR is actively pursuing peering relationships with the major research and education networks on all the continents and with sister endeavors in the USA.

Differentiate between assessment and development centers with the help of examples.

2011-05-16T05:37:00.001-07:00

Differentiate between assessment and development centers with the help of examples. Do you feel assessment centers are necessary in the present context? Substantiate your view citing cases.

Research demonstrates that that there is no substitute for objectively observing and systematically measuring how people actually perform "on the ground". A well designed Assessment Centre is the most effective tool available for assessing individuals in both individual and group based environments for selection or development.
We provide a complete range of Assessment Centre design and delivery services, from competency matrix design through assessor training, exercise design and the provision of psychometric testing. Even if an organisation has no prior experience of this most effective assessment method we can design and manage the whole process from scratch using either our own established procedures and assessment tools, or designing entirely new and highly organisationally relevant systems and exercises.
From the most basic unassigned role exercises to highly complex assigned role problem solving and decision making exercises for senior managers/directors, we apply psychometric rigour to every centre we provide to ensure it is highly accurate, stable and job relevant.
There is no such thing a 'standard' Assessment or Development Centre - some can last as little as half a day, while others can go on for three days or more. However, all demand considerable commitment from the host organisation. If you consider that an Assessment or Development Centre may be appropriate for your needs please contact us directly for advice.
What is an Assessment/Development Centre?
The term assessment centre does not refer to a physical place, instead it describes an approach. Traditionally an assessment centre consisted of a suite of exercises designed to assess a set of personal characteristics, it was seen as a rather formal process where the individuals being assessed had the results fed back to them in the context of a simple yes/no selection decision. However, recently we have seen a definite shift in thinking away from this traditional view of an assessment centre to one which stresses the developmental aspect of assessment. A consequence of this is that today it is very rare to come across an assessment centre which does not have at least some developmental aspect to it, increasingly assessment centres are stressing a collaborative approach which involves the individual actively participating in the process rather than being a passive recipient of it. In some cases we can even find assessment centres that are so developmental in their approach that most of the assessment work done is carried out by the participants themselves and the major function of the centre is to provide the participants with feedback that is as much developmental as judgmental in nature.
Assessment centres typically involve the participants completing a range of exercises which simulate the activities carried out in the target job. Various combinations of these exercises and sometimes other assessment methods like psychometric testing and interviews are used to assess particular competencies in individuals. The theory behind this is that if one wishes to predict future job performance then the best way of doing this is to get the individual to carry out a set of tasks which accurately sample those required in the job and are as similar to them as possible. The particular competencies used will depend upon the target job but one will often find competencies such as relating to people; resistance to stress; planning and organising; motivation; adaptability and flexibility; problem solving; leadership; communication; decision making and initiative. There are numerous possible competencies and the ones which are relevant to a particular job are determined through job analysis.
The fact that a set of exercises is used demonstrates one crucial characteristic of an assessment centre - namely that it is behaviour that is being observed and measured. This represents a significant departure from many traditional selection approaches which rely on the observer or selector attempting to infer personal characteristics from behaviour based upon subjective judgement and usually precious little evidence. This approach is rendered unfair and inaccurate by the subjective whims and biases of the selector and in many cases produces a selection decision based on a freewheeling social interaction after which a decision was made as whether the individual's 'face fit' with the organisation.
A History of Assessment Centres
The use of Assessment Centres in The UK
We can trace the existence of assessment centres back to 1942 when they were used by War Office Selection Boards (Anstey, 1989). Their introduction stemmed from the fact that the existing system was resulting in a large proportion of those officers it had predicted would be successful being 'returned to unit' as unsuitable. This is hardly surprising when one considers that the system as it was relied on interviewing to select officers and had as selection criteria things like social and educational background. Even the criteria of 'achievement in the ranks' which one might imagine as being more job relevant included things like 'exceptional smartness'. No wonder unsuitable people were chosen as officers and potentially excellent officers overlooked. The assessment centre approach subsequently adopted was an attempt to accurately elicit the types of behaviour that an officer was required to display in order to be successful in their job. The tasks included leaderless group exercises, selection tests and individual interviews by a senior officer, junior officer and psychiatrist respectively. This new system resulted in a substantial drop in the proportion of officers being 'returned to unit' as unfit for duty. During the post war years this system was so successful that it was introduced for selection to the Civil Service and a variation of it is still used for officer selection in the armed forces to this day.
The use of Assessment Centres in The US
In the United States assessment centres were initially used by the Office of Strategic Studies to select spies during the Second World War. Subsequently the use of assessment centres was taken up by the private sector especially the giant American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) which began using assessment centres for management selection in 1956 as well as Standard Oil Ohio, IBM, Sears and General Electric. There were differences between the US and UK approaches which largely stemmed from the original background to their introduction. In the UK a greater emphasis was placed on group exercises with an appointed leader, group discussions and long written exercises whereas in the US more emphasis was placed on in-tray exercises, leaderless group exercises with assigned roles and two person role plays (Woodruffe, 1993).
The use of Assessment Centres in Industry
Modern assessment centres in the UK tend now to follow the American format although there are still some which have their roots in the public sector Civil Service model. The growth of the use of assessment centres in the UK has been rapid. In 1986 Robertson and Makin reported that slightly more than one quarter of organisations who employed 500 people or more used assessment centres, in 1989 Mabey reported that more than one third of companies employing over 1000 people used them while most recently Boyle et al (1993) reported that 45% of organisations who responded used assessment centres and that their use was more prevalent in the private sector and by larger organisations. We have also seen a rise in the use of what we could term 'pure' development centres. The main reasons behind this have been the realisation that centres that have an element of selection decision making to them can have a demoralising effect on those individuals who have been deemed unsuccessful. Organisations have also come to realise that to be competitive they must constantly invest in the development of their staff in order to enable them to respond effectively to an increasingly uncertain marketplace. This has meant that rather than selecting new employees organisations are now investing more in their existing workforce. Traditionally companies who wished to train their staff would send them on a training course external to the organisation, indeed many still do, but there has been an increasing emphasis placed on delivering training that is relevant to the organisation's needs and business objectives. A development centre run as part of an integrated training strategy is an excellent way of ensuring that training is carried out in a context of organisational relevance. A final reason for the growth in use of development centres has been the widespread adoption of the idea of behavioural competencies in the human resource field, because development centres are designed around the job simulation format which requires the participant to actively do something they are a naturally effective way of assessing competencies in individuals.
What are the Differences Between Assessment and Development Centres?
The type of centre can vary between the traditional assessment centre used purely for selection to the more modern development centre which involves self-assessment and whose primary purpose is development. One might ask the question 'Why group assessment and development centres together if they have different purposes?' The answer to that question is threefold. Firstly, they both involve assessment and it is only the end use of the information obtained which is different i.e. one for selection and one for development; secondly, it is impossible to draw a line between assessment and development centres because all centres, be they for assessment or development naturally lie somewhere on a continuum somewhere between the two extremes; thirdly most assessment centres involve at least some development and most development centres involve at least some assessment. This means that it is very rare to find a centre devoted to pure assessment or pure development. The issue is further confused by the political considerations one must take into account when running such a centre, it is common practice for an assessment centre with internal candidates to be referred to as a development centre because of the negative implications associated with assessment.
It is easier to think about assessment centres as being equally to do with selection and development because a degree of assessment goes on in both. Development centres grew out a liberalisation of thinking about assessment centres and it is a historical quirk that while assessment centres were once used purely for selection and have evolved to have a more developmental flavour the language used to describe them has not. Another problem with using the assessment - development dichotomy is that at the very least it causes us to infer that little or no assessment goes in development centres. While you will hear centres being called assessment or development centres remember that assessment goes on in both and so to some extent at least they are both assessment centres. The end result of this is that it is not possible to talk about assessment or development centres in any but the most general terms. It is more useful to talk about the constituent parts and general processes involved in each. In these terms we can identify a number of differences between assessment and development centres that one might typically find:
Assessment centres usually -
• have a pass/fail criteria
• are geared towards filing a job vacancy
• address an immediate organisational need
• have fewer assessors and more participants
• involve line managers as assessors
• have less emphasis placed on self-assessment
• focus on what the candidate can do now
• are geared to meet the needs of the organisation
• assign the role of judge to assessors
• place emphasis on selection with little or no developmental feedback and follow up
• give feedback at a later date
• involve the organisation having control over the information obtained
• have very little pre-centre briefing
• tend to be used with external candidates
Development centres usually -
• do not have a pass/fail criteria
• are geared towards developing the individual
• address a longer term need
• have a 1:1 ratio of assessor to participant
• do not have line managers as assessors
• have a greater emphasis placed on self-assessment
• focus on potential
• are geared to meet needs of the individual as well as the organisation
• assign the role of facilitator to assessors
• place emphasis on developmental feedback and follow up with little or no selection function
• give feedback immediately
• involve the individual having control over the information obtained
• have a substantial pre-centre briefing
• tend to be used with internal candidates

Explain the concept and purpose of mobility.

2011-05-16T05:35:00.000-07:00

Explain the concept and purpose of mobility. Take an account of the demotion practice in your organisation or an organisation you are familiar with and give a brief note on that. Describe the Organisation you are referring to.

Ans:- The forms of mobility are as follows:- The Inception Functions, Development Function, Motivation Function, Maintenance Function, Employment Functions, Training and Development Function, Compensation and Benefits Function, Employee Relations Functions. Rotork MNC is the Organisation we are referring to : which performs like this.
(i) The Inception Functions : This function deals with recruitment and selection of human resource. It involves identification of skills, knowledge and abilities need in an applicant. It facilitates fixation of performance standards, pay rates and invoking fair disciplinary action, if any. The focus is on facilitating adjustment to the work environment, attainment of organizational goals and adherence to the rules and regulations of the department in which the candidate has to work.
(ii) Development function : This function involves reformulating new employees to make them fully productive. It covers employee training, employee development, organization development and career development. The focus is on assisting employees to acquire better and improved skills for handing current jobs, enriching employees with more productive values, making the organization more adaptive to external influences and designing programmes to assist employees is advancing in their work lives.
(iii) Motivation Function : This function aims at improving performance. This needs proper job designing, adoption of an effective performance appraisal machinery and introduction of a fair and just system of incentives and compensation.
(iv) Maintenance Function : The maintenance function deals with putting in place activities that will help retain productive employees. It involves providing safe working environment, caring for the well-being of the employees and organizing communication programmes. The motive behind organizing communication programmes is to provide information to the employees to vent their frustrations.
(v) Employment Functions : The main trust of this function is to promote the activities related to the inception function by advertising the job effectively. It is important to note that the function does not deal with hiring decisions. It just co-ordinates the efforts with line management by handling the routine paper work associated with recruitment and selection.
(vi) Training and Development Function : This function is the organizations ‘internal change agent’. The focus of this function is to enhance the personal qualities of the employees to improve organization productivity. This function also counsel the employees and helps them in making a better career choice and in finding ways to achieve the desired goals.
(vii) Compensation and Benefits Function : This is the most difficult function for it deals with the most objective areas of a subjective field. It is concerned with paying the employees and in administering their benefits package. The pay is based on consideration like skills, job responsibility, efforts and accountability. While deciding the benefits package, stress is laid on employee needs and expectations and the burden these package create on the financial resources. These considerations often result in a conflict.
(viii) Employees Relations Functions : The task before the human resource manager is to solve employee grievances in a non-unionized setting. The function involves enforcement of policies and procedures and permitting a ‘wronged employee’ a forum to obtain relief. The organization should ensure appropriate disciplinary sanctions.

Define Human Resource Management.

2011-05-16T05:25:00.001-07:00

Define Human Resource Management. In the current scenario explain the HR departments Functions in your organisation or an organisation you are familiar with. Describe the organisation you are referring to.

Human resource management is the planning, organizing, directing and controlling the operative functions of procurement, development, compensation and maintenance of human resource of an organizations goals or objectives. It is responsible fro getting the best people, training them and providing mechanism to ensure that these employees maintain their productivity affiliations with the organizations. There are many emerging issues, which are divided into two:
a) Organisational problems:
The top management often presumes that sending the managers for the HRD programmes will automatically improve their performance. This is not the fact.
b) The line managers do not show interest in developing the human resources. They argue that developing the human resources is the duty of the HRD department. This feeling is a hurdle in the process of HRD.
c) HRD receives only lip service because of the heavy expenditure involved in the development process. Lack of genuine support makes the HRD programme futile.
d) Organizations transfer administrative and industrial relations managers/ staff to HRD department without adequate training. This adversely affects the HRD programmes because the badly needed ‘ human touch’ is missing.
GENERAL PROBLEMS :
A) The HRD programmes fail due to poverty, social injustice, low quality education and illiteracy.
B) The development of HR in India is also made difficult by the high fertility rate, poor health conditions, sexual discrimination and inter group intolerance.
C) The high population growth adversely affects the qualitative and quantitative dimensions of HRD programmes. Added to this are issues like high dependent population and unemployment.
D) The unscrupulous attitude of our politicians also impairs the moral fear and behavior of HR India.
E) The differences in the religious faiths among the people is another hurdle in the HRD. Religious conflicts hinder the development of HR in India.
F) The widening gap between have and have not is also a hurdle in HRD.
G) Indians have a strong faith in the traditional methods which are linked with their religious philosophies. This generates a strong resistance to change and impairs the HRD process.
The Organisation We are referring to is saffron MNC organisation which function like this:-
HRD approach will assist in evolving policies which will be useful in generating job satisfaction, career development opportunities and in alleviating the sense of frustrations among the human beings. Many organisations in India have started implementing the HRD programmes. The objectives HRD cannot be achieved without an effective HRM system. Every HRD system developed by an organisation should be based on the following elements of HRM
a) It evolves a system of Human Resources Planning them.
b) Selection of the right people for the right job at right time.
c) Imparting proper training based on the principle of learning, teaching basic work skills, motion study and training to foremen.
d) Evolving suitable compensation plan
Evolving a good performance appraisal system

What are the voluntary machineries available for settling industrial disputes? Write a brief note on Lok Adalats and its functions...

2011-05-16T05:06:00.000-07:00

What are the voluntary machineries available for settling industrial disputes? Write a brief note on Lok Adalats and its functions citing suitable examples.

Ans. Disputes according to the code of industrial relations introduced in the United Kingdom in 1972, are two kinds:
a) Disputes of right, which relate to the application or interpretation of an existing agreement or contract of employment; and
b) Disputes of interest, which relate to claims by employees or proposals by a management about the terms and conditions of employment.

According to the industrial Disputes Act, 1947, and the many judicial decisions which have been handed down by courts and tribunals, industrial disputes may be raised on any one of the following issues:
i) Fairness of the standing orders;
ii) Retrenchment of workers following the closing down of a factory, lay-offs, discharge or dismissal, reinstatement of dismissed employees, and compensation for them;
iii) Benefits of an Award denied to a worker; non-payment of personal allowance to seasonal employees; the demand of employees for medical relief for their parents;
iv) Wages, fixation, and minimum rates, modes of payment, and the right of an employee to choose one of the awards when two awards on wages have been given;
v) Lockout and claim for damages by an employer because employees resorted to an illegal strike;
vi) Payment of hours, gratuity, provident fund, pension and traveling allowance;
vii) Disputes between rival unions; and
viii) Disputes between employers and employees.
CAUSES OF INDUSTRIAL DISPUTES
a) Non-Industrial Factors: Industrial relations may be harmonious or strained and acrimonious. In the latter case, there are many causes which are rooted in historical, political and socio-economic factors, and in the attitudes of workers and their employers. Some of the causes of a dispute may be:
i) An industrial matter relating to employment, work, wages, hours, of work, privileges, the rights and obligations of employees and employers; the mode, terms and conditions of employment, is including maters pertaining;
ii) An industrial dispute which connotes any difference which has been fairly defined and is of real substance; that is a matter in which both parties are directly and substantially interested; or which is a grievance on the part of a worker which the employer is in a position to redress; or which is such as the parties are capable of settling between themselves or referring it for adjudication;
iii) Disputes often arise because of the rapidly increasing population which has no opportunities for gainful employment; there is, therefore, no improvement in the standard of living of employees who put forward demands for higher wages which, if not conceded often lead to strained industrial relations and strikes;
iv) The galloping pries of essential commodities, their shortages and/or non-availability, all these erode the value of money, as a result of which the real wages of the worker go down. They become dissatisfied, and demand higher wages;
v) The attitude and temperament of industrial workers have changed because of their education, the growth of public opinion and the legislation enacted for their benefit. They are, therefore, very conscious of their rights, and will not put up with any injustice or wrong done to them;
vi) Trade unions have often failed to safeguard the interests of workers. The reasons for this state of affairs are rivalry among, and a multiplicity of trade unions have destroyed the solidarity of the working class;
b) Management’s Attitude to Labour: Managements generally are not willing to talk over any dispute with their employees or their representatives or refer it to arbitration even when trade unions want them to do so. A management’s unwillingness to recognize a particular trade union and the dilatory tactics to which it resorts while verifying the representative character of any trade union have been a very fruitful source of industrial strife. Even when representative trade unions have been recognized by employers, they do not in a number of cases, delegate enough authority to their officials to negotiate with their workers, even though the representative of labour are willing to commit themselves to a particular settlement.
c) Government machinery: The machinery provided by the government for the resolution of industrial conflicts is often vary inadequate. For example: Again, trade union are generally affiliated to some major political party. Each political party, therefore, somehow “engineers” strikes, gheraos and bandhs to demonstrate its political strength. Invariably, the political party which is in power favours that trade union organisation which is affiliated to it.
SETTLEMENT OF DISPUTES
Various methods are available for resolving disputes. More important of them are –
1. Collective bargaining;
2. Conciliation;
3. Adjudication;
4. Voluntary arbitration;
1. Collective Bargaining: Collective bargaining has been defined in the Encyclopedia of Social Sciences as “a process of discussion and negotiation between two parties, one or both of whom is a group of persons acting in concert. The resulting bargains are an understanding as to the terms of conditions under which a continuing service is to be performed. More specifically, collective bargaining is the procedure by which an employer or employers and a group of employees agree upon the conditions of work.”
2. Conciliation: Conciliation is process by which representation of workers and employers are brought together before a third party with a view of persuading them to arrive at an agreement by mutual discussion between them. The Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 and other state enactments authorize the government to appoint conciliators charged with the duty of mediating in and promoting the settlement of industrial disputes.
3. Adjudication: Adjudication means a mandatory settlement of industrial disputes by labour courts or industrial tribunals or national tribunals under the Industrial Disputes Act or under any other corresponding state statutes. The government generally refers an industrial dispute for adjudication on failure of conciliation proceedings.
4. Voluntary Arbitration: Arbitration is a procedure in which a neutral third party studies the bargaining situation, listens to both the parties and gathers information, and then makes recommendations that are binding on the parties. The Industrial Dispute Act, 1947 provides for voluntary reference of disputes of arbitration.

What are the basic objectives of compensation administration?

2011-05-16T05:04:00.000-07:00

What are the basic objectives of compensation administration? Discuss the factors that are usually considered for determining compensation structure. Briefly explain the characteristic features of executive compensation.

Ans. The wage policies of different organisation vary somewhat. Marginal units pay the minimum necessary to attract the required number and kind of labour. Often, these units pay only the minimum wage rates required by labour legislation, and recruit marginal labour. At the other extreme, some units pay well above the going rates in the labour market. They do so to attract and retain the highest caliber of the labour market. They do so to attract and retain the highest caliber of the labour force. Some managers believe in the economy of higher wages. They feel that, by paying high wages, they would attract better workers who will produce more than the average worker in the industry. This greater production per employee means greater output per man hour. Hence, labour costs may turn out to be lower than those existing in firms using marginal labour. Some units pay high wages because of a combination of favourable product market demand, higher ability to pay and the bargaining power of a trade union. But a large number of them seek to be competitive in their wage programme, i.e., they aim at paying somewhere near the going rate in the labour market for the various classes of labour they employ. Most units give greater weight to two wage criteria, viz., job requirements and the prevailing rates of wages in the labour market. Other factors, such as changes in the cost of living, the supply and demand of labour, and the ability to pay are accorded a secondary importance.

A sound wage policy is to adopt a job evaluation programme in order to establish fair differentials in wages based upon differences in job contents. Besides the basic factors provided by a job description and job evaluation, those that are usually taken into consideration for wage and salary administration are:
a) The organization’s ability to pay;
b) Supply and demand of labour;
c) The prevailing market rate;
d) The cost of living;
e) Living wage;
f) Productivity;
g) Trade Union’s Bargaining power;
h) Job requirements;
i) Managerial attitudes;
j) Psychological and sociological factors; and
k) Levels of skills available in the market.
a) The organisation’s ability to pay: Wage increases should be given by those organisations which can afford them. Companies that have good sales and, therefore, high profits tend to pay higher wages than those which running at a loss or earning low profits because of the high cost of production or low sales.
b) Supply and Demand of Labour: The labour market conditions or supply and demand forces operate at the national, regional and local levels, and determine organizational wage structure and level. If the demand for certain skills is high and the supply is low, the result is a rise in the price to be paid for these skills.
c) Prevailing Market Rate: This is also known as the ‘comparable wage’ or ‘going wage rate’, and is the most widely used criterion. An organisation’s compensation policies generally tend to conform to the wage-rates payable by the industry and the community. This is done for several reasons.
d) The Cost of Living: The cost-of-living pay criterion is usually regarded as an automatic minimum equity pay criterion. This criterion calls for pay adjustments based on increases or decreases in an acceptable cost of living index. In recognition of the influence of the cost of living, “escalator clauses” are written into labour contracts.
e) The Living Wage: Criterion means that wages paid should be adequate to enable an employee to maintain himself and his family at a reasonable level of existence. However, employers do not generally favour using the concept of a living wage as a guide to wage determination because they prefer to base the wages of an employee on his contribution rather than on his need.
f) Productivity: Productivity is another criterion, and is measured in terms of output per man-hour. It is not due to labour efforts alone. Technological improvements, better organisation and management, the development of better methods of production by labour and management, greater ingenuity and skill by labour are all responsible for the increase in productivity.
g) Trade Union’s Bargaining Power: Trade unions do affect rate of wages. Generally, the stronger and more powerful the trade union, the higher the wages. A trade union’s bargaining power is often measured in terms of its membership, its financial strength and the nature of its leadership.
h) Job Requirements: Generally, the more difficult a job the higher are the wages. Measures of job difficulty are frequently used when the relative value of one job to another in an organisation is to be ascertained. Jobs are graded according to the relative skill, effort, responsibility, and job conditions required.

i) Managerial Attitudes: These have a decisive influence n the wage structure and wage level since judgement is exercised in many areas of wage and salary administration – including whether the firm should pay below average, or above average rates, what job factors should be used to reflect job worth, the weight to be given for performance or length of service, and so forth, both the structure and level of wages are bound to be affected accordingly.
j) Psychological and Social Factors: These determine in a significant measure how hard a person will work for the compensation received or what pressures he will exert to get his compensation increased. Psychologically, persons perceive the level of wages as a measure of success in life; people may feel secure; have an inferiority complex, seem inadequate or feel the reverse of all these.
k) Skill levels available in the market: With the rapid growth of industries, business trade, there is shortage of skilled resources. The technological development, automation has been affecting the skill levels at faster rates. Thus the wage levels of skilled employee are constantly changing and an organisation has to keep its level upto suit the market needs.

Define training and differentiate if from education.

2011-05-16T05:02:00.000-07:00

Define training and differentiate if from education. List out the various methods of training and briefly describe the training methods followed in your organisation or an organisation you are familiar with. Describe the organisation you referring to.

Ans. The forms and types of employee training methods are inter-related. It is difficult, if not impossible, to say which of the methods or combination of methods is more useful than the other. In fact, methods are multifaceted in scope and dimension, and each is suitable for a particular situation. The best technique for one situation may not be best for different groups or tasks. Care must be used in adapting the technique/method to the learner and the job. An effective training technique generally fulfils these objectives; provide motivation to the trainee to improve job performance, develop a willingness to change, provide for the trainee’s active participation in the learning process, provide knowledge of results about attempts to improve and permit practice where appropriate.
On the Job Training
Virtually every employee, from the clerk to company president, gets some “one the job training,” when he joins a firm. That is why William Tracly calls it, “the most common, the most widely used and accepted, and the
Most necessary method of training employees in the skills essential for acceptable for job performance.”
Trainees earn as they learn under the watchful eyes of a master mechanic or craftsman. Receive immediate feedback. Practice in the actual work environment, and associate with the same people they will work with after training. Under this technique, an employee is placed in a new job and is told how it may be performed. It is primarily concerned with developing in an employee a repertoire of skills and habits consistent with the existing practices of an organisation, and with orienting him to his immediate problems.
Special assignments or committees are other methods used to provide lower-level executives with first hand experience in working on actual problems. Executives from various functional areas serve on “boards” and are required to analyse problems and recommend solutions to top management. One the job training is made more effective by the use of a variety of training aids and techniques, such as procedure charts lecture manuals, sample problems, demonstrations, oral and written explanations, tape-recorders and other aids.
Job Instruction Training
This method is very popular in the states for preparing supervisors to train operatives. The JIT method requires skilled trainers, extensive job analysis, training schedules, and prior assessment of the trainee’s job knowledge. This method is also known as “training through step by step learning.” It involves listing all necessary steps in the job, each in proper sequence. These steps show what is to be done. Along side each step is also listed a corresponding “Key point”, which show how it is to be done and why.
The actual training follows a four-step process, beginning with (i) the preparation of the trainee for instruction. This includes putting him at ease, emphasizing the importance of the task and giving a general description of job duties and responsibilities; (ii) presentation of the instructions, giving essential information in a clear manner. This includes positioning the trainee at work site, telling and showing him each step of the job, stressing why and how each step is carried out as it is shown; (iii) having the trainee try out the job to show that he has understood the instruction, if there are any errors they are corrected; and (iv) encouraging questions and allowing the trainee to work along and the trainer follows up regularly.
Vestibule Training
This method attempts to duplicate on the job situations in a company classroom. It is a classroom training which is often imparted with the help of the equipment and machines which are identical with those in use in the place of work. This technique enables the trainee to concentrate on learning the new skill rather than on performing an actual job. In other words, it is geared to job duties. Theoretical training is given in the classroom, while the practical work is conducted on the production line.
It is a very efficient method of training semi-skilled personnel, particularly when many employees have to be trained for the same kind of work at the same time. It is often used to train clerks, bank tellers, inspectors, machine operators, testes, typists, etc. It is most useful when philosophic concepts, attitudes, theories and problem-solving abilities have to be learnt.
Training is generally given in the form of lectures, conferences, case studies, role playing and discussion.
Training by Experienced Workmen
By this method, training is imparted by experienced senior fellow-workers. It is particularly adaptable where experienced workmen need helpers. It is useful for departments in which workmen advance through successive jobs to perform a series of operations.
Training by Supervisors
Such training is imparted on the job by the workers immediate supervisors. It provides to the trainees opportunities for getting acquainted with their bosses. The bosses, too, have an opportunity to judge the abilities and possibilities of trainees from the point of view of their job performance.
Demonstrations and Examples (or learning by seeing)
In the demonstration method, the trainer describes and displays something, as when he teaches an employee how to do something by actually performing the activity himself and by going through a step by step explanation of “why” and “what” he is doing.
Demonstrations are very effective in teaching because it is much easier to show a person how to do a job than to tell him of ask him to gather instruction from the reading material.
Teaching by example is effective in mechanical operations or interpersonal relationships, for job duties and responsibilities, for informal group standards, supervisory expectations, and the like.
Simulation
Simulation is a technique which duplicates, as nearly as possible, the actual conditions encountered on a job. The vestibule training method or the business-game methods are examples of business simulations. Simulation techniques have been most widely used in the aeronautical industry.
Trainee interest and employee motivation are both high in simulation exercise because the actions of a trainee closely duplicate real job conditions. Training is essential in cases in which actual on the job practice might result in a serious inquiry, a costly error, or the destruction of valuable materials or resources. It is for this reason that the technique is a very expensive one.

Apprenticeship
For training in crafts, trades and in technical areas, apprenticeship training is the oldest and most commonly used method, especially when proficiency in a job is the result of a relatively long training period of 2 years to 3 years for persons of superior ability and from 4 years to 5 years for others. The field in which apprenticeship training is offered are numerous and range from the job of a draughtsman, a machinist, a printer, a tool-maker, a pattern designer, a mechanic, carpenters, weavers, fitters, jewelers, die-sinkers, engravers, and electricians. A major part of training time is spent on the job productive work. Each apprentice is given a programme of assignments according to a pre-determined schedule, which provides for efficient training in trade skills.

what is competency mapping?

2011-05-16T04:54:00.000-07:00

what is competency mapping? Discuss the process of competency mapping and explain how it is carried out in your organisation or an organisation you are familiar with. Briefly describe the organisation you are referring to.

Ans. Several methods and techniques of appraisal are available for measurement of the performance of an employee. The methods and scales differ for obvious reasons. First, they differ in the sources of traits or qualities to be appraised. The qualities may differ because of differences in job requirements, statistical requirements and the opinions of the management. Second, they because of the different kinds of workers who are being rated, viz., factory workers, executives or salesmen. Third, the variations may be caused by the degree of precision attempted in an evaluation. Finally, they may differ because of the methods used to obtain weighting for various traits.
Rock and Lewis have classified the methods into two broad categories, viz., the narrow interpretation and broad interpretation of appraisal. The former is considered as “a post-mortem of a subordinate’s performance by his superior during a pre-determined period of time, often, the preceding year. It involves assessment of performance vis-à-vis such as the traits or characteristics’ rating scale, the ranking method, the employee comparison method and performance standard method are included under this category.
The wide ly used categorization is that given by Strauss and Sayles. They have classified performance appraisal methods into traditional, and newer or modern methods. The traditional methods lay emphasis on the rating of the individual’s personality traits, such as initiative, dependability, drive, responsibility, creativity, integrity, leadership potential, intelligence, judgement, organising ability, etc. On the other hand, newer methods place more emphasis on the evaluation of work results – job achievements – than on personality traits. Results oriented appraisals tend to be more objective and worthwhile, especially for counseling and development purposes.
TRADITIONAL METHODS
a) Straight Ranking Method
b) Man-to-man Comparison Method
c) Grading
d) Graphic Rating Scales
e) Forced Choice Description Method
f) Forced Distribution Method
g) Check Lists
h) Free From Essay Method
i) Critical Incidents
j) Group Appraisal
k) Field Review Method
MODERN METHODS
a) Assessment Centre
b) Appraisal by Results or Management by Objectives
c) Human Asset Accounting Method
d) Behaviourly Anchored Rating Scales
Straight Ranking Methods
It is the oldest and simplest method of performance appraisal, by which the man and his performance are considered as an entity by the rater. No attempt is made to fractionalize the rate or his performance; the “whole man” is compared with the “whole man”; that is the ranking of a man in a work group is done against that of another. The relative position of each man is tested in terms of his numerical rank. It may also be done by ranking a person on his job performance against that of another member of a competitive group by placing him as number one or two or three in total group, i.e., persons are tested in order of merit and placed in a simple grouping.
Paired Comparison Technique
By this technique, each employee is compared every trait with all the other persons in pairs one at a time. With this technique, judgement is easier and simpler than with the ordinary ranking method. The number of times each individual is compared with another is tallied on a piece of paper. These numbers yield the rank order of the entire group.
Man-to-man Comparison Method
This technique was used by the USA army during the First World War. By this method, certain factors are selected for the purpose of analysis and a scale is designed by the rater for each factor. A scale of man is also created for each selected factor. The each man to be rated is compared with the man in the scale, and certain scores for each factor are awarded to him. In other words, instead of comparing a “whole man” to a “whole man,” personnel are compared to the key man in respect of one factor at a time.
Grading Method
Under this system, the rater considers certain features and marks them accordingly to a scale. Certain categories of worth are first established and carefully defined. The selected features maybe analytical ability, co-operativeness, dependability, self-expression, job knowledge, judgement, leadership and organising ability, etc.
Graphic or Linear rating Scale
This is the most commonly used method of performance appraisal. Under it, a printed form, one for each person to be rated. According to Jucius, these factors are; employee characteristics and employee contribution. In employee characteristics are included such qualities as initiative leadership, co-operativeness, dependability, industry, attitude, enthusiasm, loyalty, creative ability, decisiveness, analytical ability, emotional ability, and co-ordination. In the employee contribution are included the quantity and quality of work, the responsibility assumed, specific goals achieved, regularity of attendance, leadership offered, attitude towards superiors ad associates, versatility, etc.
Forced Choice Description Method
This method was evolved after a great deal of research conducted for the military services during World War II. It attempts to correct a rater’s tendency to give consistently high or consistently low ratings to all the employees. The use of this method calls for objective reporting and minimum subjective judgement. Under this method, the rating elements are several sets of pair phrases or adjectives relating to job proficiency or personal qualifications. The rater is asked to indicate which of the four phrases is most and least descriptive of the employee.
Forced Distribution Method
This method was evolved by Joseph Tiffin after statistical work. This system is used to eliminate or minimize raters’ bias, so that all personnel may not be placed at the higher end or at the lower end of the scale. It requires the rater to appraise an employee according to a pre-determined distribution scale. Under this system, it is performance and promo ability.

In the concept of outsourcing in the context of current business scenario.

2011-05-16T04:46:00.001-07:00

In the concept of outsourcing in the context of current business scenario. Give you opinion outsourcing with the help of suitable organizational instance.

Ans. The Indian industry particularly after independence for over 40 years had been controlled by the economic policy of the government. They policy was influenced by political, economic reasons and also with an idea to allow industries to grow and meet the market needs. There were governmental restrictions on licensing, foreign exchange, import, encouragement to public sector. These restrictions impaired the growth of economy resulting in huge fiscal deficits, crisis in balance of payments, fall in foreign exchange reserves, growing foreign debts, trade deficits resulting in decline of India’s credit worthiness in International Market and The International Monetary Fund which had advanced huge loans to the Indian Government, imposed drastic conditions for new loans. This resulted in the liberalisation of government’s economic policy. As a result steps taken by government include deli censing of industries, removal of restriction of foreign investment, relaxation of Foreign Exchange Regulation Act and Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act MRTP; a policy of privatization of certain public sector undertakings, curtailing their role, liberalisation of imports, lowering of tariffs introduction of new exchange rate system. Economic reforms include monetary, fiscal reforms, control on inflation, controlling subsidies, restructuring public sector and exit policy.

a) Impact of the changed policy: It changed the direction of the country from socialistic pattern to market economy. The effective change that occurred were intense competition entry of new multinationals, with increasing stake of their participation, competition intensification due to liberalisation of imports. Frequent changes in international environment and vulnerable Indian market had impact on competition. These changes necessitated the new concepts of total quality, productivity management cost reduction, restructuring the organisations.
b) Impact of Human Resource Management: The new economic policy has adverse impact on employment particularly so because of recessionary conditions, and import policy. New employment opportunities in the organized sector have reduced and the employers and cutting downs the employee numbers to remain competitive in the market. The modern technology requires employees of different skills, with high degree of dedication. The existing employees with outdated skills and knowledge will have to be retrenched and reduced as they will not effectively contribute to the new techniques, machines and process. This has resulted in the government of India introducing and permitting exit/Golden hand shake policy to get rid of unwanted manpower.

DEFINITION, SCOPE AND OBJECTIVE OF HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT
a) Definition: Human Resource Management is concerned with the people who work in the organisation to achieve the objectives of the organisation. Ti concerns with acquisition of appropriate human resource, developing their skills and competencies, motivating them for best performance and ensuring their continued commitment to the organisation to achieve organizational objectives. This definition applies to all types of organisation, e.g., industry, business, government, education, health or social welfare of the people.
b) Scope: The scope of HRM is vast. All major activities in the working life of the employee from the time of his entry into the organisation until he leaves, retires come under the purview of human resource management. The most important activities undertaken are [1] Planning, job design, job analysis, procurement, recruitment, selection, induction, placement, training, and development [2] Compensation, rewards, benefits, retrial benefits, medical and, health care [3] Motivation – Motivational aids, bonus, incentive, profit sharing non-monetary benefits are esteem satisfaction, career development, growth, decision making, delegation of authority and power, promotion, etc. [4] Employee Relations – Grievance handling participation, collective bargaining and other aspects of cordial relations conducive to mutual understanding and trust. [5] Employee evaluation and performance improvement, Human Resource, Audit; and Human Resource Accounting.
c) Objectives: The objectives of human Resource Management are:
i) To provide, create utilize and motivate employees to accomplish organizational goals.
ii) To secure integration of individual and groups in securing orgnaisational effectiveness.
iii) To create opportunities, to provide facilities, necessary motivation to individuals and groups for their growth with the growth of the organisation by training and development compensation.
iv) To provide attractive, equitable, incentives, rewards, benefits, social security measures, to ensure retention of competent employees.
v) To maintain high morale, encourage value system and create environment of trust, mutuality of interests.
vi) To provide opportunities for communication expression, participation, appreciation, recognition and provide fair efficient leadership.
vii) To create a sense and feeling of belongingness team spirit and encourage suggestions from employees.
viii) To ensure that, there is no threat of unemployment, inequalities, adopting a policy recognizing merit and employee contribution, and conditions for stability of employment.