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M.P.A.-14
Human Resource Management
ASSIGNMENT SOLUTIONS GUIDE (2013-2014)
Disclaimer / Special Note: These are just the sample of the Answers/Solutions to some of the questions
given in the Assignments. These Sample Answers/Solutions are prepared by Tutor for the help of the student
to get an idea of how he/she can answer the questions of the Assignments. Sample answers may be seen as
the Guide/Reference Book/assignment Guide. Any Omission or Error is highly regretted though every care
has been taken while preparing these Sample Answers/Solutions. Please consult you Teacher/Tutor before
you prepare a Particular Answer.
SECTION - I
Q. 1. Define HRM and discuss its Hard and Soft Versions.
Ans. Human Resource Management (HRM) may be defined as a set of policies, prac-
tices and programmes designed to maximise both personal and organisational goals. It is
the process of building people and organisations together so that the objectives on each are
achieved. It is known by different names, e.g., personnel management, manpower manage-
ment, and personnel administration, staff management, etc. Human resource management
is not something, which can be turned over to a human resource department. It is a responsi-
bility of each and every manager. It has emerged as a distinct discipline. It seeks to accom-
plish societal, organisational and individual goals.
In the HRM, different thinkers gives their views in various ways, which is explained in the
following:
According to Mazarrese, HRM involves with compensation benefit, staffing, HR
forecasting, succession planning, management and executive development,
performances management, employee relations, organisation development, total
quality management, needs analysis, instructional design and development training
programme evaluation, Return On Investment, (ROI) impact studies to name a few.
From Keeney: HRM is the conceptual, which describe all the transformative changes
in the management of employee relations.
In the opinion of Blunt, HRM is the discipline, which concerned with the human side of
the enterprise was largely regarded as covering moribund house keeping operational
activities. Thus, there was no status and influence of the discipline.
From Guest, HRM concern with the personnel management, which based on scientific
management or welfare management.
Flippo: Replanning organising directing and controlling of the procurement,
development, compensation, integration and maintenance of human resource to the
end these individual organisational and social objectives are accomplished.
According to Tracey, ..........The organisation function that focuses on the effective
management, direction, and utilisation of people, both the people, who manage produce
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and market and sell the products and services of an organisation and those who support
organisational activities. It deals with the human elements in the organisation, people
as individuals and groups, their recruitment, selection, assignment, motivation,
empowerment, compensation, utilisation, services, training, development, promotion,
termination and retirement.
According to Alan Price, in his book, Human Resource Management in a Business
context, HRM has become the dominant approach to people management and it
basically related to the human behaviour in the work place. It also deal with various
activities and functions just like human resource planning, recruitment, training,
compensation packages, moral boosting, discipline and conflict resolution, etc.
According to Patrick Hurringle, in his work, Human Resource management in
Ireland, HRM emphasis on modern trends such as employee attraction and retention,
job design, employee motivation, reward system and employee relations.
From the above definitions, there are some most important aspects of HRM, which
emerge could be started as:
There is an explicit link between managing human resource and success of
administrative or management strategy.
Sector strategies cannot be appreciated in is solution, but only as parts on the integral
whole.
Senior line managers are required to assume more responsibility with regard to
managing human resource.
There is a stress on inter-personal relations as a determinant of performance.
Human Resource Management plays a significance role in management regulatory and
policy planning functions. It also related in advising, implementing and organizing change.
Human resource management is the art and science of managing people in an organisation.
It is basically related with compensation benefit, staffing, HR forecasting, succession
planning, management and executive development, performance management, employee
relation, organisation development, total quality management and development training
programme evaluation. According to SimonManagement is the art and science of getting
things done. According to FayolManagement function is universal in public and private
organisations.
Hard Version
In the opinion of Guest (1999), Human Resource Management reflects a long-standing
capitalist tradition in which workers are regarded as commodity. According to Hard approach,
human resource management is a pragmatic perspective to human resource management,
which looks upon people as resource and measures the tangible benefits accruing from their
deployment. Human resources have to be acquired, developed and deployed in ways that
maximise their utility. The main focus is basically on calculative and strategic aspect of
managing human resource. The objective is efficiency and the philosophy is business-
orientation. Human resource management is based on the business need to respond to the
external threat arising from increasing competition. It is a philosophy that appeals to
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managements striving hard at achieving and sustaining competitive edge and appreciate
that to do it they must invest in human resource as well as they do for other practices or for
other areas.
Therefore, hard version emphasis on
drive for economy and efficiency;
interest of management as opposed to workers;
adoption of a strategic approach that is in line with business strategy;
obtaining value-adding services from people through targeted human resource
development practices;
emphasis on strong people centric organisational culture; and
the need to obtain agreed commitment of employees towards goals and purpose of
the organisation.
Soft Version
The soft model of HRM origin from the human relation school of administrative thought.
It emphasises on development of healthy organisational culture by use of effective
communication, motivation and leadership as primary sources of maximizing performance. It
also looks upon employees as co-contributors. It stresses through democratic means such
as participative management, meaningful involvement in policy formulation and other methods
of developing high-commitment-high-trust culture in the organisation. Therefore, attention is
the key role of organisational behaviour.
Generally, employees of the organisation are treated as valued assets and a source of
competitive advantage. Organisational purpose are commitment, adaptability and high quality
performance in consonance with the collective will of the organisation. Ethics lies in reciprocity
between individual member and the management. Soft version approach is also termed as
the unitary approach to human resource management.
Reconciling to Two
It has been observed, human resource management is soft the reality is often harsh, with
the interests of the organisation prevailing, more often than not, over that of the individuals.
Practically, we find that both hard and soft versions informing organisational practice. Therefore,
hard and soft HRM is not as specific or obvious as it is tacit and implied.
Q. 2. Version Methods are used to obtain data for Job Analysis. Discuss.
Ans. For obtaining data several methods are required which help for job analysis. They
are:
1. Technical Conference: In this method, data or information about the job is collected
from experts, Supervisors, and not from actual job incumbents. One important defects of this
method is that experts show poor knowledge of the job since they do not perform it themselves.
They give answers based on past experience or abstract perception.
2. Self-recording or Dairy: In this method, information about the job are obtained through
dairy or self-recording. Here, the head of the organisation or incumbent asked each employee
to record his daily activities, by using some type of log book or dairy. From this method
incumbents know the time spent on various activities during a day. It is a time-consuming
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method. Here the incumbents are heard complaining that they spend more time on writing
diaries than actually doing the job. This method is useful, in systematically collecting information
about a job. It is particularly useful for studying high level managerial jobs.
3. Interview and Questionnaire: Interview and questionnaire are the important method
for obtaining data about job. Interview is a two person conversation. It is initiated by the
interviewer for obtaining information on the subject-matter. It is of two types formal or informal.
Formal interview is one in which set questions are asked and answers recorded in a
standardised form. On the other hand informal interview is not charted. It is in the nature of an
informal conversation. Interview in an organisation or anywhere are of supervisor interviews
or incumbent interview. Further, the success of survey depends upon the questionnaire. Care
has to be taken in formulating questions, wording subject-matter, sequence, format etc.
Questions are of either pre-coded or open. In the pre-coded question, questions are put in
the appropriate code category and respondent is given on a limited number of answers. On
the other hand, in open question, respondent is left free on the format of his answer, to decide
its form, detail, length etc. Responses help for the development of job design. The interviewer
can use questionnaire personally. It should be user friendly so that the respondent is able to
handle it without trouble. In a mailed questionnaire, there is no opportunity for the interviewer
to explain or supplement arguments by observational data. Therefore, it had self-sufficient
document. Questionnaire should also be tested before being put to use.
(4) Observation and Collection of Data: Observation and collection of data serve the
purpose of scientific investigation. Science begins with observation and returns to observation
for validation. Observation serves the investigators purpose in the following ways:
Observation provides supplementing data, which help for obtaining other techniques.
It is used for determining complex social phenomena, culture or behaviour.
It helps the observer to get actual phenomenon that can be later tested by other
techniques.
It also used as the primary method of data collection.
It provides clear and authentic picture of a given situation.
5. The Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ): The position analysis questionnaire
is a practical job analysis method which compare specific job with other jobs. It has been
thoroughly researched and enables statistical comparison of job elements. It contains a hundred
and ninety four job elements.
6. Participation: In this method, the job analyst himself performs the job to study the
characteristic or nature of job. This method is suitable for simple jobs, but in case of complex
jobs, it required advance training of the analyst, which is not possible. This method is also
time-taking and expensive for collecting data about job.
7. Management Position Analysis Questionnaire: Management position analysis
questionnaire is a highly structured questionnaire, designed with two hundred and eight items.
It is used in describing, comparing, classifying and evaluating executive white collar jobs. The
latest version of MPAQ is classified into thirteen parts.
Other important methods are also used separately to aid job analysis exercise. These
include:
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(a) Task Inventories: Task inventories provides vital information about the skills,
knowledge and abilities required to perform a job. This information is valuable for developing
employee selection procedures, and training programs. It is also valuable for setting standards
in performance appraisals and evaluating jobs to determine the correct pay level. For training
purposes, it tells the developer what the job requires.
(b) Check Lists: Check lists are used to avoid duplication of work across tiers. If
any duplication is taken place, concerned employee can be advanced in the career ladder on
the basis of his experience of the added task. It also helps in the selection of employees. It is
used to order tasks sequentially. It also classified task as logistic support, service delivery,
sales etc. A good check list is a result of collaborative effort of the supervision and the employee.
(c) Expert Panels: Job analysis experts are hired by organisations for conducting
job analysis. Analysis is done on the basis of critical incidents of good and job element. Job
element is defined as a worker characteristic which influences success in a job, including
combination of abilities, skills, knowledge or personal characteristics.
Limitations of Job Analysis: There are various limitations on job analysis. Even in
case of organisation, a well-established job analysis programme provides information only a
snapshot of a particular job. A well-formulated job analysis programme facilitates organisational
change by providing an inbuilt mechanism for periodically assessing jobs. This reassessment
may be done through observation, interviews, or by using a brief questionnaire or a check list.
Unlike performing job analysis is a less expensive and time-consuming effort.
Q. 4. Write a note on Principles of Remuneration.
Ans. For the determination of salary, following factors are taken into consideration:
Equal Pay for Equal Work: Equal pay for equal work is an important factor in the
determination of salary. Each and every organisation has compensated the opposition and
not the individual. They pay salary according to their work. Work is important in every field for
the determination of salary. Theoretically, nothing can be held against it, in practice however
it is extremely difficult to define what equal work means because it is the person who works,
that makes the difference.
Employers Capacity to Pay: Employers capacity to pay employees is an important
factor in the determination of salaries or wages. Actually it depend upon the profit-earning
capacity of the employers. If in the organisation, employers get higher profit, by using qualified,
talented, knowledgeable employee, obviously, provided higher salaries and wages to its
employee, get more profit from them. On the other hand, if employers do not get any profit, it
doesnt like to pay higher wages and salaries to its employee. Thus, it is an important factor
in the determination of salary structure.
Social Criteria: Minimum salaries are determined not only on economic, but also on
social basis. It has evoked much criticism. The following approaches determine the minimum
wages of the employee in the organisation:
1. Living wage approach
2. Capacity to pay approach
3. Productivity approach
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4. The need-based approach
5. Job evaluation approach
6. Relative parties approach.
All these approaches are given by the Fifth Central Pay Commission. This commission
observes that living wage is desirable and the state must try to provide it as indicated in
Article 43. The concept-living wage is not a static one as it rises or falls with the differing
prosperity level of the state.
Variations in Compensation: Variations in compensation means differences in
compensation. Compensations are provided to the individual to attract him towards the
workforce. But variations in compensation depend upon the experience of an employee, his
background, skills, duties, responsibilities and hazards involved in work. If the work is more
hazardous, or one takes more duties and responsibilities in the work place, pay scales would
be higher to attract and retain good employees.
Scales of Pay: Scales of pay of the employees are fairly comparable to the rates of
remuneration prevailing outside the industry. While there are economic reforms in the public
sector, the government has tight control over compensation packages of the employees. But
in case of private sector compensation packages for employees is a result of intense
competition among the large number of players. In private sector salaries may be a transitory
phenomenon and may be limited by its own parameters. But in actual field there is need for a
national wage policy to bring uniformity and consistency in the salary system. For example, in
Singapore, salaries in government have been benchmarked to salaries in the private sector.
Salaries of permanent secretaries in the United Kingdom are comparable with salaries of
chief executive in the private sector.
Level of Consumer Prices: Consumer prices should be taken into consideration while
fixing pay scales and determining other conditions of service. Inflation should also be counted
in periodic wage revision.
Structure of Emoluments: Structure of emoluments should be so designed as to ensure
recruitment of persons with necessary qualification and abilities at each level. Fairness and
equity are also taken into consideration while determining the salary structure of the employee.
Job evaluation is done for the purpose of addressing the aforesaid requirements.
Making Salaries Commensurate with Personal Requirement: Fulfillment of
personnel requirement of an employee is very important in the determination of salaries.
Personnel requirement of an employee should be commensurate with the salaries package
provided for their work.
Social Consideration: Social consideration is another important factor in the
determination of salary. It makes a difference between the highest and lowest salaries, which
is maintained to ensure an equitable, and a just social order.
Legislation: Apart from the factors mentioned above, legislation plays an important
role in determination of salary and wage rates. In public sector, different laws are made
regarding the minimum wages of the employee. Further employee also sometime chooses
the path of strike for their minimum salary on wages.
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SECTION - II
Q. 6. There are different ways to approach Management Development. Discuss.
Ans. Management development means to improve managerial effectiveness through a
planned and deliberate learning process, by which managers and executive acquire not only
skills and competency in their present jobs, but also capabilities for future managerial tasks.
It is sure that, development is a continuous and dynamic process where managers often
learn through informal, and unplanned experiences. To achieve a more comprehensive view
of development, there is need to incorporate additional aspects such as:
Framework for setting, linking and balancing individual and organisational objectives;
Systems for identifying and selecting managers;
Structures to support, motivate and reward;
Plans to enable career progression; and
Mechanisms to measure and evaluate performance.
According to Mumford, Management development is an attempt to improve managerial
effectiveness through a planned and deliberate learning process.
For Flippo, Management development includes the process by which managers and
executive acquire not only skills and competency in their present jobs but also capabilities for
future managerial tasks of increasing difficulty and scope.
Approaches to Management Development
Mumford describes three types of approaches to management development. They are:
1. Piecemeal Approaches
2. Open System Approaches
3. Unified Approaches
TYPE (1) Informal Managerial Accidental
Processes
Characteristics:
Occurs within managers activities
Unstructured in development terms
Owned by managers
Explicit intention is task performance
Not planned in advance
No clear development objectives.
TYPE (2) Integrated Managerial Opportunistic Processes
Characteristics
Occur within managerial activities.
Structured for development by boss and subordinate.
Owned by managers.
Explicit intention is both task performance and development.
Planned beforehand and reviewed subsequently as learning experiences.
Clear development objectives.
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TYPE (3) Formalised Development Planned Process
Characteristics
Often away from normal managerial activities
Structured for development by developers
Owned more by developers than managers
Explicit intention is development
Planned beforehand or reviewed subsequently as learning experiences.
Clear development objectives.
1. Characteristics of Piecemeal Approach: Piecemeal approaches are inefficient
and ineffective development. They are similar to Type 1 and Type 2 development. Here there
is no management development infrastructure. Development is not linked to business strategy.
Development is based on the needs of the organisation and it fails to meet the learning
needs and aspiration of individuals and groups. Here management education and training is
of silent support. Therefore, it is an inefficient and ineffective development. In this approach,
there is lack of common vision among those responsible for management development. It is
very difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of a piecemeal approach as there is no clear direction
and established objectives.
Most of the organisations dont like to adopt this approach, but they are forces to adopt
it. There are some reasons why organisations are forced to adopt these approaches. These
are:
Limited resource.
Group who seek to exert control over development.
Lack of awareness about linking management development to organisational strategy
on the part of those responsible for initiating development.
2. Open System Approach: Open system approach becomes an integral part of a
wider organisational system. It is linked to the reality of management work. In the open system
approach, management development focuses on the following:
The management development process interacts influences and is influenced by
variables from other environmental and organisational sub-systems.
It is composed of identifiable parts or components. A range of inputs is transformed in
the management development process to produce a range of output.
If an organisation like to adopt an open system perspective of management development
they must overcome the problem created by the piecemeal approach. In this system
management development, reveals full extent of its influence on the organisation, if you devlop
the manager. You develop the organisation and vice-versa.
3. Unified Approach: In the unified system, management development is at the heart of
the organisations mission, business goal, philosophy and human resource strategy. Here
manager performance is measured and development activity can be linked clearly to the
organisational values and the achievement of strategic goals.
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Conclusion
Management development is future-oriented and manager is the key person, who play a
significant role in the process of development. Development bring change in an organisation,
it helps to change the structure and the process of the organisation. And this change bring
only through training and education process. That means, to improve the relationship between
the employee and employer. Management deals with individuals activities and a body of
knowledge.Thus, management as a working organisation perform. Top management should
accept responsibility for management development. A senior executive should be made
incharge of initially and implementing the organisations executive development programmes.
Feedback should be made available to the learner so that he can take necessary steps to
improve himself. Management development begins with the selection of the right man for
management position.
Q. 7. Discuss the major steps, key objectives and significance of Employee Ca-
pacity Building.
Ans. Generally, capacity-building means to build the organisations effectiveness and
sustainability. It also involves building on the available knowledge, which is specially based
on technical and human relations fields. Capacity-building has two components, one is
organisational and other is human. Human strategies for human right are based on promo-
tion and protection of human rights. Its basic objective is to provide training and guidance to
its employees. It also works closely with individuals responsible for the management. Thus,
the concept of strategies means it is a plan or a pattern which provides for consistent behaviour
over time. Employee-capacity building strategies means it is a plan or a pattern to build the
capacity of the employee. Education and training are two basic key words which helps to
build the capacity of the employee. But in government organisations, specific strategies for
employee capacity building goes through the process of decentralisation, delegation, quality
and innovation, technical capacity building, promotion and so on. In decentralisation pro-
cess, decision-making is facilitated at the grassr oots level, where people are more partici-
pate. Delegation makes processes more dynamic and improves communications in an
organisation and it contributes to employee empowerment. For better effectiveness, a new
concept adopt that stresses on quality and innovativeness to build up capacity building.
Technical capacity building basically deals on technical support activities such as training,
coaching, resource networking. E-governance is also determine the efficiency of modern
government administration. Promotion also helps to build employee capacity building. In ev-
ery government, promotion increased openness for decisions taken by the government.
Significance of Employee-Capacity Building Strategies:
The significance of employee-capacity building has been discussed in the following
points:
1. It provides training and guidance to the individual for their career development.
2. It helps in evaluating and measuring the current working capacity of the organisation.
3. It facilitated long-term decisions in the organisation.
4. It helps the organisation to acquire competitive advantage in identified fields.
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5. It helps in utilisation of resources through consistent application of R and D.
Objective of Capacity Building: Following are the objective of capacity-building:
1. For implementing and evaluating what worked, what did not and what was learnt in the
process.
2. For bringing suitable modifications.
3. For identifying required resource to achieve identified outcomes.
4. For developing specific outcomes to achieve strategies and tactics.
5. For prioritizing the areas for improvement.
Conclusion: On the whole, employee capacity building is the process of assisting an
individual or a group to identify key areas of development and gain necessary insights for
fuller exploitation of capacity. Knowledge and experience are needed to solve incident and
problem. For this end, capacity building provides proper knowledge both in technical and
human relation fields. Human strategies for human rights also provides capacity building
services on development of effective, efficient and sustainable physical working conditions
for the promotion of human rights.
Generally, capacity building means development of capacity. It may be organisation or
employee. Employee capacity building means development of an individuals skill and
knowledge both in technical and human relation fields. Where as organisational capacity
building means development of an organisations core skills and capabilities such as
leadership, management, finance and fund raising in order to build the organisations
effectiveness and sustainability. Employees require proper education and training for their
capacity building where as organisations require up to date technology and human capacity
for their development.
Steps in Capacity Building: Significant steps in capacity building are studied as
followed:
(a) Promotion over all Human Capacity Building:
Employee capacity building will not be possible without the overall human capacity is
promoted. It is necessary to emphasise the following activity areas:
1. Human capacity building with in overall social and economic development strategy,
recognizing the critical importance of human capital by developing more integrated
approaches to capacity building.
2. Develop relevant programmes to enhance entrepreneurial and management skills,
particularly among small and medium enterprises to meet the new demands from
globalisation and the new economy.
3. Develop policies to provide incentives for the business sector to participate in the
development of human capacity building, such as providing facilities and infrastructure
ensuring that access is maintained for the development of e-commerce etc.
4. Facilitate mutual recognition of professional qualification, in respective countries, which
should be based on the standard of achievement and outcomes that are mutually
agreed between economics.
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5. Establish mutual linkage between sectoral networks including business, education,
training sectors and government to draw out synergy effect to the human capacity
building.
6. Encourage trade union to develop and implement relevant training programmes, and
motivate and mobilize workers to undertake life-long learning.
7. Setting up a life- long education and learning society.
(b) To build employee capacity on a continued basis, it is felt necessary to set up a life-
long education and learning society to:
1. Encourage the opening of education and training facilities, including facilities which
transcend national boundaries.
2. Establish a life-long learning system to ensure pre-employment, education continual
training and upgrading of knowledge and skills for workers.
3. Establish accessible, wide and multi-dimensional learning networks to empower the
whole community.
4. Endeavour to convert education and training systems that are more supplier-centric
into consumer-oriented systems that are in tune with demands.
5. Enhance the skills and responsiveness of governments employees to better equip
government to design appropriate policy infrastructure and process in a changing
environment.
Strengthening the Managerial and Employee Training: Managerial and Employee
training need to be strengthened for:
1. Developing a package of liberalisation measures to ensure continued open access
including various elements of commerce and to;
2. Retraining of both employees and employers in developing economies to help them
catch up with the requirements of new economy for sustainable growth and equitable
development.
Conclusion: For employee capacity building, the above steps are necessary. Without
development of human capacity, organisational development is impossible. The aim and
objectives of capacity building is to develop the employee as well as the organisation. For
this end, proper education and training of employee is essential. It not only widens the skill
and knowledge of an employee, but also developed the organisation.