MB0043---Human Resource Management Q.1 What are the functions that HR attempts to fulfill in any organization.

[10 Marks] ANS A human Relations Programme thereby attempts at enhancing employee motivation and workplace morale through an improved three-way communications and through employee participation in the decision making processes. Human relations seek to emphasise employee aspects of work rather than technical or economic aspects. For example while it might be in the best interest of an organization to have a employee skilled and completely proficient in one job/ set or responsibilities, todays organization provides opportunities for employees to multi-skill and acquire knowledge of new yet related jobs/responsibilities. These acts as a motivator for employees as they benefit by learning new skills / jobs and given an opportunity can perform and excel in another job. It also seeks to make employment and working conditions less impersonal. The human relations approach emphasises policies and techniques designed to improve employee morale and job satisfaction. For example it is common place in organizations to provide for / encourage employee empowerment where-in the team brings about creative measures to reduce cost/ improve customer satisfaction. Such teams design and implement self-driven initiatives to bring about the business result. It is believed that this is accompanied by increased employee efficiency and reduction in employee dissatisfaction. An understanding of emerging workplace human behaviour can be summarised as: i) Assist the manager to develop a better realization of how his own attitudes and behaviour play a part in everyday affairs of the team and its morale; ii) Assist the manager to develop a keener sensitivity towards the team members and interpersonal dynamics iii) Partner with the managers in helping him drive the business goals and take part ownership of work challenges and how best to resolve them iv) Enable him to anticipate and prevent problems, or at least to resolve more effectively those that he cannot avoid; and v) Network with other teams with related dependencies and help resolve inter-team business impacting challenges This Scope of Human Relations springs up from the problems which have many different causes and perspectives. Halloran has stated these as: Every person brings a unique set of talents, ambitions and work experience to a job. These personal attributes change over time, often as a result of the degree of success or failure the person experiences in the work world. Matching so many unique sets of personal qualities to a standardized technology can create problems. The organizational aspects of a company, such as its size, geographic location, economic health, and degree of automation, define the scope of work and the activity in each work division. These frequently arbitrary, structural definitions often cause difficulties in human relations. Innovations in technology and production methods generally require the restructuring of job roles and responsibilities. Radical changes in basic organizational structure can cause severe strains between employees and management and create intense problems in human relations. Promotion of individuals to positions of greater responsibility and authority generally creates a need for changed behaviour patterns between the new supervisors and their former peers, which in time, can create human relations problems. Inexperienced employees may not be able to perform their roles or tasks in work groups in a competent manner. The time they take to adjust can not only create problems with production schedules, but can also create particular kinds of human relations problems between them and their co-employees and supervisors. The variety of causes of human relations problems lead to the conclusion that no one programme or single approach can create conditions for good human relations. Therefore, as shared earlier it in common for organizations and individuals in organization to constantly innovate and resolve challenges that will benefit both the organization as well as the employee. This helps understand the key HR objectives which can be best illustrated by understanding the functions that HR attempts to fulfil in any organization: i) Human Resource Planning estimating the need for resources in order achieve the desired business
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results. HR plans can be both short term/immediate as well as long term / strategic. The HR team partners with the line managers to understand the business goals and targets for the year and then together plan the HR needs in order to meet the goals. ii) Acquisition of human resources staffing the organizations with the right mix of skills and competencies at the right time. It also includes HR initiatives like promotions and internal job posting to fulfil this requirement for human resources. Staffing teams in organizations are usually a separate group of specialists who work closely with the line managers to understand the skills and competencies needed for the job and engage together to select the best talent for the open positions. iii) Training and employee development focuses on managing training activities to upgrade skills and knowledge as well as soft skills like team building and leadership. The training team is again a group of HR specialists who propose the training program and consult with the line managers to ensure that the program achieves the desired outcomes. iv) Building performance management systems focuses on the right processes to set goals for performance as individuals/teams and related measurement methods. This is a core HR activity and is supported by the HR generalist. v) Reward systems establishing appropriate compensation systems and reward mechanisms that would reward the desired outcome and results in accordance with the corporate values. This again forms a part of the HR generalists tasks. How employees progress in a organization how they are paid w.r.t. internal and external market factors, what employee benefits are offered, are some aspect that this function redresses. vi) Human Resources Information Systems that would take care of the operational transactions from the time an employee joins till the time the employee exits, like personnel files, compensation administration, payroll, benefits administration and issuing letters and testimonials. Q.2 Discuss the cultural dimensions of Indian Work force.[10 Marks]

ANS --The foundation for understanding the unique work practices at a country level can best be understood by first understanding the cultural aspects of the countrys workforce. The pioneering work done by Dutch scientist, Geert Hofstede is a useful tool in understanding the cultural differences used to differentiate countries. He identified five cultural dimensions around which countries have been clustered. The dimensions are: power distance, uncertainty avoidance, individualism, masculinity and long term orientation. Geert Hofstede dimensions are based on research conducted among over 1000 IBM employees working globally. While there continued to be other studies like the GLOBE (Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness) project and Trompenaars Framework, Hofstadters model is most popular. Power Distance Power distance is the extent to which less powerful members of institutions and organizations accept that power is distributed unequally. Countries in which people blindly obey the orders of superiors have high power distance. High power distance countries have norms, values and beliefs that support: Inequality is good; everyone has a place; some are high, some are low Most people should be dependent on a leader, The powerful are entitled to privileges, and The powerful should yield their power. India scores 77 on power distance, indicating high power distance as a result of the inequalities both at the level of the society as well as the at the workplace. Indian organizations typically have hierarchical structures, position yields power and subordination is acceptable. The dimension of high power distance at the workplace can be best understood as: People dislike work and try to avoid it. Managers believe that they must adopt Theory X leadership style, that is, they must be authoritarian, and force workers to perform and need to supervise their subordinates closely. Organizational structures and systems tend to match the assumption regarding leadership and motivation Decision making is centralized. Those at the top make most of the decisions. Organizations tend to have tall structures.
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 They will have a large proportion of supervisory personnel, and The people at the lower levels often will have low job qualifications Such structures encourage and promote inequality between people at different levels. Uncertainty Avoidance Uncertainty avoidance is the extent to which people feel threatened by ambiguous situations, and have created beliefs and institutions that try to avoid these. India scores 40 indicating low to average uncertainty avoidance characteristics. Countries with low uncertainty avoidance have people who are more willing to accept that risks are associated with the unknown, and that life must go on in spite of this. Specifically, high uncertainty avoidance countries are characterized by norms, values, and beliefs which accept that: Conflict should not be avoided, Deviant people and ideas should be tolerated, Laws are not very important and need not necessarily be followed, Experts and authorities are not always correct, and Consensus is not important Low uncertainty avoidance societies such as ours have organization settings with less structuring of activities, fewer written rules, more risk-taking by managers, higher labor turnover and more ambitious employees. Such an organization encourages employees to use their initiative and assume responsibility for their actions. Denmark and Great Britain are good examples of low uncertainty avoidance cultures. Germany, Japan, and Spain typify high uncertainty avoidance societies Individualism Individualism is the tendency of people to look after themselves and their family only. The opposite of this is collectivism which refers to the tendency of people to belong to groups and to look after each other in exchange for loyalty. India scores 48 on Individualism, indicating somewhat low scores, therefore tending towards a more collectivistic society. Collectivist countries believe that: Ones identity is based on ones group membership, Group decision making is best, and Groups protect individuals in exchange for their loyalty to the group. Organizations in collectivist societies tend to promote nepotism in selecting managers. In contrast, in individualistic societies, favoritism shown to friends and relatives is considered to be unfair and even illegal. Further, organisations in collectivist cultures base promotions mostly on seniority and age, whereas in individualist societies, they are based on ones performance. Finally, in collectivist cultures, important decisions are made by older and senior managers as opposed to individualist cultures, where decision making is an individuals responsibility. Individualism is common in the US, Canada, Australia, Denmark, and Sweden. The people of India, Indonesia, Pakistan and a number of South American countries exhibit collectivism Masculinity Masculinity refers to a situation in which the dominant values in a society are success, money and other material things. Hofstede measured this dimension on a continuum ranging from masculinity to femininity. India scores 56 tending to be closed to masculinity than feminity. In highly masculine societies, jobs are clearly defined by gender. There are mens jobs and womens jobs. Men usually choose jobs that are associated with long-term careers. Women usually choose jobs that are associated with short-term employment, before marriage. Ranking of Countries on Hofstedes Cultural Dimensions Q.3 Explain the need for Human Resource Planning system. [10 Marks]

ANS-- . Human Resource planning can be defined as a process by which an organization ensures that it has the right number and kinds of people, at the right place, at the right time, capable of effectively and efficiently completing those tasks that will help the organization achieve its overall objectives or in other words HRP can be defined as planning for the future personnel needs of an organization, taking into account both internal activities and factors in the external environment.
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Need and Importance of HRP Human resource Planning translates the organization objectives and plans into the number of workers needed to meet these objectives. The need and importance of HRP is as follows: HRP helps in determining the future manpower requirements and avoids HRP helps in problems like over staffing or understaffing in the organization. Tackling with the factors like competition, technology, government policies etc. that generates changes in the job content, skill requirements and number and now a days there is a demand of exceptional types of personnel required. intellectual skills while the existing staff becomes redundant, the HR manager has to attract and retain qualified and skilled personnel and also required to deal with issues like career development, succession planning for which he takes A proper and realistic human resource plan is needed to the help of HRP. Ensure equal employment and promotional appointments to the candidates fro weaker sections, physically handicapped and socially and politically oppressed HRP provides valuable and timely information for various designing citizens. And execution of personnel functions like recruitment, selection, transfers, It promotions, layoffs, training and development and performance appraisal. Helps the organization to anticipate imbalance in human resources, which in turn HRP facilitates planning for will facilitate reduction in personal costs. Future needs which will help in better planning of assignments to develop managers and to ensure the organization has a steady supply of experienced and skilled employees. Factors affecting Human Resource Planning HRP is a dynamic and ongoing process. The process of updating is not very The simple, since HRP is influenced by many factors, which are as follows: type of organization determines the production process and number and type of The human resource needs of an organization depend on the staff needed. strategic plan adopted by it. For e.g. the growth of a business calls for hiring Organization of additional labor, while mergers will need a plan for layoffs. Operates under different political, social environment and has to carefully formulate the HR policies and so the HR manager has to evolve suitable mechanism to deal with uncertainties through career developments, succession planning, HRP also depends on the time periods and accordingly retirement schemes etc. the short and long-term plans are adopted. And this time span is based on the The type and quality of information degree of environmental uncertainties. Used in making forecasting is an important factor influencing HRP. Accurate and timely human resource information system helps in getting better quality HRP is required to ensure that suitable candidates should be personnel. Appointed at the right kind of job. So these are some of the factors that affect the human resource planning. Limitations of Human Resource Planning It is very difficult to ascertain future manpower requirements of an It is more relevant to the organization, as future is always uncertain. It is a time countries that face the problem of scarcity of human resources. It is beneficial in the organizations that consuming and costlier process. adopt a professional approach and at the same time are conscious about the HRP is beneficial where adequate skilled manpower is changing environment. HRP is also made difficult in the organizations that have a very available. high labor turnover.
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Q.4 Elucidate the classification of wages in the Indian System. [10 Marks] Ans-- Period of Service-Five Years from the Date of Arrival in the Colony. Nature of labour-Work in connection with the Cultivation of the soil or the manufacture of the produce on any plantation. Number of days on which the Emigrant is required to labour in each Week-Everyday, excepting Sundays and authorized holidays. Number of hours in every day during which he is required to labour without extra remuneration-Nine hours on each of ve consecutive days in every week commencing with the Monday of each week, and ve hours on the Saturday of each week. Monthly or Daily Wages and Task-Work Rates-When employed at time-work every adult male Emigrant above the age of fteen years will be paid not less than one shilling, which is at present equivalent to twelve annas and every adult female Emigrant above that age not less than nine pence, which is at present equivalent to nine annas, for every working day of nine hours; children below that age will receive wages proportionate to the amount of work done. When employed at task or ticca-work every adult male Emigrant above the age of fteen years will be paid not less than one shilling, and every adult female Emigrant above that age not less than nine pence for every task which shall be performed. The law is that a man's task shall be as much as ordinary able-bodied adult male Emigrant can do in six hours' steady work, and that a woman's task shall be three-fourths of a man's task. An employer is not bound to allot, nor is an Emigrant bound to perform more than one task in each day, but by mutual agreement such extra work may be allotted, performed and paid for. Wages are paid weekly on the Saturday of each week. Conditions as to return passage-Emigrants may return to India at their own expense after completing ve years' industrial residence in the Colony. After ten years' continuous residence every Emigrant who was above the age of twelve on introduction to the Colony and who during that period has completed an industrial residence of ve years, shall be entitled to a free-return passage if he claims it within two years after the completion of the ten years' continuous residence. If the Emigrant was under twelve years of age when he was introduced into the colony, he will be entitled to a free return passage if he claims it before he reaches 24 years of age and fullls the other conditions as to residence. A child of an Emigrant born within the colony will be entitled to a free return passage until he reaches the age of twelve, and must be accompanied on the voyage by his parents or guardian. Other Conditions-Emigrants will receive rations from their employers during the rst six months after their arrival on the plantation according to the scale prescribed by the government of Fiji at a daily cost of four pence, which is at present equivalent to four annas, for each person of twelve years of age and upwards. Every child between ve and twelve years of age will receive approximately half rations free of cost, and every child, ve years of age and under, nine chattacks of milk daily free of cost, during the rst year after their arrival. Suitable dwelling will be assigned to Emigrants under indenture free of rent and will be kept in good repair by the employers. When Emigrants under indenture are ill they will be provided with Hospital accommodation, Medical attendance, Medicines, Medical comforts and Food free of charge. An Emigrant who has a wife still living is not allowed to marry another wife in the Colony unless his marriage with his rst wife shall have been legally dissolved; but if he is married to more than one wife in his country he can take them all with him to the Colony and they will then be legally registered and acknowledged as his wives. Q.5 Ms. S. Sharma is the General Manager HR of a private educational group. She is planning for the promotion policy for the faculty members. The norms are also ruled by the government policy and criteria. Moreover the options to promote are limited. Suggest Ms Sharma the alternative way to vertical promotion. What are the challenges in implementing that option?[10 Marks] Ans-- In Vertical Promotion, employees are promoted from one rank to the next higher rank in the same department or division. This is based on the belief that this leads to effective utilization of experience gained in the same department. It also gives an opportunity to the employees to go up while increasing their specialization in their area of operation. However, it has got one disadvantage. The vacancies may be very few in a department. Me Sharma can promote Faculty member to a Professor, but In this Case a biggest challenge for Me Sharma is, a Lecturer working in a particular Department may not become a Professor or the Head of the Department unless his superiors die/retire/resign. This makes the person frustrated. Besides, this type of promotion limits a person's contact with other departments and does not permit him to enhance his knowledge/expertise with each year's experience. Because his experience would
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be one or two year's knowledge multiplied by 10 to 15 years rotation. If he does not get his promotion at the right time since the room at the top is limited he will also start disliking his job / organization. As a result, he becomes counter-productive. As we can suggest to Ms. Sharma to consider the Horizontal promotions as an alternative way to vertical promotion. Under this policy, an employee may be transferred from a position in one department to a position of higher rank in another department or to the same rank in a different department if the transfer gives him an opportunity to acquire greater knowledge and wider experience. E.g. if a Senior Lecturer cannot get promotion in a particular Department for obvious reasons, he may be transferred as Registrar of the University or as Controller of Examinations or Director of Distance Education. However, there is one difficulty. Unless the person is quite dynamic and intelligent, he may find the new assignment a tough one and irksome. To some, it may be a cause for frustration. However, for many, Horizontal promotion even if it is only a paper promotion is a challenge since it allows them job rotation. Q.6 ABC is an organization that wants to revise the HR policies. Before doing that it want to have some details about the following: What the employees think about the company? What do they think, in the company is going well? What practices in the company they think are not doing well? Get the feedback on managerial effectiveness. Suggest the suitable method to collect the employee opinion and explain the method. [10 Marks] Ans-1. Location of responsibility: The responsibility for generating awareness regarding discipline is entrusted with every individual in the organization. Particularly it resides with the senior leadership of the company and will all managers who serve as the ambassadors of discipline. In the traditional brick-andmotor organizations it is the Personnel Officer who is entrusted with the responsibility of offering advice and assistance. In case of employee in-discipline, the line manager issue only verbal and written warnings. In serious cases, which warrant discharge or suspension, the Industrial Relations Officer and other independent legal consultants need to be consulted. 2. Proper formulation and communication of rules: The employees are expected to conform to rules and regulations and behave in a responsible manner; it is essential that these rules and regulations are properly and carefully formulated and communicated to them. It would be preferable if a copy of these regulations is included in their handbook; at any rate, they should be put up on notice boards and bulletin boards. Every organization has a Policy and Guidelines document, either as hardcopy in the form of the Companys Policy Handbook or as soft copy on the Companys intranet site. This document elaborates the specific acceptable personal code of conduct. All new employees are required to read it and acknowledge that they have read it by signing once they have read it all. In many organizations the employees need to read it and sign it once every year. This acts as a effective preventive mechanism to ensure that employees are aware of it and have committed to abide by it. 3. Rules and regulations should be reasonable: todays organizations pay a lot of attention, and rightly so, towards formulating equitable polices that protect employee as well as the organizations values and rights. Often organizations involve employee representatives in formulating these policies and guidelines. Not only is the formulation of the policy important but also its communication. Organizations often hold roadshows and workshops that communicate policies and the reason why these policies are required. In order to make these workshops interesting and have employees attend it, the communication is often done using innovative means such as role-play, video-cases of workplace incidents and even build case studies around how to behave in particular situations.

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4. Equal treatment: All defaulters of the acknowledged code of conduct should be treated equitably, depending of course on the nature of the offence. Identical punishment should be awarded for identical offences, irrespective of the position or seniority of the employee. 5. Disciplinary action should be taken in private: While the policies governing the acceptable code of conduct is communicated publicly, the reprimand for non-compliance needs to be done in private. This is to ensure that a wrong behaviour is corrected and not that the wrong-doer be punished, or ridiculed. At all times the organization needs to be watchful of remaining respectful of its employee and carry out any action in a respectful and in a confidential manner. 6. Importance of promptness in taking disciplinary action: As goes the popular saying.justice delayed is justice denied. If the action for review and reprimand is taken long after a violation of a policy/rule has happened, it loses its positive and corrective influence. The employees loose trust in the system and assume that the organization lacks commitment to it. It might even lead to resentment, which may not have developed if the corrective action had been imposed in time. Also the action taken needs to be compliant with the policy and fair. Most breach of the rules and policies might lead to employee termination, in such cases appropriate approval of the senior management should be taken and it should be implemented soon. 7. Innocence is presumed: Again as per the fundamental rights of a human being, an individual is presumed to be innocent until he is proven to be guilty. It is the organizations responsibility and therefore the HR teams responsibility to prove beyond a reasonable doubt, that a violation or an offence has been committed before any punishment is awarded. The employee or employees need to be given the first opportunity to explain himself/herself/themselves. The kind of proof that would be needed for this purpose would depend on the gravity of the offence that has been committed. 8. Get the facts: Before taking any disciplinary action, it is important to ensure that records of the offense and any previous warnings are reviewed closely. It may often be discovered that there were mitigating circumstances, or that he/she/they were not aware of the rules; or that the person had conflicting orders or even permission to break the rule for some reason. Getting facts right is the most credible part of this entire activity. 9. Action should be taken in non-threatening atmosphere: The action should be taken by multiple people to ensure that is fair and the best course of action. It then needs to be endorsed by a representative sample of the senior/top management team. Also it is important to be consistent with earlier decisions taken as therefore a rational and sensible judgement. It ought to be in-step with the conditions of natural justice. The management must act without bias and without vindictiveness. Justice and fair play must prevail. Wherever possible and within the framework of the policy, employee must be given the opportunity to reform himself/herself. And not only reprimanded. 10. After a disciplinary action has been taken by the manager, he should treat his team member in a normal manner: The employee has paid the penalty for the violation of a rule. He should, therefore, be treated as he would have been, had there been no violation and no action. Remaining respectful and fair is important, and this could be difficult. Therefore the manager might need to be reminded to be watchful of it. HR can also play a effective rule here by continuing to remain in touch with the employee and hear out his grievance if any. 11. Negative motivation should be handled in a positive manner: Often any such confrontation with a erring employees results in a immediate drop in motivation. Employee needs to be sensitised that a negative approach does not pay. Manager might often try to protect their employees. As far as possible, disciplinary action should deal with specific rule in question, rather than with the employee in general. Managing the employee needs manager training, without doubt. The role of HR is critical. HR and the manager spend significant time role-playing the reactions of the employee and how the manager needs to respond and manage the employee back at work. The fruit of the pudding is in the preparation
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