Fall-2009

Human Resource Management - MB0027

MBA – 1 SEM Assignment Set- 2

Q.1 Mention and briefly explain different sources of recruitment.

Ans:

Sources of Recruitment
The sources of employees can be classified into two types, internal and external. Filling a
job opening from within the firm has the advantages of stimulating preparation for possible
transfer of promotion, increasing the general level of morale, and providing more
information about job candidates through analysis of work histories within the organization.
A job posting has a number of advantages. From the view point of the employee, it
provides flexibility and greater control over career progress. For the employer, it should
result in better matches of employee and job.
The present supervisor must at some time be informed of his or her subordinate's interest
in another job. Some require immediate notification, while others inform only if the
employee becomes a prime candidate for the listed opening.
Inevitably, the firm must go to external sources for lower entry jobs, for expansion, and for
positions whose specifications cannot be met by present personnel. Thus the firm has a
number of outside sources available, among which are the following:
1. Advertising: There is a trend toward more selective recruitment in advertising.
2. Employment Agencies: Many private agencies tend to specialize in a particular type of
worker and job, such as sales, office, executive or engineer.
3. Employee Referrals: Friends and relatives of present employees are also a good
source from which employees may be drawn. When the labour market is very tight, large
employers frequently offer their employees bonus or prizes for any referrals who are hired
and stay with the company for a specific length of time.
This method of recruitment, however, suffers from a serious defect that it encourages
nepotism, i.e. persons of one's community or caste are employed, who may or may not be
fit for the job.
4. Schools, Colleges and Professional Institutions: Offer opportunities for recruiting
their students. They operate placement services where complete bio-data and other
particulars of the students are available. The prospective employers can review
Credentials and interview candidates for management trainees or probationers. Whether
the education sought involves a higher secondary certificate, specific vocational training,
or a college background with a bachelor's, masters' or doctoral degree, educational
institutions provide an excellent source of potential employees for entry-level positions in
organizations. These general and technical/ professional institutions provide blue-collar
applicants, white-collar and managerial personnel.
5. Professional organizations or recruiting firms or executive recruiters: maintain
complete information records about employed executives. These firms are looked upon as
'head hunters', 'raiders' and 'pirates' by organizations which lose personnel through their
efforts. However, these same organizations may employ "executive search firms" to help

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 Fall-2009

them find talent. These consulting firms recommend persons of high calibre for
managerial, marketing and production engineers' posts.

Q.2 Write a note on guided and unguided interview.

Ans:

Interviewing is probably the most widely used single method of selection. A substantial
amount of subjectivity, and therefore, unreliability, is to be expected from interviewing
when used as a tool of evaluation.
Four kinds of interviews for selection have been identified. These are:
1. Preliminary interview: These interviews are preliminary screening of applicants to
decide whether a more detailed interview will be worthwhile. The applicant is given job
details during the interview to afford him freedom to decide whether the job will suit him.
This method saves the company's time and money.
2. Stress interview: Stress interviews are deliberate attempts to create pressure to
observe how an applicant performs under stress. Methods used to induce stress range
from frequent interruptions and criticism of an applicant's opinion, to keeping silent for an
extended period of time. The most important advantage of the stress interview is that
helps to demonstrate important personality characteristics which would be difficult to
observe in tension-free situations. However, stress-inducing must be done carefully by
trained and skilled interviewers.

Interview Process
Since the interview is one of the most commonly used personal contact methods, great
care has to be taken before, during and after the interview. Before the actual interview
begins, the critical areas in which questions will be asked must be identified for judging
ability and skills for the job. If there is more than one interviewer, some practice and mock
interviews will help calibrate variations in individual interviewers' ratings. The second step
is to scrutinize the information given in the application form to identify skills, incidents and
experiences in the career of the candidate, which may answer questions raised around the
critical areas.
The fundamental step is establishing "rapport", putting the Interviewee at ease; conveying
the impression that the interview is a conversation between two friends, and not a
confrontation of employer and employee. One way to achieve this is by initially asking
questions not directly related to the job, that is, chatting casually about the weather,
journey and so on. Once the Interviewee is put to ease the Interviewer starts asking
questions, or seeking information related to the job. After this phase, the interviewers
should discuss about the interviewee, identify areas of agreement, and make a tentative
decision about the candidate.
Characteristics of "good interviewers: Some studies revealed the characteristics of "good
interviewers" by examining the life histories of those known to be "good" or "bad"
interviewers. The general profile seems to be:
1. Knowledge of the job or other things with which interviews are concerned.
2. Emotional maturity and a stable personality.
3. Sensitivity to the interviewee's feelings and a sympathetic attitude.
4. Extravert behaviour and considerable physical stamina.

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 Fall-2009

Q.3 Discuss the techniques to motivate employees.

Ans:

The study of human motivation is of great importance in any theory of management. Man
is by nature constantly motivated.
Motivation is positively correlated with concepts of (1) level of aspiration, (2) degree of
commitment, and (3) inclination towards action.
Motivation aims at transforming the „ability to do‟ into „the will to do‟. Motivated employees
are in a state of tension. To relieve this tension, they engage in activity. The greater the
tension, the greater shall be the activity to bring about relief. on a fact-finding study
conducted at several manufacturing plants of the General Electric Company, Sorcher and
Meyer have made the following recommendations for improving the motivation of
employees in routine jobs.
1. Provide assembly line employees with more than minimum training. Providing some sort
of formal training for a factory employee beyond the required minimum should result in
greater personal involvement in the job.
2. Create sub-goals to measure accomplishment. A sense of competition is important to
good motivation. When people work towards clearly defined goals they perform better.
Moreover, they are likely to be more interested in the work which will reduce monotony
and mental fatigue.
3. Provide regular feedback on performance. Psychological studies show that people
perform better when they receive positive as well as negative feedback about their
performance on a regular basis.
4. Maintain a neat and orderly work area. If the foreman does not care about neatness,
employees may feel that they need not care about it and this attitude may also affect the
quality of their work.
5. Arrange work situations so that conversation between employees is either easy or
impossible. Experienced workers can do routine jobs with little attention to the task.
Conversation while working may reduce monotony and fatigue and thus have a favourable
effect on output.

Q.4 Explain in detail the disciplinary –Action Penalties.

Ans:

There are varying penalties for first, second, and third offences of the same rule. Among
the penalties available in business are:
1. Oral reprimand
2. Written reprimand
3. Loss of privileges
4. Fines
5. Lay off
6. Demotion
7. Discharge

The penalties are listed in the general order of severity, from mild to severe. For most
cases, an oral reprimand is sufficient to achieve the desired result. The supervisor must

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 Fall-2009

know his or her personnel in determining how to give a reprimand. For one person, a
severe "chewing out" may be necessary in order to get attention and co-operation; another
person may require only a casual mention of a deficiency. If the offence is more serious,
the reprimand may be put in written form. Since a written reprimand is more permanent
than an oral one, it is considered a more severe penalty.
For such offences as tardiness or leaving work without permission, fines or loss of various
privileges can be used. The fines usually have some relationship to the work time actually
lost. The loss of privileges includes such items as good job assignments, right to select
machine or other equipment, and freedom of movement about the workplace or company.
The more severe penalties of layoff, demotion, and discharge are usually outside the grant
of authority to the immediate supervisor. Disciplinary layoffs can vary in severity from one
to several days' loss of work without pay. The use of demotions as a penalty is highly
questionable. If the employee is properly qualified for the present assignment, he or she
will be improperly placed on a lower job. Discharge is the most severe penalty that a
business organization can give and constitutes "industrial capital punishment".

Q.5 Explain the importance of grievance handling.

Ans.

Importance of Grievance Handling

At one or other stage of the grievance procedure, the dispute must be handled by some
member of management. In the solution of a problem, the greater burden rests on
management. The clearest opportunity for settlement is found at the first stage, before the
grievance has left the jurisdiction of the supervisor. For this reason, many firms have
specifically trained their supervisors as to how to handle a grievance or complaint properly.
The dispute or grievance constitutes a managerial problem and the scientific method is
usually most productive in arriving at a satisfactory solution. The following directions help
in handling a grievance:
1. Receive and define the nature of the dissatisfaction: The manner and attitude with
which the supervisor receives the complaint of grievance is important. As a principle
applicable to this step, the supervisor should assume that the employee is fair in
presenting the complaint or grievance. Statements should not be prejudged on the basis of
past experience with this or other employees. The supervisor should not be too busy to
listen and should not give an impression of condescension in doing so. Thus supervisors
who were nearly taskoriented, as contrasted with people-oriented, tended to experience a
significantly greater number of grievances being filed in their units.
2. Get the facts: In gathering facts, one quickly becomes aware of the importance of
keeping proper records such as performance ratings, job ratings, attending records, and
suggestions. In addition, with the increasingly legalistic bent that is characteristic of
modern labourmanagement relations, the supervisor is wise to keep records on each
particular grievance. It is also important that the supervisor possesses and exercise some
skill in interview conference, and discussion.
3. Analyze and divide: With the problem defined and the facts in hand, the manager must
now analyze and evaluate them, and them come to some decision. There is usually more
than one possible solution. The manager must also be aware that the decision may
constitute a precedent within the department as well as the company.

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 Fall-2009

4. Apply the answer: Though the solution decided upon by the superior is adverse to the
employee, some answer is better than none. Employees dislike supervisors who will take
no stand, good or bad. In the event of an appeal beyond this stage of the procedure, the
manager must have the decision and the reasons for his decisions should be properly
recorded.
5. Follow up: The objective of the grievance procedure is to resolve a disagreement
between an employee and the organization. Discussion and conference are important to
this process. The purpose of its followup phase is to determine whether the clash of
interest has been resolved. If follow up reveals that the case has been handled
unsatisfactorily or that the wrong grievance has been processed, then redefinition of the
problem, further fact-finding, analysis, solution and follow up are required.
Among the common errors of management encountered in the processing of grievances
are:
1. Stopping too soon in the search of facts;
2. Expressing a management opinion prior to the time when all pertinent facts have been
discovered;
3. Failing to maintain proper records;
4. Resorting to executive fiat or orders instead of discussion and conference to change
minds; and
5. Setting the wrong grievance-a mistake which may in turn produce a second new
grievance. Follow up is the step in the procedure that tells us when a mistake in handling
has been made.

Q.6 Explain Managerial grid in detail.

Ans:

Managerial Grid

Robert Blake, an eminent behavioural scientist differentiated the leaders on the basis of
their concern to people and concern to task. He along with Jane Mouton conducted study
on 5000 managers. He puts it on a grid called Managerial Grid as follows:

The Managerial Grid Model (1964) is a behavioural

leadership model developed by Robert Blake and
Jane Mouton. This model identifies five different
leadership styles based on the concern for people and
the concern for production. The optimal leadership
style in this model is based on Theory Y.
As shown in the figure, the model is represented as a
grid with concern for production as the X-axis and
concern for people as the Y-axis; each axis ranges
from 1 (Low) to 9 (High). The five resulting leadership
styles are as follows:

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 Fall-2009

1. The impoverished style (1,1). The indifferent Leader (Evade & Elude)
In this style, managers have low concern for both people and production. Managers use
this style to avoid getting into trouble. Themain concern for the manager is not to be held
responsible for any mistakes, which results in less innovative decisions. A leader uses a
"delegate and disappear" management style. Since they are not committed to either task
accomplishment or maintenance; they essentially allow their team to do whatever it wishes
and prefer to detach themselves from the team process by allowing the team to suffer from
a series of power struggles.
Features
1. Does only enough to preserve job and job seniority.
2. Gives little and enjoys little.
3. Protects himself by not being noticed by others.
Implications
1. Tries to stay in the same post for a long time.
Examples of Leader speak:
“I distance myself from taking active responsibility for results to avoid getting entangled in
problems.”
“If forced, I take a passive or supportive position.”
2. The country club style (1,9). The accommodating Leader (Yield & Comply)
This style has a high concern for people and a low concern for production. Managers
using this style pay much attention to the security and comfort of the employees, in hopes
that this would increase performance. The resulting atmosphere is usually friendly, but not
necessarily that productive.
This person uses predominantly reward power to maintain discipline and to encourage the
team to accomplish its goals. Conversely, they are almost incapable of employing the
more punitive coercive and legitimate powers. This inability results from fear that using
such powers could jeopardize relationships with the other team members.
Examples of Leader speak:
“I support results that establish and reinforce harmony.”
“I generate enthusiasm by focusing on positive and pleasing aspects of
work.”
3. The produce or perish style (9,1). The Controlling Leader (Direct & Dominate)
With a high concern for production, and a low concern for people, managers using this
style find employee needs unimportant; they provide their employees with money and
expect performance back. Managers using this style also pressure their employees
through rules and punishments to achieve the company goals. This dictatorial style is
based on Theory X of Douglas McGregor, and is commonly applied by companies on the
edge of real or perceived failure. This is used in case of crisis management.
People who get this rating are very much task-oriented and are hard on their workers
(autocratic). There is little or no allowance for co-operation or collaboration. Heavily task-
oriented people display these characteristics: they are very strong on schedules; they
expect people to do what they are told without question or debate; when something goes
wrong they tend to focus on who is to blame rather than concentrate on exactly what is
wrong and how to prevent it; they are intolerant of what they see as dissent (it may just be
someone's creativity), so it is difficult for their subordinates to contribute or develop.
Examples of Leader speak:
“I expect results and take control by clearly stating a course of action.”
“I enforce rules that sustain high results and do not permit deviation.”

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 Fall-2009

4. The middle-of-the-road style (5,5). The Status – Quo Leader. (Balance &
Compromise)
Managers using this style try to balance between company goals and workers' needs. By
giving some concern to both people and production, managers who use this style hope to
achieve acceptable performance.
Examples of Leader speak:
“I endorse results that are popular but caution against taking unnecessary risk.”
“I test my opinions with others involved to assure ongoing acceptability.”
5. The team style (9,9). The Sound / Team Leader (Contribute & Commit)
In this style, high concern is paid both to people and production. As suggested by the
propositions of Theory Y, managers choosing to use this style encourage teamwork and
commitment among employees. This method relies heavily on making employees feel as a
constructive part of the company. This type of person leads by positive example and
endeavours to foster a team environment in which all team members can reach their
highest potential, both as team members and as people. They encourage the team to
reach team goals as effectively as possible, while also working tirelessly to strengthen the
bonds among the various members. They normally form and lead some of the most
productive teams.
Examples of Leader speak:
“I initiate team action in a way that invites involvement and commitment.”
“I explore all facts and alternative views to reach a shared understanding of the best
solution.”
Grid Relationship Skills
The Grid theory translates into practical use through Grid style relationship skills that
people experience day in and day out when they work together. These relationship skills
depict the typical and vital behaviours for each style that make relationships effective or
ineffective. Some behaviours strengthen and motivate teams while others obstruct
progress.
Critique - Learning from experience by anticipating and examining how behaviour and
actions affect results.
Initiative - Taking action to exercise shared effort, drive, and support for specific
activities.
Decision-making - Evaluating resources, criteria, and consequences to reach a
decision.
Resilience - Reacting to problems, setbacks, and failure, and understanding how these
factors influence the ability to move forward. Grid theory makes behaviours as tangible
and objective as any other corporate commodity. They can openly discuss how to improve
decision-making and conflict resolution skills. These and other subjects usually considered
"off limits" in terms of productivity are the very subjects that usually impede productivity.
The Grid approach makes these subjects not only "discussable" but measurable in
objective terms that generate empathy, motivation to improve, and creativity.

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