Master of Business Administration-MBA Semester I Subject Code MB0043 Subject Name Human Resource Management

Q.1

What are the functions that HR attempts to fulfill in any organization.[

Human resource management (HRM), or human resource development, entails planning, implementing, and managing recruitment, as well as selection, training, career, and organizational development initiatives within an organization. The goal of HRM is to maximize the productivity of an organization by optimizing the effectiveness of its employees while simultaneously improving the work life of employees and treating employees as valuable resources. Consequently, HRM encompasses efforts to promote personal development, employee satisfaction, and compliance with employment-related laws. To achieve equilibrium between employer and employee goals and needs, HRM departments focus on these three general functions or activities: planning, implementation, and evaluation. The planning function refers to the development of human resource policies and regulations. Human resource managers attempt to determine future HRM activities and plan for the implementation of HRM procedures to help companies realize their goals. Implementation of HRM plans involves four primary activities: acquisition, development, compensation, and maintenance. Acquisition entails the hiring of workers most likely to help a company attain its goals. The development function encompasses the training of workers to perform their tasks in accordance with company strategy. This activity also involves company efforts to control and change employee behavior via reviews, appraisals, incentives, and discipline. Compensation covers the payment of employees for their services. Maintenance requires structuring labor relationsthe interaction between a company'smanagement and its unionized employeesand

ensuring compliance with federal and state employment laws. Finally, the evaluation function includes the assessment of a company's HRM policies to determine whether they are effective.

Q.2

Discuss the cultural dimensions of Indian Work force

Contrary to these forces, in India the owner manager/government/public sector manager was an industry icon and a national hero of sorts. The Personnel Management practices were dominant of the brick-andmotor industry. Though the approach was largely welfare oriented and reactive in nature it served effectively for the large PSU organizations that built the countrys foundation. Its only in the past 10-12 years with the immense growth on account of the IT industry that winds of change began to blow. It was largely the advent of the Information Technology era in India that brought with it the western management practices. MNCs (multinational companies) started up their operations in India. The FDI (foreign direct investment) went up steeply as the world saw the potential in the countrys human resources. India became a preferred location for MNCs primarily from the USA, followed by other developed countries. This gave birth to a new generation of management as well as HRM practices. New hiring methods, new ways of paying salaries, new employment terms and most importantly increased focus on individual performance and outcomes. There was emphasis on deliverables and linking individual and team performance to business results and success. Given the highly educated workforce there was a deemphasis in the role of the trade unions. The era of the trade union dominance gave way to the new order of individual negotiated salaries and terms and clearly performance linked assessment systems. Another transformation that the Indian workplace witnessed was the focus on ethics and ethical practices in doing business. It was only fair to expect that with the weak legal system, it needed the support of the government policies and the corporate policies to beat the corruption that existed. This has significantly contributed to India emerging as a preferred destination for doing business. All of this has yielded to give way to the birth of the professional manager Professional managers today are a critical and essential part of the Indian corporate. The professional manager brought about a shift in

the culture from a highly authoritarian approach of getting work done, to a more collaborative and participative approach. The entrepreneurs who earlier operated in a secure, sheltered market and hardly face challenges, were challenged by the globalization that swept in with the liberalization policies and measure brought in by the Indian government late 1995 and onwards. Despite the challenges, the Indian employee and his manager evolved. Together they stepped up to face the challenge head-on and to win not only in India but also globally. The levers of (a) low cost, (b) highly skilled, and (c) English as the medium of education and it being the corporate-language: were the key drivers that enabled the flow of global business to India. There was exponential growth in employment both directly (jobs in the international and domestic companies) as well as indirectly (as support industries like transport, catering and ancillary industries). The simultaneous investment of the government in building the necessary infrastructure did its share of providing impetus towards creating more jobs for the people of the country. Hence, human relations movement in India has evolved very differently as compared to what we see in the developed economies of the USA and the UK. What is currently acting as a limitation is the enhanced awareness on the need for research based HRM practices. While there is a lot of work happening in the Indian education system to promote this, it is going to take a while before it can create a distinct body of knowledge that is referenceable. For now the industry relies on emulating westerns HR practices and customizing on a as-needed basis for the Indian corporation. For the rest the industry forums and consortiums like the NASSCOM act as a hub bringing together organizations on a regular basis to discuss challenges and share best practices and identify ways and means o overcome them together. So far this has been successful and working to the advantage of the Indian corporate. Leading MNC research and consulting firms like Mercer and Hewitt too contribute to the industry through carrying out research and sharing reports on a regular basis. The approach however remains analytical and less prescriptive.

Q.3

Explain the need for Human Resource Planning system

We will attempt to discuss in details the critical steps that are part of the above system. A. Purpose of Human Resource Planning: Human Resource Planning fulfils individual as well as organizational goals. What it essentially amounts to is striking a balance between the future human

resources needs and the future enterprise needs. And this is done with the clear objective of maximizing the future return on investment in human resources. And this objective may be laid down for a short-term (i.e.for one year). B. Estimating/Forecasting the future Manpower Requirements: the first step in the process is to arrive at the desired organizational structure at a given point in time. Mapping this structure with the existing structure helps in identifying the gap in resources requirement. The number and type of employees needed have to be determined. In addition to the structure there are a number of external factors that affect this determination. They include business forecasts, competitor strategy, expansion plans, product/skills mix changes, profit/revenue growth projections, in addition to management philosophy and government policies. This step also includes an analysis of the external labour/talent environment, its demographics, demand/supply of the required talent, and cost considerations. C. Auditing Human Resources: Once the future human resource needs are estimated, the next step is to determine the present supply of manpower resources. This is done through what is called Skills Inventory. A skills inventory contains data about each employees skills, abilities, work preferences and other items of information which indicate his worth to the company. Skills inventory are also referred to as competency dictionaries. This information is usually retained as part of the performance management system with the HR department. This step in the HRP system helps identify the existing profile of the manpower and its efficiency. It helps highlight where the organization is vs. where it ought to be. The step concludes with identifying clear gaps in the skills/ manpower mix required to meet the upcoming business objectives D. Job Analysis: After having decided how many persons would be needed, it is necessary to prepare a job analysis. The recorded details of training, skills, qualification, abilities, experience and responsibilities, etc. as needed for a job are studied. Job analysis includes the preparation of job descriptions and job specifications

E. Developing a Human Resource Plan: This step refers t the development and implementation of the human resource plan, which consists in finding out the sources of labour supply with a view to making an effective use of these sources. Some important considerations at this point are

Specific roles/disciplines being hired for, of them which roles are pivotal for the business Competencies and capabilities needed Manager vs. employee hiring Hire internally vs. External sourcing Planning for new skills through training existing staff vs. hiring new teams In case of surpluses, planning for redeployment/ reduction in workforce as required Succession planning for key positions in the company

Q.4

Elucidate the classification of wages in the Indian System.

Wage is a monetary payment made by the employer to his employee for the work done or services rendered. It is a monetary compensation for the services rendered. A worker may be paid Rs. 100 per day or Rs. 4500 per month. This is wage payment. The worker gives his services and takes payment called wage payment. Industrial workers are paid remuneration for their services in terms of money called wage payment. Wages are usually paid in cash at the end of one day, one month or one week. Money wage is the monetary compensation or price paid by the employer to his employee for the services rendered. Such compensation is also called wage or salary or reward given by an organisation to a person in return to a work done. Generally, compensation payable to an employee includes the following three components: Basic compensation for the job (wage/salary) Incentive compensation for the employee on job Supplementary compensation paid to employees (fringe benefit and employee services)

Type of wages The main types of wages are: 1. Subsistence wage;

2. Minimum wage; 3. Fair Wage; and 4. Living Wage Subsistence Wage: - The wage that can meet only bare physical needs of a worker and his family is called subsistence wage. Minimum Wage: - Minimum wage is the wage that is able to provide not only for bare physical needs but also for preservation of efficiency of worker plus some measure of education, health and other things. Fair Wage:- Fair wages is an adjustable step that moves up according to the capacity of the industry to pay, and the prevailing rates of wages in the area of industry. Living Wage:- Living wage is that which workers can maintain the health and decency, a measure of comfort and some insurance against the more important misfortune of lie. In any even the minimum wage must be paid irrespective of the extent of profits, the financial condition of the establishment or the availability of workmen at lower wages. The wages must be fair, i.e. sufficiently high to provide standard family with ,food, shelter, clothing, medical care and education of children appropriate to the workmen. A fair wage lies between the minimum wage and the living wage which is the goal. Wages must be paid on an industry wise and region basis having due regard to the financial capacity of the unit.
Wage payment [2] is important to all categories of workers. Wage is a matter of life and death to workers/employees. Their life, welfare and even social status depend on wage payment. It is only source of income to large majority of workers. They and their unions always demand higher wages and other monetary benefits. Majority of labour problems and disputes are directly related to wage payment. The efficiency of workers and their interest and involvement in the work depend on wage payment. Even their attitude towards employer depends on wage payment. In brief, wage payment is a matter of greatest importance to workers.

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?
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 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 / organisation. 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 emplyees 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.
If soliciting feedback from your employees isn't high priority, then perhaps it's time to make it so.

Everyone from receptionists to senior management should be regularly quizzed on everything from company polices to their product ideas. As a rule, morale goes up and employees work harder when they know management is paying attention to their needs. Your staff may also have great ideas for improving your products. But soliciting useful input from employees involves more than just plunking down a suggestion box in the lunchroom although that's a start. Collect information on what employees think about the company-