Indian Institute of Bankers Associate Examination, JUNE 2000

ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT & HRD JUNE 2000
INDIAN INSTITUTE OF BANKERS ASSOCIATE EXAMINATION, JUNE 2000

SECTION-I 1. (A) Define any five of the following terms. a) Social Man The human relations movement that followed replaced the rational-economic man by the Social man perspective. It focussed on the role-played by the various relationships that develop at work as an outcome of the organisational interactions. Following the revelations, the people management systems were geared to take care of the relationships with supervisors, colleagues and groups. b) Job Description This is to simply record each and every activity an individual has to perform in a given set-up. c) Pedagogy As Knowles describes it. The teacher had full responsibility for making all decisions about what should be learned, how it should be learned, when it should be learned and if it had been learned ..... the student was left passive.... when adult education was organised systematically at the turn of this century, the only model available was that of children known as Pedagogy . Applying that to adults had not given any good results. d) Simulation Games This is based on a model of how some systems operate. Participants assume roles within the system and manipulate the system toward some objective. e) Career Anchor The concept of career anchor refers to a personal sense of the type of work individual wants to pursue and what that work implies about the individual. Achievement Test These tests are proficiency tests to measure candidates skills or knowledge levels. g) Succession Planning Succession Planning - a contingency plan of the organisation to fill up the important positions.
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(B) State whether the following statements are true or false and explain briefly the reasons for your answer in not more than three sentences. (10) i) HRD and human relations movement are not the same. TRUE: The developmental systems such as induction and socialisation of the individuals, development and growth, performance appraisal and counselling, career planning are covered the nomenclature of HRD. ii) Job Analysis is a basic framework for most of the HRD Systems.
5 Guidelines - CAIIB
TRUE: Job Analysis as a technique, facilities the listing of what is required to perform a task. A typical job analysis comprises of three sections - Job description, Job specification and Job evaluation. iii) It is better to do all the training in - house. FALSE: It is a fact that majority of the organisations today have some kind of in-house establishment which primarily caters to the operational knowledge and skill requirements specific to the organisation. This implies that the need for certain advanced, specialised training is met by sending people to other (external) institutions, which offer training programmes. The most common among these are specialised institutes, which impart training in management, finance and behavioural skills. iv) Principles of natural justice and fundamental rights are one and the same thing. FALSE: These principles are not in the nature of any Code or are not derived from any statute book. Where the rules for disciplinary procedure have been laid down clearly, those rules need to be followed. But those rules have to be in conformity with the principles of natural justice. v) For wrongful dismissal, a Branch Manager should approach the Labour Court for legal remedy. FALSE: For the officers of public sector banks, the rules framed by the Officer Employees (Conduct) Regulations and Officer Employees (Discipline and Appeal) Regulations are applicable. SECTION-II 2. Answer any five questions from this section. (a) How is Personnel Management different from Human Resource Management ? The present perspective of HRM, to quote by NR Sheth: HRM assumes that management of people is integral part of the resource management task within enterprise for achievement of organisational objectives. Human beings develop a stake in enterprise as they work in it and hence their motivation, development and growth constitute a critical factor in the development and growth of the organisation. A crucial managerial responsibility is to make a continuing effort to harmonise the interest and growth of the organisation with those of the employees at all levels. Human sensitivity, trust in people and participative management are treated as a part of managerial culture and philosophy (Sheth, 1992). The process of adopting the changing perspective of HRM by any organisation is evident in the changing nomenclature of the function / department. Thus, we have the labour and welfare department being substituted or renamed as Personnel and in the next stage brought under one HR functionary. A careful look reveals that the traditional activities still continue as sub-modules of the broad HRM function. Experts have put these either in the four traditional sub-modules of Acquisition, Development, Motivation and Maintenance (De Cenzo, 1988) or Planning and Administration, HRD, Job and Salary, and Workers Affairs (Pareek and Rao 1981). The difference here is those of classifying. But by and large it can be observed that the conventional component of people management is categorised under (Personnel) Administration and Maintenance. The systems related to acquisition, (evaluation) promotion, administration, salary and long term benefits are under Administration and the traditional labour management, grievance and discipline management activities are covered under the Maintenance systems. The developmental systems such as induction and socialisation of the individuals, development and growth, performance appraisal and counselling, career planning are covered under the nomenclature
of HRD. Another classification views three sub-systems under HRM viz., administrative, development and preventive (Mankidy 1998). (b) Explain the relationship between Role and Position. Role and position are two sides of the same coin. But they are different concepts. Role is a position one occupies in a social system. It is defined by the functions one performs in response to the expectations of the significant members of the social system. Position is a relational and powerrelated concept, but role is an obligational concept. The concept of role is important for the integration of the individual with the organisation. The organisation has its own structure, systems and procedures and goals. Similarly the individual or a person connected with the organisation, has his own personality and needs. All these aspects interact with each other and get integrated into a role. Each individual occupies and plays several roles. A person can be a son, a father, an employee, and a member of a club and so on. All these constitute what is called role space of that person. At the centre of the role space is the self. The concept of role is central to an organisation. Similarly, the concept of self is central to the several roles of a person. (c) How would you distinguish between Type A and Type B behaviour profiles ? One dimension of personality which is getting attention both from organisation as well as medical researchers is the Type A and Type B behaviour profiles. A person exhibiting Type A behaviour is generally restless, impatient with a desire for quick achievement and perfectionism. Type B is much more easy going, relaxed about time pressure, less competitive and more philosophical in nature. Type B personality exhibits just the opposite characteristics and is more relaxed, sociable and has a balanced outlook on life. We come across both Type A and Type B managers in banks. Usually Type A managers cabin is untidy, and gives a messy appearance. Further, his table is full of papers and many a time, it is difficult to trace important papers kept in his table. He has tendency even to lose some papers and to blame others for such a loss. Type B personality, however, is systematic and methodical in his day-to-day work. He has full control over time and does not complain of lack of time even due to pressure of work. This is because he plans the work in such a way that urgent and important matters are disposed of in time. Although he is busy like many other managers, he appears to take things easy and normally does not get disturbed. (d) What is career planning ? What are the basic assumptions behind it ? The employees have a lot of aspirations from the job and the organisation. While the job related aspirations can be fulfilled as it is easy to be defined, aspirations such as cross-functional movement, career progression, personality development, deputation for training programmes etc., are normally not voiced by the employees, probably because there is no formal forum to do so. If the organisation is oblivious to these concerns of the employees, it is likely that the latter will find forum to express it, say through unions. If this is not possible many employees may sever their relationship with the organisation. Even if such a terminal step is not taken by many, their dissatisfaction has a direct adverse impact on their performance. Sensitive organisations therefore, not only pay full attention to this issue but also try to involve employees in planning their own career. Career planning is based on the foremost and basic assumption that growth is the need of every
employee and that employees can and do achieve new skill sets and competencies if they have career goals clearly focused and they are given opportunity to develop skills and enhance potential. In career planning, the employee himself plays a major role in identifying the areas in which he needs to improve and the organisation facilities that improvement. It is again the employee who has to strive to acquire those skills and competencies, which will help him in upward movement-promotion-and, will enhance his values, attitudes and motivational levels. (e) Enumerate the characteristics of an effective team. An effective team has: (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) (v) (vi) Clear objectives, which have been agreed. Members who are committed to these and contribute fully to achieving them. A good mix of people whom can contribute relevant ideas and skills. A supportive atmosphere where people can give and take criticism, which is constructive and say what they really think. A leader who can keep his attention of the task, direct well but keep a harmonious working atmosphere. A commitment to hard work but the ability to enjoy this.
(vii) An ability to listen to each member and to communicate. (viii) Respect for each member. (ix) (x) (f) A High success rate. Members committed to the task and the group as a whole.
What is participation ? What are the various levels of participation ? Participation means different things to different interest groups. For management, it is limited to mean consultation before making the decision, for employees it means joint decision making, while for government - from whatever statute have been enacted or code adopted - it means association of workers with management without authority or liability for decision making. It will be seen that all these perceptions are from the viewpoint of the concerned parties with their self-interest being in primacy. In a true sense participation should mean to all the parties - at least to the management and workers - joint decision making with the entailing responsibilities being shared jointly and also the duty to implement the decision. The level of participation, in practice, ranges as under: Information participation: refers basically to information sharing concerning the balance sheet, production schedules etc. Consultative participation: in which a joint council is constituted which considers matters such as welfare programmes, safety procedures etc. However, the decision making power rests with the management. Association participation: Here the role of the joint council is not limited only as an advisory body. The management implements the councils recommendations in the defined areas. Administrative participation: where the decision comes to the council with alternatives to select
from for implementation. Still there is no participation in the decision making process but there is a choice to be made from a few alternatives and the alternative chosen jointly will be accepted for implementation. Decisive participation: Here the decisions are taken jointly on matters relating to production, welfare etc.
(g) What is domestic enquiry ? Are the provisions of the Evidence Act applicable to such enquiries ? The principles of natural justice also apply to the conduct of domestic enquiry. There is, however, a slight difference in the procedure for conducting enquiry for award staff and that of the officer employees. Before commencing the enquiry, the enquiry officers are expected to go through the procedure carefully. Guiding Principles: Departmental enquiry is not a mere formality but is a serious procedure and should, therefore, be conducted with due seriousness. Domestic enquiry is a quasi-judicial proceeding. Although the provisions of the Evidence Act, 1872 do not apply, substantive principles of the Act should be kept in view. The charge sheet or articles of change determine the scope of enquiry. It lays down the terms of reference for the enquiry officer. He should not go beyond the terms of charge sheet. The employee proceeded against should be clearly informed of the charges levelled against him. The entire proceedings should demonstrate a fair play on the part of the enquiry officer. If he is doubtful in a complex matter of what decision or ruling should be given, he will do well to err in favour of the charge-sheeted employee.
SECTION-III 3. Write Short notes on any two of the following. (a) POWER BASES. Another important concept related to influencing others is Power Kotter (1979) has defined power as a measure of persons potential to get others to do what he or she wants them to do, as well as avoid being forced to do what he or she does not want to do. Distinction is also made in terms of fear or love being used as base of exercising this power. Explanations given by Machiavelli (1950), Flanders (1970), Hersey and Blanchard (1982) have contributed to the present understanding (Pareek 1997) that coercive bases include organisational position, punishment, charisma, personal relationship, (emotional power), closeness to a source of power and withholding information on resources. The persuasive bases include expertise, competence, and modelling (example set by behaviour). In using the power bases concept, a person becomes aware of the power he/she has and how much more is needed which is quite relevant. Perception of having and using power empowers a person. (b) ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION THEORY. This theory was developed by David C. McCelland and his associates. According to this theory, there are three needs, namely, need for achievement, need for power and need for affiliation.
Need for Achievement: Employees with high achievement motivation derive satisfaction from achieving goals. Succeeding at a task is important to them. Although people with a high need for achievement are often wealthy, their wealth comes from their ability to achieve goals. However, high achievers are not motivated by money per se; money is their indicator of achievement. They prefer to work independently and dislike easy tasks, which do not throw any challenge. Need for Power: The employees exhibiting the needs for power derive satisfaction from the ability to control others. Actual achievement of goals is less important to them than the means by which goals are achieved. Individuals with a high need for power derive satisfaction from being in positions of influence and control. Organisations that foster the power motive, tend to attract individuals with a high need for power (for example, military and political organisations). Need for Affiliation: Individuals exhibiting this need as a dominant motive derive satisfaction from social and interpersonal activities. They have a strong need for interpersonal ties and to get close to people psychologically. If asked to choose between working at a task with those who are technically competent and those who are their friends, individuals with high need for affiliation will choose their friends. (c) MANAGEMENT GRID A graphic presentation of a two dimensional view of leadership style has been developed by Robert Blake and John Mouton (12). They proposed a Managerial Grid based on the leadership styles of Concern for people and Concern for production. The Managerial Grid is built on two axis, one representing the people and other the task. Both the horizontal, as well as vertical axis is treated as a scale from 1 to 9 where 1 represents the least involvement and 9 represents the most involvement. Accordingly, the co-ordinates (1,1) would indicate minimum standards of employee involvement and task design, and co-ordinates (9,9) would indicate maximum dedication of employees and highly structured operations. Such involvement would reflect upon the managerial orientation towards tasks and towards employees who are expected to perform such tasks. The Managerial Grid provides reasonable indication of the health of the organisation as well as the ability of the managers. The grid assumes that there is one best or most effective style of leadership, which is the style indicated by co-ordinates (9,9) also known as team management style. It is the objective of all management to move as close to this style as possible, for managers who emphasise both high concern for people as well as productivity are presumed to be more successful. Accordingly, managers are carefully selected on the basis of their ability to co-ordinate people and tasks for optimum benefit. The fundamental criticism of the Managerial Grid is that the 9,9 style is superior to all other styles of management. It may not be so in all situations. Further, it is said that Blake and Mouton offer only conceptual rather than empirical arguments as to why the team management style is the best style when conditions are favourable. 4. What is a team ? What are the characteristics of an effective team ? (10)
Pauline Barrett (8) says, to define the team it may be helpful first to say what a team is not: a collection of individuals who happen to have the same work place;
a collection of individuals who happen to have the same director or line manager, a collection of individuals who do the same job in the same department. It is a group which shares, and says that it shares, a common purpose and recognises that it needs the efforts of everyone of its members to achieve this. A team is a team when it sees itself as a team, is going in the team direction, and has worked out its own team ways. Characteristics of effective teams: An effective team has: (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f) (g) (h) (i) (j) Clear objectives which have been agreed Members who are committed to these and contribute fully to achieving them A good mix of people who can contribute relevant ideas and skills A supportive atmosphere where people can give and take criticism which is constructive and say what they really think A leader who can keep his attention of the task, direct well but keep a harmonious working atmosphere A commitment to hard work but the ability to enjoy this An ability to listen to each member and to communicate Respect for each member A High success rate Members committed to the task and the group as a whole.
5.
What is a grievance ? How would you distinguish between a grievance and a dispute ? Dale Yoder defines grievance as a written complaint filed by an employee claiming unfair treatment. Keith Davis defines it as any real or imagined feeling of personal injustice, which an employee has, concerning his employment relationship. Beach defined it as any dissatisfaction or feeling of injustice in connection with ones employment situation that is brought to the notice of the management. The International Labour Organisation comprehensively defines it as a complaint of one or more workers in respect of wages, allowances, conditions of work and interpretation of service stipulations such as overtime, leave ........ and termination of service. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A GRIEVANCE AND A DISPUTE: The grievance, as we have seen by its very characteristic, may be expressed or not voiced. It requires a very sensitive management - group of managers / supervisors - to sense that the situation is not all that conducive; and on their initiative try to make the employees open up and then handle the grievances. As against this, the characteristic of dispute is totally different. Dispute is made known either directly or through indirect actions of the workers who may adopt a go slow or work-to-rule tactics. Unresolved grievances may result in a dispute and get reported in a different magnitude. Resolving grievances in time could probably help in reducing the disputes. Thus, the origin of dispute could be in grievances either not
expressed, or sensed or if expressed, not resolved. A grievance could be a feeling, where as the dispute is, and definite manifestation of the conflict. Grievance is a nascent stage of disputes. A dispute may be a result of many unsettled grievances. Disputes normally get expressed through a collective or joint action such as by the union submitting its charter of demands. A grievance is normally a feeling of injustice of an individual. In summary, one may say that redressal of grievance is a sure way of reducing the potential of disputes in an organisation. SECTION-IV Answer in detail any two of the following. (a) Management of change is a crucial phase of OD - Elucidate. The most difficult part of the OD is implementing the change. As a natural process, human being resists change. This phenomenon is explained by Kurt Lewin by borrowing the concept of Force Field Theory from Physics. It explains that there are two types of forces driving forces which push restraining forces which (resist) push this push back
Such action-reaction leads to maintaining the stability. If a change in status is desired, the balance between this has to be changed. This can be done by increasing the driving forces and / or decreasing the restraining forces. The latter strategy seems to be more effective in organisational change. Another concern in managing change is the tendency of individuals to revert back to earlier position. To ensure that this does not happen, Lewin suggested a three-stage model, which was later elaborated by Schein and others. It involves: a) b) c) Unfreezing of the present behaviour pattern; Changing or developing new behaviour pattern; and Re-freezing the new pattern.
The aforesaid three stages have been described in the following manner (Stoner & Wakel, 1987): 1. 2. Unfreezing involves making the need for change so obvious that the individual, group or organisation can readily see and accept it. Changing requires a trained change agent to foster new values, attitudes, and behaviour through the process of identification and internalisation. Organisation members are likely to identify themselves with the change agents values, attitudes, and behaviour, and internalise them, once they perceive that these may contribute to their performance and effectiveness. Refreezing means locking the new behaviour pattern into place by means of supporting or reinforcing mechanisms, so that it becomes the new norm.
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(b) What is Re-engineering ? What are the changes an organisation may experience as a result of this effort ? Re-engineering is new and it has to done, says management guru Peter Drucker. In fact the word is on everybodys lips today. Michael Hammer, a former Professor of Computer science at MIT, USA, and the originator of the term defines re-engineering as the fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business process to achieve dramatic improvements in performance, cost, quality, service and speed.
When business process are re-engineered, some of the important changes, which take place, are: Work units change from functional departments to process teams. Process teams are not assembled from representatives of various departments but instead replacing the old department. Process team consists of people with multiple skills. In a process team, control and information flows are parallel. Contrast this with a departmental organisation in which information relating to an order flows across departments, from the marketing department to the engineering department, and later on to the manufacturing and despatch department, while the staff of each of these departments report to the respective department heads. By making information flow and control flow parallel, process ownership is created. Several jobs are combined into one especially several specialist jobs into a single position. Workers take decisions. Thus decision making becomes an integral part of the workers job and not just the managers prerogative. Work is performed where it makes most sense. If the accounting department wants pencils it would buy them rather than inviting the purchase department to execute the order. People are empowered rather than controlled. Employees of a re-engineered corporation often make their own rules. They are trusted with the responsibility and authority to complete an entire business process. This reduces considerably the decision-making time leading to a more responsive organisation. Compensation is made commensurate with results. People are not paid just for the time they spend in the company, but for results. Though base salaries in re-engineered companies remain relatively flat, there are substantial rewards in the form of performance-linked rewards such as bonus and commission. (c) Trace the development of Human Resource Management in India. Evolution of Human Resources as a function needing specific attention has gone through similar stages the world over. Primarily, whatever happened in the industrial era in US and UK was during the British Raj and as such its ripples were felt in India. The communication was facilitated by the scientific advancement and knowledge travelled faster compared to earlier times. The world wars too contributed by creating similar welfare issues across the nation. By 1960s the result of the focus on the activities required in the area of people management was reflected in the demand for personnel professionals with specific knowledge about people management systems and laws. Unlike other professions like medicine, law or engineering, there were no definite academic requirements for personnel executives (even today) but the personnel specialists expanded their sphere of influence by cashing on the inadequacies and trained in-capabilities of engineers in the line management. Most of the functions now performed by personnel were the forte of line managers. The growth of unionism, state interventions through a spate of legislation and code of practices, the stress on statutory welfare and need for broader and consistent policies made it easy for personnel specialists to expand their role and enhance their status. (Venkat Ratnam & Srivastava 1991). The need for equipping individuals with specific knowledge was satisfied by the forums like Indian Institute of Personnel Management (IIPM) and National Institute of Labour Management (NILM) established in the early phase of personnel management. The National Commission of Labour has observed that IIPM has the credit of making Personnel Management as a profession. Any area of knowledge to gain the status of a profession has to fulfil three main criteria i.e. having a corpus of knowledge, a period of learning and apprenticeship and a code of conduct. Indian Institute of Personnel Management (IIPM) established in 1947 played a significant role in this movement.
It is pertinent at this point to mention even during the early phases, India had visionaries like Jamshetji Nusserwanji Tata who sowed the seeds of Tata Iron and Steel Company at Jamshedpur, had long back emphasised human factors in an organisation. His philosophy of building people in the organisation was subsequently followed and crystallised by his successors, making TISCO a successful and proactive organisation. One can observe that the next transformation came in the eighties; this approach was introduced by Indian academicians in eighties around the same time the western world started talking about. The poineering work done by Uday Pareek and T.V.Rao in the area of clarifying the HRD focus and developing HRD systems is a benchmark in the evolution of HRM in India. The focus of their work was on clarifying the developmental dimensions and its implication on other conventional systems. Government too introduced employee participation and allocating share holding to workers. The emerging hi-tech industries introduced knowledge workers and in general an enlarged outlook for personnel was envisaged. The HRD as a subsystem of HRM emerged as feature of this era (Ramesh 1990). Summing up, it can be observed that Indian organisations are aware of the crucial role of management of human resource with respect and dignity and the integrative perspective of bringing the individual and the organisation closer.
ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT & HRD DECEMBER 2000
INDIAN INSTITUTE OF BANKERS ASSOCIATE EXAMINATION, DECEMBER 2000

SECTION-I 1. Define any five of the following terms. a) Job Specification : On the basis of the job description a list of requirements is prepared in terms of educational qualification, age, work experience, specific knowledge, skills, expertise, temperament, etc. Lecturetts : These are cognitive maps for learning experience. They are like summaries to the events, discussions taking place in the classrooms. They could contain charts, diagrams, and figures, which depict pictorial relationships. Extroversion : Extroversion refers to the tendency in individuals to turn outward searching for external stimuli with which they can interact. Extroverts or externals are sociable, lively, gregarious and toughminded individuals. They crave excitement, take risks, act impulsively, and prefer change. They are also carefree, quick-tempered, active, aggressive and unreliable. Extroverts are likely to be effective in the sales department, publicity office, personal relations unit, and so on, where they can interact face to face with others. Valence : Valence is the value a person assigns to this desired reward. He may not be willing to work hard to improve performance if the reward for such improved performance is not what he desires. It is not the actual value of the reward but the perceptual value of the reward in the mind of the person that is important. An employee may be motivated to work hard not to get pay raise but to get recognition and status. Another employee may be more interested in job security than status. Role Linking : Role linking refers to the perceived ability of the individual to link his role with other factors in or outside the organisation. It has three aspects, namely: (a) (b) (c) f) g) 2. Inter-role linkage; Helping relationship and Super-ordination
b)
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e)
Moral Turpitude : An act of depravity involving moral values. Application Blank : A format in which the candidates particulars are sought by organisations.
State whether the following statements are true or false and explain briefly the reasons for your answer in not more than three sentences. i) Information Technology is a merging of computing and communication technology. TRUE: Information Technology is merging to two-technology namely7 communication and computers. Both these technologies have been making advances in their own fields. Developments in communication are aiming at accurate, faster transmission of message from one place to another be it verbal or printed. The computer technology has been advancing in storing volumes of data and doing accurate, faster simple and complex computing operations. While doing so it used the written media number or letters.
ii)
Line managers should not meddle with the management of Human Resource. FALSE: The professionalization of this function raised the issue whether it should become a specialist function or could the line managers become HR functionaries.
iii)
Training, education and development have different meanings. TRUE: Training is for learning related to present Job; Education is for learning to prepare the individual for a different but identified job; and Development is learning for growth of the individual not related to a specific present or future job.
iv)
Personal efficacy is how efficiently one is doing his job. FALSE: Personal Efficacy is the general sense of adequacy, which is likely to contribute to a persons effectiveness in working for a task-related goal. The factors that contribute to personal efficiency are motivation, self-awareness, pro-activity and action-orientation.
v)
A group is collection of individuals having mutually dependent relationship. TRUE: A formal definition of group is that it refers to a collection of two or more interacting individuals with a stable pattern of relationships between them, who share common goals, and who perceive themselves as being a group.
SECTION-II 3. Answer any five questions from the following. (a) What are the stages of policy-making ? Which one in your view is most important and why ? The policy making process involves following stages: Input Stage Formation Stage Communication Stage Implementation Stage and Feedback and Review Stage. Of these, communication stage is usually considered as the most important. The communication stage is the most pivotal in policy formulation. No doubt that written documentation would lay the base for communication but a dialogue with the personnel concerned with implementation of the policy, is equally essential. Such deliberations helps in clarifying and understanding the Spirit behind the policies. (b) What is motivation ? Why is it a critical issue of interest to managers ? The word motivation is derived from Latin word movere (to move). Accordingly it attempts to account for the drives and wants of an individual rather than just focussing on the individuals actions. Some important definitions of motivation are: ... How behaviour gets started, is energised, is sustained, is directed, is stopped, and what kind of subjective reaction is present in the organisation while all this is going on. (Jones, 1955) ...The term motivation refers to a process governing choices made by persons or lower organisms among alternative forms of voluntary activity.
Motivation is the result of processes, internal or external to the individual, that arouse enthusiasm and persistence to pursue certain course of action. Motivation is a process that starts with a physiological or psychological deficiency or need that activates behaviour or a drive that is aimed at a goal or incentive. Motivation as a behavioural concept is of great interest to the executives and managers in organisations today. One of the biggest problems a manager faces is how to motivate the people working under him. What is motivation and how can employees be motivated to work ? What is the relationship between motivation and performance ? Whether a highly motivated employee is necessarily a good performer or an employee whose performance is not good can be considered de-motivated ? These are some of the issues, which are related to the concept of motivation. A managers role is to win the co-operation and commitment of the people placed under him and therefore it should be critical issue of interest to him. (c) Define leadership. Peter Drucker has identified three qualities for becoming an effective leader. What are these ? A few important definitions of leadership are: Leadership is the process of encouraging and helping others to work enthusiastically towards objectives. Leadership is the behaviour of an individual when he is directing the activities of a group towards a shared goal Leadership is interpersonal influence, exercised in a situation, and directed, through the communication process towards the attainment of a specified goal or goals. Leadership is an interaction between persons in which one presents information of a sort and in such a manner that the other becomes convinced that his outcomes (benefits/costs ratios) will be improved if he behaves in the manner suggested or desired. The three qualities identified by Peter Drucker for becoming an effective leader are: (1) (2) (3) Thinking through the organisations mission, defining it and establishing it clearly and visibly; Seeing leadership as a responsibility rather than a rank on privilege; and Earning trust of the followers.
(d) What is a Quality Circle ? Enumerate some of the underlying principles on which it is based ? Quality Circle essentially is a participatory management process where the actual involvement of people at the grassroots level of the organisation is effectively applied. A working definition of quality circle, which has now become an accepted one in Japan and other countries, is Quality Circle is a small voluntary group of people from the same work area who meet together on a regular basis for the purpose of identifying, selecting, analysing, and solving quality, productivity, cost reduction, safety, customer service, and other work-related problems in their work area, leading to the improvement in their work effectiveness and enrichment of their work life.
The principles underlying this concept are: Voluntary participation, regularity of meetings, sincerity of purpose, simple way of functioning, and four-dimensional approach to problems namely, problem identification, problem selection, problem analysis and problem solution. (e) State the broad objectives of labour enactments in our country. The broad objectives of labour enactment are: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. (f) To protect and safeguard the interests of the working class; To provide for fixation and payment of minimum wages as well as timely payment of wages; To arrange for social security measure for the workers and employees; To regulate and improve the working conditions; To provide for machineries for promoting industrial harmony and settling industrial disputes.
Explain the flow pattern of Organisational Communication. The flow pattern takes five directions i.e., Upward: Upward communication provides feedback. It travels from the subordinate to the superior. The most common purpose of this type of information flow is to provide feedback on how well things are going. It also provides the supervisor with an opportunity to represent the subordinate to his own boss. Downward: The downward flow refers to the communication from superiors to subordinates. For example, when a bank manager, talks to his clerk, there is downward communication. The purpose of this type of flow is to convey job-related information to employees at the lower level. Employees need these information inputs to do their jobs and also to meet the expectations of their superiors. Absence of downward flow results in role ambiguity, stress and anxiety among employees. Typical downward communication includes group meetings, budget procedures, circulars, company publications, and the like. Lateral: Also called horizontal communication, lateral flow takes place between peers. It is needed to achieve co-operation among group members and between work groups. Besides, lateral flow provides emotional and social support to individuals. It contributes to the development of friendship and also informal work groups. Diagonal: Diagonal communication takes place between a manager and the members of other work groups. A manager needs this kind of communication to interact with employees under other managers jurisdictions regarding his particular function. For example, a cost accountant interacts with plant personnel who deal with cost data. The diagonal communication network usually does not appear on the organisational chart, but a number of such networks is found in large organisations. External: External communication takes place between a manager and groups outside the organisation like suppliers, government, creditors, banks, financial agencies, environmentalists, consultants, and the like. A business enterprise cannot operate in a vacuum. It must maintain contracts with outside agencies and external communication is relevant in this context.
(g) State with reasons whether a Special Assistant in the bank is a workman under the Industrial Dispute Act, 1947. As per his exact, nature of duties, a Special Assistant does not come under the definition of Workmen. However, under the Bipartite Settlement of 1966 between the Bank Managements and their Workmen, the duties and responsibilities of Special Assistants shall not be regarded as supervisory duties, and
the employees required to perform these duties and discharge these responsibilities shall not be regarded as Wokmen for all purposes irrespective of their emoluments, designations or nomenclatures. SECTION-III 4. Write Short notes on any two of the following. (a) Employee Stock Option The latest in the area of workers participation is this technique called employee stock option. This system can be implemented in any company, or public sector undertaking, whose shares have been listed on the major stock exchanges of the country. Essentially, this is a sort of incentive scheme. It is very common in America. In India, it is implemented in various Multi National Companies (MNCs). Many software companies use this incentive system. They introduced this scheme basically to arrest the growing attrition rate, which is admittedly very high in the software industry. This scheme works somewhat like this: Listed companies have two choices - offer shares from the promoters quota or make a preferential issue of fresh shares t the employees. The schemes success depends on the price at which the shares are offered to the employees and the price at which they are quoted after the lock-in period is over. It is believed that the companies offering stock option have improved their attrition rate atleast by 25 per cent. It is categorised under this heading for our purpose because indirectly it inculcates a sense of ownership and responsibility in the employees. It also establishes importance of team effort in them. It is not like other traditional methods of workers participation. It may be termed as an indirect method of participation. This disadvantage of the system is only profitable companies can implement it. The stock prices do not necessarily reflect the true position of the company. The employees will benefit only if the stock prices move up during the lock-in period. (b) Ohio State University Studies The Ohio State University researchers looked at two dimensions of leader behaviour namely consideration and initiating structure. Consideration refers to leader behaviour that can be characterised by friendliness, respect, supportiveness, openness, trust, and concern for the welfare of the employees. The initiating structure relates to leader behaviour, which defines and organises the group tasks, assigns the tasks to the members, and supervises their activities. The findings of the Ohio State Studies are as follows: Consideration was positively related to low absenteeism and grievance, but it was negatively or neutrally related to performance. Initiating structure was positively related to employee performance but was also associated with such negative consequences as absenteeism and grievances. When both consideration and initiating structure were high, performance and satisfaction tended to be high. But in some cases, high productivity was accompanies by absenteeism and grievances.
(c) Transactional Analysis To understand interpersonal relationship and interaction is in terms of Transactional Analysis - a concept
developed by Eric Berne and in terms of existential positions conceptualised by Harries (1969). Subsequently expanding on the work of Avary (1980), James (1975), Pareek (1984) has developed twelve influencing styles, six of them in the OK states and six in the NOT OK states. Pareeks application of this to the organisational role in the form of Styles Profile of Interaction Roles provides relevant framework. To describe briefly, Eric Berne identified three main parts of personality termed as parent Ego State, adult Ego State and child Ego State. He defined the ego states as consistent pattern of feeling and experience directly related to a corresponding consistent pattern of behaviour. The terms parent, adult, child are not related to the chronological age but are more in terms of orientations an individual has. For instance, The parent Ego State regulates behaviour and nurtures. The adult Ego State collects information and processes it. The child is concerned with creativity, curiosity, and reactions to others and adjusting behaviour.
The purpose of understanding the Ego State (personality) profile is to make necessary modifications is ones behaviour. Behaviour scientists have suggested certain behavioural patterns in the framework of Ego State Profile and Life Position (OK and NOT OK) as desired while certain others as undesirable and therefore to be avoided. Awareness of ones own pattern and intensity in these styles can be a step towards developing healthy influencing relationships. (d) Strategic Human Resource Management The present HRM perspective is a comprehensive integrative approach. Conventionally, the HRM functioned independent of the strategic concerns of organisation i.e., the organisations decided on new approaches, new markets and then went about organising the human resource. The present thinking of the organisation experts is pointing to making HRM as an integral part of the Strategic Planning of the Organisation (Tichy and others, 1982). The systems like selection, development, performance appraisal, reward and punishment need to get linked to business concerns and objectives. Aligning to the business strategy the HRM has to develop and gear the Human Resource to achieve excellence - the strategy could be long term like quality and continuous improvement or remaining innovative which implies frequent and quick changes. For moving towards strategic HRM (SHRM) efforts are needed on both fronts. The top management needs to be aware and appreciative of HR process and the HR functionaries should have a comprehensive understanding of the language and practice and practice of strategic planning. They need to become internal consultant to line managers. 5. What is Organisational Behaviour ? Explain briefly the assumptions distinct to this discipline. (10) An organisation can be explained as a purposeful system with several systems where individuals and their activities are organised to achieve certain predetermined goals through division and co-ordination of activities. Organisational Behaviour is the term to describe the actions and reactions of the individuals, dyads, and groups in the system as they interact with each other in achieving the set objectives. In short, Organisational Behaviour is the systematic study of actions and attitudes of people in the organisation with a view to explaining, predicting and controlling human behaviour. Organisation Behaviour is the study and application of knowledge about how people act within organisations.
It is a human tool for human benefit. It applies broadly to the behaviour of people in all types of organisations such as business, government schools and service organisations. Organisation Behaviour is directly concerned with the understanding, prediction, and control of human behaviour in organisations. It is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups and structure have on behaviour within organisations for the purpose of applying such knowledge towards improving an organisations effectiveness. The assumptions distinct to this concept are: a) b) c) d) e) An organisation is a social system; There is mutuality of interest among organisational members; Behaviour of an individual is an interaction between the personality and the environment; There are differences between individuals and therefore all cannot be treated alike; and Organisation behaviour is holistic.
While the first three concepts centre around people, the next two are concerned with organisations. The last one is combination of the first five assumptions. 6. What is the present practice for determining salary structure of employees in the banks ? Do you think there is scope to introduce performance-linked pay ? The present practice for determining salary structure of employees in the banks is through collective bargaining. This is done between the Indian Bank, Association and various employees organisation in the banks. The bargaining is, however, a controlled one as the Government issues the broad guidelines for fixation of wages. The determination of salary level in the banking industry has undergone a change during the last five decades. To trace the progress, in the initial days, salary was decided solely at the discretion of the banks, which were then all in the private sector. There were no union and association and as such there was no system of fixation of salary after discussion or negotiation. However, with the trade union movement taking shape in the banking industry, the first dispute was on the salary. The unions contended that the banks had the capacity to pay higher salary but they were denying the same and paying much lower salary, where as banks argued that salaries cannot be determined on the only criterion of capacity to pay. The matter went finally for adjudication to the tribunal. The Sastry Award, Desai Award are examples of how the arguments were articulated for and against by the parties, and the salaries were decided by the tribunals for the bankmen across the country. Thus, fixation of salary through settlements by a third party, i.e., the tribunal, becomes an acceptable thing. Since 1966, however, so far a workman staff are concerned, the wages are being settled through Bipartite Settlements between the Management of Banks (represented by Indian Banks Association) on the one hand, and their Workmen (represented by various central trade unions in the industry) on the other. The settlement is binding on parties for the specified period of time. There is scope and indeed a need for introduction of performance linked pay in the banks in the emerging scenario. Compensation can be in any of the following types: Fixed Compensation Totally Variable Compensation Mixed Compensation.
There is a need to link compensation to performance because: Job evaluation appraises the skills required in the job and higher the level of skills, higher the level of compensation. But it is an admitted fact that individuals differ in their performance of Job. Although the job analysis defines the skills required, the degree of skills and the fineness with which the job is performed is different for each individual. There is a growing feeling that this finesse needs to be recognised and compensated for. It is argued that this not only motivates the high performer but also motivates other and their performance level will be up. Currently a debate is going on proposing that each bank should have freedom to decide its compensation package. This is on the grounds that many public sector banks are not performing up to the desired level, and revision of salary at a regular interval puts strain on weak banks. The other argument in favour is that the banks would also like to have freedom in designing certain policies, which will recognise high performers and try to work out a reward system linked to performance so that good performers are motivated and the general efficiency level is raised. The Government has indicated such freedom can be granted. SECTION-IV 7. Answer any two questions from the following (a) What are the objectives of in-house training ? Explain in detail how would you identify the training needs of your organisation. Training is for learning related to present job; education is for learning to prepare the individual for a different but identified job. The main objectives of in-house training are: (a) To correct the existing deficiencies in the organisation and to prepare it for the future (b) To develop specific and useful knowledge skills and techniques for effective employees performance; and (c) To prepare people to carry out pre-determined tasks in well defined job contexts. TRAINING NEED ANALYSIS AND IDENTIFICATION: Firstly, one has t consider that the training needs are perceived in the present as well as future context. The present context refers to the level of skills the existing employees have and in what direction they need to be upgraded. The information for such gap can come from their performance appraisals done by their superiors, the productivity measure (norm) set by the organisation, the larger rejects for the job done by an employee or a department, the number of accidents, the inspection reports, etc., In other words, the level of an individuals performance and the errors that he/she makes can be indicative of the gap in their knowledge, skills and attitude and, therefore, there is a need for training to bridge the gap. The future needs of the organisation also indicate the gaps to be filled by training. The organisations future business plan may include expansion in new or old business domain having qualitative as well as qualitative implications. The organisation needs to have a look at the skill levels of the existing workforce and compare it against the requirement to determine the total training efforts required by the organisation. Sometimes organisation may have some specific focus in the training as an offshoot of change in technology or a business strategy adopted by the organisation. This will be peculiar to a given stage in the life cycle of the organisation.
TRAINING NEED ASSESSMENT
FUTURE
PRESENT
LONG RANGE PLANNING BUSINESS EXTENSION
FORMAL CHANNEL
INFORMAL CHANNEL
QUALITATIVE QUANTITATIVE (Geographic Spreads)
TRAINING NEED ANALYSIS -EMPLOYEE DEVELOPMENT CONCERNS -PERSONNEL AND STAFFING CONCERNS -ADMINISTRATIVE AND MANAGEMENT CONCERNS -ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
-PRODUCTIVITY NORMS -CUSTOMER FEEDBACK -INSPECTION REPORTS
(b) What do you understand by the expression Industrial Relations ? What are the emerging trends in industrial relations in the banking industry in our country ? Industrial Relations is a dynamic and developing concept. It refers to the general web of relationship normally obtaining between the employers and the employees and includes the complex relations between trade unions and management. Industrial relations are an integral aspect of social relations arising out of employer-employee interaction in modern industries, which are regulated by the State in conjunction with organised social forces. The Encyclopaedia Britannica (1961) states of industrial relations as a concept extended to denote the relations on the State with employers, workers and their organisations ... The subject includes individual relations and joint consultations between employers and workers at their places of work; collective relations between employers and their organisations and trade unions; and the part played by the State in regulating these relations. There are so far six Bi-partite settlements in the industry, as indicated below: First bi-partite settlement Second bi-partite settlement October, October, 1966 1970
Third bi-partite settlement Fourth bi-partite settlement Fifth bi-partite settlement Sixth bi-partite settlement
August, September, April, February,
1979 1983 1989 1995
The bi-partite settlements in the banking industry have set a tradition of resolving the disputes, relating to the issues of salary and allowances, duty hours, medical aid and hospitalisation schemes. Some settlements have also touched upon issues like restrictive practices on the part of unions. The settlement is the end result of open negotiations between the banks and their workmen. Issues raised by the management of the banks, such as concern about the staff productivity etc. have also been handled and resolved. The settlements have been quite objectively implemented and there have been no major disputes during the currency of the settlements. Even for deciding the salary of the officers of the banks, the same process is followed. The bi-partite settlements and collective bargaining seem to be an acceptable way of settling the salary-related issues. It appears that the same system may continue and indeed, the stage for the next bi-partite settlement is set. But there has been a debate going on as to whether the individual banks should be given liberty to decide their salary related issues, rather than asking the Indian Banks Association to negotiate with the unions on behalf of all the banks. The point in favour of this argument is that salary related matters are better settled at the bank level, which has deeper knowledge about its capacity to pay. One general agreement results in substantial financial strain on the weaker banks. On the other hand the stronger banks also need to decide their own salary levels so that it helps them in keeping the motivation level of their employees higher rather than trying to average the rise so as to fall in line with the industry trend. There have been opposite views aired on these matters by the unions of the weaker banks who are against the move and those of the stronger banks who naturally support it. As it stands, it seems that the present system may continue, for some more time. (c) Organisational development is an intervention strategy that uses group processes to focus on the whole culture of an organisation in order to bring about planned change. Discuss. How to recognise the forces that create the need for change, how to decide about the time for change, and how to go about implementing the change are the issues related to the concept of Organisation Development. As the term suggests the change is for Development implying a positive, appropriate response to the external or internal forces. External forces could be anything in the environment where organisation is situated. This could be physical or commercial. Therefore, scarcity of physical resources, market saturation, decrease in demand, increase competition, change in customer preference, public opinion, social issues, security measures, or ethics trigger the need for modification. The internal forces like the new strategy chosen new technology, employee attitudes, changing profile of the workforce etc. could also be the reasons for change. When any of these factors pressurise organisation to change, there are two responses possible from the organisation. One is to wait till the pressure mounts so much that there is no other way but to change. This is reactive mode. The other is to have a programme of planned change. This implies that the changes are studied and responses are planned. This is a proactive mode. Such planned change could emanate from a specific component of the organisation like the structure, technology or people. Such change implies modifications in other components too as they are interrelated.
CHANGE IN STRUCTURE
ORGANISATION REDESIGN, DECENTRALISATION, MODIFICATION OF WORK FLOW
TECHNOSTRUCTURAL APPROACH
RESIDESIGN OF STRUCTURE AND WORK OPERATIONS
1
CHANGE IN TECHNOLOGY REDESIGN OF WORK OPERATIONS
CHANGE IN PEOPLE
CHANGES IN SKILLS, ATTITUDES, EXPECTATIONS, PERCEPTIONS
1. 2.
Change Agent Improved Organisation Performance As the diagram spells out any change in structure or technology results in changing the techno structural approach leading to changes in structure and operations. The change could be in any one leading to change in the other aspect. Change in people may lead to change in design or system of decentralisation and vice versa. Conventionally, organisations introduce change in one element and in its closest links. When a more comprehensive problem solving perspective is taken to organisational change, we have Organisation Development (OD). French and Bell (1984) highlight this perspective when they define OD as a top-management-supported, long-range effort to improve an organisations problem-solving and renewal processes, particularly through a more effective and collaborative diagnosis and management of organisation culture - with special emphasis on formal work team, temporary team, and inter-group culture - with the assistance of a consultant-facilitator and the use of the theory and technology of applied behavioural science, including action research. Pareek (1986) defines, OD is a planned effort, initiated by process specialists to help an organisation develop its diagnostic skills, coping capabilities, linkage strategies, in the form of temporary and semi-permanent systems and a culture of mutuality. Both the definitions specify external help in the beginning for the reason that OD primarily focuses on changing people and the nature and quality of their working relationships. The knowledge and skills of applied behavioural sciences are necessary. The presence of process specialists to initiate the OD exercise is therefore desirable. The definition by French includes top management support, which Pareek lists as a prerequisite along with strong linkpins roles that connect various levels and various parts of the organisation.

SECTION-I 1. Define any five of the following terms. a) Task Task is basic element of job, which requires a person to achieve a specific product. b) Placement Placement is assignment of an appropriate job to a selected candidate taking into consideration his attitude, aptitude and behavioural pattern. c) d) Role Role is a pattern of actions expected of a person in activities involving others. Machiavellianism Machiavellianism refers to tendency of manipulating others as a primary way of achieving ones goals. e) f) Motives Motives are needs, wants, drives or impulses within the individual, which are directed towards goals. Check Off Check-Off is a practice under which the employer deducts union dues from the pay of the employee and hands over the amount so deducted to the Union. g) Andragogy Andragogy is a technique of learning for adults, which differentiates adult learning process from that of children. 2. State whether the following statements are true or false and explain the reasons for your answer in about 25 words. (5 x 2 = 10) (a) One of the major assumptions of scientific management is that people will do a given activity in return for money. TRUE: Some of the major assumptions in this approach could be summarised as: the tasks can be broken down to simple units for people to understand and perform people will do a given activity in return for money people will have to do what is defined by the organisation (in turn by the technology)
(b) The purpose of a policy is to provide rules and regulations that the employees have to adhere to. FALSE: These polices help individuals within the organisation to align their activities and decisions to achieve there set goals.
(c) Job Analysis is the basic framework for most of the HRD systems. TRUE: Job Analysis as a technique, facilitates the listing of what is required to perform a task. A typical job analysis comprises of three sections - Job description, Job specification and Job evaluation. (d) The adult Ego State regulates behaviour and nurtures. FALSE: The adult ego state collects information and processes it. (e) Company policy and administration is a motivational factor under Herzbergs two-factor theory. FALSE: Herzbergs theory is based on a two-factor hypothesis, that is, factors leading to job satisfaction and the factors leading to job dissatisfaction. He classified the factors so identified into two categories: SECTION-II 3. Answer any five questions from the following. (a) What is manpower planning ? What is its relationship with the business plan ? Manpower Planning is the process by which management determines how the organisation should move from its current manpower to its desired manpower position. It strives to have the right member and the right kind of people, at the right place, and at right time to achieve the organisations objectives. The business plan is a critical variant in relation to manpower plan; the former indicates the growth rate, diversification programmes and other opportunities and has therefore a direct proportional influence on the latter. (b) What is Intelligence Test ? How does it differ from Aptitude Test ? Intelligence Test is intended to measure ones intellect on national thinking ability and is widely used in almost all selection process. Intelligence test measures ones intellect at the general level. Aptitude tests attempt to find out whether an individual has a special faculty of mind or falicity in a particular subject. (c) What is Assessment Centre ? What are its usual activities ? Assessment Centre is a modern method of assessment of a persons performance. It generally measures the areas like interpersonal skills, organising and planning abilities, stress tolerance capacity, motivational orientation and communication skills of the appraise. The usual activities of an assessment Centre are (i) to measure potential of the candidate for higher positions; (ii) (iii) (iv) to assess his training and development needs; to select candidates in campus recruitment on fresh candidates for employment; and to identify future potential leaders. Motivational Factors; and Hygiene or Maintenance Factors
An advantage of assessment centres is that they help identify potentially talented employees in a large organisation.
(d) What are the objectives of Equal Remuneration Act, 1976 ? What are its main features ? The objectives of Equal Remuneration Act, 1976 is to provide for payment of equal remuneration to men and women employees and for prevention of discrimination on grounds of sex against women. The main features of the Act are:Payment of equal remuneration to men and women for the same work or work of a similar nature; No discrimination while recruiting employees for the same; Work except where the employment of women is legally prohibited or restricted; and No discrimination against women in the matter of conditions of service, promotion, training etc. (e) What is a group ? How is it different from a team ? A group is any collection of individuals who have a mutually dependent relationship. A group differs from a team in the sense that unlike the latter, the members of a group may not have clear objectives and agreed goals. Further, in a team, the members are committed to the achievement of the goals while in a group such a commitment may not exist. (f) What is H R I S ? What are the segments usually included in it ? HRIS refers to a comprehensive computer-based Human Resource Information System. The segments usually included in it are employees personal details, educational qualification, professional qualification, career history, salary details etc. (g) What is Johari Window ? What is its framework ? The concept of Johari Window given by Luft and Ingham attempts to explain what is meant by selfawareness and how this can be improved. The framework of Johari Window is based on two dimensions, namely: (a) (b) how much ones own behaviour is known to him, and how much be feels others know him.
These two dimensions placed against horizontal and vertical axes indicate four section termed Arena, Blind, Closed and Dark. The area, which is known to self and others, is the Arena (open) aspect of ones personality and one which do both self and others not know is the Dark aspect. Others but not to self and Closed section is closed to others but known to self know the Blind section. The framework highlights that the move one knows about oneself by sensitising himself to receive feedback from others, the better equipped he is to face the challenges. SECTION-III 4. Write Short notes on any two of the following. (a) Potential Appraisal Assessing potential is different from assessing performance. It refers to the abilities present in the person but not currently utilised or abilities to discharge higher responsibilities in future roles. The traditional methods though consider the means significant, do not throw any light on the potential
of the candidate in taking up higher assignment. Potential appraisal thus becomes an important aspect of the performance appraisal system. It is to be used in conjunction with the performance appraisal technique. There are many organisations, which have a regular potential appraisal system in place. The key areas in potential appraisal report are: Functional knowledge Managing skills Initiative Decision making / problem solving skills Flexibility Self Managing skills Communication skills Achievement orientation Entrepreneurial skills Innovation Training and Development needs Drawbacks
(b) Psychoanalytical Theory Psychoanalytical Theory is based primarily on the Frendian concept of unconscious nature of personality. According to Frendian, personality structure is founded on unconscious framework, and human behaviour and motivation are the outcome of psychoanalytic elements, viz., id, ego, and superego. In a normal personality there must be a balance of these three factors For example, an overdeveloped super ego would make the person highly moral and make him feel guilty for every little thing that slightly deviates from the norm. This would not be considered practical or rational. Similarly, an underdeveloped super ego would let id urges loose and would characterise the person as one having weak morals and values. This psychoanalytical approach to personality structure analysis has made some impact on organisational behaviour. For example, stages of creative process are unconscious in nature and can be brought out by psychoanalysis. Similarly, such employee behaviour as daydreaming, forgetfulness, absenteeism, tardiness, sabotage, alcoholism and drug abuse, can be analysed through psychoanalytical studies and analysis. (c) Campus Recruitment One of the important sources of recruitment for educated and qualified candidates is campus recruitment. It is a later development. The education system in the country has changed and has become business oriented. The curriculum of the degree course offers various practical subjects with a view to assisting the students to gain an insight in the business climate and culture so that they do not find themselves grappling whom employed. Another development is establishment of technical and business management institutes. The organisations have to give a pre-placement presentation highlighting the ethos, its vision, its requirement and what it offers to the students. Based on the response, a final placement takes place through screening exercises such as written test, group discussion, and interview. The candidates are
generally taken as management trainees at the entry level. In India, the Indian Institute of Managements at Ahmedabad, Calcutta, Bangalore, Lucknow and other institutions like Xaviers Labour Relations Institute, Jamshedpur, the Indian Institutes of Technology and Regional Engineering Colleges were well known. Some of the well-known institutes abroad are the Slogans Business School, Wharton Business School, Harvard Business School, and Insead at Paris etc. It is a common practice world over to recruit students from the campuses. (d) Glass Walls Though the women have entered the organisation through the same merit-based recruitment system, their career advancement in the organisation has been much less than their male counterpart. They are not generally visible in the higher level of the organisation. This phenomenon is labelled on Glass Walls. The word glass is symbolic of the invisible or unconscious nature of the processes that lead to this situation. Like a glass would let you see what is on the other side but blocks your physical movement towards it, the women can see their progress towards top and other significant activities in the organisation, but cannot really reach there. These barriers are rooted in the conventional processes or the subtle psychological climate. They are not obvious and therefore not though of. As the researches have indicated, visible factors like lack of appropriate educational qualification, legal support, corporate policies (written documents) can be examined and modified but intangible factors like cultural sanctions, self-perceptions which affect both directly, indirectly, have to be seriously examined. The cultural factors may affect in terms of perceptions of others in the organisation as well as their own image. To deal with this, interventions have to be worked out having a comprehensive perspective and involving the organisation, and the women themselves. All the three groups need to change their stero-types to make a meaningful integration (Mankidy A 1991). 5. What is Conflict ? What are the sources of conflict in a workplace ? Conflict is one of the major themes within social science. The term conflict refers to an opposition of interests on perspective and generally involves corresponding forms of action, such action may take a wide variety of forms and may be expressed by individuals along through collective means. In the organisational set up groups or teams are formed for functional convenience. A conflict situation may occur within the group members when a particular member or members hold a different view than the others about a work situation. If the difference is of the work procedure, systems etc., it can be solved by referring to the manual or to the senior officer. But if the difference is in approach or ideology relating to the working conditions, it needs to be addressed to, either at the individual level or when it is represented by the trade union. The major sources of conflict in a workplace are: (a) Status in congruency : Differences in the status in an organisation is one of the main sources of conflict. It may happen that there is a salary difference in the salary of two employees although their education, experience etc. may be similar. (b) Decision-making: Another source of conflict is, one is required to take decisions when there are conflicting considerations and pressures. How does one cope with these situations may depend on ones set up and structure but the organisational atmosphere also contributes in taking right decision. (c) Competition or work arrangement: While it is all right to set individual goals, it is also necessary to set
the means by which the goals are to be achieved. Too much competitive environment within the organisation creates conflicts and tensions. The organisations face outward competition for its survival and growth, but internal competition can and should be avoided. (d) Perceptual difference: In an organisation where the role clarity does not exist, the manuals and procedures are not set properly, conflicting situation may arise due to incorrect perception of the role of one-self or of the other. (e) Difference in value system: This is a common source of conflict. People come from different backgrounds, different up-bringing, different culture and religion at the work place. They are of different age groups. Their value systems as to inter personal interaction, societal references etc. differ. This, some times, causes a problem in the organisation. (f) Inadequate or defective communication: Many of the conflicting situations arise due to improper, incorrect, inadequate communication in the organisation. The communication at times gets distorted though unintentionally - which creates confusion and problems.
6.
What is Communication ? What are the barriers to effective communication ? Communication is the exchange of information and understanding between two or more persons. It is a way of reaching others with facts, ideas, thoughts and values. The process involves the sender, the receiver, and the transmission of a message through a selected channel. The difference between interpersonal communication and organisational communication is found in the flow pattern of messages. The flow pattern of organisational communication takes five directions, namely, Downward, Upward, Lateral, Diagonal and External. The communication must be interpreted and understood in the same manner in which it was meant to be sent by the sender. Otherwise it will not achieve the desired results and there will be a break down of the communication. There are certain barriers to communication, which distort the message and also defeat the desired objectives. The manager should be aware of such barriers with a view to improving his communication skills. The main barriers to communication are: (a) Deficiency in expressing the message; (b) Faulty organisation; (c) Use of technical language or Jargon; (d) Un-clarified assumptions; (e) Perceptual bias; (f) Filter problems; (g) Personal bias; (h) Distortion and Disruption; (i) (j) Diverse background; In attention;
(k) Time pressure, etc.
SECTION-IV 7. Answer any two questions from the following. (a) Critically review the concept of Career and Career Development with special reference to banks. It is not uncommon to find that after initial excitement in the job, individuals tend to lose interest or get disillusioned so to say, and feel that they have no career in a particular organisation or a profession. What is implied in such feeling is that things have not happened as expected. In other words, individuals expect certain changes / advancements to take place - time bound or as a result of certain behaviour. When these changes do not occur it leads to the feeling of frustration or alienation. The mismatch between expectations and actual events could be in terms of the time for results being been too long, or the absence of result itself. Sometimes there may have been irrationality or vagueness in expectations leading to wrong perceptions. Organisational experts have tried to identify the variables responsible for this and explained the process in the context of organisational realities and expectations about careers. Career development in a general context can be viewed to have two distinct phases, viz., prior to and after the acquiring of qualifications. In the first phase, one chooses an occupation. In the second one (after he acquires qualification), he has a choice of joining an organisation or remain independent and utilise his knowledge. There are a number of explanations available about the career in general and the career in organisation. They refer to different aspects of career like the stages, the movements, the perspectives at these stages etc., One example of applying the three dimensional movement model has been given by Mankidy (1997) for the Indian Commercial Banks are Vertical Movement:
Scale / Grade Management Level Minimum Years of Experience before promotion to the Next Grade 7 Years 5 Years 5 Years 3 Years 2 Years 2 Years 2 Years
I II III IV V VI VII
Junior Management Middle Management Middle Management Senior Management Senior Management Top Management Top Management
Horizontal / Functional Movement at Various Levels:

Size of Branch Small Branch Manager Scale I - Junior Management Scale II - Middle Management Major Business Dimensions likely to be Covered in the Branch Personal Banking, Agriculture and other Priority Sector Small Scale Industries (SSI) and Commercial Credit Personal Banking, Agriculture, Commercial and Industrial (large and medium) Credit, Agriculture, Other Priority Sector, SSI, Industrial (Medium) Credit SSI, Agriculture, Commercial and Industrial (large & medium) Credit SSI, Industrial, (large), Institutional Agriculture Credit Consortium Advances International Banking (Overseas)
Medium
Large Extra Large/Very Large Branch
Scale III - Middle Management Scale IV - V Senior Management
Inclusion Movement at Middle and Senior Management Levels Office Regional Office Regional Office Management Level Scale III Scale IV / Regional Manager Scale IV / Chief Manager Scale V / Zonal Manager Scale VI / Zonal Manager (for a Large Zone) Scale IV / Chief Manager Scale V / Asst. Gen. Manager Scale VI / Asst. Gen. Manager Scale VI / Dy. Gen. Manager Scale VII / General Manager Responsibilities In-charge of a function like credit, personnel, planning and operations for a region Co-ordinate, control and development of the region, Regional Manager (Business, Employees, Area) In-charge of a function like credit, personnel, planning and marketing and operations for a zone. Co-ordinate, control and development of the zone. Co-ordinate, control and development of the zone. Head of a department like credit, personnel, investment, merchant banking Overall supervision and policy review for a function. Overall control policy review and modification. Overall control policy review and modifications. Strategic management for a function: review, change and direction.
Zonal Office Zonal Office
Central Office Central Office Central Office Central Office Central Office
When these movements are predetermined in a logical sequence to enable an individual to have knowledge of all activities of the organisation (horizontal movement), different perspectives of
management (field and controlling) and different levels of management (hierarchical) it could be said that the organisation has developed CAREER PATH. (b) Discuss the probable impact of Introduction of Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) on the human resource management in banks. When the Government cleared the Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) for bank employees the target was to reduce 10 per cent of the staff strength of over 8.74 lakh employees. The VRS scheme was made applicable to the employees with 15 years of service. Employees who had executed service bonds or those who were facing disciplinary actions were not eligible for it. The ex-gratia was to be the lesser of the 60 days salary for each completed year of service or the salary for the number of months of service left. Gratuity, Pension and leave en-cashment was to be according to the rules. Acknowledging that the VRS was a step in the right direction adequate measures was in place to check the outflow of the skilled and qualified professionals by giving the discretionary authority to the individual banks. There were also to be no recruitments against the vacancies arising due to the scheme. To ensure that the exercise was carried out in a planned manner the banks going for the VRS were to carry out the manpower planning exercises and carefully identify the number of employees who could be considered for the scheme. Voluntary Retirement Scheme has been contemplated for the following reasons: v v v v v v v v v v v v v Staff deployment is not properly handled / done before introduction of VRS; Staff posted at towns / urban / metro places never bothered to update their knowledge; In the absence of specific transfer policy, the behaviour and service of staff towards the customers is rude; and Customer service depended on customers service / approach towards Bank staff; If tested the patience of customers; Delay in service, to some extent, resulted in non-payment and delayed payment of loans; Loyalty, dedication to duty is absent in the minds of a few members of staff; they used to think their personal comforts in regard to place of posting, nearness to the house etc., Public are made known that almost all Public Sector Banks are over staffed; Over staffing led to deterioration in standards of service; Impact of wage bill on Balance Sheet is more; Wage bill is 3 to 4 times of Net Profit; Reduction of staff to transact the existing level / volume of business will / may result in doubling the profits; Top Management get affected since most of the officials will be around 58 years.
The work of the management does not end with the completion of the VRS. It is the post VRS that is crucial. The management should instil confidence in the employees who did not opt for the VRS. With the chain of command and the organisation structure completely dislocated due to exist of employees across the board, the management should reconstruct the organisation hierarchy. Some of the unprofitable branches may have to be closed due to non-availability of workforce. Promotion and redistribution of work should take place. Training may have to be given to increase the overall productivity. With the large number of employees taking VRS the productivity and efficiency would not
go up immediately. The bank will have to take up effective manpower planning with a lot more training. As technology slowly replaces the unspecialised jobs, computerisation will not be the only answer to efficiency and better client service. (c) Managing change is not like operating a machine or treating the human body of one ailment at a time. Both these activities involve working with a fixed set of relationships. The proper metaphor for managing change is balancing a mobile. Elucidate. The most difficult part of the OD is implementing the change. As a natural process, human being resists change. Kurt Lewin explains this phenomenon by borrowing the concept of Force Field Theory from Physics. It explains that there are two types of forces driving forces which push restraining forces which (resist) push this push back
Such action-reaction leads to maintaining the stability. If a change in status is desired, the balance between this has to be changed. Increasing the driving forces and / or decreasing the restraining forces can do this. The latter strategy seems to be more effective in organisational change. The diagram below explains Lewins model MOVING AN ORGANISATIONAL EQUILIBRIUM
New State
Intervention:
Present
5 6 7 8
Equilibrium
1. Unfreezing 2. Moving or Changing 3. Refreezing
DRIVING FORCES 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Unknown Effects Fear Unknown Reasons for Change Loss of Benefits or Power New Directive New Policy Training
As the diagram indicates if the present equilibrium is to be taken to the new state, the driving forces the need for new directive, new policy has to be highlighted throughout the organisation. Training can be an important intervention for this. Simultaneously, the restraining forces to change need to be minimised by, sharing reasons for change and explicit discussion of implications of the change with the people involved; thereby reducing their fear. It is, therefore, advisable to consult, and involve people in an intervention, which is ultimately going to affect them. Another concern in managing change is the tendency of individuals to revert back to earlier position. To ensure that this does not happen, Lewin suggested a three-stage model, which was later elaborated by Schein and others. It involves: a) Unfreezing of the present behaviour pattern; b) c) Changing or developing new behaviour pattern; and Re-freezing the new pattern.

SECTION-I 1. Define any five of the following terms. a) Social Man The SOCIAL MAN is focused on the role played by the various relationships that develop at work as an outcome of organisational interaction; it owes its origin to human relations movement. b) Experimental Lectures When traditional forum of lectures is modified to incorporate activities on the part of the audience it is called EXPERIMENTAL LECTURES. In such lectures, interruptions are designed to facilitate interactive learning. c) Power POWER is a major of a persons potential to get others to do what he or she wants them to do, as well as avoid being forced to do what he or she does not want to do. d) Personal Efficacy PERSONAL EFFICACY is the general sense of adequacy, which is likely to contribute to a persons effectiveness in working for a task-related goal. e) Empowerment EMPOWERMENT may be defined as delegating to a subordinate the power to judge, act and command in order to make him more involved and committed. f) Role Linking ROLE LINKING refers to the pursued ability of the individual to link his role with other factors in or outside the organisation. g) Manpower Audit MANPOWER AUDIT is the total inventory of the existing manpower which gives complete details such as age, qualifications, skills, date of retirement etc. 2. State whether the following statements are true or false and explain the reasons for your answer in about 25 words. (a) Scientific Management approach is the foundation of todays concept of Human Resource Management. FALSE: Because, the simplicity of this approach ignored many important and vital aspects of human behaviour, which was later brought to the forefront. (b) Job Analysis is a basic framework for most of the H R D systems.
TRUE: Job Analysis is a process by which the job is minutely observed to be in a position to know its full components. (c) Individuals with low self-esteem take more risk in their career. FALSE: The esteem needs for self-respect and for respect of others is often referred to as ego or status needs. This satisfaction of this need generates a feeling of self-confidence and of being useful and necessary in the world. (d) Under the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 an employee is entitled to gratuity if he has rendered continuous service of not less than 10 years. FALSE: Section 4 confers a right on the employee to receive gratuity if he has rendered continuous service of not less than 5 years, on his superannuation, retirement or resignation or on his death. The completion of 5 years is not necessary if the termination of employment is due to death or disablement. (e) Locus of Control refers to ones belief about who is responsible for the events in ones life. TRUE: The concept of locus of control given by Leftcourt (1969) and Levenson (1972) explains that individuals have beliefs about who is responsible for what happens in life. SECTION-II 3. Answer any five questions from the following. (a) Name the stages involved in policy-making process. Do you think that policies must be documented? The stages are: Input stage; Formation stage; Communication stage; Action (Implementation) stage; and Feedback and Review stage. YES, as documentation tends to eliminate misunderstandings and confusion, facilitates examination of linkage between and amongst various policies, and ensures uniform presentation to all concerned. (b) What is Strategic Human Resource Management ? Under this system what is the exact role of H.R. functionaries ? In Strategic Human Resource Management, HRM becomes an integral part of the strategic planning of the organisation; under this the Human Resource Management functions and its various sub-systems directly get linked to business concerns and objectives. Under SHRM, the H.R. functionary should have a comprehensive understanding of business plan and strategies and must act as internal consultants to line managers. (c) What is Role ? How would you distinguish between role and position ? Role is a pattern of behaviour expected of a person in activities involving others in a social setting. Position is a relational and power-related concept implying formal authority but role is an obligation concept. (d) What is benchmarking ? What is it valuable ? Benchmarking is finding and implementing best practices with a view to improving organisations competitive position.
Benchmarking is valuable as it provides insight into superior management practices, sets achievable standards and targets before the work-groups, and instils a spirit of competition. (e) What is collective bargaining ? What are its pre-requisites ? Collective Bargaining is a process of discussion and negotiation about working conditions and terms of employment on other allied issues between an employer, a group of employers or one or more employers organisations on one hand and one or more representative workers organisations on the other. The pre-requisites of collective bargaining are a favourable political climate; freedom of association; stability of workers organisation; recognition of trade unions by the employers; willingness on the side of both the parties to give and take; and avoidance of unfair labour practices. (f) What is a Training Plan ? What are its key components ? A Training Plan is a schedule of activities, usually over a time period, to be undertaken by an organisation to meet the noticed deficiencies in the performance of its staff as well as to prepare them for the future. The key components of a training plan are the number of programs to be conducted, the level of participants to be covered, the program titles and objectives the course contents, the faculty allotment, the allocation of resources, the infrastructural facilities and other allied matters. (g) What is discipline ? What are the implications of hot stove theory in matters of discipline ? Discipline means an orderly and systematic behaviour and implies training of the kind that produces self-control. It refers to the force, which prompts an individual, or a group to observe rules, regulations that are necessary for accomplishing a given task. It also refers to the forced or fear of force which restrains or prevents an individual or a group, from deviating from the required standards or indulging in such actions that may hamper the fulfilment of set objectives. The application of hot stove theory in matter of discipline implies total impartiality while handling disciplinary matters, no undue time lag in action and effect, making known to all concerned the required standards as well as the consequences for breach of these standards and consistency in managerial follow-up action. SECTION-III 4. Write Short notes on any two of the following. (a) Multiple Careers Traditionally, organisations were simple and smaller. They were engaged in single business and their activities were focused and related to that. The other activities like finance, personnel, marketing, planning etc. were together clubbed in the administrative functions and these were perceived as not requiring much heterogeneity in skills. However, as organisations visualised the wider canvas and as management science grew, it was realised that many of the aforesaid activities need special attention and skills. Today, these are clearly understood as separate independent functions, which require expertise. Thus, in the manufacturing industry, one can see specialisation at the top management level for finance, personnel, marketing, planning, and quality besides the traditional focus on production and maintenance. In this scenario it is feasible to perceive and develop multiple careers within the organisation.
(b) Learning Organisation In a complex unpredictable economic, legal and political environment, organisations need to develop capacity for continuous change. This change is a result of new knowledge - learning. The inability to learn and correctly enact and react in their environments, with sufficient understanding of the society at large had continuously led to the high mortality rate of organisations in some countries, particularly the developed ones (Johnie 1996). Today there is a growing focus on making organisations a learning organisation. According to Garvin (1993) A learning organisation is an organisation skilled at creating, acquiring and transferring knowledge and at modifying its behaviour to reflect new knowledge and insights. (c) Fishbowl Technique Fish bowling is another variation of brainstorming, but it is more structured and is to the point. In this technique, the decision making group is seated around a circle with a single chair in the centre. One member of the group or the group leader is invited to sit in the center chair and give his views about the problem and his proposition of a solution. The other group members can ask him questions but there is no irrelevant discussion or cross talk. Once the member in the center chair has finished talking and his viewpoint has been fully understood, he leaves the center and joins the group in the circle. Then the second member is called upon to sit in the center and give his views in the light of the views expressed earlier. The members can ask questions to the center based upon the new ideas presented by the member in the center as well as the ideas discussed by previous central members. Exchange between the center chair and the group members continues until the chair is vacated. All exchanges must be between the center and the group and no two-group members are allowed to talk directly. (d) Quality of Work Life The term quality of work life means different things to different persons. For example, a clerk in despatch seat, it may just mean a fair days pay. To a mineworker, it means safe working conditions. Shop floor workers want their supervisors to treat them with dignity. A probationary officer, who has just joint the bank, may look forward to opportunities for promotion, creative tasks and a successful career. The following factors contribute to the quality of work life: 1) Adequate and fair compensation. 2) A safe and healthy environment. 3) Jobs aimed at developing and using employees skills and abilities. 4) Growth and security; jobs aimed at expanding employees capabilities rather than leading to their obsolescence. 5) An environment in which employees develop self-esteem and a sense of identify. 6) Protection and respect for employees rights to privacy, dissent, equity, etc. 7) A sensible integration of Job career and family life and leisure time. 5. State the E R G theory on human motivation. How does it differ from Abraham Maslows Need Hierarchy theory ? The ERG Theory, advanced by Clayton Alderfer argues that three sets of needs of human being come into
play in an organisation. There are Existence, Relatedness and Growth. These needs are important determinants of human behaviour and they are prime forces for human survival and growth. The ERG Theory differs from Maslows Theory in following respects: a) b) c) Instead of five levels of need in Maslows Need Hierarchy theory, E.R.G theory indicates only three. Maslows Theory postulates by and large, a step by step progression in the hierarchy of needs. According to Alderfer more than one need may be operative at the same time. Maslow argues that a person will stay at a certain need-level until that need is satisfied ERG Theory holds that when a higher-level need is frustrated, the individuals desire to increase a lower-level need takes place.
6.
How would you distinguish between a grievance and a dispute ? What are the guiding principles for evolving an effective grievance procedure ? A grievance could be a feeling, whereas a dispute is a definite manifestation of conflict. A dispute is generally of a wider dimension and may be a result of many unsettled grievances. A grievance may be suppressed or not voiced but a dispute is always made known either directly or through indirect actions of the affected parties. Finally, timely redressal of grievance is a sure way of reducing the potential of dispute in an organisation. The guiding principles for evolving an effective grievance procedure are: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. It should be simple, fair and expeditious; It should be based on mutual trust; The managerial attitude should be receptive and sympathetic; The stages in the procedure should be minimum and time-bound; The recognised union should be involved in designing the procedure.
SECTION-IV 7. Answer any two questions from the following (a) What the railroad was to 19th century enterprise, what the assembly line was to 20th century manufacturing, knowledge is proving to be just that to 21st century business - Elucidate. The 21st century marks the beginning of information age. Its a new phenomenon for all nations whether developed or developing and its going to be difficult for any one not to respond to it. As the futurist visualised at the beginning of the 20th century, this age is marked with new criteria of success wherein the access to and interpretation of data would be important determinants of success. What the railroad was to 19th century enterprise, what the assembly line was to 20th century manufacturing, knowledge is providing to be just that to 21st century business as Khanna puts it (Business Today, 1996). Globalisation has wiped out the national boundaries linking organisations from all parts of the world. The Information Technology has contributed to this process. A time has come, perhaps, where regardless of an ideology not supporting the technology; nations/organisations would be compelled to adopt it. It is a matter of survival as well as excellence.
The advent of microprocessor, the dramatic increase in its power in the last decade and the equally dramatic slide in its prices, are forming the shift of manufacturing economy to information economy. How well and effectively this technology is inducted in an organisation is therefore critical in deciding the position of an organisation on the continuum of survival to excellence. In other words, it has unlimited potential and the more effectively it is used, the higher will be the level of excellence. The pre-requisite to adoption of the technology would be understand this qualitative changes which are - one at the level of understanding the new relationships, and second, in realising the loss of traditional power centres. Visualising the organisations of tomorrow we cannot be have to realise that they will be compact, less hierarchical and more egalitarian in structures, and will have a risk taking, confronting, innovative and learning culture. Since the individuals where knowledge rests - have immense opportunities, enabling them to perform by creating a fostering culture is going to be a formidable challenge. (b) Explain the operative functions of Personnel Management. Which one of these functions, in your view, is acquiring greater importance in todays context and why ? The personnel functions can be broadly categorised under two heads viz., managerial functions and the line or operative functions. The managerial functions are those, which relate to planning, organising and directing of activities while operative functions concern procurement, development, compensation, integration, maintenance and separation of people. Though the operative functions are core personnel functions, the ability to perform the managerial functions efficiently is a great help in discharging these functions successfully. Integration: Integration is creating a sense of belonging in people. It is said that you can hire a pair of hands but not the soul. You can compel people to be physically present but you cannot guarantee their enthusiasm. These are the areas, which are intangible, but their absence is felt when the organisation registers mediocre performance despite all the resources and facilities being available. It is the difference of spirit between a winning team and the one that loses. Integration is an attempt to ensure collaborative reconciliation of individuals and to create shared vision so that all the efforts converge in achieving organisational goals. In a wider sense, it is integrating the aspirations or goals of the individual, organisation and society. Unless they are complementary to each other, it is difficult to get the best out of the people. The following diagram shows the integrated goals of these three groups.
Goals of Individuals
Integrated Goals
Goals of the Organization
Goals of the Society
INTEGRATION OF GOALS
In the present scenario which is fast changing and becoming pro-employee by the volition of the employers and not by statutory compulsions. In the changed scenario of liberalised economy, both the employers and the employees have to be accountable to the community. (c) OD is a planned effort, initiated by process specialists to help an organisation develop its diagnostic skills, coping capabilities, linkage strategies, in the form of temporary and semipermanent systems and a culture of mutuality - Discuss. How to recognise the forces that create the need for change, how to decide about the time for change, and how to go about implementing the change are the issues related to the concept Organisation Development. OD has been differentiated from any other specific changes brought about with short-term perspectives. These changes too many include interventions with people but they are again specific to that issue. As against this, OD is concerned with the entire organisation and its interface with external as well as internal environment. OD therefore, focuses on the individual, interpersonal relationship, the team, inter-team relationship and indeed, on the entire organisation(culture). An OD exercise generally goes through a sequence of events as follows(a) Entry in the Organisation: During this phase the external consultant establishes his identity and endeavours to understand the organisation. He may do so by gathering preliminary information about the organisation i.e., the size, the technology, the products, the market etc., He may then interview a few key persons to understand their values, their perspective about the organisation and the issues. He may also attend a few meetings of the top management (to understand the existing pattern of interactions and relationships). (b) Problem Identification: The next stage is problem identification. This is done by formally collecting certain data primarily through survey method. The data is related to the work climate, motivational patterns, leadership styles etc. The consultant may also interview and make observations and study perceptions of some individuals in this regard. The data thus collected helps him to diagnose the problems and their intensity. His assessment is then shared with the top management and collectively the strategies are planned. (c) Interventions: The strategies planned could be in terms of structural modifications, technology updation, conflicts resolution and so on. Each intervention needs to have a plan for implementation. These interventions invariably include team building exercise, which encourages involvement and ultimately enhances the chances of implementation of specific plans. (d) Development of Internal Resources: All along the OD exercise there needs to be an internal team working with the external consultant. The team should consist of a manager preferably from HR department. Development of internal resource reduces the dependability of external consultant for future exercise.

SECTION-I 1. Define any five of the following terms. a) Job Description : This is simply record each and every activity an individual has to perform in a given set - up. Job description describes the work performed, the skills required, any specific conditions under which the job is to be performed, and the personal traits required for the performer. Job analysis and Job description appear to be having overlapping characteristics. Valence : Valence is the value a person assigns to this desired reward. He may not be willing to work hard to improve performance if the reward for such improved performance is not what he desires. It is not the actual value of the reward but the perceptual value of the reward in the mind of the person that is important. As employee may be motivated to work hard not to get pay raise but to get recognition and status. Another employee may be more interested in job security than status. Career Anchor : Scheins concept of Career Anchor provides one explanation why individuals try to follow a particular pattern. The concept of career anchor refers to a personal sense of the type of work individual wants to pursue and what that work implies about the individual. According to Schein, these anchors start developing early in the career as an individual goes through various types of assignments. It is a mutual discovery of the individual and the organisation with respect to developing occupational self-concept. This has three components: d) Self-perception of talents and abilities based on ones performance; Self-perceived motives and needs based on self-diagnosis and feedback; and Self-perceived attitudes and values based on interactions with the norms and values implicit in the organisation.
b)
c)
Aptitude Test : While intelligence tests measures ones intellect at the general level, aptitude tests attempt to find out whether an individual has a special faculty of mind or felicity in a particular subject. It tries to find out the capability or potential of a person in a particular field. Some such tests are psychomotor tests measuring the hand and eye co-ordination. Mechanical dexterity, clerical, linguistic aptitude etc., is other examples. Role Ambiguity : Sometimes an individual may not be clear about the various expectations that people have from his role and this causes role ambiguity. It may be due to lack of information available to a role occupant or may be due to lack of understanding of the cues available to him. Role ambiguity may be in relation to activities, responsibilities, priorities or general expectations. Generally role ambiguity is experienced by persons occupying roles that are newly created or roles that are undergoing change. Brainstorming : Brainstorming is an idea-generation process that specifically encourages any and all alternatives, while withholding any criticism of these alternatives. Perhaps the most well known group decision-making technique is brainstorming. Alex Osborn originally proposed this during the 1930s. Counselling : Counselling is basically advising an employee. It is an elaborate process, which includes intent listening by the superior and adopting a positive approach that the employee will improve. With
e)
f)
g)
these assumptions, counselling can be used for cases involving indiscipline on the part of the workers. This is the first step of handling cases of misconduct. 2. State whether the following statements are true or false and explain the reasons for your answer in about 25 words. (5 x 2 = 10) (a) Performance Appraisal and Performance Management are one and the same thing. FALSE: Performance appraisal is an important tool both for the organisation and the employee. If the objectives are well defined and understood by the parties concerned, its implementation becomes easy and meaningful. It will then be in a position to reach a multi-useable level. (b) There is a certain loss of power in Information Technology as no single person has exclusive authority and access to information. TRUE: If an organisation has to adopt technology for survival and also utilise it for excellence, the prime responsibility will be changing the mindset of individuals across the levels and units in the organisation. HRM therefore, has dual responsibility in responding to this revolution. The major one would be to build an organisational culture that will facilitate creativity and innovation thus enabling individuals at all levels to make use of IT. (c) Career Planning is a motivational exercise. TRUE: The Career Planning in organisation is primarily an HRD sub-system. It establishes the linkages between and amongst other sub-systems like manpower planning, job rotations, transfer, placement, and training and performance appraisal. It is essentially directed towards structuring employees aspirations for upward movement through the organisation and moderating these aspirations if they are found unrealistic. (d) In the communication process the sender is the source of communication. TRUE: The Communication process, as explained earlier, begins with the sender or the source. The sender has a message to communicate. The characteristics of the sender considerably influence the communication process. (e) The Model Grievance Procedure provides for the statutory Grievance Settlement Authority. FALSE: The Industrial Disputes (Amendment) Act, 1982 provides for the reference of certain individual disputes to grievance settlement authorities. By this amendment a new section, namely, Section 9C was added. The main provisions of this section are: Section 9-C of the Act requires the employer to set up Grievance Settlement Authorities. In every industrial establishment which employs 50 or more workmen Grievance Settlement Authority is required to be set up for settlement of industrial disputes connected with an individual workman employed in the establishment. SECTION-II 3. Answer any five questions from the following. (a) What is behaviour ? What are the factors that influence an individuals behaviour in the organisation ? Behaviour of a person is the result of a complex set of interactions between an individual personality and the situation in which he finds himself.
Behaviour of an individual is generally motivated by a desire to achieve some goal. The individual may not always know sometimes goal but still he may behave in a particular way. Why did I do that ? or Why did I not do that ? Answers to these questions will indicate the reason for a particular behaviour. Behaviour is either an activity or a series of activities. Each activity is supported by motivation. To predict behaviour, managers must known, which motives or needs of people evoke a certain action at a particular time. The factors that influence individuals behaviour is an organisation can be placed under four broad groups: Environmental factors; Personal factors; Organisational factors; and Psychological factors. (b) Enumerate the main objectives of in-house training. Is there any difference between training and education ? It is a fact that a majority of the organisations today have some kind of in-house establishment, which primarily caters to the operational knowledge and skill requirements specific to the organisation. This implies that the need for certain advanced, specialised training is met by sending people to other (external) institutions, which offer training programmes. The most common among these are specialised institutes, which impart training in management, finance or behavioural skills. The main objectives of in-house training are: (i) To correct the existing deficiencies in the organisation and to prepare it for the future. (ii) To develop specific and useful knowledge skills and techniques for effective employees performance; and (iii) To prepare people to carry out pre-determined tasks in well defined job contexts. Training is for learning related to present job, education is for learning to prepare the individual for a different but identified job and Development is learning for growth of the individual not related to a specific present or future job. (c) Define motivation. You take the CAIIB test for earning an additional increment Would you call a motivated behaviour ? Motivation is the result of processes, internal or external to the individual that arouses enthusiasm and persistence to pursue certain course of action. It is a desire arising out of a felt-need, backed by ability and is aimed at a goal. The word motivation is derived from Latin word movere (to move). Accordingly it attempts to account for the drives and wants of an individual rather than just focussing on the individuals actions. Some important definitions of motivation are: ... How behaviour gets started, is energised, is sustained, is directed, is stopped, and what kind of subjective reaction is present in the organisation while all this is going on. (Jones, 1955)
...The term motivation refers to a process governing choices made by persons or lower organisms among alternative forms of voluntary activity. Motivation is the result of processes, internal or external to the individual, that arouse enthusiasm and persistence to pursue certain course of action. Motivation is a process that starts with a physiological or psychological deficiency or need that activates behaviour or a drive that is aimed at a goal or incentive. YES, earning an additional increment on completion of CAIIB is a motivated behaviour because Safety and security needs in the organisational context relate to such factors as Job Security, Salary Increases, Safe Working Conditions become motivators after physiological needs are met. (d) What are the objectives of Employment Exchanges (Compulsory Notification of Vacancies) Act, 1959 ? Is such notification compulsory for all banks ? The objectives of the Employment Exchange (Compulsory Notification of Vacancies) Act, 1959 are to enable government authorities to assess the employment potential and to have better appreciation of labour market as well as to enable unemployed persons, to seek employment. Notification of vacancies is compulsory for a public sector bank where the appropriate government has issued notification, notifying vacancies is compulsory even in private sector bank. (e) What is a random clique ? What is it so called ? Informal groups are normally formed by members of formal group. Members of different formal groups having common interest may also convert themselves into members of informal groups. These groups are formed spontaneously and they are quite informal in nature. They are not officially recognised groups. They are, however, as important or even sometimes more important, than formal groups. A Random Clique is an informal group, usually formed by the members of a formal group. Such groups are formed spontaneously and although not formally recognised, they are as important as formal groups. There are three types of informal group viz., random, vertical and horizontal. A random clique comprises people from various departments, locations and hierarchic levels. It is called random clique, as it comprises people taken at random from various departments, locations and hierarchic levels. (f) Enumerate three major assumptions of Scientific Management, what are its limitations ? Scientific management approach conceptualised and pioneered by Frederick Taylor (1856 - 1915) and further substantiated by Gantt and Gilberths. The three major assumptions of scientific management are: (i) The tasks can be broken down to simple units for people to understand and perform. (ii) People will do a given activity in return for money, and (iii) People will have to do what is defined by the organisation ( in turn by the technology) The limitation of this approach is that it ignored many important and vital aspects of human behaviour. It assumed that man can be used as a machine and that mans only motive is to maximise his earnings. It totally ignored the mind behind the human machine and the importance of interpersonal relationship in the work place.
(g) Explain briefly the Social Learning Theory of personality. How does it differ from self-concept Theory of personality ? Social learning theory believes that personality development is more a result of social variables than biological factors. Much of human behaviour is either learnt or modified by learning. Through learning one acquires knowledge, attitudes, values, skills, etc. Personality is the sum total of all that a person has learned. The social learning theory uses reinforcement and punishment approach in understanding personality. For example, frustration caused by external environment, causes and reinforces aggression as a personality trait. Also, good behaviour is rewarded by the society in terms of praise, which further reinforces good behaviour. Thus, behaviour and external environment have mutual interaction. Behaviour partly creates the persons environment and the environment affects the persons behaviour as well. Self-concept theory, on the other hand, believes that personality and behaviour are to a great extent determined by the individual himself. SECTION-III 4. Write Short notes on any two of the following. (a) Sources of Conflict. The sources of conflict in a workplace are: a) Status incongruency: Differences in the status in an organisation is one of the main sources of conflict. It may happen that there is a salary difference in the salary of two employees although their education, experience etc. may be similar. It can also happen that one gets promoted and the other does not and then it becomes a conflict situation for them as the one who did not get promoted finds it difficult to interact with the other person freely. Proper appreciation of procedure, analysis of strengths and weakness, may be the remedial measures. b) Decision-making: Another source of conflict is, one is required to take decisions when there are conflicting considerations and pressures. How does one cope with these situations may depend on ones set up and structure but the organisational atmosphere also contributes in taking right decision. c) Competition or work arrangement: While it is all right to set individual goals, it is also necessary to set the means by which the goals are to be achieved. Too much competitive environment within the organisation creates conflicts and tensions. The organisations face outward competition for its survival and growth, but internal competition can and should be avoided. There are better processes by which the maximum output is possible without leading to internal competition. d) Perceptual difference about the role: In an organisation where the role clarity does not exist, the manuals and procedures are not set properly, conflicting situation may arise due to incorrect perception of the role of one-self or of the others. e) Differences in value systems: This is a common source of conflict. People come from different backgrounds, different up-bringing, different culture and religion at the work place. They are of different age groups. Their value systems as to inter personal interaction, societal references etc. differ. This, some times, causes a problem in the organisation. f) Inadequate communication: Many of the conflicting situations arise due to improper, incorrect, inadequate communication in the organisation. The communication at times bet distorted - though unintentionally - which creates confusion and problems.
(b) Benchmarking The purpose of benchmarking is to improve the organisations competitive position and its learning abilities. This perspective goes well with the unauthorised definition. The practice of being humble enough to admit that someone else is better at something, and wise enough to learn how to match and even surpass... Operationally defined, benchmarking is: Finding and implementing best practices An ongoing process of measuring and improving companys products, services and practices against those companies that distinguish themselves in that same category of performance. The first step in creating the recognition that changes and improvements are needed.
Why is benchmarking valuable ? Benchmarking helps in three ways: Providing breakthrough insights by examining superior management practices. Inspiring people by demonstrating: We cant .... but others are ... Setting objective targets by highlighting the gaps between us and them.
Benchmarking as a quality tool is simple to apply and does not require advance and sophisticated techniques. More importantly, this process can provide an external stimulus to encourage a reflective environment of continuous learning. A powerful learning experience such as benchmarking can be a vehicle for creating sustainable business solutions. This type of learning parallels Peter Senges description of a learning organisation as one that is continually expanding its capacity to create its future. Benchmarking facilitates learning. (c) Collective Bargaining It is difficult to define collective bargaining. As the term indicates it is a joint or collective action on the part of the employees. It also means a sort of negotiation between the employer and workmen for certain sets of objectives where both of them have common interest. The workers derive this power by coming together, that is by being united. If their viewpoint - demands - are not considered, they have the power of withdrawing their services or adopting other actions which will adversely affect the employer. Thus the collective bargaining draws its power from the strength of being united. With this explanation, we may be in a position to define collective bargaining as a joint action by the workers of any organisation in respect of their terms of services or condition of work. The employer can ill-afford to neglect these actions as the concerted action by the workers can result in low output and monetary loss. The employer thus agrees to negotiate the matter and the bargaining process begins. Since both the employer and workers have areas of common interest, the bargaining is not stretched too far, because, then it is counter productive. This is in short the meaning of collective bargaining. The underlying force behind the collective action is the assumption - valid enough that the employees and employer have vital common interests. (d) Campus Recruitment One of the important recruitment sources is campus recruitment. The organisations have to give a
pre-placement presentation highlighting the ethos, its vision, its requirement and what it offers to the students. Based on the response, a final placement takes place through screening exercises such as written test, group discussion, and interview. The candidates are generally taken as management trainees at the entry level. In India, the Indian Institute of Managements at Ahmedabad, Calcutta, Bangalore, Lucknow and other institutions like Xaviers Labour Relations Institute, Jamshedpur, the Indian Institutes of Technology and Regional Engineering Colleges are well known. Some of the wellknown institutes abroad are the Sloans Business School, Wharton Business School, Harvard Business School, Insead at Paris etc. It is a common practice world over to recruit students from the campuses. 5. What is HR Diversity ? Why does it need to be attended to ? Besides the concerns for the socio-economic up-liftment, there are other reasons why the workforce is becoming diverse. Changing social patterns and the organisational concerns to get the best in the society, has added gender, regional, ethnic diversity. The womens movement and the subsequent focus on their development have resulted in the increase in number of women as employees. This has created a scenario, which not only calls for thinking of different physical facilities but also has opened a whole lot of issues related to career and growth. Other dimensions on which the workforce differs are the academic, ethnic, regional backgrounds, all calling for serious rethinking on HR matters. If not attended to, some of these can emerge as IR issues once their number reaches a significant level. From another angle, these groups may be having strengths that are not obvious in the conventional sense. They may be in a position to contribute in a different manner; the conventional parameters either may not allow them to do so or may not reward them as their contributions go unnoticed. In other words, as the workforce becomes diverse, the traditional managerial approach must change to allow this diverse group to contribute in different ways. Diversity management as a concept thus looks at not only the differences in the needs but also considers how these groups could be facilitated to retain their different characteristics and yet contribute. HR Diversity refers to the growing dissimilarity in the composition of workforce. The composition of workforce all over the world is changing. For various reasons the composition of workforce is no more homogeneous in its profile. There are a number of special groups within them and they require special attention. Conventionally, organization treated all employees uniformly with a standard measure and brought about schemes that were intended to meet their needs. However, in the context of the emerging changes in the profile of the workforce, H.R. functionaries are finding it necessary to treat each group differently depending upon their specific needs. The problem needs to be attended to for maintaining competitive advantage through a committed group of workforce. 6. What is Need Hierarchy ? Do you find any similarity between this hierarchy and the Two Factors of Frederick Herzberg ? Prof. Abraham Maslow has pointed out that needs are organised in a series of levels, called the hierarchy of needs, or the hierarchy of relative potency. He has given five levels of needs, which in his view have a definite sequence of domination; unless the needs of the lower order are reasonably satisfied, those of the higher order do not dominate. Arranged from the bottom in a hierarchy, these needs are: Physiological needs Safety & Security needs
Social needs Extreme needs and Self actualisation needs While Maslows needs classification theory makes good sense, problems arise with his contention that they are arranged in a hierarchical fashion and that the lower level needs must be first satisfied before the higher level needs in the pyramid will be activated. Take for instance the case of teachers, poets, artists and musicians all over the world who have tried to self-actualise themselves by their immortal work without ever having satisfied their lower level needs. Thus, it is possible for some at least, not go through every step in the hierarchy. Another problem with Maslows theory is the operationalisation of some of his concepts, which make it difficult for researchers to test his theory. For instance, how does one measure self-actualisation ? Despite the problems the theory has useful practical implications for managers. It is a fact the vast majority of employees joining organisation at lower levels are by and large, seeking to satisfy their physiological needs first and then move up the levels step by step. It thus offers a good conceptual scheme for managers to understand and deal with issues of employee motivation at the workplace. YES, there is some similarity. Maslows higher order needs broadly represent Henzbergs motivational factors while lower order needs have some similarity with that of maintenance factors. SECTION-IV 7. Answer any two questions from the following. (a) The problem before the banks in India today is not that of manpower recruitment but manpower planning and re-deployment. Discuss this statement with reference to the specific areas of training and re-deployment, which need urgent attention. Human Resource Development as an approach to management of HR and as also a function, is based on the premise that employees should be provided with learning opportunities to enable the organisations and individuals to achieve their goals. The organisations on their part have to consciously analyse their requirements, define them, specify the time and level at which these are required so that the system can take care of them. This need of the organisation can be linked to the career progress of the individuals so that it may implicitly satisfy the growth need of the individuals. The biggest achievement in the area of HRM has been the development of strong training system in banks. Due to stringent labour laws still prevailing in India, it has been difficult for banks to tackle problems relating to the HRM. However, in the area of training it was possible for most banks to do something and that is the reason for development of strong training system in banks. Emphasis on training has been so high that training has become sine-qua-non to HRD. The excellent training system has helped banks on many occasions in the past. Large number of employees left bank for greener pastures, still banks were able to manage their manpower requirements mainly due to strong training system. Then reforms were introduced in 1991. Many new generation private and foreign banks came, again a number of excellent employees left banks, but little pinch was felt. Next computerisation phase came in 1995-96. A large number of branches were computerised. At present nearly 70-80% bank Computerised branches handle business. Strong training system has made it possible and banks did not face many difficulties. Last and the more recent one, the VRS scheme of banks, nearly, 1,00,000 people opted for its, still things have, by and large, appeared settled after initial furore, mainly due to reluctance to share additional work burden.
The essence of placement and transfer policy is to enable bank to put right man in the right place. At present, due to various reasons, placement and transfer is not seen as management prerogative. There is lot of interference from unions/associations in transfer matters, particularly at lower level. The need of the hour is to ensure that placement and transfer must be the domain of management at all times. In case the policy of right man in the right place could be implemented in the proper perspective, it will benefit employee as he will find the work interesting and organisation will also benefit with his performance. The Government guidelines with regard to mandatory rural / semi-urban assignments have lost its relevance in the light of changes that took place in the post-reform years and hence should abandoned. (b) Organisation Behaviour is the systematic study of actions and attitudes, of people in the organisation with a view to explaining, predicting and controlling human behaviour. - Elucidate. An organisation can be explained as a purposeful system with several systems where individuals and their activities are organised to achieve certain predetermined goals through division and co-ordination of activities. Organisational Behaviour is the term to describe the actions and reactions of the individuals, dyads, and groups in the system as they interact with each other in achieving the set objectives. In short, Organisational Behaviour is the systematic study of actions and attitudes of people in the organisation with a view to explaining, predicting and controlling human behaviour. Organisation Behaviour is the study and application of knowledge about how people act within organisations. It is a human tool for human benefit. It applies broadly to the behaviour of people in all types of organisations such as business, government schools and service organisations. Organisation Behaviour is directly concerned with the understanding, prediction, and control of human behaviour in organisations. It is a field of study that investigates the impact that individuals, groups and structure have on behaviour within organisations for the purpose of applying such knowledge towards improving an organisations effectiveness. The assumptions distinct to this concept are: a) An organisation is a social system; b) There is mutuality of interest among organisational members; c) Behaviour of an individual is an interaction between the personality and the environment; d) There are differences between individuals and therefore all cannot be treated alike; and e) Organisation behaviour is holistic. While the first three concepts centre around people, the next two are concerned with organisations. The last one is combination of the first five assumptions. (c) Explain the main features of Mechanistic, Organic and Matrix structures of Organisation. Which one of these models represents the bureaucratic structure ? The term organisation is commonly used with two meanings. One, signifying an institution and the other, referring to the process of organising. It is the second meaning that relates the concepts like structures, designs, relationship etc. Robbins (1985) has given a simple definition of organisation; he defines it as the planned co-ordination of activities of two or more people to achieve some common and explicit goals through division of labour and a hierarchy of authority. A careful reading of the statement highlights that
there is an explicit goal; there are various activities that need to be undertaken to achieve that goal; and Sharing of responsibilities performs these activities.
The organisational structure can be seen in its five elements as follows (Stoner & Wankel 1987): Specialisation of Activities: This refers to division of work and departmentalisation. Linked with this aspect are the terms Span of Control and Span of Management. Span of Control is the limit to the number of persons a manager can supervise effectively. Standardisation of Activities: Standardisation refers to the procedures established to ensure predictability of its functions through the formalised activities and relationships within the organisation. Co-ordination of Activities: Co-ordination refers to procedures (Mechanisms) that integrate the functions of sub-units. In a way these are the reporting relationships and implicitly communicate interdependency among the organisational units. Such dependency could differ in nature. It could be pooled, sequential or reciprocal. As the names suggest, in pooled interdependency there is no day-to-day co-ordination required. In sequential, the act of one unit must precede the second one, while in reciprocal there is give and take on a more regular basis. Centralisation and Decentralisation of Decision Making: This relates to location of decision making power. In a centralised framework decisions are taken at a unit based on information flowing in from all direction. In a decentralised set-up, decisions are taken at more than one point. Many organisational just evolve and do not have any pre-planned idea of these aspects. How is the work organised i.e., the division of labour, the relationship in the hierarchy and functional differentiation get evolved over a period of time as and when the issues arise. The environment, the technology and the size, are the factors that matter in this evolution. There is no best way for organising as it relates to the elements of the organisation like organisational activities (tasks), structure, people and technology which are highly interdependent. Organisations today, are viewed as organic wholes implying that they are dynamic and characterised by change. Since organisations exist in the environment, the volatility of the environment naturally affects the organisation and highlights the need for change. If they do not change or are slow to change they may extinct like the dinosaurs that failed to respond to the environmental changes. Therefore, organisations have to develop their self-renewing capability to survive in the long run. Organisation development is the mechanism to help organisation to change in a planned manner. Organisation structure should not be static. An enterprise operates under a highly dynamic environment where technology, social, political and economic setting in which it operates, and the people managing the organisation are continually in a flux. This calls for adapting the organisation structure to changing conditions so that it can survive and grow. A change in economic function generally calls for redesigning the organisation structure. Intense competition may require profit decentralisation and provision of better service to the people. Economic considerations may favour vertical disintegration of particular process. Such changes in economic functions influence the organisation structure largely through changing the jobs. Similarly, capacities of the people working in the organisation grow, change and diminish. Accommodating these changes in the organisation require that the structure should be partly modified so as to adjust it to changes in the attitudes, ambitions and abilities of the people.

SECTION-I 1. Define any five of the following terms. a) Organic Organisations Organisations characterised by flexible tasks and roles, open communications and decentralised decision making are called organic organisations. b) Job Specification Job Specification is a list of requirements prepared in terms of educational qualifications, age, work experience, specific knowledge, skills, expertise temperament etc. for an individual / candidate who has to perform a given job. c) Extroversion Extroversion refers to the tendency in individuals to turn outward searching for external stimuli with which they can interact. d) Structured Experience Structured experience is a teaching methodology in which participants are engaged in some activity designed to produce certain learning; after the activity their actions are discussed to draw conclusion with reference to real life work situations. e) Throughput Throughput refers to factors contributing to group dynamics which ultimately results in achievement of goals and satisfaction of team members. f) Burnout Burnout is the condition in which employees are emotionally exhausted, become detached from their work, and feels helpless to accomplish their goals. g) 2. Change Agent Change Agent is the person whose role is to initiate change and help make it work. State whether the following statements are true or false and explain the reasons for your answer in about 25 words. (a) Job enlargement refers to shifting of an employee from one job to another to enable him to widen his experience. FALSE: Shifting of an employee from one job to another to enable him to widen his experience is called, as Job Rotation not Job enlargement.
(b) H. R. Diversity is an American idea; it does not exist in India. FALSE: Diversity management as a concept thus looks at not only the differences in the needs but also considers how these groups could be facilitated to retain their different characteristics and yet contribute. (c) Behaviour is a function of the person in relation to situation. TRUE: Behaviour of an individual is generally motivated by a desire to achieve some goal. The individual may not always know sometimes goal but still he may behave in a particular way. Why did I do that ? or Why did I not do that? Answers to these questions will indicate the reason for a particular behaviour. (d) In Management by objectives the short-term performance goals are set jointly by the employees and the supervisors. TRUE: The objective of the Management by objectives is to change the behaviour and attitude in respect of getting the results. It is a result-oriented system. The system emphasises on goal achievement rather than the method involved. (e) Under the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965, every employee who has worked for not less than 240 days in an accounting year is eligible for bonus. FALSE: Every employee who has worked for not less than 30 days in an accounting year is eligible for bonus. He is, however, disqualified if he is dismissed for fraud, riotous behaviour on the premises of the establishment, or theft/misappropriation of any property of the establishment. SECTION-II 3. Answer any five questions from the following. (a) What is Rational-economic man ? How does it differ from the concept of Social man ? Rational - economic man is based on the notion that people will do a given job in return for money. This is one of the assumptions of Scientific Management School. Social man concept emerged out of the Hawthorne studies of Prof. Elton Mayo. It is focussed on the role played by various relationships that develop at work as an outcome of organisational interactions. (b) What is spiral career ? How would you distinguish it from Linear career concept ? In Spiral career, individuals take on a new job, work hard, perform well, move up in status and rank, then move on to another type of work and follow the same pattern of development and performance. They tend to be geared up to take on new challenges at regular intervals and as such can be viewed as motivated by personal growth. In Linear career the individual enters into an occupation and develops a plan for upward movement within the same profession using organisational hierarchy.
(c) What is a team ? State some of the characteristics of an effective team. A team is a co-operative small group in regular contact and is engaged in co-ordinated action to accomplish a common task. Some of the characteristics of an effective team are (a) clear and agreed objectives (b) commitment of the members to the task (c) free flow of communications (d) a supportive atmosphere and (e) mutual trust and confidence (d) What is Managerial Grid ? What are the concerns on which it is built ? Managerial grid is a graphic presentation of two-dimensional view of leadership style developed by R.Blake and J.S.Mouton to depict five basic approaches. It is based on two dimensions of concern for people (vertical axis) and concern for production on task (horizontal axis). Generating a 9 by 9 Grid based on the said two dimensions, the authors identify the 1.1 or impoverished style of managers who are low on both their concern for people and production; the 1.9 on country club style where managers have high concern for people but low concern for production; the 5.5 or middle of the road style of managers who have moderate levels of concern for both people and production, the 9.1 or task manager style where there is a high concern for production but very low concern for people; and finally, the 9.9 or team management style, where the manager has high concern for both people and production. (e) Define organisational communication and explain its flow pattern. Organisational communication can be defined as the process of the flow (transmission & reception) of goal oriented messages between sources, in a pattern and through a medium or media. The flow pattern of organisational communication takes 5 directions, namely downward, upward, lateral, diagonal and external. Upward : Upward communication provides feedback. It travels from the subordinate to the superior. The most common purpose of this type of information flow is to provide feedback on how well things are going. It also provides the supervisor with an opportunity to represent the subordinate to his own boss. Downward : The downward flow refers to the communication from superiors to subordinates. For example, when a bank manager, talks to his clerk, there is downward communication. The purpose of this type of flow is to convey job-related information to employees at the lower level. Employees need these information inputs to do their jobs and also to meet the expectations of their superiors. Absence of downward flow results in role ambiguity, stress and anxiety among employees. Typical downward communication includes group meetings, budget procedures, circulars, company publications, and the like. Lateral : Also called horizontal communication, lateral flow takes place between peers. It is needed to
achieve co-operation among group members and between work groups. Besides, lateral flow provides emotional and social support to individuals. It contributes to the development of friendship and also informal work groups. Diagonal : Diagonal communication takes place between a manager and the members of other work groups. A manager needs this kind of communication to interact with employees under other managers jurisdictions regarding his particular function. For example, a cost accountant interacts with plant personnel who deal with cost data. The diagonal communication network usually does not appear on the organisational chart, but a number of such networks is found in large organisations. External : External communication takes place between a manager and groups outside the organisation like suppliers, government, creditors, banks, financial agencies, environmentalists, consultants, and the like. A business enterprise cannot operate in a vacuum. It must maintain contracts with outside agencies and external communication is relevant in this context. (f) What is Quality of Work Life ? Name some of the elements, which are included in a typical quality of work life programme. Quality of work life refers to the favourableness or un-favourableness of a job environment for people. The basic purpose is to develop work environment that is excellent for people as well as for the economic health of the organisation. The element included in a typical QWL program are open communications, equitable reward system, a concern for employees job security, employees participation in job design, employee training and development and co-operative employer - employee relations. (g) What is human resource accounting ? What are its objectives ? Human Resource Accounting is an attempt to attach financial values to human data for use in the regular accounting system. It is an effort to give more emphasis to people in a language that management understands. Its basic objectives are to make managers more aware of the importance of people as valuable resources and to hold managers more accountable for these assets. Its other objectives are to provide means for assessing management performance in the use and development of human resources as well as to encourage the managers to take a long-term view about the value of people. SECTION-III 4. Write Short notes on any two of the following. (a) Strategic Human Resource Management Conventionally, the HRM functioned independent of the strategic concerns of organisation i.e. the organisations decided on new approaches, new markets and when went about organising the human resource. The present thinking of the organisation experts in pointing to making HRM as an integral part of the strategic planning of the organisation (Tichy and others, 1982). The systems like selection, development, performance appraisal, reward and punishment need to get linked to business concerns
and objectives. Aligning to the business strategy the HRM has to develop and gear the Human Resource to achieve excellence - the strategy could be long term like quality and continuous improvement of remaining innovative which implies frequent and quick changes. For moving towards strategic HRM (SHRM) efforts are needed on both fronts. The top management needs to be aware and appreciative of HR processes and the HR functionaries should have a comprehensive understanding of the language and practice of strategic planning. They need to become internal consultant to line managers. (b) Hygiene Factors This set of factors is such that their presence does not significantly motive the employees but their absence cause serious dissatisfaction. The non-availability of such factors is likely to affect motivation and bring down the level of performance. Maintenance or Hygiene factors mostly are related to environment, outside the job. Herzberg named ten such factors: H Company policy and administration H Technical supervision H Interpersonal relations with subordinates H Salary H Job security H Personal life H Working conditions H Status H Interpersonal relations with supervisors H Interpersonal relations with peers / colleagues Hygiene or maintenance factors are the context factors. They provide a background on which people work. They create an atmosphere for doing work, but there is nothing in them that motivate them. According to Herzberg, they can dissatisfy by their absence but cannot satisfy by their presence. (c) Evaluation of Training The Primary purpose of evaluation is to improve training by discovering whether the training processes have been successful in achieving their objectives. Some experts choose to make a distinction between validation and evaluation. Validation means assessment of whether the training has achieved its laid down objectives and evaluation means the measurement of total effect of the training programme. However, in practice it is difficult to obtain information on the total effects of training. Most commonly evaluation is done at four levels as the processes that occur as a result of successful training, are at these levels. The levels are: 1. Reaction Level: Participants form opinions, attitudes about the trainer, the method, the content, the usefulness, the relevance and their enjoyment etc. In other words, these are the reactions of the trainees.
2. Learning Level: Trainees learn - knowledge, skills, attitudes about the subject matter which are acceptable for translating into behaviour ... what is learnt. 3. The Behaviour Level: Trainees apply the learning to actual situation, and can be observed in terms of changed behaviour at work. 4. Functioning Level: The changed job behaviour affects the functioning of the organisation. These can be measured by indices, which generally are expressed in terms of cost. (d) Interest Groups in Industrial Relations Interest groups in industrial relations are the parties involved in it. John Dunlop in the preface to his work Industrial Relations System (1958) says: Industrial societies necessarily create industrial relations, defined as the complex of inter-relations among workers, managers and government. The interest groups, therefore, are: Workers and their organisations Managers (employers) and their organisations The Government
Each group has different interests and priorities. The workers and their organisations want higher wages, good working conditions and other benefits like medical insurance, accident benefits etc. As against these, the employers and their organisations want maximum productivity at the lowest possible cost. They, therefore, offer lowest possible wages, although the unit may have capacity to pay higher wages, want long working hours and no other expenses. The interests of the first two groups are thus conflicting. The government endeavours to see that the industrial harmony is maintained even when there is an impending dispute. 5. What is power ? Explain four major types of organisational power and their sources. (2 + 8 = 10)
Power is the ability to influence other people and events. It is different from authority because authority is delegated by higher authority and has a legal sanction. Power on the other hand is earned and gained by the person on the basis of his personality, activity and the situation in which he operates. The employees exhibiting the needs for power derive satisfaction from the ability to control others. Actual achievement of goals is less important to them than the means by which goals are achieved. Another important concept related to influencing others is Power Kotter (1979) has defined power as a measure of persons potential to get others to do what he or she wants them to do, as well as avoid being forced to do what he or she does not want to do. Distinction is also made in terms of fear or love being used as base of exercising this power. Explanations given by Machiavelli (1950), Flanders (1970), Hersey and Blanchard (1982) have contributed to the present understanding (Pareek 1997) that coercive bases include organisational position, punishment, charisma, personal relationship, (emotional power), closeness to a source of power and withholding information on resources. The persuasive bases include expertise, competence, and modelling (example set by behaviour). In using the power bases concept, a person becomes aware of the power he/she has and how much more is needed which is quite relevant. Perception of having and using power empowers a person. Individuals with a higher need for power derive satisfaction from being in positions of influence and control. Organisations that foster the power motive, tend to attract individuals with a high need for power (for example, military and political organisations).
The four major types of organisational powers are: Personal Power: Legitimate Power: Expert Power and Political Power The limits to formal authority are sometimes explained by making a distinction between authority and power. It is suggested that authority may be regarded in the official hierarchical sense as the right to command and power may be regarded as the capacity to influence the behaviour or others. Ideally, authority, power, responsibility, and accountability should be equal to each other in every position in the firm. When any one is out of balance with the other, problems can arise. When authority in a position exceeds power, the person holding the job cant be effective. He will be unable to use rewards and punishments to enforce authority. Even where authority and power are equal, responsibility, and accountability must match them. Otherwise the position holder may pass the buck to someone else, when his actions cause problems. 6. Define Leadership. Distinguish between a Manager and a Leader. Leadership is the process of encouraging and helping others to work enthusiastically toward objectives. It is the human factor that helps a group identify where it is going and then motivates it toward its goals. It transforms potential into reality. Many people confuse the term Manager with the term Leader. However, these two terms are different. Some important points of difference between a manager and a leader are given below: A manager derives his power from his organisational position, and acceptance by his subordinates is not a precondition. A manager possesses a level of power commensurate with his position and responsibility. The leaders power, however, is derived from the fact of acceptance of his leadership by his followers. People follow leaders out of respect, esteem and good opinion, which indicate a purely voluntary basis. On the contrary, people follow managers because peoples job description supported by a system of rewards and sanctions require them to follow. If there are no followers, leader no more exists. But, even if there are no followers a manager may be there. Thus, though in both leading and managing followers are involved, there are subtle differences. Accountability factor constitutes another important point of difference. Managers are accountable for the job behaviours of those managed as well as their own behaviour. Leader are, however, not accountable for the behaviour of their followers in the similar fashion. The accountability or answerability for ones own performance is more directs in managerial positions. A leader not only shapes but also reflects values, aspirations and views of his followers. A manager has only to shape values and views of his subordinates in order to accomplish his goals. Leaders are concerned more with the satisfaction of their followers than to their efficiency and productivity. On the other hand, managers have to be concerned more with productivity and efficiency of their subordinates than with their satisfaction.
Management is defined as working with and through individuals and groups to accomplish the organisational goals. Leadership also involves working with and through people to accomplish goals, but these goals may not be necessarily the organisational goals. They key difference between the two concepts lies in the word organisation. Management is a special kind of leadership in which accomplishing organisational goals is paramount. Successful management involves effective leadership, but an effective leader is not necessarily a successful manager. SECTION-IV 7. Answer any two questions from the following. (a) Critically review the evaluation of Human Resource Management in India. Evolution of Human Resources as a function needing specific attention has gone through similar stages the world over. Primarily, whatever happened in the industrial era in US and UK was during the British Raj and as such its ripples were felt in India. The communication was facilitated by the scientific advancement and knowledge travelled faster compared to earlier times. The world wars too contributed by creating similar welfare issues across the nation. 1960s the result of the focus on the activities required in the area of people reflected management in the demand for personnel professionals with specific knowledge about people management systems and laws. Unlike other professions like medicine, law or engineering, there were no definite academic requirements for personnel executives (even today) but the personnel specialists expanded their sphere of influence by cashing on the inadequacies and trained in-capabilities of engineers in the line management. Most of the functions now performed by personnel were the forte of line managers. The growth of unionism, state interventions through a spate of legislation and code of practices, the stress on statutory welfare and need for broader and consistent policies made it easy for personnel specialists to expand their role and enhance their status. (Venkat Ratnam & Srivastava 1991). The need for equipping individuals with specific knowledge was satisfied by the forums like Indian Institute of Personnel Management (IIPM) and National Institute of Labour Management (NILM) established in the early phase of personnel management. The National Commission of Labour has observed that IIPM has the credit of making Personnel Management as a profession. Any area of knowledge to gain the status of a profession has to fulfil three main criteria i.e. having a corpus of knowledge, a period of learning and apprenticeship and a code of conduct. Indian Institute of Personnel Management (IIPM) established in 1947 played a significant role in this movement. It is pertinent at this point to mention even during the early phases, India had visionaries like Jamshetji Nusserwanji Tata who sowed the seeds of Tata Iron and Steel Company at Jamshedpur, had long back emphasised human factors in an organisation. His philosophy of building people in the organisation was subsequently followed and crystallised by his successors, making TISCO a successful and proactive organisation. One can observe that the next transformation came in the eighties; Indian academicians introduced this approach in eighties around the same time the western world started talking about. The pioneering work done by Uday Pareek and T.V.Rao in the area of clarifying the HRD focus and developing HRD systems is a benchmark in the evolution of HRM in India. The focus of their work was on clarifying the developmental dimensions and its implication on other conventional systems. Government too introduced
employee participation and allocating share holding to workers. The emerging hi-tech industries introduced knowledge workers and in general an enlarged outlook for personnel was envisaged. The HRD as a sub-system of HRM emerged as feature of this era (Ramesh 1990). Summing up, it can be observed that Indian organisations are aware of the crucial role of management of human resource with respect and dignity and the integrative perspective of bringing the individual and the organisation closer. (b) The integration of information technology in the practice and procedure of banking has considerably eased the problems of personnel administration in banks. Do you agree ? Justify your answer with illustrations. The integration of IT in the practice and procedure of banking has considerably eased the problems of personnel administrative in banks. This statement is correct Integration of IT has eased the problems of personnel administration. 1. Prior to introduction of IT in Banks, one of the major problems at operational units i.e., branches was internal house keeping i.e., interest application on deposits and advances accounts, periodical balancing of books, yearly closing of accounts. All these activities were laborious and were carried out manually by workmen staff. The soundness of a bank was measured, among other things, by internal house keeping. Whenever the Local Branch Manager did not meet their demands, the workmen staff used to leave the internal house keeping in arrears. This used to land the banks in serious Personnel Administration Problems. Several Branch Managers used to purchase peace with the staff least the internal housekeeping should be paralysed. After the integration of IT with procedures of banks, this major problem of internal house keeping and consequent personnel administration has been solved. 2. Introduction of IT in Banks has enabled the banks to plan manpower meticulously. Because of availability of data on computers, bankers are able to take decisions relating to VRS, promotions, deployment etc., This has eased the problem of personnel administration. 3. IT in Banks has brought change in the attitude of bank staff who used to be arrogant because of their indispensability in running banks. Now with the introduction of IT and with completion of bank operations at the touch of keyboard, the role of staff in conducting banking operations has been limited. 4. One of the positive effects of IT in banks is that it has helped in channelling the energies of staff, more particularly, workmen staff towards increasing productivity and diverting their attention, to some extent, from active trade union activities. This is because of the interest generated by IT in the staff. 5. With the introduction of IT, customer complaints against staff on the matters of delay in customer service have declined. These complaints relating to misbehaviour of staff, bad manners, etc. used to result in disciplinary proceedings and consequent problems in personnel administration. Since IT has brought about change in quality of service through meticulous and speedy transactions, the problems in this regard have reduced considerably.
6. More staff means more problems in personnel administration. IT has helped in reduction of staff in banks leading to decline personnel administration problems. (c) Change has costs as well as benefits, and both must be considered to determine net benefits. Examine this statement with reference to implementation of Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) in the banking industry. When the Government cleared the Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) for bank employees the target was to reduce 10 per cent of the staff strength of over 8.74 lakh employees. The VRS scheme was made applicable to the employees with 15 years of service. Employees who had executed service bonds or those who were facing disciplinary actions were not eligible for it. The ex-gratia was to be the lesser of the 60 days salary for each completed year of service or the salary for the number of months of service left. Gratuity, Pension and leave en-cashment was to be according to the rules. Acknowledging that the VRS was a step in the right direction adequate measures was in place to check the outflow of the skilled and qualified professionals by giving the discretionary authority to the individual banks. There were also to be no recruitments against the vacancies arising due to the scheme. To ensure that the exercise was carried out in a planned manner the banks going for the VRS were to carry out the manpower planning exercises and carefully identify the number of employees who could be considered for the scheme. The difficulties faced by Public Sector Banks with regard Voluntary Retirement Scheme: Skill level replacement of staff not possible. Talented / skilled people are not readily available for substitution. Deployment of excess staff at branches could not be taken up. Interference of representatives of Unions / Associations still prevalent in transfer. Geographical imbalances in manpower distribution could not be taken up. Impact of VRS is more in rural and semi-urban branches. Manpower planning needs review / overhauling. Performance appraisal system has to be fine-tuned to encourage intelligent and hard working people. Age profile may not improve without filling up entry level recruitment. Transfer Policy is not clear; practices and policies are deviated to facilitate transfer particular section of staff; Training of all the employees has not so far been taken up; all employees have to be adequately trained to suit to the changing situation of the Banks. Reward / Punishment system may be introduced in a small way subject to review over a period of time. Loyalty, morale and commitment of staff to be improved.
In the wake of stiff competition from private sector and foreign banks with attractive remuneration and better working conditions, Public Sector Banks have a formidable challenge to attract and retain young people. Banks have to restructure their organisations. Systems and procedures have to be simplified for effective implementation at operational level. Customer service has to be the focus of the post-VRS situation in the Bank. The work of the management does not end with the completion of the VRS. It is the post VRS that is crucial. The management should instill confidence in the employees who did not opt for the VRS. With the chain of command and the organisation structure completely dislocated due to exist of employees across the board, the management should reconstruct the organisation hierarchy. Some of the unprofitable branches may have to be closed due to non-availability of workforce. Promotion and redistribution of work should take place. Training may have to be given to increase the overall productivity. With the large number of employees taking VRS the productivity and efficiency would not go up immediately. The bank will have to take up effective manpower planning with a lot more training. As technology slowly replaces the unspecialised jobs, computerisation will not be the only answer to efficiency and better client service.

Indian Institute of Bankers Associate Examination, JUNE 2000

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Indian Institute of Bankers Associate Examination, JUNE 2000

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ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT & HRD JUNE 2000