MBAR Human Resource Management

Internal Assignment No. 1

Paper Title:                  Human Resource Management

Q. 1.    Answer all the questions:

(i)         Differentiate between HRM and HRD.

ANS- Human Resource Management (HRM) is a branch of management; that is concerned with making best possible use of the enterprise’s human resources, by providing better working conditions, to the employees. It involves those activities that arrange and coordinates the human resources of an entity. Further, it aims at maintaining good relations at various levels of management.

On the other extreme, Human Resource Development (HRD) is a wing of HRM that keeps focusing on the growth and development part of the organisation’s manpower. There are many people, to whom HRM and HRD convey the same meaning, but this is not true. We have compiled an article here, to make you understand the differences between HRM and HRD. Have a look.

(ii)        Define Job Specification.

ANS- A job specification defines the knowledge, skills and abilities that are required to perform a job in an organization. Job specification covers aspects like education, work-experience, managerial experience etc which can help accomplish the goals related to the job. Job specification helps in the recruitment & selection process, evaluating the performance of employees and in their appraisal & promotion. Job specification, along with job description, is actually derived from job analysis. Collectively, job specification and job description help in giving a overview of the job in terms of its title, position, roles, responsibilities, education, experience, workplace etc.

(iii)       State the causes of Grievance in an organization

ANS- Grievances generally arise from the day-do-day working relations in the undertaking, usually a employee or trade union protest against an act or omission or management that is considered to violate worker’s rights. There are certainly some of the causes that can lead to grievance. Some of them are listed below:

• It gives an opportunity to the workers to express their feelings.
• The management comes to know that what the workers think.
• It highlights the morale of the people.
• There may be some complaints, which cannot be solved at supervisory level.
• They must have been resolved by a systematic grievance handling procedure.
• It improves the policies and practices of the company.

(iv)      What is Human Resource Inventory?

ANS- Human Resource Inventory, also known as the skills inventory comprehensively lists down the basic information on all the employees, like their education, experience, skills, age, sex, salary related data, job preference and special achievements. It is a vital tool used in HR planning and policy making..

The information contained in the human resource inventory should be such that it is not only relevant to the current job position that an employee holds, but can also be used by recruiters to consider the individual for other job openings that might come up in the future. 

(v)       List the benefits of Training to an organization

ANS- There are numerous sources of online information about training and development. Several of these sites (they're listed later on in this library) suggest reasons for supervisors to conduct training among employees. These reasons include:

• Increased job satisfaction and morale among employees
• Increased employee motivation
• Increased efficiencies in processes, resulting in financial gain
• Increased capacity to adopt new technologies and methods
• Increased innovation in strategies and products
• Reduced employee turnover
• Enhanced company image, e.g., conducting ethics training (not a good reason for ethics training!)
• Risk management, e.g., training about sexual harassment, diversity training

Q. 2.    What do you understand by Human resource management? Explain various functions of Human resource management.

Ans- Human Resource Management is a function within an organization which focuses mainly on the recruitment of, management of, and providing guidelines to the manpower in a company. It is a function of the company or organization which deals with concerns that are related to the staff of the company in terms of hiring, compensation, performance, safety, wellness, benefits, motivation and training.

Human Resource Management is also a premeditated approach to manage people and the work culture. An efficient human resource management enables the workforce of an organization to contribute efficiently and effectively towards the overall achievement of a company’s goals and objectives.

The traditional method of human resource management involved planned exploitation of staffs. This new function of human resource management involves HRM Metrics and measurements and strategic direction to display value. Under the influence of giving away the traditional method, HRM has got a new terminology called Talent Management.

Human Resource Management functions can be classified in following three categories.

Managerial Functions

1. Human Resource Planning –

2. Organising –

3. Directing –

4.  Controlling –

Operative Functions

1. Recruitment and Selection –

2. Job Analysis and Design -

3. Performance Appraisal -

4. Training and Development -

5. Wage and Salary Administration -

Advisory Functions

1. Advised to Top Management

2. Advised to Departmental Heads

Q. 3.    Discuss the various sources of recruitment of employees with the merit and demerit of each.

Ans.  The sources of recruitment are broadly divided into internal sources and external sources consisting of the following:

 Internal sources of Recruitment:

 1. Present Permanent Employees :  Organizations consider the candidates from this source for higher level of jobs due to availability of most suitable candidates for jobs relatively or equally to external sources, to meet the trade union demands and due to the policy of the organization to motivate  the present employees.

 2. Present temporary/casual Employees: Organizations find this source to fill the vacancies relatively at the lower level owing to the availability of suitable candidates or trade union pressures or in order to motivate them on present job.

 3. Retrenched or Retired Employees: Employees retrenched due to lack of work are given employment by the organization due to obligation, trade union pressure etc. Sometimes they are re-employed by the organization as a token of their loyalty to the organization or to postpone some interpersonal conflicts for promotion.

 4. Dependents of Deceased, Disabled, retired and present employees: Some organizations function with a view to developing the commitment and loyalty of not only the employee but also his family members.

 5. Employee Referrals: Present employees are well aware of the qualifications, attitudes, experience and emotions of their friends and relatives. They are also aware of the job requirements and organizational culture of their company. As such they can make preliminary judgment regarding the match between the job and their friends and relatives.

External Sources of Recruitment

 1    Campus Recruitment: These candidates are directly recruited by the Co; from their college/educational institution. They are inexperienced as far as work experience is concerned.

 2     Private Employment Agencies/Consultants: Public employment agencies or consultants like ABC Consultants inIndia perform recruitment functions on behalf of a client company by charging fees. Line managers are relieved from recruitment functions and can concentrate on operational activities.

 3     Public Employment Exchanges: The Government set up Public Employment Exchanges in the country to provide information about vacancies to the candidates and to help the organization in finding out suitable candidates. As per the Employment Exchange act 1959, makes it obligatory for public sector and private sector enterprises inIndia to fill certain types of vacancies through public employment exchanges.

 4    Professional Organizations: Professional organizations or associations maintain complete bio-data of their members and provide the same to various organizations on requisition. They act as an exchange between their members and recruiting firm.

 5     Data Banks: The management can collect the bio-data of the candidates from different sources like Employment Exchange, Educational Training Institutes, candidates etc and feed them in the computer. It will become another source and the co can get the particulars as and when required.

 6     Casual Applicants: Depending on the image of the organization its prompt response participation of the organization in the local activities, level of unemployment, candidates apply casually for jobs through mail or handover the application in the Personnel dept. This would be a suitable source for temporary and lower level jobs.

Internal Assignment No. 2

 (i)        Differentiate between Training and development

ANS- Training

• Training is usually a short term process.
• Training usually requires guidance (or instruction) in a series of steps to gain a skill, or set of predictable knowledge.
• Often for non-leadership related activities.
• Aimed at a specific task or job role.

Development

• Is more long term in nature.
• Often includes education in philosophical and theoretical concepts
• Aimed at developing relationships, often for the purposes of improving leadership skills
• More general and non-tangible than specific

(ii)        Define induction.

ANS- Induction is the process of introducing a new employee to the company culture and processes with the aim of bringing them up to speed as quickly as possible as well as making them feel socially comfortable and aware of their professional responsibilities. Companies will typically have an induction programme in place and follow the same processes for all new hires, although the induction process is may vary depending on the industry, the job role and the seniority of the new hire.

(iii)       State the causes of industrial accidents.

ANS- An accident (industrial) is a sudden and unexpected occurrence in the industry which interrupts the orderly progress of the work. According to the Factories Act, 1948: “It is an occurrence in an industrial establishment causing bodily injury to a person who makes him unfit to resume his duties in the next 48 hours”.In other words, accident is an unexpected event in the course of employment which is neither anticipated nor designed to occur. Thus, an accident is an unplanned and uncontrolled event in which an action or reaction of an object, a substance, a person, or a radiation results in personal injury. It is important to note that self-inflicted injuries cannot be regarded as accidents.

(iv)       Define 360 appraisal with an example.

ANS- It is a system in which employees will get feedback from all the people they work with. There are about 7 to 12 people who will fill out a form which is usually a feedback form. The contents of the form may vary from broad range competencies to work environment. The employee who receives the feedback will also be required to fill out a self assessment which again might consist of the same components. This system is used to get an improved understanding of every one’s strengths and weaknesses.

There are three general reasons as to why an organization would go in for a 360 degree appraisal.

• To get a better view of the performance and prospective of future leaders.
• To have a broad insight of developmental needs of manpower.
• To collect more feedback so as to ensure justice to the job performed by the employees.

(v)        What is Red Hot Stove rule?

ANS- According to the Red Hot Stove rule, disciplinary action should have the following consequences:

(a) Burns immediately: If disciplinary action is to be taken, it must occur immediately so the individual will understand the reason for it. With the passage of time, people have the tendency to convince themselves that they are not at fault.

(b) Provides warning: It is very important to provide advance warning that punishment will follow unacceptable behavior. As you move closer to hot stove, you are warned by its heat that you will be burned if you touch it.

(c) Gives consistent punishment: Disciplinary action should also be consistent in that everyone who performs the same act will be punished accordingly. As with a hot stove, each person who touches it is burned the same.

(d) Burns impersonally: Disciplinary action should be impersonal. There are no favorites when this approach is followed.

Q. 2.    Explain the various methods of Training employees with the merits and demerits of each.

ANS- The different methods of training evaluation can be classified in following four categories on the basis of what is being evaluated.

a. Evaluation of the training program content and delivery quality.

b. Evaluation of the extent of learning and acquisition of skills.

c. Evaluation of the extent of desirable change in behavior of the persons trained.

d. Evaluation of the impact of training on organizational performance.

Evaluation of training program and content is the most simple method. However it is also the least significant in terms of measuring effectiveness of training. This aspect of training can be measured in terms of both quantity and quality of training programs. Quantity of training involves measurement in terms of quantitative measurements such as number of people trained and number training programs conducted and number of participant-training days. The quality measurement generally consist of handing over a questionnaire to the participants of training programs at the end of each program and obtaining their assessment of various aspects to training program quality. This methods suffers from the defect that participants are really no in a position to judge quality of training program in subjects they do not know fully.

Also, it has been observed that generally participants are in good mood when the training programs are drawing to close and tend to rate them higher. Evaluation of learning and skill development can be measured conveniently if the training program involves some kind of qualifying test or examination at the end. However cost and efforts of conducting exams just for the purpose of evaluation of the program is not justified. Other method involves asking the participants on extent of their learning. This can be done as a part of response to questionnaire at the end of programs. But usually the participants are not in a position to assess this at that time. It is best to survey the participants after some time has elapsed. This method gives some additional useful information on the value of training, but more time and efforts is required to collect such data.

Evaluation of changes is a much more meaningful. however it is most difficult. It poses the problem of ways of ascertaining the extent of change in behavior. In addition, it is not always easy to establish the extent to which change in behavior is consequence of training. This kind of evaluation is best achieved by survey of employee work practices and behavior. Frequently it is worthwhile to undertake this survey before and after training. Evaluation of training effectiveness in terms of change in improvement of company is most meaningful. Such improvement can frequently be measured as a part of normal performance monitoring of company performance. However, it is very difficult to link the improvement performance to the training.

Q. 3.    Explain the methods of performance appraisal. What are the weakness in these methods.

ANS- It is a systematic evaluation of an individual with respect to performance on the job and individual’s potential for development.”

Definition 2: Formal System, Reasons and Measures of future performance  “It is formal, structured system of measuring, evaluating job related behaviors and outcomes to discover reasons of performance and how to perform effectively in future so that employee, organization and society all benefits.” Meaning of Performance Appraisals Performance Appraisals is the assessment of individual’s performance in a systematic way. It is a developmental tool used for all round development of the employee and the organization.

The performance is measured against such factors as job knowledge, quality and quantity of output, initiative, leadership abilities, supervision, dependability, co-operation, judgment, versatility and health. Assessment should be confined to past as well as potential performance also. The second definition is more focused on behaviors as a part of assessment because behaviors do affect job results.

The weakness of Performance Appraisal Method as under :- On the downside, appraisals have been criticized on a lot of grounds. One of the arguments against them, is that they get affected by office politics. The superior or the manager may not assess his subordinates fairly. Instead of basing his evaluation on the employee's actual behavior, the manager might give his feedback on the basis of his personal liking and disliking. Performance appraisals are unable to fulfill the aim they are conducted for in the first place. Since, in an appraisal, an employee is being evaluated and judged, and his pay rise and promotion is dependent on it, there is no way he will bring out the problem areas in his work when doing a self-assessment. In some cases, a superior too might find it uncomfortable to judge his subordinates, since they are working together on a daily basis in the organization.

Sometimes, it can cause souring of relationships in the office, leading to an unproductive work environment. Many management experts who are against employee performance appraisals argue that, appraisals and incentives should be kept separate. Appraisals should be only about the training needs, performance, and career development of an employee, and there should be separate salary reviews done periodically to decide the incentives for the employees. However, research in this field has shown that, if the reward review is a separate process from the appraisal system, it may create dissatisfaction among the employees. Thus, looking at the strengths and weaknesses of annual performance evaluations, and research findings, it can be concluded that, though there are advantages and disadvantages of conducting an appraisal, it is a necessary employee motivation tool, without which, organizations cannot function properly.