Spring / February 2012 Master of Business Administration- MBA Semester 1 MB0043 Human Resource Management - 4 Credits (Book ID:

B1132) Assignment Set- 1 (60 Marks) Note: Each Question carries 10 marks. Answer all the questions. Q1. Explain the need for human resource planning. Answer: Need for Human Resource Planning Human Resource Planning is a mandatory part of every organizations annual planning process. Every organization that plans for its business goals for the year also plans for how it will go about achieving them, and therein the planning for the human resource: 1. To carry on its work, each organization needs competent staff with the necessary qualifications, skills, knowledge, work experience and aptitude for work. 2. Since employees exit and organization both naturally (as a result of superannuation) and unnaturally (as a result of resignation), there is an on-going need for hiring replacement staff to augment employee exit. Otherwise, work would be impacted. 3. In order to meet the need for more employees due to organizational growth and expansion, this in turn calls for larger quantities of the same goods and services as well as new goods. This growth could be rapid or gradual depending on the nature of the business, its competitors, its position in the market and the general economy. 4. Often organizations might need to replace the nature of the present workforce as a result of its changing needs, therefore the need to hire new set of employees. To meet the challenge of the changed needs of technology / product/service innovation the existing employees need to be trained or new skill sets induced into the organization. 5. Manpower planning is also needed in order to identify an organizations need to reduce its workforce. In situations where the organization is faced with severe revenue and growth limitations it might need to plan well to manage how it will reduce its workforce. Options such as redeployment and outplacement can be planned for and executed properly. Q2. What are the objectives of job evaluation? Answer: Objectives of Job Evaluation The decision to measure or rate jobs should only be made with the intent to reach certain objectives which are important to both management and the employee. Although there are many side benefits of job evaluation, the purpose is to work towards a solution of the many wage and compensation related administrative problems which ROLL No. - 511223187 1

Spring / February 2012 confront the industry. The below-mentioned are some of the important objectives of a job evaluation programme: 1. Establishment of sound salary differentials between jobs differentiated on the skills required. 2. Identification and elimination of salary-related inequities. 3. Establishment of sound foundation for variable pay such as incentive and bonus. 4. Maintenance of a consistent career and employee growth policy/ guidelines. 5. In organizations with active unions, creation of a method of job classification, so that management and union officials may deal with major and fundamental wage issues during negotiations and grievance meetings. 6. Collection of job facts a) Selection of employees b) Promotion and transfer of employees c) Training of new employees d) Assignment of tasks to jobs e) Improving working conditions f) Administrative organization, and g) Work simplification. There are many established methods to carry out job evaluation in a scientific manner. A four-fold system of classifying evaluation systems is presented here. Two are described as non-quantitative and two as quantitative. 1. Non-quantitative evaluation measures, a. The ranking system. b. The job-classification system. 2. Quantitative evaluation measures. a. The point system. b. The factor-comparison system. Q3. Why is it important to handle grievances carefully? Answer: What might happen if an organization does not provide some method by which a employee can voice his complaints and obtain a explanation? The employee will be unhappy, his productivity is impacted, he openly begins to share his discontent with not just his colleagues but also outsiders, friends, relatives, maybe even customers and vendors. Just as the employee has all the right to voice a grievance, as employer (or the management) owes it to the employee to respond suitably to the grievance. It is but commonsense that the resolution of a problem rests on management. The earliest and clearest opportunity for issue resolution is found at the first stage, before the grievance has left the jurisdiction of the manager. For this reason, many firms have specifically trained their managers on how to handle a grievance or complaint properly. If the dispute or grievance constitutes a managerial problem it can often be resolved by the

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Spring / February 2012 manager himself with the help of the HR team. The following steps discuss how a grievance can be redressed: 1. Receiving the grievance: The manner and attitude with which the manager receives the complaint of grievance is important. The basic premise is that the manager should at the outset assume that the employee is fair in presenting his/her opinion/complaint. The complaint should not be prejudged on the basis of past experience with this or other employees. When a employee approaches the manager with a issue the manager needs to make himself available to listen it all out and provide him/her the undivided attention. Research confirms that managers who were more task-oriented, as contrasted with managers who were more people-oriented, tended to experience a significantly higher number of grievances being filed in their units. 2. Reviewing the grievance: Once a complaint is received all facts supporting the issue needs to be gathered. Proper record keeping such as performance ratings, job ratings, attending records, and suggestions are reviewed. In addition, with the increasingly legal implications of modern labour-management relations, the manager should keep records on each particular grievance. All action taken, discussions with the employee, summary and what is agreed to all of it needs to be recorded. 3. Analysis and decision: With the problem defined and the facts in hand, the manager must now analyze and evaluate them, and come to some decision. It is important for the manager to involve others in the process to ensure that it is fair and is the best solution. The manager must include the views of his own manager as he might not be aware of all the implications of the problem and its resolution. Involving HR too is a recommended process in all organizations. HR can then seek finance or legal counsel if required, before any decision is taken. All involved in the decision making process need to be aware that the decision may create an undesirable precedence within the department as well as the company. 4. Response: Often it might not be possible to provide a positive resolution to the problem. If the solution decided is adverse to the employees views, attention needs to be given to the method of communication. Employees dislike managers who will take no stand, good or bad. Clearly communicating the message and sharing as much information as possible about the decision making process helps in establishing credibility to the process used to make the decision. The manager can also invite HR or his manager to sit-in on the conversation with the employee. As far as possible this should happen in a face-to-face meeting. In the event an employee wishes to take the appeal beyond to the next stage of the procedure he must be allowed to do so. The manager must have the opportunity to explain his decision to the other members so they can take a well-informed decision. ROLL No. - 511223187 3

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5. Follow up: The objective of the grievance procedure is to resolve a disagreement between an employee and the organization. Open communication is important for this process. The purpose of phase is to determine whether the employee feels that the problem has been sufficiently redressed. If follow up reveals that the case has been handled unsatisfactorily, then redefinition of the problem, further fact-finding, analysis, solution and follow up are required. At this stage the manager can step aside and allow someone else in a position of authority like the HR or the managers manager to lead the process and close it. Q4. How can we evaluate the effectiveness of training programs conducted in organizations? Answer: Evaluation of Training Effectiveness / How to Evaluate a Training Program: An objective of training evaluation is to determine the payoff from the training investment. It focuses on the improvement of the participant in the training programme to perform jobs for which they were trained, what was effective and what was not, whether the trainees required any additional on the job training, and the extent of training not needed for the participants to meet job requirements. In 1975, Donald Kirkpatrick, who was known for creating the training evaluation model, first presented a four-level model of evaluation that has become a classic in the industry: Level I: Reaction How did the student feel and what did they think about the training? Level II: Learning How much did the student learn? Level III: Behaviour What is the extent of behaviour and capability improvement and implementation/application? Level IV: Results What impact on the business did the training have as a result of the learners performance? By using Kirkpatricks 4 levels of evaluation, you can effectively determine if training goals were met. The Kirkpatrick Model for Summative Evaluation Reaction Distribute an evaluation or feedback form. This is often called a smile sheet and can be administered in either paper format or online format. This type of evaluation is usually inexpensive and used by most organizations. Be sure to distribute evaluations immediately after training ends. You can include questions to evaluate the instructor, material covered, training materials and audio visual equipment. Learning To assess the amount of learning, consider using pre-tests and post-tests. The tests attempts to determine how students have advanced with regards to skills, ROLL No. - 511223187 4

Spring / February 2012 knowledge and attitude. Pre-tests should be administered before the class begins, and post-tests would be given at the completion of the training class. You can administer pre-tests and post-tests on paper or online. You can include multiple choice/fill-in the blank type questions, and/or may include work-related hands-on exercises for the learner to complete online. Behaviour To determine the extent of behaviour and capability improvement, consider observing learners for an extended period of time after training is completed. This can be measured via post training interviews, monitoring progress and meeting with managers of the learners to determine if the training has allowed the learner to excel in his/her job. Results To determine the business impact of the training program, measure key performance indicators including return on investment, staff turnover, employee retention, quality ratings and other types of quantifiable aspects of the performance of the organization. Q5. What are the objectives of human relations? Answer: Objectives of Human Relations A human Relations Programme thereby attempts at enhancing employee motivation and workplace morale through an improved three-way communications and through employee participation in the decision making processes. Human relations seek to emphasise 'employee' aspects of work rather than technical or economic aspects. For example while it might be in the best interest of an organization to have a employee skilled and completely proficient in one job/ set or responsibilities, toda ys organization provides opportunities for employees to multi-skill and acquire knowledge of new yet related jobs/responsibilities. These acts as a motivator for employees as they benefit by learning new skills / jobs and given an opportunity can perform and excel in another job. It also seeks to make employment and working conditions less impersonal. The human relations approach emphasises policies and techniques designed to improve employee morale and job satisfaction. For example it is common place in organizations to provide for / encourage employee empowerment where-in the team brings about creative measures to reduce cost/ improve customer satisfaction. Such teams design and implement self-driven initiatives to bring about the business result. It is believed that this is accompanied by increased employee efficiency and reduction in employee dissatisfaction. An understanding of emerging workplace human behaviour can be summarised as: i. ii. Assist the manager to develop a better realization of how his own attitudes and behaviour play a part in everyday affairs of the team and its morale; Assist the manager to develop a keener sensitivity towards the team members and interpersonal dynamics 5

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Spring / February 2012 iii. iv. v. Partner with the managers in helping him drive the business goals and take part ownership of work challenges and how best to resolve them Enable him to anticipate and prevent problems, or at least to resolve more effectively those that he cannot avoid; and Network with other teams with related dependencies and help resolve interteam business impacting challenges

This Scope of Human Relations springs up from the problems which have many different causes and perspectives. Halloran has stated these as: Every person brings a unique set of talents, ambitions and work experience to a job. These personal attributes change over time, often as a result of the degree of success or failure the person experiences in the work world. Matching so many unique sets of personal qualities to a standardized technology can create problems. The organizational aspects of a company, such as its size, geographic location, economic health, and degree of automation, define the scope of work and the activity in each work division. These frequently arbitrary, structural definitions often cause difficulties in human relations. Innovations in technology and production methods generally require the restructuring of job roles and responsibilities. Radical changes in basic organizational structure can cause severe strains between employees and management and create intense problems in human relations. Promotion of individuals to positions of greater responsibility and authority generally creates a need for changed behaviour patterns between the new supervisors and their former peers, which in time, can create human relations problems. Inexperienced employees may not be able to perform their roles or tasks in work groups in a competent manner. The time they take to adjust can not only create problems with production schedules, but can also create particular kinds of human relations problems between them and their co-employees and supervisors. The variety of causes of human relations problems lead to the conclusion that no one programme or single approach can create conditions for good human relations. Therefore, as shared earlier it in common for organizations and individuals in organization to constantly innovate and resolve challenges that will benefit both the organization as well as the employee. This helps understand the key HR objectives which can be best illustrated by understanding the functions that HR attempts to fulfil in any organization: i. Human Resource Planning estimating the need for resources in order achieve the desired business results. HR plans can be both short term/immediate as well as long term / strategic. The HR team partners with the line managers to understand the business goals and targets for the year and then together plan the HR needs in order to meet the goals. 6

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Spring / February 2012 ii. ii) Acquisition of human resources staffing the organizations with the right mix of skills and competencies at the right time. It also includes HR initiatives like promotions and internal job posting to fulfil this requirement for human resources. Staffing teams in organizations are usually a separate group of specialists who work closely with the line managers to understand the skills and competencies needed for the job and engage together to select the best talent for the open positions. iii) Training and employee development focuses on managing training activities to upgrade skills and knowledge as well as soft skills like team building and leadership. The training team is again a group of HR specialists who propose the training program and consult with the line managers to ensure that the program achieves the desired outcomes. iv) Building performance management systems focuses on the right processes to set goals for performance as individuals/teams and related measurement methods. This is a core HR activity and is supported by the HR generalist.

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Q6. Assume yourself as an HR Manager. You have been given the responsibility of promoting the rightful employees. For this, performance appraisal of the employees must be carried out. What appraisal method would you choose? Justify. Answer: The motivation techniques may be divided into two parts a) [a] that is to be done; and b) [b] How and why what is done. The former are steps in motivation and the later are rules governing the steps. Both are performed simultaneously. These are listed below: a) Size up situation requiring motivation: The first step of motivation is to make sure of motivational needs. Every employee needs motivation; however, all people do not react exactly as the same way to the same stimuli. Keeping this in mind executive shall size up how much and what kind of motivation is needed. b) Prepare a set of motivational tools: An executive from his personnel experience should prepare a list of what devices are likely to work with what type of people and under what circumstances. c) Selecting and applying motivator: Proper application of motivational plan is important. This involves selection of the appropriate technique, method of application and the timing and location of applications. d) Follow up the results of applications: The last stage of motivation is to follow-up the results of the application of the plan. The primary objective is to ascertain if an employee has been motivated or not. If not some other technique should be tried. Rules of motivating: The motivation manager must be guided with some fundamental rules which should be based on the following principles.

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Spring / February 2012 (a) Self interest and motivation: Motivation is mainly built on selfishness. Psychologically speaking, selfishness is a part and parcel of life. To deny this is to build the theory on unrealistic foundation. To seek some other basis of motivation would be to ignore the real nature of man. The aim should be to learn more about selfishness. (b) Attainability: Motivation must be establish attainable goals. This does not mean that the goal is realized at once. This may take years to attain. But it must be within reach. Eight ways to motivate plant employees: The following recommendations are for improving the motivation of employees in the routine jobs. a. Provide assembly line employees with more than minimum training. This would result in greater personnel involvement in the job. b. Crate sub goals to measure accomplishment. A sense of completion is important for motivation. They are likely to be more interested in the work which will reduce monotony and mental fatigue. c. Provide regular feedback on performance. Studies show that people work better when they receive positive feedback. d. Maintain a neat and orderly work area. If the foreman does not care about housekeeping then employees may feel that they also need not care about it and this attitude may affect quality of work. e. Arrange work situations so that conversation between employees is either easy or possible. Experience workers may to their job with little attention to the task. Conversation my reduce monotony and thus fatigue. f. Increase the number of operations performed by one employee. This can be done by simplification of manual operations. It offers several advantages: The risk of errors reduced; Management can hire employees at lower wages; Training costs are minimized. g. Structure jobs, so that workers can at least occasionally move about the work area. Besides job rotation, there are other ways to provide for physical movement like stetting employees secure their own tools etc. h. Explore ways to assign greater personnel responsibility. Increased responsibility means greater self esteem and greater job meaningfulness. One-way to enlarge responsibility is to let the employee inspect his own work.

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