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NICMAR

Human Resource Management in


Construction Industry

Submitted by,
Anurag Solanki (221176)
Swarup Urunkar (221188)
Vishal Valecha (221191)
Sachin Waje (221199)

National Institute of Construction Management & Research


Pune

Human Resource Management in Construction Industry

Index
Sr. No.

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Particulars

Page No.

An Introduction of Human Resource Management

A Brief History of Human Resource Management

The Concept Of Human Resource Management

Human Resource Management in Construction Industry

Human Resource Management Functions

17

Conclusion

22

Bibliography

23

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An Introduction of Human Resource Management


Human resource management (HRM) involves all management decisions and
practices that directly affect or influence the people, or human resources, who work for the
organization. In recent years, increased attention has been devoted to how organizations
manage human resources. This increased attention comes from the realization that an
organization's employees enable an organization to achieve its goals and the management of
these human resources is critical to an organization's success.
The term "world class," meaning ranking among the foremost in the world, is
frequently mentioned as the aspiration of organizations. In the context of HRM, world
class is indicated by an HR group with a shared vision as to its constituents and how best to
serve them. Excellence in HRM is characterized by a service orientation and a willingness
to be in partnership with constituents. Specific earmarks of world class HRM include the
following:
Having an HR vision oriented to the strategic needs of the organization.
Having a philosophy and values consistent with those of the organization.
Being seen as a business unit within the firm and operating in the same way as other
units having customers and quality management and so forth.
Being organized in a way that brings maximum service to the customer and
maximum motivation to the HR staff.
Having the best HR products available to customers.
Championing HR programs that fulfil the agendas of the HR professionals and
customers.
Having an HR vision that is actively shared by the HR professionals in the orga nization
Being a proactive, not reactive, group
Being involved in the key business issue discussions
Being seen as successfully creating a great place to work

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The number of activities involved in human resource management is potentially


large, depending on the size of the organization and its needs.
Human resource management model illustrates how HRM activities come to bear
on an organization's environment, employees, jobs, job outcomes, and organizational
outcomes. All these forces are in turn affected by the organization's external environment.
A Brief History of Human Resource Management
The utilization of people, at least in a rudimentary form, can be traced to ancient
times. Efforts to best use talents, even though informal in nature, were undertaken
whenever people came together in a community. The change has been that during the
course of the last century efforts to best manage human resources have be come more
formal and specialized. The history of HRM can be characterized in two ways. First, as
moving through four broad phases: the craft system, scientific management, the human
relations approach, and the current organizational science-human resource approach. The
transformation to its present form, HR Management, was the result of business and social
dynamics of the 1960s and 1970s the rise of new employment laws and the emergence of
organisational as a guiding force in the workplace.
Scientific Management
The Industrial Revolution and mass production emerged in the nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries and led to the deterioration of the craft guilds. The development of mass
production transformed the organization of work in two important ways. First, tasks were
subdivided into very simple parts that could be performed by unskilled workers. Second,
manufacturing grew to such an extent that a large hierarchy of supervisors and managers
became necessary. Along with mass production came the assembly line and a scientific
approach to an analysis of work in terms of its constituent parts.
The basis of scientific management is that there is one best way to do a job. The best
way will be the most efficient and therefore the fastest and least expensive. The founder of
this new field of scientific management was an American mechanical engineer, Frederick W.
Taylor (1856-1915). Two of Taylor's contemporaries, Frank Gilbreth (1868-1924) and his
spouse Lillian Moeller Gilbreth (1878-1972), joined in becoming the proponents of scientific
management or industrial engineering.

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In the decade after 1910, the principles of scientific management were applied on a
wholesale basis in the United States. Taylor and his disciples assumed that workers wanted to
be used efficiently and were motivated by money. This philosophy proved to be incorrect
because it ignored feelings-and other motives. Workers were left dissatisfied with their jobs.
Union opposition grew as union organizers condemned Taylorism for depriving workers of a
voice in the conditions and functions of their work. One result was the emergence of welfare
secretaries as organizational employees to oversee programs for the welfare of employees.
These programs included recreational facilities, employee assistance programs, and medical
programs. The welfare secretary position was the beginning of the professional personnel
(now human resource) function.
As antiquated as scientific management seems now, some would argue that many of
the basic principles still apply today. For example, the many special incentive systems
organizations use to motivate employees and reward performance are adapted from Taylor's
ideas. The ideas of scientific management are adaptable, and its basic principles continue to
have relevance after almost 100 years.
Human Relations
The first important discovery about the social context of mass production occurred in
the famous experiments undertaken by U.S. social scientists Elton Mayo (1880-1949) and
Fritz Roethlisberger (1898-1974) between 1924 and 1932 at Western Electric's Hawthorne
plant in Chicago. Mayo and his colleagues sought to study the effects of changes in
illumination on productivity. The investigators chose two groups of employees working under
similar conditions. The level of illumination was varied for the test group but kept constant
for the control group. To Mayo's surprise, the output of both groups rose. Even when the
researchers told the workers in one group that the light was going to be changed but then did
not change it, the workers expressed satisfaction, and productivity continued to Increase.
Mayo saw that the significant variable was not physical but psychological. The reason for die
increase in productivity was the workers' attitudes toward their jobs and Western Electric.
Because their cooperation had been requested, the workers now felt themselves part of an
important group whose help and advice were being sought by the company.
The discovery of the "Hawthorne effect" led to further research on the social factors
associated with work. Results of these studies led to the human relations movement, with its
emphasis on the fact that employees need to be understood in order to be satisfied and
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productive. However, the idea that good human relations in and of themselves, will increase
productivity failed to be consistently supported, and many of the movement's ideas were
abandoned.
Organizational Science
Following realization of the limitations of the human relations approach, academic
researchers from various behavioural disciplines, such as psychology, political science,
economics, and sociology, began studying organizations. The organizational science approach
focuses more on the total organization and less on just the individual. HRM, as we currently
know it grew out of the organizational science trend and combines learning from the previous
movements with current research in the behavioural sciences.
Scope:
Majority of the Indian corporate firms have management research interest. As a result these
firms more or less continue to use Human resource systems more on the basis of their
conviction rather than on any empirical data. Very little work is done on the impact of Human
resource management functions' effectiveness and its outcomes.
Hence an effort is made in this research work "Survey of functions and role of Human
resource management/ development in construction firms" to study the levels of Human
resource Development functions incorporated in the existing construction firms and show
effectively that these functions are contributing to the growth and development of the
organization.
The Concept of Human Resource Management
"Human resource management /development in the organizational context is a process
by which the employees of an organization are helped, in a continuous, planned way to
1. Acquire or sharpen capabilities required to perform various functions associated with
their present or expected future roles;
2. Develop their general capabilities as individuals and discover and exploit their own
and organizational development purposes
3. Develop an organizational culture in which supervisor subordinate relationships,
team work, and collaboration among sub-units are strong and contribute to the
professional well-being, motivation, and pride of employees.
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Human resource management/ development is a process, not merely a set of


mechanisms and techniques. The mechanisms and techniques such as performance appraisal,
counselling, training, and organization development interventions are used to initiate,
facilitate and promote this process in a continuous way. Because the process has no limit, the
mechanisms may need to be examined periodically to see whether they are promoting or
hindering the process.
Issues :
Many of the human resource challenges and issues facing the construction industry are
the same, the degree of impact varies by sector, trade, and region. Some of the key issues
facing the construction industry are the need to:
Replace the loss of skilled trades people due to an aging workforce.
Recruit sufficient numbers to meet demands for skilled labour.
Improve the image of the construction industry as a viable career option.
Manage the labour supply in a volatile industry.
Make construction management and supervisor training available.
Expand the apprenticeship training system.
Meet the increasing demand for strong basic skills.
Manage the de-skilling and re-skilling of the labour force due to the introduction of
new technology.
Respond to increasing health and safety requirements.
Challenges :
These human resource issues can be translated into four challenges facing the construction
industry, both now and in the future:
1. Matching the projected demand for qualified trades people with the future supply
of skilled labour.
2. Creating and supporting a flexible, consistent, responsive apprenticeship system.
3. Creating an innovative, responsive training delivery system to maintain skill
currency.
4. Facilitating worker mobility in response to skilled labour demands across the
country.

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Human Resource Management in Construction Industry


Although construction is one of the most labour-intensive industries, people
management issues are given inadequate attention. Furthermore, the focus of attention with
regards to HR has been on the strategic aspects of HRM function yet most problems and
operational issues arise on projects. It's no secret that the construction industry is facing tough
economic challenges. Interest rates are up, fuel costs are skyrocketing, the national economy
is in a downturn, and productivity is on the decline. Add to those external forces the internal
pressures of tool and equipment loss, theft, maintenance, and replacement and the attendant
costs of project delays and lost productivity and you've got a recipe for disaster.
Thus Human resource management plays an important role in the field of construction.
Basic idea of a construction firm:
Investment in construction industry comprises of 3 major factors:
1. Input of building material
2. Input of technical, skilled, semi-skilled, and unskilled labour
3. Overhead costs

Socio Economic conditions of a construction firm:


1. Technology
2. Size of firm
3. Characteristics of product market
4. Behaviour of labour supply

1. Technology: Lack of Mass Production


An important characteristic of the building industry is the absence of mass production
technology. The industry relies heavily on unskilled labour. The building industry, in India is
pre-eminently labour-intensive and is way behind its counterpart in the advanced countries.
Most technological advancement: though known and sometimes even used in the more
elaborate and
technological
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massive structures, are eschewed for most purposes.


developments such as concrete-mixers,

power

Relatively
cranes,

simpler

reinforced
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concrete, and prefabricated structures have found acceptance among the bigger contractors in
large cities but not among the smaller builders who comprise the large majority. Probably the
main reason is that labour is still so cheap that there is no real incentive to look for newer
techniques. Moreover, to the ultimate owner there is no assurance that his costs will be cut
and, therefore, he may not be inclined to pay more just for elegance and modern finish.
The building industry resembles the small-scale industry in not just technology but
also in the size and structure of organizations and the philosophy of management. In large
part this is due to the location immobility of the product. Even a small house cannot be
entirely produced at a central plant and transported to market for sale. Even where parts of a
building are pre-fabricated the cost of transportation imposes severe limits on the
geographical area that can be economically served. Pre-fabrication in India is still at an
experimental stage, and the application of this idea to private housing has not yet been tried
outside of laboratory settings. Thus, for all practical purposes the industry appears to be
firmly stuck in primitive moorings.
2. Size of firm
Small Size of Firms
Another striking feature of the building industry is the small average size of firms.
The breakdown of functions in the industry, together with the

continuing importance of

personal skills on the work site, has made entry into the building industry through contracting
or sub-contracting business extremely easy and simple. Contractors save on overheads by
transacting business from their homes. Moreover, if the volume of operations is small, little
capital is required for materials. Most of the capital employed is in the nature of working
capital and a major part of it is provided by the ultimate owner of the building. The company
handling the construction job may operate with little capital of its own in relation to its annual
turnover. With the result, the entry and exit of firms in the building industry is continually
occurring. The preponderance of small firms inevitably militates against coordinated planning
and efficient organization, particularly if such firms attempt to undertake new and large-scale
construction work. But, on the other hand, smaller undertakings provide opportunities for
closer personal contact between the contractor and the workers. In the majority of small
building firms the boss is personally known to workers who have direct and informal access
to him.
This leads to prolonged association between individual employers and workers.
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The average size of firms in the building industry remains small mainly because of two
reasons.

First, the nature of work does not require elaborate organization of specialized skills
and talents. The organizational inputs are essentially supervisory at an elementary
level. Once work starts worker; and mistris trained in traditional skills establish a
natural rhythm (material-flow and brick-laying and other jobs requiring minimum
supervision.) However, more elaborate constructions involving multi-storied buildings
and use of modern technology would need bigger organizations and greater
supervisory skills, it follows that the smallness of firms is a function of technology
used and the scale and complexity of building work. Since only a small part of the
total construction work at any time in India requires modern skills and technology,
there is no need for larger organizations.

The second reason is that this industry is generally free from restrictive monopoly
practices. There is freedom of entry and exit and enough competition to keep the size
small. It needs a combination of large resources, command over superior technology,
some rare skills and political power to create a monopoly, but none of these is present
in any significant measure in the building industry.
Construction work involves a complete set of numerous operation minor and major

specialized knowledge, and skills. This has produced decentralization of supervisory


functions. The general practice is that while the main contractor retains the managerial
function, many aspects of supervision arc distributed among various contractors and subcontractors. The labour function is generally allocated among a large number of work
supervisors and craft groups. Under such conditions, the quality of managerial control varies
greatly. Besides, coordination is generally absent between these responsible for the design
and others engaged in the actual construction of buildings. The close cooperation that should
actually exist between successive operations in an efficiently working industry is more often
lacking in the building industry.
3. Characteristics of product market
Local Product Market
Like the final product, most of the inputs used by the industry are also bulky. These
too restrict the size of the market geographically. Competition must be local though its
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intensity will vary with the ease or the difficulty of entry. Under the circumstances, local
monopolistic arrangements can sometimes develop. The source of monopoly power is
finance, political tie-up, and influence of large firms with the government and large business
houses, and technical know-how. Even though formal monopoly power may be absent there
may be tacit agreement among the firms not to compete in new technology. If everyone
agrees it would be so much easier to pass higher costs on to the buyers without fear of underbidding from outside producers. This tendency is reinforced by the fact that whether large or
small in relation to each other few contractors even in prosperous localities have the means to
invest in costly equipment which may or may not in the end lead to higher profits.

Temporary Duration of Work


An important economic characteristic of the building industry is the limited duration
of work on a given site. This inevitably restricts the practical application of rationalized
methods of working and adoption of new techniques. The fact that all construction plants and
equipments must be removed on the completion of the job places an effective limit on the
amount and nature of machinery and equipment which may economically be brought on to
the site. This is, however, not an insurmountable obstacle and has not

hampered the

introduction of modern machinery and tools in the more advanced countries. That this should
be the case in India is probably because at relative factor prices it is not economical to invest
in capital-intensive methods. Their employment is predicated on higher turnover, greater
standardization of the final product and probably somewhat higher unit costs. Though
justified by better quality, the higher price structure would put them beyond the reach of most
consumers. Therefore, higher capital intensification of building industry in the near future is
outside the realm of practical economics.

4. Behaviour of labour supply


Recruitment
Concomitant with the temporary duration of work, there is the practice of recruiting the
labour force for only one particular site. The proportion of building workers who are
retained in employment by the same contractor for work on a succession of sites is very
small. Apart from some clear exceptions of a limited number of skilled workers and
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supervisory staff, the

number of workers

who really obtain

continuous long-term

employment with the same employer is, therefore, quite small.

A Mobile Labour Force


A corollary to the temporary duration of work on a given site and to the practice of
short-term recruitment is that building workers have to be geographically

mobile. Their

daily time-table, and consequently that of their families, may be subjected to major
upsets particularly when they have to travel long distances between their places of residence
and the work sites. Frequently, the building workers live for prolonged periods in extremely
substandard lodgings with make-shift arrangements.

High Rate of Labour Turnover on Individual Sites


Closely related to the above-mentioned characteristics is the relatively high rate of
turnover of the labour force on individual work sites. Since the labour force has to be
geographically mobile, many workers feel little personal attachment to work on any
particular work site or with any employer. Whenever alternative employments appear more
attractive workers are prone to change jobs. It has been often noted that many skilled building
workers quit well before the completion of work causing much anxiety to the contractors.
This is one of the most disturbing features of the employment relationship in the building
industry. The only saving grace is that this has probably protected workers to some extent
against excessive sweating and exploitation.
Intermittent Employment Caused by Vagaries of Weather Work on building sites is
frequently brought to a standstill due to transient meteorological conditions. The duration of
such interruptions of work may vary from a few hours to several days or even weeks. In the
absence of a system of guaranteed wage, workers may, as a result of such interruptions of
work, suffer serious loss of earnings and incur debts. In the long run it may have the effect of
reducing the inflow of skilled manpower into the industry or otherwise cause unpredictable
shifts in the supply of labour.

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Socio-Economic Characteristics of labour


Age Structure, Sex, and Marital Status
The majority of the workers in the construction industry are young. Workmen up to
the age 35 years are more as compared to people above 50 years of age. This might indicate
not just a higher propensity among younger workmen to work in the building industry but
also the corresponding preference of the employers.
The migrants comprise the overwhelming majority of the building workers.
Males far outnumber females in all age groups. The predominance of men in the age
structure is explained mainly by the hazardous nature of work. A larger proportion of
unskilled and semi- skilled workers are younger in

age than

skilled workers. It is

found that workers entered the building industry at the age of about 18 years and either
retired or were required to leave when about 50

years old. The contractors generally

indicated preference for younger workers in the unskilled and the semi-skilled categories. It
may, therefore, be surmised that even if older workers were willing to work, it was unlikely
that they would be retained.
The asymmetry in

the

age composition of women in comparison with men is

explained by two factors.


First, the prevalence of early marriage and the desire of the wife to work alongside
her husband, even at lower wages, explain the higher proportion of women in the younger
age groups.
Second, it is probable that due to family reasons women quit their jobs earlier and
thereby raise the proportion of men in older age groups. Study shows that majority of the
workers are married. It also shows that, regardless of rural or urban origin, most workers are
married. This means that the majority of them, mostly men, do not have their spouses
working with them.
Dependency Load
It may be noted that the majority of married workers have more than one dependant
living with them. Very few per cent of workers are in the favorable position of having
dependants living with them. Almost half of the workers have between one and four workers
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living with them as dependants. Most of the workers are of rural origin and have dependants
living with them, to put it differently, most of workers having dependants staying with them
are rural immigrants.
It may be noted that there are many workers who in addition to dependants staying in
the same household have to support many in their villages. This, however, it does not
necessarily follow that dependency is of an economic nature and involves regular remittance
of funds for their maintenance. It is possible that the dependants are viewed in terms of social
and moral obligation which the workers just accept without being able to do much about it.
Those left behind maybe sharing in the bread earned jointly by the family to which the
emigrants may make such contributions as their circumstances permit. For some this may
take the form of regular contributions while for others it may mean either token or substantial
gifts from time to time. Altogether, it can be said that there is substantial unemployment in
households to which the building workers belong.

Standard of Literacy and Skill Levels


The standard of literacy, if defined as comprising (i) illiterates (cannot read or write),
(ii) semi-literates (can read only), and (iii) literates (can read and write).
The buildings workers are mostly belong in the first category, very few are semiliterates, and a few are literates. The virtual polarization in literacy standards is indicative of
the occupational structure of the labour force. The skilled workers are mostly literate and the
unskilled are mostly illiterate. The majority of the semiskilled are also illiterate. This should
not cause surprise since most of the semi-skilled workers have risen from below. Recruitment
is usually not done in these occupations from outside and the positions as they fall vacant are
filled in by promotion. The state of polarization also shows that in the sphere of education the
middle category of semi-literates hardly exists. A child either goes to school and learns to
read and write or does not go at all. Some adults may, however, acquire fragmentary
education either through self-help or in adult literacy classes or with the help of friends. For
all practical purposes these are not much different from the category of illiterates.

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Standard of literacy among the building workers is a reliable indication of the


prevalence of school system in the villages they grew up. As is well known, in the rural areas
of Rajasthan. U.P., and Haryana, as indeed in many other parts of India, the progress of
primary education has been grossly inadequate and slow. Since most workers come from
rural areas of these States, the

majority of

them

are

naturally

shown

to be both

illiterate and unskilled. By comparison, urban workers have higher levels of literacy. Urban
workers are either illiterate or literate, with no one in the middle category.
The Hindus, Sikhs, and Muslims are present in every skill group of workers; indeed
there is proportionately greater weight age of minorities among the skilled. It is observed that
all the four principal Hindu castes are present in every skill category while the scheduled
castes are more numerous in the unskilled. The predominance of scheduled castes in the
unskilled category is largely explained by their low educational attainment. In relative terms,
the incidence illiteracy among

the Muslims is even

higher. These square well with the

finding that majority unskilled workers are wholly illiterate. The highest literacy is among
the Sikhs, and most of them are skilled workers. Most workers from Rajasthan and U.P have
rural background. It can now be seen more clearly that the unskilled worker has a distinctive
social profile from the skilled. By contrast, a skilled worker is probably literate, has an
urban background, is a non-Hindu or belongs to the upper castes.

Origin, Religion, and Caste


The predominance of workers from Rajasthan is partly because they are considered by
the contractors as the best fit for unskilled jobs and partly due to acute pressure of poverty
and unemployment in its rural areas.
It is remarkable that "other States" account for the highest proportion of

skilled

workers. The relatively higher proportion of semi-skilled workers from U.P. is because the
bhistis (water-sprayers) are mostly from that State.
The classification of States according to their male-female ratio shows that the
majority of female workers employed in building industry come from Rajasthan. No other
State has sent out such a high proportion of female labour this may be because workers
migrating from Rajasthan generally come with their family and work with their wives while
the migrants from other States do not do so.
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An analysis of the migrants according to their religion and caste reveals that
practically all Sikhs come from the Punjab and Haryana; and most Muslims from Uttar
Pradesh. There appears to be no definite pattern among the Hindu caste groups.

Reasons for Migration


The main reasons for migration:
(a) No other work at home
(b) Insufficient income at home
(c) Indebtedness
(d) Domestic disputes
(e) Prospects of better job in bigger cities
(f) Any other
Insufficient income at home and "no work at home accounts for the major reason
of migration. This tally with the other studies done in India. A study of migrant labour in
Bombay and Delhi done by the UNESCO Research Centre had revealed that "economic
hardship, in varying degrees, was the real reason for practically all migration". The "prospects of a better job in bigger cities", which may be taken to represent the "pull" factor,
accounts for the migration of very few workers. While the "push" factor is generally
operative in all categories, it is much more so for the unskilled and the semi-skilled than the
skilled workers. Better prospects in bigger cities are about as important as "other reasons"
for the latter. Evidently, the unskilled workers had no choice and were driven by extreme
poverty and unemployment to seek sustenance where it was available. The workers in every
age group are almost equally afflicted although there is some variability in the articulation of
the exact cause. There is an unambiguous nature of economic hardship that lay behind
migration. Unemployment was just as rampant among the literates as among the illiterates
although insufficient income or indebtedness caused agony to fewer of the former than the
latter. Evidently, it is not the level of educational attainment that explains the painful decision
to leave one's health and home but abject poverty. The rural environment just did not provide
opportunities of using human resource whether literate or not and consequently drove out
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people indiscriminately in search of livelihood. Thus, economic stagnation emerges as the


principal cause of internal migration.
Human Resource Management Functions:

Fig : Human Resource Management Model

Within each functional area of human resource management, many activities must be
accomplished so that the organization's human resources can make an optimal contribution to
the organization's success.
1. Planning for Organizations, Jobs, and People
The Strategic Management of Human Resources associated with the increased
attention HRM is receiving is top management's realization that HR needs to be
closely integrated with managerial planning and decision making. Increasingly, top
management is aware that the time to consider organizational HR strengths or
limitations is when strategic business decisions are being formulated, not after critical
policies have been decided. For instance, a decision to open a new facility should be
made only after considering the availability of labour at the new location and the
availability of experienced managers to run the facility. Furthermore, closer
integration can result in HR practices that help to elicit and reward the types of
behaviour necessary for the organization's strategy. Suppose an organization is
planning to become known for its high-quality products. Ideally, HR practitioners will
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design appraisal and reward systems that emphasize quality in order to sup port this
competitive strategy.
Human Resource Planning: The planning process is essential to meet the staffing
needs that result when complex and changing organizations encounter a dynamic
business environment The planning process involves forecasting HR needs and
developing programs to ensure that the right numbers and types of individuals are
available at the right time and place. Organizations depend on what-if scenarios that
look at future needs in the context of work force demographics, economic
projections, anticipated technological changes, recruitment success, reten tion goals,
and shifts in organizational strategy.
2. Recruitment :
Once HR needs are determined, the next step is filling positions, or acquiring
human resources. Staffing activities include recruiting applicants, screening and selecting
the most qualified candidates, and filling some positions through transfer or promotion.
Staffing is a far more complex activity than in previous times, when employ ment
managers could rely on a "help wanted" sign in front of the plant or recom mendations
from current employees. Equal employment opportunity (EEO) laws, along with the
increased complexity of positions to be filled, require more sophisticated procedures to
identify and select prospective employees.
The selection process includes several important steps. The first is carefully
defining the open position and determining which skills are needed to hold the job
successfully. Having determined the specific skills and competencies, employment
managers frequently go to great lengths to increase applicant flow, through a variety of
recruitment strategies.
The employment manager must then use carefully developed and validated
procedures in screening and evaluating job candidates. These may include applica tion
blanks, interviews, ability tests, and reference checks, to name a few of the possibilities.
Information from several of these procedures is then combined into a judgment of the
potential of the applicant as an employee.
3. Training & Development :

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Employee training and development may be implemented by formal or informal


procedures. Formal training is often associated with the introduction to a new job; it is also
a means of keeping up with technological or procedural changes. Formal training can be
coordinated and taught by HR or technical professionals in the organization, or employees
may be sent to training programs offered by professional associations or universities.
Informal training occurs on the job and is administered by superiors and peers. The HR
department may provide train-the-trainer courses and coordinate on-the-job-training (OJT)
opportunities with employee career plans and the organization's forecast of HR needs.

4. Employee Motivation:
The motivation enhances performance and improves productivity. Therefore,
motivation fufills important objectives of an organisation:
1] Ensures productive use of resource - Physical, financial and human resources are
the important resource constructs for an organisation. Proper utlisation of such
resources is only possible when people in the organisation feel motivated. Motivation
leads to goal directed behaviour, which in turn facilitates productive utilisation of all
such resources. Important measures for productive use of resources are total factor
productivity indices and labour productivity indices..
2] The second important objective of motivation is increased efficiency or people.
Efficiency of motivated people increases, as it augments their willingness to work.
Increased efficiency also contributes to cost reduction.
3] Thirdly, a motivated employee also becomes quality conscious, as behaviorally he
identifies himself with the organisation and always tries to take extra care for his jobs.
Motivation, therefore also strengthens quality objectives of an organisation.
4] Fourthly, by promoting goal directed behaviour, motivated employees also help to
realise organisational objectives and strategies.
Identification of
Need deficiency

Re-evaluate needs
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Identification of appropriate
strategy to close the need gap

Reward for good

Promote goal
directed behaviour

measure
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Performance

performance

Motivation model
5. Performance Appraisal:
Performance assessment and management are a crucial link in the HRM process:
They are the means by which organizations assess how well employees are per forming
and determine appropriate rewards or remedial actions. The HRM role in performance
assessment and management is one of working with line managers to establish
performance standards, the performance dimensions to be measured, as well as the
appraisal procedures to ensure accuracy. Also included in performance assessment and
management are the requirements for the use of results to coach and develop employees.
Another important HR role in the performance assessment and management of
employees is to monitor the process and its results. Performance assessment is not a
favorite managerial activity, yet it is important that it be undertaken in a timely manner
and be done as accurately as possible.
Types and methods of performance appraisal:
1] Straight ranking method:
In this employees are tested in order or merit giving some numerical rank and
placed in a simple grouping separating employees under each level of efficiency
varying from low efficiency to high efficiency.
2] Check list method:
It is a mere process of reporting employees performance complying yes/ no
response. Final rating is done by the personnel vis--vis HRD department based on
such reports.
3] Group appraisal method:
It is an evaluation of an employee by multiple judges. Immediate supervisor of the
employee and few other discuss the performance standards and then evaluate
performance of the employee. It is free from any bias.
4] Field review methods:
This review is conducted by HR department by interviewing the supervisor of an
employee to understand the subordinate employees performance. Normally for such
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type of appraisals, the representative of HRD gets equipped with certain questions and
more in the form of informal interview, asks those questions about the employees
whose performance are to be reviewed to their respective supervisors.

6. Rewarding Employees:
A logical result of the performance assessment process is determining which
employees most deserve rewards. Allocating rewards is a complex and specialized activity.
Rewards include both the direct compensation (salary or hourly wages) and indirect
compensation (benefits) that organizations offer to employees in return for their effort.
Intuition would suggest that the higher the compensation an employee receives,
the greater that employee's satisfaction would be. Indeed, this tends to be the case,
although the relationship is not a strong one. In addition to the level of pay, a successful
compensation system is based on fairness: the perceived equity of pay differentials for
different jobs within the organization, the perceived equality of pay for similar jobs either
within the organization or in competitor companies, and the perceived fairness of the
differences in pay between employees who are in the very same job. Employees bring a
variety of perspectives to bear in deciding whether they are satisfied with the
compensation they receive, thus making the management of compensation a particularly
challenging HR activity.
Promotion :
Promotion is basically for reward for efficiency. It is conferment of additional
benefits, usually in the form of higher pay, for an increase in responsibility or skill which is
formalized by an increase in rank. Yet in another way promotion can be defined as
advancement of an employee in an organization to another job.
Forms of promotion:
The two major forms of promotion are,
1] Informal promotion : In this those employees are promoted who have the requisite ability
and merit. The problem of informal promotion is that the senior manager may recommend

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only those individual with whom they have already worked or who, for one reason or the
other have impressed them by their activities or presence.
2] Formal promotion: The formal form of promotion is also called as standardized or
systematic form. The significance of all the positions in the organization structure is
considered with a view to facilitate the objective appraisal of the capabilities of the
individuals in the context of promotion. This form of promotion is strictly followed in the
organization.
Conclusion:
India is on the greener side of the development. It is envisaged that by 2020 India
will be a developed country. Working on its way the development is taking on rapidly, and
so on the infrastructure facilities where the construction is involved. There are number of
contractors to execute such construction. Foreign players are also joining hands with Indian
firms to make the dream come true.
Construction activity involves a range of manpower resources of different
capabilities and potentialities. Viewing the scenario of the development of whole country
the numbers of people employed are abundant. The country is demanding a quality and
productive products from them. But the question is whether the organization under which
they

are

working

development.

are employee friendly and really caters for

their

needs

and

The question is now far planning for it, by allocating organizational

resources for the purpose.

Bibliography:
1] Sinthia D. Fisher, Lyle F. Schoenfeldt, James B. Shaw, Human Resource Management,
Biztantra publications
2] C.K. Johri, S. M. Pandey, Employment Relationship in the Building Industry, SRC
Publications.

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