:cF

-._

"\:""

LINIVERSITYOF COLOMBO,SRI LANKA

FACULTY OF MANAGEMENT AND FINANCE
Postgraduateand Mid-careerDevelopmentUnit
-August,2008
(Semester
1I - Firsthalf) Examination
Administration
Masterof Business

MBA 537-Human ResourceManagement

Three(03)Hours
includingthe first question.
Answeronly@&19,4) questions,
one(01)is compulsory
Question
printedin four(4)pages
Therearefive (5) questions

companyand it wantsto
l. T-tel is a Thai based(hypothetical)telecommunication
expand its operation in the Asia-pacific region. According to Mr. Vice Roy,
"the group has set aside
ManagingDirector of T-Tel BusinessCommunications,
$400 million to expandits overseasoperationfor its growing baseof international
to establishfive new overseas
customers".
Of this,$30 million wasinvestedin200T
officesin citiessuchas Sydney,Mumbai,Jakarta,Kuala LumpurandColombo.
Currentlytheir Colombo operationhas 25 staff members. In 2009, T-tel plansto
expandtheir network in Colombowith a $150 million investrnentto servethe
domesticand corporatemarkets.The currentexpansionmay requirea workforceof
500 from the Technical,CustomerCare,Salesand Marketing,Finance,HR and
otherscategories.
T5 percentof themwill be basedin Colombowhile otherwill be
stationedin 4 provinciallocations.

If you are the HumanResourceDirectorof T-Tel Sri Lanka,what do you

think aboutthe HR implications
of this new investment?
(5 Marks)
How do you planto dealwith theaboveimplications?
(25 Marks)
lll

T+al hasbeendecidedto outsource

somework like customerinstallation
and
maintenance
work, driving,securityandjanitorialservices.Briefly explain
why organisation
needsto outsource
suchfunctions.
( 1 0M a r k s )
(Total40Marks)

2. The training departmentof wAN

Ltd., is under pressure.Training has a bad

reputationamongthe ' managers,
supervisors and employees,T'hecoursesare nor
up-to-date
and tend to be theoretical
with little emphasis
on directjob application.
Line managersgenerallyfeel that sendingworkersfor training
is a wasteof time

andcompanyresources.
Assume thatyou arethe newryappointed
rraining Managerof thecompany.
How shallyouapproach
theproblem?

(10Marks)
Whatrecommendations
wouldyou make to ensure
thattraining

is effective

and relevantat WAN Ltd.?

( l0 Marks)
(20 Marks)
3' Sumudhuand MaheshSamarasinghe
are identicaltwins. They

have had many

similaritiesin tife.Both wentto the sameschoolandpassed
examinations
morein a
similar manner'They graduatedthemselvesfrom the
same universityin civil
Engineeringwith similar grading.Their projectand research
interestswere also
identical.

Upon graduationthey joined two separateengineeringorganizations

as Trainee
Engineers.After 3 years in the professionthey started
comparingtheir salary
packagesand found that thereis a significantdifference
in their salaries.Both are

there
andjob descriptions,
puzzledas to how with similar individualcompetencies
is a significantdifferencein theirsalaries.
As a mastersstudent.as well as a friend of both of them, explainthe reasonsfor
thesedifferencesusingthe WageMix.
(20 Marks)

4. "Through global surveys HR professionalhave come across many similar

the world hasto face".Someof
relatedHR issuesand challenges
Organisational
themaregiven below.
i

TalentManagement

ii

LeadershipDevelopment

iii

Managingwork-life balance

iv

Ageingpopulation

andthe remedialactionsthe
eachwith examples
Briefly explainthemby describing
shouldtaketo facethesechallenges.
industriesandotherstakeholders
organisations,
(5 Marks for each)
(Total20 Marks)

5.
i

EmployeeSafetyandHealthareimportantareasfor peoplemanagers.
a) . Name four safetyhazards'( 4 Marks)
b)

"Femaleworkersaremorevulnerableto workplacehazardsthantheir
(6 Marks)
Discussthis statement.
malecounterparts"

ii

Aftec Ltd was oncea very successfulcomputerassemblingcompany.Since

2008, the statehas steppedup strictly enforcinglaws under the intellectual
propertyact to curb computersoft ware piracy.This hasaffectedthe business
and the companyhas decidedto closedown one of its plants.There are 17
who will losetheirjobs as a result.The companyhasdrawnup a
employees
Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) in consultationwith their HR
Consultants.15 employeeshave alreadyagreedto acceptthe packageand
moveon. 2 employeesrefuseto acceptthe package-

\
CL

a)

to facilitatethis process?
Whatis the law applicable
(2 Marks)

b)

To whom couldyou referthis issueunderthe law?

(2 Marks)

c)

Whatarethe optionsavailablellegalandnon legal)to solvethis issue?

(6 Marks)
(Total20 Marks)

4l