Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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LIST OF FIGURES
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMERY............................................................................................................................1
.........................................................................................................................................................................1
LIST OF FIGURES........................................................................................................................................2
TABLE OF CONTENTS...............................................................................................................................3
1. INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................................................4
1.1 ABOUT THE COMPANY................................................................................................................................4
1.2 ROLES AND DIVISIONS................................................................................................................................5
1.4 HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT – AN INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................8
1.5 HUMAN RESOURCE FUNCTIONS....................................................................................................................9
2. HUMAN RESOURCES PLANNING ................................................................................................10
2.1 HUMAN RESOURCES PLANNING (HRP).....................................................................................................10
2.2 HRP AND STRATEGIC PLANNING...............................................................................................................10
2.3 ENSURING THE FIT BETWEEN HR AND STRATEGY.........................................................................................11
2.4 STRATEGIC FLEXIBILITY ...........................................................................................................................11
2.5 HRP AND ENVIRONMENTAL SCANNING ......................................................................................................12
2.6 FORECASTING DEMAND FOR EMPLOYEES.....................................................................................................15
2.7 FORECASTING SUPPLY OF EMPLOYEES ........................................................................................................16
3. RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION ..............................................................................................18
3.1 RECRUITMENT.......................................................................................................................................18
3.1.1 Recruiting from within the Organization ....................................................................................18
3.1.2 Internal Methods used to Locate Qualified Job Candidates.......................................................19
3.1.3 Other Outside Sources of Recruitment .......................................................................................19
3.1.4 External Recruitment Considerations..........................................................................................20
3.1.5 Issues in Recruiting Protected Classes .....................................................................................21
3.2 SELECTION............................................................................................................................................22
3.2.1 Selection Considerations at Union Assurance............................................................................22
3.2.2 The Selection Process at Union Assurance.................................................................................22
3.2.3 The effectiveness of the Selection Methods used at Union Assurance.........................................23
3.2.4 Employee Gestation Period at Union Assurance .......................................................................23
3.2.5 Background Investigations used at Union Assurance.................................................................23
3.2.6 Employment Tests Used at Union Assurance..............................................................................24
3.2.7 Interviewing Methods used at Union Assurance.........................................................................24
3.2.8 Selection Decision Models...........................................................................................................25
3.2.9 Final Decision.............................................................................................................................25
4. APPRAISING AND IMPROVING PERFORMANCE .....................................................................26
4.1 RATE OF APPRAISAL OF EMPLOYEES IN UNION ASSURANCE...........................................................................26
4.2 CRITICAL SOURCES USED TO APPRAISE EMPLOYEES......................................................................................26
4.3 COMMON APPRAISAL PROBLEMS FACED .....................................................................................................26
4.4 SOURCES OF PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL.......................................................................................................26
4.5 ASPECTS OF THE PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL FORM ......................................................................................27
4.6 RATER ERRORS THAT HAVE TAKEN PLACE DURING APPRAISALS.......................................................................28
4.7 APPRAISAL METHODS USED AT UNION ASSURANCE......................................................................................28
4.8 FOLLOW UP OF APPRAISAL METHODS .........................................................................................................30
5. CONCLUSION........................................................................................................................................31
BIBLIOGRAPHY.........................................................................................................................................32
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1. INTRODUCTION
Union Assurance is well placed to provide a caring and efficient service to its
clientele, which include many of the largest trading and industrial organizations in Sri
Lanka as well as individuals from all walks of life, through an extensive network of
44 branches island-wide, strategically located throughout the country. It was, in fact,
the first insurer to open a branch office in Jaffna. UAL branches are linked to a
centralized computer system in the head office in Colombo, which enables all
branches to provide a complete insurance service to customers, without the necessity
of a visit to Colombo. These IT initiatives support the company's commitment to
operate efficiently and cost-effectively, which gives it the edge in terms of speed and
efficiency. The Union Assurance Center in Colombo, built and owned by UAL, is
also equipped with all modern facilities and designed as a 'one stop' insurance center,
at which UAL's customers could transact all their insurance business. A significant
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milestone in UAL’s progress and expansion was the opening of the Union Assurance
Center at Kurunegala in March 2003. The Center is the largest and most modern
building in Kurunegala, with a training facility that caters to UAL branches in the
region.
Union Assurance Ltd's re-insurers are world leaders, chosen for their
dependability and total security. In short, they are the best in the business. The
company's Paid Up Capital as at 31 December 2003 is Rs 250 million and Net Asset
base, Rs 821 million, also indicators of its financial stability and strength, which place
it firmly at the apex of private insurance service providers in Sri Lanka.
Operational aspects of Life Business and Customer service, including Life New
Business underwriting and policy issuance, policy-holder servicing, and claims
processing. Also deals with the development and operational aspects of new products
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Finance and Planning
Headed by Mr. Dirk Pereira, General Manager - Finance & Planning.
This division is responsible for all the financial and administration functions of UAL.
Marketing Division
Headed by Mr. Ramal Jasinghe, General Manager – Marketing
Its main responsibility is the marketing and promotion of General and Life Insurance
business as well as attracting customers to the organization. Other business aspects
include all corporate advertising, public relations and corporate communications,
direct marketing, branch management and product development. All branch offices
come under the Marketing division.
Provides corporate customers with a close and personalized service and coordinates
with Public Relations on Corporate matters. The objective of this division can be
summarized as, "To provide value addition in service to our corporate clientele and
build long term profitable relationship".
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Human Resource Development Department (HRD)
Headed by Mr. Rohan Aturaliya, General Manager - Human Resources
Investment Department
This is a fully-fledged division, which presently manages a portfolio worth Rs 2.4 Bn.
Investments in money market activities are made upon statistical and market analysis
of interest rates at the time of investment, as well as future expectations/ behaviour of
interest rates. Our strong rapport with Primary Dealers/ Bankers and Money & Stock
Brokers will be of distinct advantage when identifying investment avenues and in
negotiating terms for investment. All investment decisions as well as fund
performance will be reported to the client on a regular basis. With many years of
specialized experience in fund management, we are well equipped to earn a superior
return according to your investment needs.
Other services carried out by us include company and market research activities,
corporate finance and real estate activities.
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1.4 Human Resources Management – An Introduction
The HRM function and HRD profession have undergone tremendous change
over the past 20-30 years. Many years ago, large organizations looked to the
"Personnel Department," mostly to manage the paperwork around hiring and paying
people. More recently, organizations consider the "HR Department" as playing a
major role in staffing, training and helping to manage people so that people and the
organization are performing at maximum capability in a highly fulfilling manner.
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1.5 Human Resource Functions
There are many functions that are a part of HRM, and we will take three
functions from the following functions and evaluate them with regard to how Union
Assurance has managed to control all their HR Functions and what their shortcomings
are and how they plan to improve it etc.
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2. HUMAN RESOURCES PLANNING
This is known as the process of anticipating and making provision for the
movement (flow) of people into, within, and out of an organization.
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2.3 Ensuring the Fit between HR and Strategy
There are 2 types of Fits that can be found between HR and Strategy, one is
known as the External Fit which is also known as the External Alignment, the other is
known as the Internal Fit which is also known as the Internal Alignment. In Union
Assurance, the External Fit is what’s mostly found, and therefore how they work their
practices in da External Fit are given below.
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change at their own will in pursuit of sustainable and competitive advantage over
their fellow competitors.
Environmental Scanning
The environmental scanning method is done by Union Assurance to
systematically monitor all the major external forces influencing the organization. This
method is purely done to asses all the external factors that can influence the
organization, while the internal factors are accesses in a different method. There are
few factors that are the most important in this method, and they have been given
below:
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- Economic Factors: Currently the economic situation of Sri Lanka is starting to
have an upward trend as the Inflation rate has gradually gone down to 9%, and the
GDP real growth rate 5.2%, unemployment rate is 8%, Literacy Rate of 92.3% so
there will be a good chance for Union Assurance to develop during this time
period and make sure they have a good capital established, and are at full strength
in case of a sudden recession in the economy.
- Competitive Trends: Coming up with new processes, innovations and services is
what the Research and Development department is currently doing. Their main
objective is to make sure they overshadow any rival ideas that may arise from
their rival competitors. Union Motor Star goes with “Drive Safe and Save More”
this is targeted at Ceylinco’s “Ceylinco VIP” and Janashakthi’s “Janaratha Full
Option”. While the other two policies are giving on-site payment and extra
benefits, Union Assurance is beating them by promoting safe driving, and saving
lives rather than allowing the damage to happen.
- Technological Changes: With the development of new technological methods,
Union Assurance is always maintaining high standards with office automation,
where every employee has his/her own desktop machine, while even Managers
have their own Laptop machines to do work at their own will and convenience.
- Political and Legislative Issues: Union Assurance has it’s own Law Department,
which comprises a top range of lawyers who work full time at the company to
make sure that all the laws and administrative rulings are properly adhered to, and
the external forces cannot interrupt the progress of Union Assurance in any sort of
manner.
- Social Concerns: Being socially responsible is the main criteria of Union
Assurance. They have a special Family Benefit Policy which will look after the
entire family and children as well. Child Care programs and educational programs
are also held by Union Assurance to enable them to be among the children and
educate them as well.
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- Demographic Trends: All demographic issues are carefully taken into
consideration before implementing any new ideas or a policy, thereby ensuring
the external environment is also well looked after.
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Internal Environment Scanning
Internal Environment Scanning is done by two methods, either by doing
Cultural Audits or by doing Benchmarking. Sometimes both methods are
implemented, but they can be very time consuming, so therefore it’s usually mainly
one of these two methods, and Union Assurance uses Benchmarking as the method to
do Internal Environment Scanning.
Benchmarking: Union Assurance has set of top quality strategic analysts that do the
process of benchmarking. This process is where they compare the organization’s
process and practices with those of other companies. This method is the most efficient
even though it’s highly time consuming, as it gives the organization in immediate
picture as to where they currently lie, in terms of keeping standards.
Quantitative Approach
To do the quantitative approach, Union Assurance uses the Trend Analysis method.
For example, to forecast labour demand on an organizational index such as sales, they
first select a business factor that best predicts human resource needs, and then plot the
business factor in relation to the number of employees to determine the labour
productivity ratio, then compute the productivity ratio for the last 5 or even 10 years
depending on the need, Calculate human resources demand by: Business Factor X
Productivity Ratio, finally project human resources demand out to the target years.
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Qualitative Approach
There are two main methods of doing the Qualitative Approach of forecasting, one
method is known as the Management Forecasts, and the other is known as the Delphi
Technique.
- Staffing Tables
- Markov Analysis
- Skill Inventories
- Replacement Charts
- Succession Planning
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Out of the above mentioned methods, Union Assurance uses Staffing Tables, Skill
Inventories and also Succession Planning as their methods to forecast the Internal
Labour Supply and also the Internal Demand.
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3. RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION
3.1 Recruitment
[1] It capitalizes on past investments in current employees. That would be all the
amount of time spent on the recruiting, selecting, training and even developing will
not be gone to waste as the amount spent as Input on the employee will now not be
a factor as to the amount the employee gives in return as output.
[3] It signals to employees that similar efforts by them will lead to promotion. This
too is a big incentive for the employees to work hard and achieve their best, as
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promotions are the key to getting a better pay, and that itself is a huge incentive, so
as the incentives rise, the work output levels are increased as well.
[4] Finally it also fosters the advancement of members of protected classes within
an organization. In the case of Union Assurance, there are Women employed, and a
lot of members from the Minority as well, so this is a good way to help them
advance.
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3.1.4 External Recruitment Considerations
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3.1.5 Issues in Recruiting Protected Classes
Currently in Union Assurance there are Women and Minorities that are mostly
working among the protected classes, they do not have any disabled employees or
older people, not because they are biased and do not want to hire them, but so far
they haven’t come across anyone who was part of that category who had wanted to
be a part of the organization. This is also taken from the statistics from the recent
past. Union Assurance always ensures that there is no stereo typing or gender
conflicts allowed to arise, as they even allow females to become managers. As for
the minorities, they are always given fair treatment and always made to feel like
they are among the others and a part of the organization in everyway possible, as all
the festivals are celebrated equally, Christmas parties are held, and special
celebrations for Thai Pongal and even Deepavali are also part of the main
attractions of Union Assurance. This fosters a very good environment among the
organization.
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3.2 Selection
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3.2.3 The effectiveness of the Selection Methods used at Union Assurance
There are a few main selection methods that are being used at Union
Assurance, and speaking to the Managers, it was evident that from the interviews
and surveys they had conducted, as to which was the most effective method and
which was the least effective method. Given below are the top five selection
methods which yielded the best results from the point of view of the managers of
Union Assurance.
[1] Unstructured Interviews
[2] Structured Interviews
[3] Work Samples
[4] Aptitude Tests
[5] Personality Tests
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employment decision. Finally the medical examinations are done. These are done at
the final stage due to the cost factors, and mainly this is done to ensure the health of
an applicant is adequate to meet the job requirements.
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thinking pattern of the applicant and the applicant’s mind set. Union Assurance uses
this for the HR applicants, and also the Marketing Department applicants.
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4. APPRAISING AND IMPROVING PERFORMANCE
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[2] Self-Appraisal Performance
This is where the employee is evaluated by way of an Appraisal form which will be
completed by the employee prior to the performance interview. This method is slowly
catching up and gaining more popularity, as it gives all the employees equal
opportunity and far less favoritism and bias when the appraisals are being conducted.
Main Areas
- Knowledge of Work
- Quality of Work
- Quality of Output (Volume)
- Relationships with Customers
Sub Areas
- Attitudes
- Skills
- Training
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4.6 Rater Errors that have taken place during Appraisals
During performance appraisals, Rater errors can tend to happen as well. In
Union Assurance, Rater Errors are very rare, but at times they have taken place, and
given below are the two rater errors that did take place.
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[1] Trait Methods
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4.8 Follow up of Appraisal Methods
Apart from all the appraisal methods and appraisal forms, there are weekly
meetings held at Union Assurance, where they go through the dash board (an excel
work sheet with four different colours) which has all the key areas listed and which
will measure each employee’s performances. Each month a meeting of the top
management is held where they look at the computed graph which shows all the
performance levels and how the company is performing and how they can improve
etc.
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5. CONCLUSION
Union Assurance realizes the need of a very good Human Resources Plan, and
they are doing every method possible to develop all their weak areas, as soon as
possible. The main concerns right now for them is that they feel that even though they
have sufficient work force, they are unable to align their HR department 100% to be
fully in sync with everything in their mission statement. They realize that what is
good today won’t be good tomorrow, so they are continuously trying to find means
and ways of improving each and every employee’s output and performance towards
the company, by ways of proper appraisals and proper employee benefits and
incentive schemes, as the most important aspect of any organization is it’s ability to
keep it’s workforce fully motivated, and fully people oriented as this field as all about
people, and dealing with their problems and doing the best possible actions to resolve
all their issues. The managers always have shown care and concern to all their
employees, and if needed always help them to achieve all the tasks as they feel it’s
their help that would in turn help the employees to give better output.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bohlander and Snell, Managing Human Resources, 13th Edition, Chapter 4 pp 120 – 145
Ibid Chapter 5 pp 150 – 167
Ibid Chapter 8 pp 200 – 225
The Internet
http://www.tech.clayton.edu/forrest/Powerpoint/ch04_files/frame.htm
http://www.tech.clayton.edu/forrest/Powerpoint/ch05_files/frame.htm
http://www.tech.clayton.edu/forrest/Powerpoint/ch08_files/frame.htm
http://www1.ualink.lk/
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