ASSIGNMENT REFERENCE MATERIAL

Course Code : MS -02

Course Title : Management of Human Resources
Assignment Code : MS-02/SEM -1/2011
Coverage : All Blocks

Q1. ‘Regardless of their industry, size or location, today’s organisations are faced with
five critical challenges viz; Globalization, profitability through growth, Technology,
Intellectual capital and change, Change and more Change. Collectively these challenges
require organisations to build new capabilities.’
Critically comment on the above statements with respect to your experiences with the
organisation you have been working for/known to you. Give relevant details of the
organisation you are referring to.

Ans. CHALLENGES OF ORGANISATIONS

Regardless of their industry, size or location, today’s organisations are faced with
many critical challenges. Such as globalization, profitability through growth
technology, intellectual capital and change, change and more change. Collectively there
challenges require organisations to build new capabilities. Above statement gives an insight
how modern organisations small or big are to face variety of challenges. It is the
prerequisite for the management to face there challenge effectively and effectively in
order to turn them into their strength and win competitive advantage for their organisations.

The last decade of 20the century has brought management practices across the world
and India has not been an exception to that. There changes have put various challenges
before the management to adopt new strategies for managing business since HRM is the
prime mover of management of people at work; it has to encounter that challenges
effectively in order to enable organisations to achieve their objectives. Following trends
which are emerging at the global level as well as in India, have far reacting impact on
human resources management practices.
(i) Globalisation of economy
(ii) Corporate Restructuring
(iii) Newer Organisational designs
(iv) Emphasis on total quality management (TQM)
(v) Emphasis on Kaizen
(vi) Changing job profile
(vii) Changing work force profile
(viii) Increasing role of women employees
(ix) Emphasis on knowledge management

1. Globalisation of economy:
Today geographical boundaries of a country have only political relevance.
The economic relevance has extended beyond that. Today, the market classification
does not take into account only national parameters, but also global parameters.
Many Indian companies have spread their wings beyond their national territory.
Globalisation of business is helpful in earning profit but at the same time, it creates
many challenges for management, particularly in the area of HRM. HRM practices
are culture-bound and the culture of a nation differs from that of other countries.

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Therefore many of the HRM practices which are relevant for its operations in the
country of its origin may not be relevant for its operation in other countries. HR
managers are required to be familiar with the attitudes, beliefs and values prevalent in
the host countries of other conditions prevailing in those countries which have bearing
on HRM practices.

2. Profitability through growth:

Organisational development and growth efforts broadly aim at improving the
organisational effectiveness and job satisfaction of the employees. There aims can be
attained by humanising the organisations and encouraging the personal growth of
individual employees. The objectives of this development and growth are to increase
the communication among people, to increase commitment, self direction and self
control, to enhance personal enthusiasm and satisfaction levels and to increase the
level of trust and support among employees, to increase the level of individual and
group responsibility in planning and execution. Thus the major task of HR managers
is to harmonise the individual goals to those of broad organisational objectives

3. Technology:
With the removal of restrictions on technology import and acquisitions, many
organisations have opted for newer technologies increased use of computers have
added new dimension to technological innovation. With the result, old skills are fast
becoming obsolete. In their place the operatives have to acquire new skills which has
increased the training needs in such organisation and HR developments have to be
more active. Technology brings the changes in the span of control, delegation of
authority. These changes influence the changes in the present organisational
structure. Technology influences the organisational structure through job redesign
and change in job description demand for men. Skills and knowledge from the
employees . There factors invariable necessitate the development of human resource.

Intellectual Aspects:
Enhancement of the level of the technology needs high level skills and
knowledge. There high level skills and knowledge should be incorporated in the job
description. Job handled by semi-skilled employees are how to be handled by a
computer programmer Advance technology degrades some employees and retrenches
some employees from, employment unless they are trained and developed on the
application of new technology and methods. These factors demand for development
of human resources. Hence it becomes imperative for the Human resource managers
to take adequate steps to build the competencies and capabilities of their employees in
order to make them important assets for the organisations.

Management of change
Change the order of the day. “Change before the change changes you”. And
“change or decay” are the buzz words of the day. The factors that force the change
include nature of the work force, technology, economic shocks, competition, social
trends and world of politics. There is cultural diversity and need for unification. Also
there is increase in professionalism, increase in formal education, increased level of
soft skills and positive attitude in the employees. In the field of technology there is
the advent of faster and cheaper computers, total quality management and business
processing re-engineering. Then there are global competition, mergers and
acquisitions and e-business fostering fierce competition. In social trends there are

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 new concepts as (c1o2) Career first and others two, and increased career orientation
among young ladies. In the world of political system changes major issues are
collapse of Soviet Union, opening of markets in china and china becoming world
number two economy. India is not far behind and is bound to catch up in near future
if present trend continuous.
There changes require individuals and organisations to make new adjustments.
Complexity and fear of adjustment give rise to resistance and problem to change
management, especially the HRM is said to be an agent of change. HRM has to
overcome the resistance and make it a successful venture. Management can take
following steps for smooth transition of change;

• Participation of employees in decision making

• Planning for change
• Protecting Employees interests
• Group Dynamics and positive relationship among people
• Cautious and slow introduction
• Sharing the benefits of change
• Training and development
• Career planning and Development
• Organisational Development

Apart from above mentioned challenges there are plethora of other challenges
organisation have to face, such as changing job profile, changing work force
profile. Emphasis on total quality management and increasing role of women
employees

EXAMPLE

Hindustan Organic Chemicals (HOC) has adopted various strategies to tope up

various challenges put forward by changing scenario. They have adopted three-tier
workers participation system, which is practised by most of the public sector
enterprises. Three-tier participation operates through shop councils, joint councils
and worker director.
Shop councils have equal representation from management and workers. The
decisions of the council are made on the basis of consensus. Unsettled issues are
referred to joint councils. Joint council also has equal representation from
management and workers. CEO of firm is its chairman. The decisions of the councils
are implemented within one month period. Meetings are held at least once in three
months. A workers director is appointed from workers side to two years. He should
have eligibility criteria as per ARC Administration Reforms Commissions of PSUs.
Work director is appointed by the government. He takes parts in Board of Directors
proceedings and draws fees and allowances as admissible to non executive directors.
Due to this healthy and purposeful participation of the workers the HOC management
is able to face the challenges imposed by globalisation, technological advancement
and social cultural aspects, very effectively and efficiently.

Q2. Briefly describe various methods of job Analysis. Evaluate and identify the method
applied in an organisation known to you or you are familiar with. Critically analyze the
role and importance of job Analysis on Work Flow in an organisational setup.

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Ans. Job Analysis is very vital step in human resources planning process. A Job is a
bundle of related tasks; A synonym of job is work. Work is understood as physical and
mental activity that is carried out at a particular place and time, according to
instructions, in return for money. Monetary consideration is necessary in determining
whether an activity is really a work. Housewife does not do work as she is not doing
it for money. Where as a servant’s job becomes work as with work job also carries
monetary consideration. The job incumbent attends to all the allied tasks for wages or
salaries.
The nature of work and how mangers organize work is a critical element affecting
human resources activities. Before discussing design and organization of work it is
desirable that we know “Job analysis” the tool of collecting job related data.
JOB ANALYSIS refers to the process of collecting information about a job. The
process of job analysis results in two sets of data (i) job description and (ii) Job
specification. Job description describes what a job involves- tasks and responsibilities
tagged on to a job, Job title, duties, machines tools and equipment, working conditions and
hazards from part of job description.
The capabilities that job holder should posses from part of job specification.
Education training experience, judgment skills, communication skills and the like are a
part of job specification.

Now what is very important is that there should be fit between job demands (job
description) and abilities required to discharge the tasks (job-specification) any mismatch
is likely to result in job dissatisfaction that carries dis- functional consequences like how
productivity, absenteeism and turnover.

METHODS OF JOB ANALYSIS

The process of analyising a job is essentially one of data collection various

approaches can be utilized for this purpose. They are:
(a) Observation Method
(b) Interview
(c) Questionnaire
(d) Check list
(e) Technical conferences
(f) Diary

TECHNICAL
INTERVIEW CHECK LIST CONFERENCE

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 JOB DATA

DIARY
OBSERVATION QUESTIONNAIRE

METHODS OF COLLECTING JOB DATA

OBSERVATION
Here job analyst carefully observes the job holder at work and records what he
or she does, how he or she does, and how much time is needed to complete a given
task. This method is simple. Data collected is accurate because of direct observation.
But this is time consuming method and in applicable in jobs which involve high
properties of unobservable mental activities. The analyst needs to be trained to
carefully observe and record the competence of the job incumbent and training means
additional cost. For better results the method should be used along with other
methods of job analysis.

INTERVIEW
In this method the analyst interviews the job holder and his supervisor to elicit
information about the job. This method is usually structural one. It is time
consuming method. The time problem will be compounded if the interviewer talks
with 2 or more employees doing the same job. Further more managerial and
professional jobs are more complicated to analyse and require a longer interview.
There is also a problem of bias. Bias may cloud the accuracy and objectivity of the
data obtained. But face to face contact makes it more meaningful and effective
method.

QUESTIONNAIRE.
Job holders fill in the given structural questionnaire, which are then approved
by the supervisors. Questionnaires whether standard or prepared one must contain the
following data.

(i) Job title of the jobholder.

(ii) Job title of the job holders supervisor
(iii) Job titles and numbers of the staff reporting to the job holder.
(iv) A brief description of the overall role or purpose of the job.

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 (v) A list of the main tasks or duties that the job holder has to perform as
specified these should specify the resources controlled, the equipment
used, the contracts made and the frequency with which the tasks are
carried out.
In this method information of a large number of jobs can be collected
in a relatively short period of time. Further more, all the job holders
participate in the method unlike in an interview where one or two
workers only would participate.
But the accuracy of the information obtained through the questionnaire
leaves much to be desired. Job analysis work requires specialized
knowledge and training. An average employee although know what
his/her duties are, he/she is not trained to identify the essential aspects of
his/her work and often cannot express the information in a meaningful
and clear fashion. To depend exclusively upon questionnaire as the source of
job information is bound and creates some errors in the programme.

CHECKLIST.
Check list is similar to a questionnaire, but the response sheet contains fewer
subjective judgments and tends to be either ‘yes-or-no’ variety. Preparation of a
check list is a challenging job. The job holder is asked to check all the listed task in
check list that he performs and indicate the amount of time spent on each task as well
as the training and experiences required to be proficient in each task. Check list
method is useful in large firms that have a large number of people assigned to one
particular job. Also this technique is amendable to tabulation and recording on
electronic data processing equipment. The technique however is costly and not
suitable to small firm.

TECHNICAL CONFERENCE METHOD

In this method, services of supervisors who possess extensive knowledge
about a job are used. The analyst initiates discussion which provides details of data
collection, this method lacks accuracy as the actual job holders are not involved in
collecting information.

DIARY METHOD
This method requires the job holders to record in detail their activities each
day. If done accurately, this method is accurate and eliminates errors caused by
memory lapse the job holder makes while answering questionnaires and checklist.
But it is time consuming as recording has to be done for a number of days. It also
engages considerable time of a production worker.

EXAMPLE
Method Applied in Heavy Vehicle Factory for the job analysis is not a single
one. But it was observed that the observation and interview methods of collecting
data or job information hold the greatest promise of completeness accuracy and better
utilisation of time. Heavy Vehicle Factory (HVF) Chennai is premier organization
responsible for producing heavy vehicle for defence organization. Job analysis in the
firm has its impact on all the functions of HRM. Job analysis has helped the firm
enhance the effectiveness of all HR activities.
Job analysis has helped the organization in the following ways:

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 (i) Laying the foundation for human resources planning.
(ii) Laying the foundation for employee hiring
(iii) Laying the foundation for training and development
(iv) Laying the foundation for performance appraisal
(v) Laying the foundation for salary and wages fixation
(vi) Laying the foundation for safety and health

If the particular job is simple and repetitive, observation is followed by the

management. In most cases however interviews coupled with observation
constitute the preferred approach.

ROLE OF JOB ANALYSIS

Job analysis is useful for overall management of all personnel activities. Job
related data obtained from a job analysis programme are useful in HRP, employee
hiring, training, job evaluation compensation etc.
Job analysis also play vital role in performance appraisal, computerized
personnel information system and safely and health.
As for HRP the number and type of personnel are determined by the jobs
which are to be staffed. The objective of employee hiring is to match the right people
with the right jobs, which can be achieved only with adequate job information. For
establishing wage and salary differentials job evaluation is done which is based on job
description and job specification.

Hazardous conditions and unhealthy environments are identified with the help
of job analysis and corrective measures are taken to improve them.

Q3. What are the bare necessary Human Resource Function’s data required by a manager
for conducting Human Resource Audit and why? Critically evaluate with you
experience with the organisation you have been working with or any organisation you are
familiar with. Briefly give relevant details of the organisation, you are referring to.

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Ans. HUMAN RESOURCES AUDIT

Audit is one of the important management control devices. HR audit is used widely
to check the organisations performance in its management of human resources. To
facilitate control, the audit reveals important facts such as absenteeism, labour turnover,
employee grievances etc,. The primary objective of the audit is the critical review and
evaluation of manpower management programme in the organization. HR audit is not limited
to a review of the work of the personal department. All managers of an organization have
personal responsibility. They all take part in developing policies and operate under
there in handling their personnel responsibilities.

Therefore, HR audit goes beyond the limits of personnel department activities and
considers the role of management in effective manpower utilisation.

“HR Audit refers to an examination and cultivation of policies, procedures and

practices to determine the effectiveness of personnel management. It is an investigative
analytical and comparative process. It undertakes a systematic search of the effectiveness of
personnel programmes.

Personal audit is different from the measurement of employee moral. Attitudes and
moral represent only a portion of the total facts and figures to be considered. HR
Audit checks the indicators of the quality of leadership, motivation, communication,
effectiveness of supervision etc.

From the above discussion it can be said that the HR Audit refers to :

(i) The measurement of the effectiveness of the human resource management’s

mission, objectives, strategies, policies, procedures, programmes and
activities.

(ii) The determination of what should or should not be done in the future as a
result of such measurement.

According to “Gray”, “the primary purpose of personnel audit is to know how

the various units are functioning and how they have been able to meet the policies and
guidelines which were agreed upon, and to assist the rest of the organization by
identifying the gap between objectives and results for the end product of an evaluation
should be to formulate plans for corrections or adjustment.

Areas of Audit
The areas of HR audit include.
(i) Mission statement relating to human resource management
(ii) Objectives, goals and strategies of human resource managemen.
(iii) Accomplishments of human resource management.
(iv) Programmes of HRM including the detailed practices and procedures
(v) HRM policies

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 (vi) Role of HRM is total quality management.

QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE INDICATORS FOR PERSONNEL

AUDIT

Under following headings qualitative and quantitative indicators of HR Audit can be

determined.

1. PROCUREMENT : Qualitative indicator for this function are

personal inventory, replacement tables, organizational planning, job description and
specification, source evaluation. Exit interviews and induction programmes etc.
Quantitative indicators under procurement functions are turnover rates, selection
rations, retrenchment, dismissals and lay-offs, recruitment time –lag and recruitment
time langend recruitment ratios.

2. TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT: Qualitative indicators: Training

programmes, supervisory and management development programmes, systematic
promotions career planning and formal appraisal.
Qualitative indicators: Time taken in training, Apprentice ratios, scrap losses,
productivity increases.
3. COMPENSATION: Qualitative indicators: Job evaluation programmes,
wage and salary surveys, complain from employees about wages and salaries.
Quantitative indicators: Wage and salary differentials benefit range and costs, number
of employees earning bonus in excess of standard rates.

4. INTEGRATION AND MAINTENANCE : Under qualitative indicators are

employee handbook, employee voluntary participation in option service programmes.
Under Quantitative indicators are measured moral, measured communication, Absenteeism
and turnover rates number of grievances, suggestions ratios, Accident rates.

5. LABOUR RELATIONS: Qualitative indicators: Labour management

committees, contract interpretations, no strike clause. Quantitative indicators: Work
stoppages grievances and their settlement, arbitrations, costs etc.

Certain records are statistics which are properly maintained for HR Audit include the
following.

(1) Employment Statistics such as number of new hires, voluntary quits, forced
separations, are number entering and leaving the organisations.
(2) Statistics describing characteristics of present work force such as age, length
of service, education etc.
(3) Grievance Statistics including number of new grievances, number handled at
each level of management etc.
(4) Miscellaneous statistical data such as absenteeism, suggestions, received and
approved, average lowly rate etc.

After examining the various HR policies, practices and procedures and their results,
the auditors provide written reports of their findings, conclusions and suggestions.
Summaries and evaluation of factual information present the most common content of
auditors report. The report should be based solely on the findings. Reports also include

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recommendations which may meet the primary needs of top management. The auditor
should ensure that the following essentials are included in the report.

(i) Table of contents

(ii) Preface giving a brief statement of the audit
(iii) Summary and conclusions
(iv) The report proper, in which each major division or department is
covered separately. Each department may be devoted a separated
section.
(v) Summary – it is general nature and is relevant to all the persons
concerned. It does not include the matters reported to the top
management.
(vi) Appendix. This includes supporting data that might be too voluminous
to appear in the body of the report.

HR AUDIT IN ASHOK LEYLAND CHENNAI

HR Audit is given due consideration in the firm. The organization Ashok Leyland is
premier manufacturing firm of Chennai and producing variety of motor vehicles. It
not only caters to the national requirements, but also is exporting its products to the
neighboring countries. HR Audit department carries out examination and evaluation
of policies, procedures and practices to determine the effectiveness and efficiency of
HRM.

HR auditors of the firm review the whole system of management programmes in

which a management develops, allocates and supervises human resources.
2. They also seek explanations and information’s, that is, to get answers to such
questions as “Why did it happen?” and “What happened?”.
3. One of the important function HR auditors do is that they evaluate the extent
to which line managers have implemented the policies which have already
been initiated.
4. They also evaluate the personnel staff and employees.
Thus in Ashok Leyland the HR auditors carry out specification of standards,
collection and evaluation of information and preparation of audit reports.

Q4. ‘An organisation can be defined as a system of roles, while a role itself is a system’.
‘The system of various roles which the individual carries and performs, and the system of
various roles of which his/her role is a part.’ Explain with relevant examples, how the
above statements assume importance and act as significant player in the process of various
dimensions of Role Efficacy in an organisational set up. Give relevant details of the
organisation, you are referring to for examples.

Ans. ORGANISATIONAL AND INDIVIDUAL ROLES

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 The efficiency and effectiveness of an organisation depends directly on how capable
its personnel are and how effectively that are utilised for achieving organisational
objectives. Capability of a person depends on his abiity to work and the types of training he
receives. While the personal ability is evaluated through proper selection process, his
training is taken care of by the organisation which involves developing appropriate skills and
competence in people art different levels of the organisation. Integrated and
systematic development of personnel in the organisation is referred to as human
resources development.

HRD focuses on human resources as a means for organisation health. Though the
ultimate objective of any activity or process in an organisation is to contribute to its well
being, each process may have specific focus on a particular aspect. Management does this
by focusing on personnel their competencies and their pride in the organisation. The focus
of HRD on human resources is based on following assumptions:-

(i) Human Resources are the most valuable assets of any organisation
(ii) Unlike other resources human resources can be developed and
increased to an unlimited extent.
(iii) A conductive organisational climate characterised by openers, trust,
mutuality and collaboration is essential for developing human
resources
(iv) People feel committed to their work and organisation, if the
organisation develops the feelings of belongingness.
(v) People will develop this feeling if they are taken care of properly by
the organisation
(vi) Peoples commitment is increased with the opportunity to discover
develop and use their potential.
(vii) Everyone in the organisation is responsible for human resource
development.

AS A SYSTEM OF ROLES

HRD does not view the development of an individual employee in isolation but it tries
to integrate this with the total system of development, which is undertaken at four levels. –
individual, dynamic, group and organisation.. At the individual level, HRD makes individual
employees aware of the expectations that other persons have about their roles so that they are
able to develop their skills and attitude accordingly.

At the dynamic level stronger superior-subordinate relationship is develop by

developing the attitudes of mutual trust and help. At the group level focus is on developing
collaborative team spirit and intergroup cooperation. At the organisation level, development
of competencies involves the development of self renewal mechanism in the organisation
which enables it to adapt environmental changes and to proud.

An organisation can be defined as a system of roles, in the context of present day

competitive business, the quality of human capital of an organisation determines the degree
of success which it can achieve since there is keen competition for human resources and not
only competition for customers, the human capital can be created within the organisation and
not acquired from outside. From this point of view, HRD has created its own needs in every
organisation.

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 Fist and foremost role of HRD is to develop the competencies in people in all the
levels in the organisation. Basically human resource development has two roles; to provide
employees with greater opportunity to succeed and grow within the company and to
strengthen management and professional teams at all levels of organisation level.
Competency can be developed by increasing ability through increasing knowledge, skills and
change in attitudes. Knowledge refers to the possession of information and ideas in a
particular field which may be helpful in developing relationships among different variables
related to that field.

Skill refers to expertise, expertness, practical ability or facility in an action of doing

something. Attitude refers to the orientation of an individual in terms of settled mode of
thinking or behaviour. Developing of competencies among individuals and teams consisting
them is required in all types of organisations, business or non business. However in business
organisations, their role is more focused because of increased competition.

HRD is also needed in an organisation to facilitate system wide changes. According to

Mekinsey model , the interrelated aspects in an organisation are s8, Strategy, structure,
system, staff, skills, styles and shared values. Change in any one element necessitates the
change in other elements to absorb the change initiated in one element. HRD makes efforts
to bring this system wide change and make all elements coherent;

Another role of HRD is to create conducive organisational climate congenial to

individual growth as well as organisational growth by replacing the old and traditional
assumptions about human beings with contemporary and more realistic assumptions about
human beings.

Following conclusions can be drawn about people in an organisation regarding

conducive organisational climate.

• People in the organisation become more competent because of the skills that are
developed in them and the clarity of roles that they perform.
• Involvement in and commitment to job increase because of linkage between job
performance and rewards both intrinsic and extrinsic.
• People develop better understanding to each other based on mutual trust and
confidence which creates better cooperation.
• Top management becomes sensitive to human resources in terms of their utilisation
and solution of problems.

ORGANISATION AND INDIVIDUAL GOALS

This is one of the areas of conflict between an organisation and its members. In order
to bring congruency in there goals and consequently, organisational effectiveness, There
is a need for integrating organisational and individual goals. The relationship between
organisational and individual goals can be presented on following continuum.

Totally
Opposing Neutral Identical
I-------------------I--------------------I------------------I----------------I
Partially Compatible
Opposing

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 [Relation ship between organisational and industrial goals)

The relationship between individual and organisational goals can be identified by

exploring what individuals want from the organisation and what the organisation wants
from the individuals.

Human aspect is the predominant factor affecting his relations with others in the
society. Man is a complicated human being with various emotions, fears, desires,
ambitions, likes and dislikes. There is a constant interaction and interplay of there
various dynamic human factors and it is necessary to chanelise them to work towards the
common goals of the organisation.

EXAMPLE
Ashok Leyland Chennai is leading manufacturing firm in production of
transports. It not only carter to the needs of the domestic requirements but also is a
front runner in exporting its products to other countries. The organisation has very
sound system of interpersonal relationships. Director of personnel is responsible for assisting
management in the formulation of policies on personnel administration including employees
training, manpower planning, industrial relations, employee’s welfare including community
development and their implementation. He also does planning, direction, coordination and
control of activities and personnel of the departments under him. The firm has an excellent
work environment through transparent HR policies which are highly motivating and future
positive self discipline. The essence of human relation philosophy of the firm is to cultivate
and develop an environment where employees as individuals and as a group would wish to
contribute their goals. Executives in upper and middle management recognise that the
organisation involves a complicated network of relationships among people. The
management’s job is to coordinate the efforts among people so that they will work towards
the common goal.

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