Human Resource Management

Objectives: * Explain the process of Human Resource Planning * State the need for HRP * List the HR forecasting techniques * List the factors responsible for the success of HR planning Process of Human Resource Planning:The process of Human Resource planning is one of the most critical, difficult and continuing managerial functions which, according to the Tata Electric and Locomotive Company (Now known as Tata Motors), “embraces organization development, Career consists of projecting future manpower requirements and developing manpower plans for the implementation of the projections. Objectives of Human Resource Planning: * To maintain the required quantity of Human Resource required for an even and well organized functioning of the organization. * To forecast the turnover/attrition rates. * To plan to meet organizational human resource needs at the time of expansion or diversification. HRP may be rightly regarded as a multi-step Process, including various issues such as: * Deciding goals or objectives. * Estimating future organizational structure and manpower requirements. * Auditing human resources both internally and externally. Planning job Requirements and job descriptions/person specifications. * Building a plan. HRP therefore is used for determining long term needs, rather than for momentary replacement needs. It has to take into account the career planning for individual employees and succession planning in the organization. Steps in Human Resource Planning:The basic steps of HRP include the following: * Considering the effect of organizational strategy and objectives on different units of the organization in terms of the human resource requirement. Forecasting the manpower requirements of the organization by involving the line managers to decide and finalize the human resource needs of their respective department. Forecasting may be carried out using mathematical projection tools or Judgments. * Forecasting the quality and quantity of human resource required by each department/division. * Creating an inventory of present manpower resources. * Matching the current human resources position incumbents in the organization with the numbers required in future. * Developing an action plan to meet the future requirements in terms of addition or separation, in a planned and phased manner.

It involves planning the necessary programs of recruitment, selection, training, developing, utilization, transfer, promotion, motivation and compensation to ensure that future manpower requirements are properly met. | Q. 2 What are the factors affecting recruitment? What are the sources of recruitment? The recruitment function of the organisations is affected and governed by a mix of various internal and External forces, the internal forces or factors are the factors that can be controlled by the organisation. And the external factors are those factors which cannot be controlled by the organisation.

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The internal and External forces affecting recruitment function of an organisation are: Internal Factors Affecting Recruitment: The internal forces i. e. the factors which can be controlled by the organisation are: 1. Recruitment Policy: The recruitment policy of an organisation specifies the objectives of recruitment and provides a framework for implementation of recruitment programme. It may involve organizational system to be Developed for implementing recruitment programmes and procedures by filling up vacancies with best qualified people. Factors affecting Recruitment Policy: Organizational objectives • Personnel policies of the organization and its competitors. • Government policies on reservations. • Preferred sources of recruitment. • Need of the organization. • Recruitment costs and financial implications. 2. Human Resource Planning: Effective human resource planning helps in determining the gaps present in the existing manpower of the organization. It also helps in determining the number of employees to be recruited and what Qualification they must possess. 3. Size of the firm: The size of the firm is an important factor in recruitment process.

If the organization is planning to Increase its operations and expand its business, it will think of hiring more personnel, which will handle its Operations. 4. Cost: Recruitment incur cost to the employer, therefore, organizations try to employ that source of recruitment which will bear a lower cost of recruitment to the organization for each candidate. 5. Growth and Expansion: Organization will employ or think of employing more personnel if it is expanding its operations. External Factors Affecting Recruitment: The external forces are the forces which cannot be controlled by the organisation.

The major external forces are: 1. Supply and Demand: The availability of manpower both within and outside the organization is an important determinant in the recruitment process. If the company has a demand for more professionals and there is limited supply in the market for the professionals demanded by the company, then the company will have to depend upon internal sources by providing them special training and development programs. 2. Labour market: Employment conditions in the community where the organization is located will influence the recruiting efforts of the organization.

If there is surplus of manpower at the time of recruitment, even informal attempts at the time of recruiting like notice boards display of the requisition or announcement in the meeting etc. will attract more than enough applicants 3. Image/Goodwill: Image of the employer can work as a potential constraint for recruitment. An organization with positive image and goodwill as an employer finds it easier to attract and retain employees than an organization with negative image. Image of a company is based on what organization does and affected by industry.

For example finance was taken up by fresher MBA’s when many finance companies were coming up. 4. Political-Social- Legal Environment: Various government regulations prohibiting discrimination in hiring and employment have direct impact on recruitment practices. For example, Government of India has introduced legislation for reservation in employment for scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, physically handicapped etc. Also, trade unions play important role in recruitment. This restricts management freedom to select those individuals who it believes would be the best performers.

If the candidate can’t meet criteria stipulated by the union but union regulations can restrict recruitment sources. 5. Unemployment Rate: One of the factors that influence the availability of applicants is the growth of the economy (whether economy is growing or not and its rate). When the company is not creating new jobs, there is often oversupply of qualified labour which in turn leads to unemployment. 6. Competitors: The recruitment policies of the competitors also effect the recruitment function of the organisations.

To face the competition, many a times the organisations have to change their recruitment policies according to the policies being followed by the competitors. Q. 3 What are the main objectives of training? Explain on-the job and off the job training. Training enhances the skills and capabilities of employees in an organisation. A Successful training programme improves the performance of an employee which in turn enhances organisational performance The main objectives of training are: 1. Improving employee performance: When an employee is recruited by an organisation, he might not have all the skills required to carry out his job.

Training at this stage helps him learn his job faster and ensures better performance. 2. Updating employee skills: It is important for the management to continuously evaluate and adopt any technological advances that that can help the organisation function more effectively and efficiently. 3. Avoiding managerial obsolescence: Managerial obsolescence is the failure to adopt new methods and processes that can improve employee and organisational performance. Rapid changes in technical, legal and social environments have an impact on the way managers perform their jobs. 4. Preparing for promotion and managerial succession:

Training helps an employee acquire the skills required to assume greater responsibilities. 5. Retaining and Motivating employees: One to motivate and retain employees is through a systematic programme of career planning and development. Employees feel cared. 6. Creating an efficient and effective organisation A manager who has well trained and well equipped employees needs to spend less time supervising them. Method of Training: Following are a few methods of training 1. On the job training: It’s a real job environment where the trainee is expected is exposed to actual work situations.

The major advantage of this method is that the trainee gets hands-on experience of the job that has to be performed. The different types of On the-job Training are: * Job instruction training: In this method trainees can discuss the problems in performing the job immediately with the trainer. * Apprenticeship and coaching: Individuals seeking to enter skilled trades, like those of carpenters, electricians Etc, are required to go through formal apprenticeship under experienced employees, before they join their regular job. * Job rotation:

In this method the trainee is placed on various jobs across different functions in the organisation. The trainee gains cross-functional knowledge and is equipped to take up different jobs. * Committee assignments: In this method, a group of employees are assigned an actual organisational problem and are asked to find a solution. The trainees develop their team-management skills, interpersonal skills, Communication skills, problem-solving skills and leadership skills while solving the problem as a group. 2. Off the job training: Off the job training refers to training imparted away from the employee’s immediate work area.

When training is performed on the job, any mistake by the trainee might result in damage to the organisation. Hence, off the job Training can be conducted to minimize this damage. The different types of off the job training are: * Classroom lectures: This approach is widely used for helping the employees. The trainer should actively involve the trainees and make the session more interactive. * Simulation exercises: In this method of training, the trainee is exposed to an artificial work situation that closely resembles the actual situation. Stimulation exercises are of great help to the employee to learn the task on hand.

It can be in the form of case exercises, experiential exercises, complex computer modelling, Vestibule training and role play, Following are a few types of simulation exercises. * Case Exercise: In case study a real life problem encountered in the organisation is presented to the trainees. * Experiential Exercise: In this method, the trainer simulates situations where the employees are exposed to actual work problems. The trainer can create a situation where employees are asked to work in teams. After the exercise is complete, the trainer discusses the exercise with the help of theoretical concepts. Computer Modelling: Computer modelling is a technique whereby the dimensions of the job are programmed into the computer. Computer modelling helps in learning directly. In this training, trainees get real life experience by working on a computer. * Vestibule Training: In this method, the actual work conditions are simulated and the equipment used by the trainees is similar to what is used in job. * Role Playing: Role play is described as a method of human interaction involving realistic behaviour in an imaginary situation. Q. 4 Define performance management.

Write a brief note on 360 degree appraisal ? It is defined ” as a process of evaluating the performance of a job in terms of its requirement. ” According to Heyel ” It is process of evaluating the performance & qualifications of the employees in terms of requirement of the job for which he is employed for purposes of administration including placement, selection for promotions providing financial rewards & other actions which require differential treatment among the members of the group as distinguished from actions affecting all members equally.

Typically performance appraisal has been limited to a feedback process between employees and managers. However, with the increased focus on teamwork, employee development and customer service, the emphasis has shifted to employee feedback from multiple sources. This multiple-input approach to performance feedback is called ‘360 degree appraisal. The latest attempt to improve performance appraisal—multisource assessment, or 360° performance appraisal (PA)—has found favor with a growing number of organizations.

Unlike traditional performance appraisals, which typically come from superiors, 360° appraisal uses feedback from “all around” the appraise. Superiors, subordinates, peers, customers—and perhaps a self-appraisal as well—provide input for the performance appraisal process. Factors driving the use of 360° PA include the increased use of teams and an emphasis on customer satisfaction that comes from quality enhancement operations. Use of 360° PA with teams presents a problem, however. Should managers even do performance appraisals, should team leaders do them, or should team members evaluate each other?

There also are several other potential problems with 360° assessment: • The process generates a great deal of paper, with evaluations done by many people. • Confidentiality is an issue. If people do not believe their comments will be anonymous, they are not as honest as they otherwise would be. • Determining who will be selected for assessment is important. Friends, enemies, or both? Intermountain Health Care (IMHC), in Salt Lake City, is a health-care provider that has designed a 360° program around a web-based approach.

The company’s internally developed system can be customized to the person being rated, eliminates much of the paperwork, and solves data entry problems. For years, employees at IMHC were evaluated in a traditional way by their supervisors. However, it became clear that due to the nature of the work, supervisors were not able to observe workers in enough situations to evaluate them accurately. Therefore, it was decided that it was more appropriate for employees to be appraised by a team consisting of internal customers, coworkers, and direct reports.

Thus, but that did not eliminate the paper problem. The new web-based system allows employees to select from a database those questions that apply to them and their jobs. For example, a nurse will select different questions than will someone in marketing. Once the questions are selected, they are approved by the supervisor. The employee and supervisor answer the evaluation questions, as does a “team” of other evaluators agreed to by the employee and supervisor. Then, each team member is e-mailed the list of evaluation questions, and they respond by e-mail.

The surveys are kept anonymous, but both employee and supervisor receive Unlike traditional performance appraisals, which typically come from superiors, 360° appraisal uses feedback from “all around” the appraise. the 360° approach to performance appraisal was adopted. This approach was sound, given the nature of the jobs, but a serious workflow problem was created: how to collect and input into the computer all of the evaluations of each employee who is evaluated by a group of as many as 10 other employees? IMHC tried scanning the paper evaluations into a database, copies of the evaluations.

The system is relatively new, but so far IMHC employees and supervisors seem pleased with the way it is working. Feedback occurs quickly with a minimum amount of paper and hassle. Much is left to learn about 360° performance appraisal, but with this new human resource approach, there is great potential to provide better feedback where appropriate. Q. 5 What is meant by job analysis? Explain its purpose and methods? Job analysis is a systematic approach to defining the job role, description, requirements, responsibilities, evaluation, etc.

It helps in finding out required level of education, skills, knowledge, training, etc for the job position. It also depicts the job worth i. e. measurable effectiveness of the job and contribution of job tothe organization. Thus, it effectively contributes to setting up the compensation package for the jobposition. Purpose of job analysis:The following are the benefits of job analysis. 1. Organizational structure and design :-Job analysis helps the organization to make suitable changes in the organizational structure, so that it matches the needs and requirements of the organization.

Duties are either added or deleted from the job. 2. Recruitment and selection :-Job analysis helps to plan for the future human resource. It helps to recruit and select the right kind of people. It provides information necessary to select the right person. 3. Performance appraisal and training/development :-Based on the job requirements identified in the job analysis, the company decides a training program. Training is given in those areas which will help to improve the performance on the job. Similarly when appraisal is conducted we check whether the employee is able to work in a manner in which we require him to do the job. . Job evaluation :-Job evaluation refers to studying in detail the job performance by all individual. The difficulty levels, skills required and on that basis the salary is fixed. Information regarding qualities required, skilled levels, difficulty levels are obtained from job analysis. 5. Promotions and transfer :-When we give a promotion to an employee we need to promote him on the basis of the skill and talent required or the future job. Similarly when we transfer an employee to another branch the job must be very similar to what he has done before. To take these decisions we collect information from job analysis. . Career path planning :-Many companies have not taken up career planning for their employees. This is done to prevent the employee from leaving the company. When we plan the future career of the employee, information will be collected from job analysis. Hence job analysis becomes important or advantageous. 7. Labour relations :-When companies plan to add extra duties or delete certain duties from a job, they require the help of job analysis, when this activity is systematically done using job analysis the number of problems with union members reduce and labour relations improve. 8.

Health and safety :-Most companies prepare their own health and safety, plans and programs based on job analysis. From the job analysis company identifies the risk factor on the job and based on the risk factor safety equipment’s are provided. 9. Acceptance of job offer :-When a person is given an offer/appointment letter the duties to be performed by him are clearly mentioned in it, this information is collected from job analysis, which is why job analysis becomes important. | Methods of job analysis1. Personal observation :-In this method the observer actually observes the concerned worker.

He makes a list of all the duties performed by the worker and the qualities required to perform those duties based on the information collected, job analysis is prepared. 2. Actual performance of the job :-In this method the observer who is in charge of preparing the job analysis actually does the work himself. This gives him an idea of the skill required, the difficulty level of the job, the efforts required etc. 3. Interview method :-In this method an interview of the employee is conducted. A group of experts conduct the interview.

They ask questions about the job, skilled levels, and difficulty levels. They question and cross question and collect information and based on this information job analysis is prepared. 4. Critical incident method :-In this method the employee is asked to write one or more critical incident that has taken place on the job. The incident will give an idea about the problem, how it was handled, qualities required and difficulty levels etc. critical incident method gives an idea about the job and its importance. (a critical means important and incident means anything which takes place in the job) 5.

Questioner method :-In this method a questioner is provided to the employee and they are asked to answer the questions in it. The questions may be multiple choice questions or open ended questions. The questions decide how exactly the job analysis will be done. The method is effective because people would think twice before putting anything in writing. 6. Log records :- Companies can ask employees to maintain log records and job analysis can be done on the basis of information collected from the log record. A log record is a book in which employees record /write all the activities performed by them on the job.

The records are extensive as well as exhausted in nature and provide a fair idea about the duties andresponsibilities in any job. 7. HRD records :-Records of every employee are maintained by HR department. The record contain details about educational Qualification, name of the job, number of years of experience, duties handled, any mistakes committed in the past and actions taken, number of promotions received, area of work, core competency area, etc. based on these records job analysis can be done. | Q. 6 What are the benefits and objectives of employee welfare measures?

Employee welfare is a comprehensive term including various services, benefits and facilities offered to employees by the employer. Through such generous fringe benefits the employer makes life worth living for employee. The important benefits of welfare measures can be summarised as follow: * They provide better physical and mental health to workers and thus promote a healthy work environment. * Facilities like housing schemes, medical benefits, education and recreation facilities for workers families help in raising their standards of living. This makes workers to pay more attention towards work and thus increases their productivity. Employers get stable labour force by providing welfare facilities. Workers take active interest in their jobs and work with a feeling of involvement and participation. * Employee welfare measures increase the productivity of the organisation and promote healthy industrial relations, thereby maintaining industrial peace. * The social evils prevalent among the labourers, such as substance abuse, are reduced to grater extent by the welfare policies. Objectives of Employee Welfare: The most important purpose of employee welfare measures is to improve the employer-employee relationship within an organisation.

However, an organisation can also achieve multiple objectives while developing employee welfare measures. An organisation aims at accomplishing both the long term and short term objectives through employee welfare measures. Employee welfare has the following objectives: 1. To provide better life and health to the workers. 2. To make the workers happy and satisfied. 3. To relieve workers from industrial fatigue and to improve intellectual cultural and material conditions of living of the workers. Production: One of the primary concerns of employee welfare promotion is to create happy employees.

However, this type of objective has a greater purpose and is not always due to the benevolence of the employer. Instead, good employer both genuinely care for their employees and do so because they know that a happy employee is one that will be productive and do his/her job correctly. In careers like sales where production is essential to making money, employers who promote employee welfare know that emploees will make more money for themselves and for the company. Loyalty: Another reason to promote the well-being of an employee is that it can improve employee loyalty.

In the long run, employees who are taken care of by their employers are less likely to jump ship and change companies or careers. Even in situations where it might be possible to make more money with a different company, the employee who feels accepted and needed by his employer may not even consider other job offers when they come along. Organisational improvement: Because employee welfare specifically deals with the well-being of employees, employee welfare programmes adopted by employers are more effective when the wants and wishes of employees are taken into consideration.

In organisations where employees are well-cared for and employees are asked to provide suggestions as to how to improve the company, employees feel that they play an important role in the improvement of the organisation. Health: Health promotion is another major objective of most employee welfare programmes. The health of an employee is integral to the success of a company. Employees who are happy and healthy show up to work every day and do their jobs correctly, whereas those that are in poor health and have no means to change the situation will miss work and slow production.

Organisation are obliged to provide employees with a safe and healthy environment. Health is a general state of physical, mental and emotional well-being. Safety, like good health is of utmost importance. The main purpose of health and safety policies is the protection of people and Work environment. Industrial health is essential to: * Promote and maintain the highest degree of physical, social and mental well-being of workers. * Improve productivity and quality of work * Reduce accidents, injuries, absenteeism and labour turnover * Protect workers against any health hazard arising out of work or conditions in which it is carried on. |