MBA Semester I Assignment 1 - Marks 60 (6X10=60)

MB0043 - Human Resource Management - 4 credits Subject Code - MB0043

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Note: Each question carries 10 Marks. Answer all the questions.

Q1. What are the objectives of job evaluation? Ans 1)

Objectives of Job Evaluation:The decision to measure or rate jobs should only be made with the intent to reach certain objectives which are important to both management and the employee. Although there are many side benefits of job evaluation, the purpose is to work towards a solution of the many wage and compensation related administrative problems which confront the industry. The below-mentioned are some of the important objectives of a job evaluation program

1. Establishment of sound salary differentials between jobs differentiated on the skills required. 2. Identification and elimination of salary-related inequities. 3. Establishment of sound foundation for variable pay such as incentive and bonus. 4. Maintenance of a consistent career and employee growth policy/ guidelines. 5. In organizations with active unions, creation of a method of job classification, so that management and union officials may deal with major and fundamental wage issues during negotiations and grievance meetings. 6. Collection of job facts a) Selection of employees. b) Promotion and transfer of employees. c) Training of new employees. d) Assignment of tasks to jobs. e) Improving working conditions f) Administrative organization, and. g) Work simplification.

There are many established methods to carry out job evaluation in a scientific manner. A Four-fold system of classifying evaluation systems is presented here. Two are described as non-quantitative and two as quantitative. 1. Non-quantitative evaluation measures, a) The ranking system. b) The job-classification system.

2. Quantitative evaluation measures. a) The point system b) The factor-comparison system

Q2. What are the major problems faced in benefits management? Ans 2)
Managing Benefits in Organizations: Managing employee Benefits is a critical part of the entire compensation policy and particularly so as the cost is completely borne by the company. There is no scientific way of ascertaining its impact on factors such as employee satisfaction and employee retention or productivity for that matter.

Q3. State the major career development activities found in organizations. Ans 3)
A broad view of career is defined as an individually perceived sequence of attitudes and behavior work-related activities and experiences over the span of a persons life. In normal parlance the term career has both an internal and an external focus. An internal focus and refers to the way an individual views his/her career and the external or objective focus and refers to the actual series of job positions held by the individual. The dynamics of career development in an organizational context has two dimensions: How individuals plan and implement their own career goals (career planning), and How organizations design and implement their career development programs (career management). Career planning is a deliberate attempt by an individual to become more aware of their skills, interests, values, opportunities and constraints.

It requires an individual thinking to identify career-related goals and establishing plans towards achieving those goals. Often it is a self-driven process, which every professional (irrespective of the nature of employment) spends some time to dwell on and discuss it with peers or superiors and frame it. It is also viewed from time to time that the individual looks for possible new career options. Having a career plan builds a commitment towards achieving it and is viewed as an excellent personal goal-setting exercise for self-motivation. Career management is considered to be an organizational process that involves preparing, implementing and monitoring career plans undertaken by an individual alone or within the organizations career systems. Organizations establish policies that provide for multiple career path options that an employee can choose from and pursue. This is supported with a lot of training and development activities that are agreed to with the manager and planned carefully and executed. A variety of career development activities and tools exists for use in organizations. HR managers should be familiar with these components because the managers often serve as internal consultants responsible for designing the career development systems. Some of the activities described are individual career planning tools and others are commonly used for organizational career management. In general the most effective career development programs will use both types of activities. A variety of career development activates are available for use. Some of the more popular ones include: 1. Self-assessment tools:- these are usually technology enabled on-line (on the corporate intranet) tools that form part of the performance appraisal system and allow the individual to identify areas of strengths and parallelly identify career paths that would leverage these strengths the best. E.g. Career Planning Workbooks, Career Workshops hosted by the organizations from time to time

Q4. Explain the need for human resource planning.

Ans 4)
Here are some of the things that explain the need for HR planning.

A. Purpose of Human Resource Planning: Human Resource Planning fulfills individual as well as organizational goals. What it essentially amounts to is striking a balance between the future human resources needs and the future enterprise needs. And this is done with the clear objective of maximizing the future return on investment in human resources. And this objective may be laid down for a short-term (i.e. for one year). B. Estimating/Forecasting the future Manpower Requirements: the first step in the process is to arrive at the desired organizational structure at a given point in time. Mapping this structure with the existing structure helps in identifying the gap in resources requirement. The number and type of employees needed have to be determined. In addition to the structure there are a number of external factors that affect this determination. They include business forecasts, competitor strategy, expansion plans, product/skills mix changes, profit/revenue growth projections, in addition to management philosophy and government policies. This step also includes an analysis of the external labor / talent environment, its demographics, demand/supply of the required talent, and cost considerations. C. Auditing Human Resources: Once the future human resource needs are estimated, the next step is to determine the present supply of manpower resources. This is done through what is called Skills Inventory. A skills inventory contains data about each employees skills, abilities, work preferences and other items of information which indicate his worth to the company. Skills inventory are also referred to as competency dictionaries. This

information is usually retained as part of the performance management system with the HR department. This step in the HRP system helps identify the existing profile of the manpower and its efficiency. It helps highlight where the organization is vs. where it ought to be. The step concludes with identifying clear gaps in the skills/ manpower mix required to meet the upcoming business objectives. D. Job Analysis: After having decided how many persons would be needed, it is necessary to prepare a job analysis. The recorded details of training, skills, qualification, abilities, experience and responsibilities, etc. as needed for a job are studied. Job analysis includes the preparation of job descriptions and job specifications. E. Developing a Human Resource Plan: This step refers t the development and implementation of the human resource plan, which consists in finding out the sources of labor supply with a view to making an effective use of these sources. Some important considerations at this point are: Specific roles/disciplines being hired for, of them which roles are pivotal for the business Competencies and capabilities needed Manager vs. employee hiring Hire internally vs. external sourcing Planning for new skills through training existing staff vs. hiring new teams In case of surpluses, planning for redeployment/ reduction in workforce as required Succession planning for key positions in the company

Q5. What are the factors that impact recruitment in organizations?

Ans 5)
The ability to identify the correct talent for not just the role/job but also from the organizational values perspective can be summarized as the key recruiting challenge. All organizations, whether large or small, do engage in recruiting activity, though not to the same intensity. Few factors that impact the nature of recruitment:

1) The size of the organization- the smaller the organization the more the need to carefully scrutinize the candidate for a job and the fitment to the organizational culture. The risk in case of job-candidate mismatch can prove equally expensive for a smaller organization as compared to the larger one. 2) The employment conditions in the country where the organization is located- critically impacts the recruiting strategy. The methods for recruiting, the selection tools that are most suited and the legal framework that bear on the employer are some aspects that need to be considered. 3) The effects of past recruiting efforts which show the organizations ability to locate and keep good performing people- constantly reviewing the effectiveness of the recruiting methods and the selection tools used, evaluating the success at-work of the new recruits are some methods used by organizations to ensure that quality hiring practices are in-place. 4) Working conditions and salary and benefit packages offered by the organization this may influence turnover and necessitate future recruiting; 5) The rate of growth of organization- the phase in the life-cycle of the firm is a measure of the recruiting effort. 6)The level of seasonality of operations and future expansion and production programs ensuring that the recruitment numbers come form a well-planned Human Resource Plan is critical to ensure that there is no over-hiring or under-hiring of the required talent to achieve the organizational objectives. 7) Cultural, economic and legal factors these too affect the recruiting and selection methods that are used.

Q6. Assume yourself as an HR Manager. You have been given the responsibility of promoting the rightful employees. For this, performance appraisal of the employees must be carried out. What appraisal method would you choose? Justify.

Ans 6) A performance appraisal, employee appraisal, performance review, or (career) development discussion is a method by which the job performance of an employee is evaluated (generally in terms of quality, quantity, cost, and time) typically by the corresponding manager or supervisor. A performance appraisal is a part of guiding and managing career development. It is the process of obtaining, analyzing, and recording information about the relative worth of an employee to the organization. Performance appraisal is an analysis of an employees recent successes and failures, personal strengths and weaknesses, and suitability for promotion or further training. It is also the judgment of an employees performance in a job based on considerations other than productivity alone.

Aims Generally, the aims of a performance appraisal are to: 1) Give employees feedback on performance 2) Identify employee training needs 3) Document criteria used to allocate organizational rewards 4) Form a basis for personnel decisions: salary increases, promotions, disciplinary actions, bonuses, etc. 5) Provide the opportunity for organizational diagnosis and development 6) Facilitate communication between employee and employer 7) Validate selection techniques and human resource policies to meet federal Equal Employment Opportunity requirements. 8) To improve performance through counseling, coaching and development.

Methods A common approach to assessing performance is to use a numerical or scalar rating system whereby managers are asked to score an individual against a number of objectives/attributes. In some companies, employees receive assessments from their manager, peers, subordinates, and customers, while also performing a self-assessment. This is known as a 360-degree appraisal and forms good communication patterns. The most popular methods used in the performance appraisal process include the following: 1) Management by objectives 2) 360-degree appraisal 3) Behavioral observation scale 4) Behaviorally anchored rating scales Trait-based systems, which rely on factors such as integrity and conscientiousness, are also used by businesses but have been replaced primarily by more objective and results-oriented methods. The scientific literature on the subject provides evidence that assessing employees on factors such as these should be avoided. The reasons for this are twofold: Trait-based systems are by definition based on personality traits and as such may not be related directly to successful job performance. In addition, personality dimensions tend to be static, and while an employee can change a behavior they cannot change their personality. For example, a person who lacks integrity may stop lying to a manager because they have been caught, but they still have low integrity and are likely to lie again when the threat of being caught is gone. Trait-based systems, because they are vague, are more easily influenced by office politics, causing them to be less reliable as a source of information on an employees true performance. The vagueness of these instruments allows managers to assess the employee based upon subjective feelings instead of objective observations about how the employee has performed his or her specific duties. These systems are also more

likely to leave a company open to discrimination claims because a manager can make biased decisions without having to back them up with specific behavioral information. People differ in their abilities and their aptitudes. There is always some difference between the quality and quantity of the same work on the same job being done by two different people. Performance appraisals of Employees are necessary to understand each employees abilities, competencies and relative merit and worth for the organization. Performance appraisal rates the employees in terms of their performance. Performance appraisals are widely used in the society. The history can be dated back to the 20th century and then to the second world war when the merit rating was used for the first time. An employer evaluating their employees is a very old concept. It is an indispensable part of performance measurement. Performance appraisal is necessary to measure the performance of the employees and the organization to check the progress towards the desired goals and aims. The latest mantra being followed by organizations across the world being get paid according to what you contribute the focus of the organizations is turning to performance management and specifically to individual performance. Performance appraisal helps to rate the performance of the employees and evaluate their contribution towards the organizational goals. If the process of performance appraisals is formal and properly structured, it helps the employees to clearly understand their roles and responsibilities and give direction to the individuals performance. It helps to align the individual performances with the organizational goals and also review their performance. Performance appraisal takes into account the past performance of the employees and focuses on the improvement of the future performance of the employees. Here at naukri hub, we attempt to provide an insight into the concept of performance appraisal, the methods and approaches of performance appraisal, sample performance appraisal forms and the appraisal softwares available etc. An attempt has been made to study the current global trends in performance appraisal.