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

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

*** Please fill in all the details in complete and only in CAPITAL letters

RATHOD PARAG JAGDISHBHAI Name

Registration Number

1205002137

INSTRUCTIONS FOR ASSIGNMENT SUBMISSION

1. Completed assignments must be typed and formatted neatly and soft copies should be

uploaded on or before the dates mentioned above. (September 15,2012)

2. Ensure that you answer all questions according to the marks allocated. 3. Content that has been directly copied from the Internet or the Book will NOT be

accepted.
4. Please attempt all the assignments individually and independently. Assignments that

have been copied and shared among students will be automatically rejected and disqualified.
5. Please attach correct assignments to correct subjects. Incase of any errors the student

will be marked absent for the specific subject

6. Late submissions will NOT be accepted. 7. Follow assignment format and complete all the details for each assignment individually. 8. Roll no/Registration Number found mentioned anywhere else except the place

provided, the assignments will be rejected.

9. Incase students extra details like contact number, Name found listed anywhere on this

document, the assignments will be rejected.

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

Q1. What are the objectives of job evaluation? Answer: 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 programme: 1. Establishment of sound salary differentials between jobs differentiated on the skills required. 2. Identification and elimination of slary-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 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. Tow are described as non-quantitative and two as quantitative. 1. Non-quantitative evolution 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? Answer: Major Problems in Benefits management The challenge in managing benefits is that while it costs a lot it is often taken for granted by the employees. The dilemma of finding the right balance of benefits and cash compensation is an on-going one. Like for Compensation, Benefits too are benchmarked by organizations and implemented keeping the market practices and trends in view. The key to leveraging the investment made by organizations on benefits can be got by adequate communication making employees aware of them. It includes, providing clarity on how to apply for and claim benefits, as well as hold road-shows show-casing the benefits and what the employee can avail of. It focuses on to remind the employees that they are part of the total compensation package. Most large and medium sized organizations manage compensation and benefits through state-of-the-art HRMS (Human Resource Management Systems) and the corporate intranet portals. Employee can enroll on-line for the benefits, ask queries, look up the policies and review the outstanding and balance status of the various benefits. They can view deadlines, apply for the various benefit claims and track reimbursement status online. This brings a lot of empowerment to the employee as well as awareness of the total benefits that he/she and their dependents are eligible for.

Q3. State the major career development activities found in organizations. Answer: There are variety of career development activity found in the organizations for use. In that some of the career development activities are listed below. 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. 2. Individual Counseling: formally the process allows for individuals to discuss this as part of the performance management process with their immediate managers and share and take feedback on the appropriateness of the choices and how to go about pursuing it. Often managers recommend relevant other managers and leaders who the employee can link with to seek advice and support. Organizations also provide for formal mentoring programs to which an employee can enroll and sign up a mentor who can then provide the support and counseling on the best career option and how to go about it achieving it. 3. Information Services: organizations have established policies on what skills and experiences that each job in the organization requires. Jobs with similar skills and experiences are clubbed together to create parallel career paths. For example in a software development firm the career path options for the software engineering team can be designed as follows:

Figure: Career Paths in an automotive company These are typically called career ladders or career paths and they help an employee identify what his options are for future growth and identify the appropriate one based on his personal skills and capabilities/ limitations. These career paths would be supplemented with additional information on skills and experience that one must have for each role/job in the career path. It would also specify the particular qualification or special certifications that the positions demands. An employee aspiring to pursue a career option would need to dedicate time and effort and the expenses towards acquiring the same. Large MNCs (multinational companies) also encourage the reimbursement of these expenses as an annual fixed amount on successfully clearing the exam/certification. The employee however needs to find the time and expend the effort away from work. The actual move of the employee to the new role would however depend on the existence of a job vacancy in that role. The employee can also approach career resource / talent management centers supported by the HR teams for more information on how to plan careers and apply for new roles sand jobs. Organizations usually have formal job posting systems through which the employee receives this information and applies for the job after discussing with his manager.

4. Initial employment Programs Organizations also run internship and apprenticeship programs wherein the individuals aspiring to do a particular job can spend some time as a temporary employee to explore interest and skill fitment for the job/role. (e. g. Anticipatory socialization programs, realistic recruitment, and employee orientation program)

5. Organizational Assessment programs: organizations can proactively establish formal processes wherein an employee can volunteer to participate and understand himself/herself and his/her strengths. Through the use of Assessment Centers organizations can help an employee identify areas for improvement and means of building those skills. So he can achieve his career plans. Certain organizations offer Psychological Testing instruments which profile the employees strengths and roles and responsibilities he / she will best fit into. 6. Developmental programs focus the effort of the employee towards helping the employee to achieve his career goals. The Assessment Centers, Job rotation programs, in-house training, and tuition refund plans, and mentoring, all prove effective tools to help the individual along.

Q4. Explain the need for human resource planning. Answer: Human Resource Planning is a mandatory part of every organizations annual planning process. Every organization that plans for its business goals for the year also plans for how it will go about achieving them, and therein the planning for the human resource: 1. To carry on its work, each organization needs competent staff with the necessary qualification, skills, knowledge work experience and aptitude for work. 2. Since employees exit an d organization both naturally ( as a result of superannuation) and unnaturally (as a result of resignation), there is an on-going need for hiring replacement staff to augment employee exit. Otherwise, work would be impacted. 3. In order to meet the need for more employees due to organizational growth and expansion, this in turn calls for larger quantities of the same goods and services as well as new goods. This growth could be rapid or gradual depending on the nature of the business, its competitors, its position in the market and the general economy.

4. Often organizations might need to replace the nature of the present workforce as a result of its changing needs, therefore the need to hire new set of employees, to meet the challenge of the changed needs of technology/product/service innovation the existing employees need to be trained or new skill sets induce into the organization. 5. Manpower planning is also needed in order to identify an organizations need to reduce its workforce. In situations where the organization is faced with severe revenue and growth limitations it might need to plan well to manage how it will reduce its workforce. Options such as redeployment and outplacement can be planned for and executed properly.

5. What are the factors that impact recruitment in organizations? Answer: 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: a. 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. b. 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. c. The affects of past recruitment efforts which show the organizations ability to locate and keep good performing people constantly reviewing the effectiveness of the recruitment 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.

d. Working conditions and salary and benefit packages offered by the organization this may influence turnover and necessitate future recruiting; the rate of growth of organization the phases in the lifecycle of the firm is a measure of the recruiting effort. e. The level of seasonality of operations and future expansion and production programmes ensuring that the recruitment numbers come form a well planned Human Resource Plan is critical to ensure that there is no over-hiring of the required talent to achieve the organizational objectives. f. Cultural, economical 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. Answer: 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: Give employees feedback on performance Identify employee training needs Document criteria used to allocate organizational rewards

Form a basis for personnel decisions: salary increases, promotions, disciplinary actions, bonuses, etc. Provide the opportunity for organizational diagnosis and development Facilitate communication between employee and employer Validate selection techniques and human resource policies to meet federal Equal Employment Opportunity requirements. 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: Management by objectives 360-degree appraisal Behavioral observation scale 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: 1. 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. 2. 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 software available etc. An attempt has been made to study the current global trends in performance appraisal.