MB0043 Human Resource Management - 4 Credits (Book ID: B1626) Assignment

Answers:
1. Human resources are undoubtedly the key resources in an organization, the easiest and the most difficult to manage! The objectives of the HRM span right from the manpower needs assessment to management and retention of the same. To this effect Human resource management is responsible for effective designing and implementation of various policies, procedures and programs. It is all about developing and managing knowledge, skills, creativity, aptitude and talent and using them optimally. Human Resource Management is not just limited to manage and optimally exploit human intellect. It also focuses on managing physical and emotional capital of employees. Considering the intricacies involved, the scope of HRM is widening with every passing day. It covers but is not limited to HR planning, hiring (recruitment and selection), training and development, payroll management, rewards and recognitions, Industrial relations, grievance handling, legal procedures etc. In other words, we can say that its about developing and managing harmonious relationships at workplace and striking a balance between organizational goals and individual goals. The scope of HRM is extensive and far-reaching. Therefore, it is very difficult to define it concisely. However, we may classify the same under following heads:

HRM in Personnel Management: This is typically direct manpower management that involves manpower planning, hiring (recruitment and selection), training and development, induction and orientation, transfer, promotion, compensation, layoff and retrenchment, employee productivity. The overall objective here is to ascertain individual growth, development and effectiveness which indirectly contribute to organizational development. It also includes performance appraisal, developing new skills, disbursement of wages, incentives, allowance, travelling policies and procedures and other related courses of actions. HRM in Employee Welfare: This particular aspect of HRM deals with working conditions and amenities at workplace. This includes a wide array of responsibilities and services such as safety services, health services, welfare funds, social security and medical services. It also covers appointment of safety officers, making the environment worth working, eliminating workplace hazards, support by top management, job

safety, safeguarding machinery, cleanliness, proper ventilation and lighting, sanitation, medical care, sickness benefits, employment injury benefits, personal injury benefits, maternity benefits, unemployment benefits and family benefits. It also relates to supervision, employee counselling, establishing harmonious relationships with employees, education and training. Employee welfare is about determining employees real needs and fulfilling them with active participation of both management and employees. In addition to this, it also takes care of canteen facilities, crches, rest and lunch rooms, housing, transport, medical assistance, education, health and safety, recreation facilities, etc.

HRM in Industrial Relations: Since it is a highly sensitive area, it needs careful interactions with labour or employee unions, addressing their grievances and settling the disputes effectively in order to maintain peace and harmony in the organization. It is the art and science of understanding the employment (union-management) relations, joint consultation, disciplinary procedures, solving problems with mutual efforts, understanding human behaviour and maintaining work relations, collective bargaining and settlement of disputes. The main aim is to safeguarding the interest of employees by securing the highest level of understanding to the extent that does not leave a negative impact on organization. It is about establishing, growing and promoting industrial democracy to safeguard the interests of both employees and management.

The scope of HRM is extremely wide, thus cannot be written concisely. However, for the sake of convenience and developing understanding about the subject, we divide it in three categories mentioned above.

2(a). Wages and salaries are defined as "the total remuneration, in cash or in kind, payable to all persons counted on the payroll (including home workers), in return for work done during the accounting period" regardless of whether it is paid on the basis of working time, output or piecework and whether it is paid regularly or not. Wages and salaries include the values of any social contributions, income taxes, etc. payable by the employee even if they are actually withheld by the employer and paid directly to social insurance schemes, tax authorities, etc. on behalf of the employee. Wages and salaries do not include social contributions payable by the employer. Wages and salaries include: all gratuities, bonuses, ex gratia payments, "thirteenth month payments", severance payments, lodging, transport, cost-of-living, and family allowances, tips, commission, attendance fees, etc. received by employees, as well as taxes, social security contributions and other amounts payable by employees and withheld at source by the employer. Wages and salaries which the employer continues to pay in the event of illness, occupational accident, maternity leave or short-time working may be recorded here or under social security costs, dependent upon the unit's accounting practices. Payments for agency workers are not included in wages and salaries.

2(b). Wage and salary administration affect levels of employee commitment to the organisation. However, fascinating the individuals job assignment is, the employee must be paid. Pay affects the way people work-how much and how well. A large part of the compensation that people receive from work is monetary. Although managers are expected to conserve money and distribute it wisely, many employees feel that they should get more of it for what they do. Wages, salaries and many employee benefits and services are form of compensation. Administration of employee compensation is called wage and salary administration. According to D.S. Beach Wage and Salary Administration refers to the establishment and implementation of sound policies and practices of employee compensation. It includes such areas as job evaluation, surveys of wage and salaries, analysis of relevant organizational problems, development and maintenance of wage structure, establishing rules for administrating wages, wage payment incentives, profit sharing, wage changes and adjustments, supplementary payments, control of compensation costs and other related items. The wage and salary administration aims to establish and maintain an equitable wage and salary structure and an equitable labour cost structure. Objectives of Wage and Salary Administration: A sound plan of wage and salary administration seeks to achieve the following objectives:

To establish a fair and equitable compensation offering similar pay for similar work. To attract competent and qualified personnel. To retain the present employees by keeping wage levels in tune with competitive units. To keep labour and administrative costs in line with the ability of the organization to pay. To improve motivation and morale of employees and to improve union management relations. To project a good image of the company and to comply with legal needs relating to wages and salaries. To establish job sequences and lines of promotion wherever applicable. To minimize the chances of favouritism while assigning the wage rates. Principles of Wage and Salary Administration: The following principles should be followed for an effective wage and salary administration;

Wage policy should be developed keeping in view the interests of all concerned parties viz., employer, employees, the consumers and the society. Wage and salary plans should be sufficiently flexible or responsive to changes in internal and external conditions of the organization. Efforts should be made to ensure that differences in pay for jobs are based on variations in job requirements such as skill, responsibility, efforts and mental and physical requirements. Wage and salary administration plans must always be consistent with overall organizational plans and programmes.

Wage and Salary administration plans must always be in conformity with the social and economic objectives of the country like attainment of equality in income distribution and controlling inflation, etc. These plans and programmes should be responsive to the changing local and national conditions. Wage and salary plans should expedite and simplify administrative process. Workers should be associated, as far as possible, in formulation and implementation of wage policy. An adequate data base and a proper organizational set up should be developed for compensation determination and administration. The general level of wages and salaries should be reasonably in line with that prevailing in the labor market. There should be a clearly established procedure for hearing and adjusting wage complaints. This may be integrated with the regular grievance procedure, if it exists. The workers should receive a guaranteed minimum wage to protect them against conditions beyond their control. Prompt and correct payments to the employees should be ensured and arrears of payment should not accumulate. The wage and salary payments must fulfil a wide variety of human needs including the need for self actualization. Wage policy and programme should be reviewed and revised periodically in conformity with changing needs. For revision of wages, a wage committee should also be preferred to the individual judgement however unbiased of a manager.

3. On-the-job trainings are given to the employees while they are conducting their regular works at the same places. In this way they do not lose time while they are training or learning. After a plan is developed for what should be taught, employees should be informed about the details. A time table should be establish with periodic evaluations to inform employees about their progress. On-the-job training techniques include orientations, job instruction training, apprenticeships, internships, assistantships, job rotation and coaching. Various methods of on the job training are as follows:(1) On specific JobThe most common or formal on the job training programme is training for specific job. Current practice in job training has been strongly influenced by the war time training within industry which was first designed to improve the job performance through job instruction training. There are following methods of training: (A) ExperienceThis is the oldest method of on-the- job training. But as a sole approach, it is wasteful, time consuming and inefficient. It has been observed that it should be followed by other training methods to make it more effective. In a survey, it was found that they kept

up to date through a variety of activities which were largely unrelated to formal continuing education courses. On the job, problem-solving and colleague interactions were prompted as being most important for professional growth by 62 per cent respondents. (B) Coaching-On-the-job coaching by a superior is an important and potentially effective approach if superior is properly trained and oriented. The technique involves direct personnel instruction and guidance, usually, with extensive demonstration and continuous critical evaluation and correction. The advantage is increased motivation for the trainee and the minimisation of the problem of learning transfer from theory to practice. The danger in this method lies in the possible neglect of coaching by superior.

(2) Position RotationThe major objective of job rotation training is the broadening of the background of trainee in the organisation. If trainee is rotated periodically from one job to another job, he acquires a general background. The main advantages are: it provides a general background to the trainee, training takes place in actual situation, competition can be stimulated among the rotating trainees, and it stimulates a more co-operative attitude by exposing a man to other fellow's problems and viewpoints. There are certain disadvantages of this method. The productive work can suffer because of the obvious disruption caused by such changes. Rotations become less useful as specialisation proceeds, for few people have the breadth of technical knowledge and skills to move from one functional area to another. (3) Special ProjectsThis is a very flexible training device. Such special project assignments grow ordinarily out of an individual analysis of weaknesses. The trainee may be asked to perform special assignment; thereby he learns the work procedure. Sometime a task force is created consisting of a number of trainees representing different functions in the organisation. Trainees not only acquire knowledge about the assigned activities, but also learn how to work with others. (4) Selective ReadingIndividuals in the organisation can gather and advance their knowledge and background through selective reading. The reading may include professional journals and books. Various business organisations maintain libraries for their own executives. Many executives become members of professional associations and they exchange their ideas with others. This is a good method for assimilating knowledge; however, some executives claim that it is very difficult to find time to do much reading other than absolutely required in the performance of their jobs. (5) ApprenticeshipApprentice training can be traced back to medieval times when those intended on learning trade skill bound themselves to a master craftsman to learn by doing the work under his guidance. In earlier periods, apprenticeship was not restricted to artisans, but was used in training for the professions, including medicine, law, dentistry, and teaching. Today's industrial organisations require large number of skilled craftsmen who can be trained by this system. Such training is either provided by the organisations or it is also imparted by governmental agencies. Most States now have apprenticeship laws with supervised plans for such training. Arrangements usually provide a mixed programme of classroom and job experience.

Off-the-job Training Methods In these methods, trainees have to leave their workplace and devote their entire time to the development objective. In these methods development of trainees is primary and any usable work produced during training is secondary. Following training techniques are used off-thejob: 1. Special course and lecturesLecturing is the most traditional form of formal training method. Special courses and lectures can be established by business organisations in numerous ways as a part of their development programmes. First, there are courses which the organisations themselves establish to be taught by members of the organisation. Some organisations have regular instructors assigned to their training and development departments such as Tata and Hindustan Lever in private sector, Life Insurance Corporation, State Bank of India and other nationalised commercial banks, Reserve Bank, Hindustan Steel, Fertilizer Corporation and many others in public sector. A second approach to special courses and lectures is for organisations to work with universities or institutes in establishing a course or series of % courses to be taught by instructors of these institutes. 2. Conferences -This is also an old method, but still a favourite training method. In order to escape the limitations of straight lecturing many organisations have adopted guideddiscussion type of conferences in their training programmes In this method, the participants pool their ideas and experience in attempting to arrive at improved methods of dealing with the problems which are common subject of discussion) Conferences may include buzz sessions that divide conferences into small groups of four or five for intensive discussion. These small groups then report back to the whole conference with their conclusions or questions. Conference method allows the trainees to look at the problem from a broader angle. 3. Case studiesThis technique, which has been developed and popularised by the Harvard Business School, U.S.A. is one of the most common form of training. Acase is a written account of a trained reporter or analyst seeking to describe an actual situation. Some cases are merely illustrative, others are detailed and comprehensive demanding extensive and intensive analytical ability. Cases are widely used in a variety of programmes) This method increases the trainee's power of observation, helping him to ask better questions and to look for a broader range of problems. 4. BrainstormingThis is the method of stimulating trainees to creative thinking. This approach developed by Alex Osborn seeks to reduce inhibiting forces by providing for a maximum of group participation and a minimum of criticism, A problem is posed and ideas are invited. Quantity rather than quality is the primary objective; Ideas are encouraged and criticism of any idea is discouraged. Chain reactions from idea to idea often develop. Later, these ideas are critically examined. There is no trainer in brainstorming and it has been found that the introduction of known experts into it will reduce the originality and practicability of

the group contributions. 5. Laboratory Training-Laboratory training adds to conventional training by providing situations in which the trainees themselves experience through their own interaction some of the conditions they are talking about. In this way, they more or less experiment on themselves. Laboratory training is more concerned about changing individual behaviour and attitude. It is generally more successful in changing job performance than conventional training methods. There are two methods of laboratory trainingsimulation and sensitivity training. A. SimulationAn increasingly popular technique of management development is simulation of performance. In this method, instead of taking participants into the field they can be simulated in the training session itself. Simulation is the presentation of real situation of organisations in the training session. It covers situations of varying complexities and roles for the participants. It creates a whole field organisation, relates participants through key roles in it, and has them deal with specific situations of a kind they encounter in real life. There are two common simulation methods of training: role-playing is one and business game is the other. (i) Role-PlayingRole-Playing is laboratory method which can be used rather easily as a supplement to conventional training methods. Its purpose is to increase the trainee's skill in dealing with other people. One of its greatest uses is in connection with human relations training but it is also used in sales training as well. It is spontaneous acting of a realistic situation involving two or more persons under class room situations. Dialogue spontaneously grows out of the situation, as it is developed by the trainees assigned to it. Other trainees in the group serve as observers or critics. Since people lake roles every day, they are somewhat experienced in the art, and with a certain amount of imagination they can project themselves into roles other than their own. Since a manager is regularly acting roles in his relationship with others, it is essential for him to have role awareness and to do role thinking so that he can size up each relationship and develop the most effective interaction possible. Roleplaying has many advantages. By this method, a trainee can broaden his experience by trying different approaches, while in actual situation; he often has only one chance. In evaluation of role-playing in sue firms, it was found that such sessions resulted in an increase in sensitivity and improved quality of actions of a work sample involving a human relations difficulty. Role-playing also has weaknesses which partly offset its values. It is time consuming and expensive. It requires experienced trainers because it can easily turn sour without effective direction. (ii) GamingGaming has been devised to simulate the problems of running a company or even a particular department. It has been used for a variety of training objectives, from investment strategy, collective bargaining techniques, to the morale of clerical personnel. It has been used at all levels, from the lop executives to the production supervisors. Gaming is a laboratory method in which role-playing exists but its difference is that it focuses attention on administrative problems, while role-playing tends to emphasise mostly feeling and tone between people in interaction. Gaming involves several teams, each of which is given a firm to operate for a number of periods. Usually the period is a short one, one year or so. In each

period, each team makes decisions on various matters such as fixation of price, level of production, inventory level, and so forth'. Since each team is competing with others, each firm's decisions will affect the results of all others. All the firm's decisions are fed into a computer which is programmed to behave somewhat like a real market. The computer provides the results, and the winner is the team which has accumulated largest profit. In the light of such results, strengths and weaknesses of decisions are analysed. B. Sensitivity TrainingSensitivity training is the most controversial laboratory training method. Many of its advocates have an almost religious zeal in their enhancement with the training group experience. As a result of criticism and experience, a somewhat revised approach, often described as 'team development' training, has appeared. It was first used by National Training Laboratories at Bethel, U.S.A. The training groups themselves called 'T Group'. Since then its use has been extended to other organizations, universities, and institutes. Sensitivity training is a small-group interaction under stress in an unstructured encounter group which requires people to become sensitive to one another's feelings in order to develop reasonable group activity. T-group has several characteristic features: (i) the T-group is generally small, from ten to twenty members; (ii) the group begins its activity with no formal agenda; (iii) the role of trainer is primarily to call attention from time to time to the on going process within the group; (iv) the procedure tends to develop introspection and selfexamination, with emotional levels of involvement and behaviour and the possibility of colleagues and some breakdown of established insulation and self-defence on the part of individuals. The objectives of such training are increased openness with others, more concern for others, increased tolerance for individual differences, less ethnic prejudice, understanding of a group process, enhanced listening skills, and increased trust and support.

4(a). Performance management is a much broader system as it is linked with the processes of planning, implementing, reviewing and evaluating, for augmenting growth and productivity at both the individual and organizational level. Managing the performance of the employees is one of the toughest challenges which the organizations are facing today as this completely depends upon the employees commitment, competence and clarity of performance. If managed efficiently through a well planned reward practice and feedback mechanism, a performance management system can serve as an important tool for employee motivation and development. The need for the introduction of a robust system of performance management was felt during the period when the traditional performance appraisal mechanism started failing and its limitations were surfacing up. The performance appraisal system of the earlier period was missing objectivity as the diameters or the parameters for measuring performance were not clearly specified and the focus was on traits instead on behaviors or measurable targets. As a result, the employees morale and motivation to work was adversely affected due to an absence of a transparent feedback mechanism and lack of employee involvement in the entire process of appraisal. A performance management system overcomes the drawbacks of the traditional performance appraisal system by maintaining a futuristic approach instead of assessing the past contributions of the employees for evaluating the performance of the employees.

Performance management is a strategic tool and is holistic in nature as it pervades in every activity of the organization which is concerned with the management of individual, team and the overall organizational performance. The process is indispensable and very important for an organization as it is concerned with establishing a culture in which the individuals and teams can excel by continuously improving in terms of skill sets and the business processes. Performance management facilitates improvement of quality of relationship amongst the members of the organization by encouraging sharing of expectations and building a climate of openness and mutuality. The significance of performance management has grown in recent times because most of the organizations are giving a lot of importance to employee development and talent management. The training requirements of the employees were taken care by the Management and Organizational Development Group. The company also introduced MBO system, for setting smart goals for the employees which may motivate them for a superior performance.
4(b). A good performance management system works towards the improvement of the overall

organizational performance by managing the performances of teams and individuals for ensuring the achievement of the overall organizational ambitions and goals. An effective performance management system can play a very crucial role in managing the performance in an organization by:

Ensuring that the employees understand the importance of their contributions to the organizational goals and objectives. Ensuring each employee understands what is expected from them and equally ascertaining whether the employees possess the required skills and support for fulfilling such expectations. Ensuring proper aligning or linking of objectives and facilitating effective communication throughout the organization. Facilitating a cordial and a harmonious relationship between an individual employee and the line manager based on trust and empowerment. Performance management practices can have a positive influence on the job satisfaction and employee loyalty by:

Regularly providing open and transparent job feedbacks to the employees. Establishing a clear linkage between performance and compensation Providing ample learning and development opportunities by representing the employees in leadership development programmes, etc. Evaluating performance and distributing incentives and rewards on a fair and equated basis. Establishing clear performance objectives by facilitating an open communication and a joint dialogue. Recognizing and rewarding good performance in an organization. Providing maximum opportunities for career growth.

5. The term Globalization has invaded the mind of every successful businessman and the concept of Global Village is a common issue in the modern business world. What really the globalization is? The answer seems simple "if a firm or an organization expands its sales or production beyond the national boundaries, then it is globalization", but it does not cover the real meaning of the term. Globalization actually means more, much more than that; it is realizing that there is a big world out there, geographically, that reaches far beyond our small community and that the world is getting closer to us all the time. Globalization is the realization that, whether we like it or not, this big world is becoming an ever increasing factor in our daily lives. The concept of globalization today has invaded the globe and the national boundaries have been virtually eliminated. So what is the effect of this? Simple, the world today has became a small but a very complex and dynamic neighbourhood. Today we live in a global village and this means that our activities have crossed the national boundaries to become global. Globalization symbolizes the structural making of the world characterized by the free flow of technology and human resources across national boundaries presenting an ever-changing and competitive business environment. A vital aspect of globalization is the way diverse challenges are being faced by nations in an increasingly inter dependent world. No country can meaningfully progress today without efficiently responding to demands and pressures generated by international organizations and processes. When going global, an organization has to reconsider the following factors:

Employment Laws Culture Terminology Corporate Social Responsibility

Globalization and HRM Globalization is a process that is drawing people together from all nations of the world into a single community linked by the vast network of communication technologies. This aspect of globalization has also affected the HRM in the business world of today. HR managers today not need to rely in a small limited market to find the right employees needed to meet the global challenge, but today they can recruit the employees from around the world. Besides that the effective data based which is being used globally today also has made HRM a simple but effective task. Thus due to globalization to some extent HRM has became more efficient and effective, but relatively a simple task. The most important factor that these organizations are made up of People, and since HRM is the set of activities which deals with the people factor present in any organization, this change has affected The Human Resources Management itself a lot. Human resources manager of today must ensure that the appropriate mix of employees in terms of knowledge, skills and culture. Global HRM refers to Human Resource Management practices that deal with managing a diversity of workforce from all around the world. The following challenges are being faced by HR managers in terms of globalization:

Managing diversity of workforce. Managing pressures for more labour rights in third world countries. Managing Outsourcing of employees.

More part-time and temporary work Managing productivity and Quality Downsizing the workforce Coping with flexible working hours

Role of HRM The role of the HR manager must parallel the needs of the changing organization. Successful organizations are becoming more adaptable, resilient, quick to change directions, and customer centered. Within this environment, the HR professional must learn how to manage effectively through planning, organizing, leading and controlling the human resource and be knowledgeable of emerging trends in training and employee development. The future success of any organizations relies on the ability to manage a diverse body of talent that can bring innovative ideas, perspectives and views to their work. The challenge and problems faced of workplace diversity can be turned into a strategic organizational asset if an organization is able to capitalize on this melting pot of diverse talents. With the mixture of talents of diverse cultural backgrounds, genders, ages and lifestyles, an organization can respond to business opportunities more rapidly and creatively. More importantly, if the organizational environment does not support diversity broadly, one risks losing talent to competitors. The challenge of workplace diversity is also prevalent amongst Singapores Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). With a population of only four million people and the nations strive towards high technology and knowledge-based economy; foreign talents are lured to share their expertise in these areas. Thus, many local HR managers have to undergo culturalbased Human Resource Management training to further their abilities to motivate a group of professional that are highly qualified but culturally diverse. Furthermore, the HR professional must assure the local professionals that these foreign talents are not a threat to their career advancement. In many ways, the effectiveness of workplace diversity management is dependent on the skilful balancing act of the HR manager. Globalization crush have had further effects on HRM such as:

democratization and pressures for more labor rights in countries where such rights have been restricted more liberalization and deregulation competition for investment increased economic independence of nations Competitiveness increasingly based (not on low wages or natural resources) on knowledge/innovation, skills and productivity. The success of global companies is to a large extent dependent on their ability to organize (within and between organizations) across national boundaries information, money, people and other resources. Moving production overseas to reduce costs and to facilitate sensitivity to local and regional market requirements. Contracting out and out-sourcing. It is an important rationale of out-sourcing that it, on the one hand, enables an enterprise to concentrate on its core competencies, and on the other hand, it makes service work more productive. "Outsourcing is needed not just because of the economics involved. It is required equally because it gives opportunities, income and dignity to service work and service workers." More part-time and temporary work (especially among women, the elderly and students) Introduction of new technology

Pushing for a more deregulated and flexible labor market More emphasis on productivity and quality Greater employee involvement in the design and execution of work Shifting the focus of collective bargaining from the nation/industry level to the enterprise level. Employers are of the view that issues relevant to the employment relationship such as work re-organization, flexible working hours and contractual arrangements, and pay for performance and skills, are increasingly workplace-related, and should therefore be addressed at the enterprise level. Exceptionally (in the USA) employers have reduced terms of employment through 'concession bargaining' when firms have been in financial difficulties. Downsizing the workforce. One important response has been the introduction of flexibility in the employment relationship to increase the capacity of enterprises to adapt rapidly to market changes. This has involved measures such as flexible working hours, part-time work, different types of employment contracts to the standard ones familiar to collective IR flexibility in functions, so that employees who are multi-skilled are not confined to the performance of only one task. They can cover up for absenteeism, and make some jobs redundant, flexible pay which involves some component of pay being dependent on performance, whether of the company, a group or the individual. The competition generated by globalization and rapid technological changes accompanied by shorter product life have, while destroying countless jobs in industrialized countries, created opportunities for multi-skilled and easily trainable workers, and for the most significant group of emerging employees

Thus traditional HR has been challenged to accommodate different types of employment contracts, and different types of pay systems to reward performance and skills...Now HR is being seen as a business partner and hence a very critical function .. In my opinion the qualities that a Human Resource Manager should have to become the best are :

Excellent Communication Skills excellent Inter Personal Skills Be a Strategic Thinker visionary leader Entrepreneur Global Benchmarking High degree of Initiative BE an All Rounder Keen Researcher Global Networking Ability Technology Savvy Ability to cope with a Fast Changing Environment.

The globalization is a HRM Challenge. The HRM Function has to make its policies, procedures and processes to work on the global level. Currently, most of the HRM Policies is focused on the concrete country, but the employees have to start to move from the country to another country and the HRM Processes have to be able to support such a need in the organization. The globalization has a huge impact on the HRM Function and the it is usually not ready to take more responsibility in the movement of the workforce around the Globe.

6. Since, disciplinary measures have serious implications for employees, they often are based on the principles of being fair, just and acceptable to employees and, where applicable, the union as well. It cannot be enforced or imposed on employees, as history has proved, it never benefits anyone. So one of the most significant transformations that has impacted the workplace in the past few years is the 'reinstatement' of discipline in a positive and employeesupported environment. The way it is practiced in today's organizations is extremely well communicated and adopts a discretionary approach .The most important principles to be observed in the maintenance of discipline have been outlined by Yoder. Heneman, Turnball and Harold Stone are:a) As far as possible, all the rules should be framed in co-operation and collaboration with the representatives of employees. If the latter have a share in formulating them, will be much more likely to observe them. b) All the rules should be appraised at frequent and regular intervals to ensure that they are, and continue to be, appropriate sensible and useful. c) Rules should vary with changes in the working conditions of employees. Those framed for office employees, for example, may very well be different from those that are formulated for workers in an industrial concern. d) Rules should be uniformly enforced if they are to be effective. They must be applied without exception and without bending them or ignoring them in favour of any one worker.) Penalties for any violation of any rule should be clearly stated in advance. Employees have the right to know what to expect in the event of any infringement of a rule or regulation. For this purpose, it is better to publish them in the employees' hand book.) A disciplinary policy should have as its objective the prevention of any infringement rather than the simple administration of penalties, however just: it should be preventive rather than punitive. g) Extreme caution should be exercised to ensure that infringements are not encouraged. This should be done as a matter of policy. h) If violations of a particular rule are fairly frequent, the circumstances surrounding them should be carefully investigated and studied in order to discover the cause or causes of such violations. i) Recidivism must be expected. Some offenders would almost certainly violate rules more often than others. These cases should be carefully considered so that their causes may be discovered. j) Definite and precise provisions for appeal and review of all disciplinary actions should be expressly mentioned in the employees' handbook for collective agreements