14

The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC) is one of

Case: CIBC:
the 10 largest full-service financial institutions in North
Outsourcing the Human
America. Its human resources department wanted to reinvent
Resource Department
HR service delivery and increase automation and self-service
(A) & (B)
operations. A number of options were being considered,
including continuing with the status quo while undertaking
patchwork operations, developing new HR capabilities inhouse, outsourcing the development of HR capabilities, and
exploring the opportunity to outsource entire functions. Each
option presents benefits and challenges, and the senior lead
on the project must begin to develop a business case to go
forward. The supplemental case 'CIBC: Outsourcing the
Human Resources Department (B)', product discusses the
human resources outsourcing agreement.

15

16

17

18

19

Strategy of Merger and

Acquisition and its HR
implications
Reading reference:
Chapter 15 of text book
Case : Air India and
Indian Airline: A
merger gone wrong

Strategy of Joint Venture

and Human Resource
Challenge
Reading reference:
Chapter 5 of Reference 6
Case: SINGCHINA
tire PTE Ltd: Managing
an International Joint
Venture

Downsizing and HRM

Reading Reference:
Chapter 17 of Reference
No. 5

Motives for merger and acquisition; common causes of

failure; symptoms of soft asset mis-match: policy areas;
symptoms of soft-asset mismatch: practice areas;
Approach towards integration
Indian domestic carrier of Indian Airlines and
international carrier of Air India was merged in 2007.
The rationale for the merger was to boost the revenue of
the both state owned airlines. At the time of merger the
combined manpower strength of the two airlines was
29000. Contrary to expectation, the merged entity
started incurring losses from 2007. Employee unrest due
to unresolved HR issues further aggravated the airlines
problems. CAG report specified improper planning,
mismanagement of resources, delay in integration,
additional costs and fall in passenger load factor were
the major reasons for the failure of the merger.
Why companies go for international joint venture?
Difference between strategic alliance and joint venture;
Common reasons for failure of IJV; HRM in IJV;
Potential obstacles in organizational learning.
SingChina Tire (SCT) was established in 1930 and was
one of the largest state owned tire manufacturing plants
in Hefei, China and employed 2500 workers before its
joint venture with SingChina Investment Holding ltd.
Singapore(SCIHL). SCIHL was a multinational
investment holding company in China. After SCHIL
took over management control, SCT underwent many
changes. SCHIL appointed many foreigners in key
positions like GM, Operations Managers, R&D
Engineers, purchase managers, IT managers. These
changes threw different challenges to Kimberly Tan
who was tasked to head the finance of the Joint Venture.
Why downsize? Environmental change; Firms response
to environmental change; effect of downsizing; process
issues

20

Case: Human Resource

Management System
Reform at Matsushita

Matsushita was a traditional Japanese company that

followed the policy of lifetime employment.
However, in the wake of slow down of global economy,
company started posting losses and was forced to
change its employment policy. The case discusses how
Nakamura, the new President of Matsushita introduced
a new personnel system with the objective of reducing
human resource cost to the company.

Pedagogy: The course will be conducted as a mixture of lecture on conceptual issues and
case based discussion on selected topics. A small introductory lecture will be given on
different critical HR areas to prepare the students to understand the challenge faced by a
business organization. After this introduction, a real life case of a business organization will
be taken up for discussion and debate to understand the challenge faced by it in designing and
executing certain types of HR polices and practices with significant effects on its business
performance. Prior reading of the cases and class participation are desired. Class participation
will be monitored and assessed both on frequency as well as quality of questions asked and
preparations shown by answering instructors questions. All reference books specifically
referred to in the topic list will be available in the library under overnight section all the time.
Evaluation:
1. One hour quiz during mid term week
2. Class participation
3. Comprehensive end term exam

40%
10%
50%

Text book: Strategic Human Resource Management: A resource driven perspective- Pulak
Das, Cengage Learning, New Delhi, 2011.
Course References:
1. Contemporary Issues in human resource management: Gaining competitive advantageChris Brewster, Lorraine Carey, Peter Dowling, Peter Grobler, Peter Holland and Surette
Warnich, Oxford. 2003, 2nd edition.
2. Managing Diversity: Towards a globally inclusive workplace- Michalle E. Mor Barak 2nd
edition, Sage 2011.
3. Strategy and human resource management - J.E. Butler, G.R. Ferris & N.K. Napier. South
Western Publishing Co. 1991
4. Strategic Human Resource Management- Olive Lundy and Allan Cowling London:
Routledge 1996.
5. Strategic Human Resources: Frameworks for General Managers- James N. Baron &
David M. Kreps, John Wiley & Sons, 1999.

6. Managing Human Resources in Cross-border alliances- Randal S. Schuller, Susan E.

Jackson, and Yadong Luo, Routledge, 2004

13.

The Economics of Human Resources (EC/HR-225)

Indian Institute of Management Calcutta
Post Graduate Programme 2014-15

Course Name/Code
Term
Name of Course Coordinator
Name of the Instructor(s)
Course Prerequisites (if any)

Restrictions on course registration [Credit Only]

Minimum number of students required to offer the course

EC225/HR225
PGP II, Term 5
Prof. Debashish Bhattacherjee
Prof. Debashish Bhattacherjee
Although there are no formal pre-requisites for this
course, the instructor assumes that the enrolled
student is familiar with basic microeconomics and
macroeconomics as well as statistical methods (all
of which have been done in the first year). Students
who have done Econometric Methods in Term 4
will find this course useful.
60 [out of which max 5 STEP students]
10

Objective: The objective of this course is to familiarize MBA students with the basic analytical tools used by
labor economists to study labor market processes and labor market outcomes. The essential purpose here is to
expose business school students to both the neoclassical and the institutional approaches to the study of human
resources and labor markets. The course is specifically designed and targeted for b-school students interested in
effecting managerial change in their organizations in the context of globalization and rapid economic change.
Consequently, the course stresses more on concepts, policy, and empirical procedures rather than on the
intricacies of economic formalism.
Session Plan:
Session 1:

Introduction to Course & A Primer on Empirical Method(s) / Reading: Borjas, Chapter 1

Session 2:

Labor Supply 1 / Reading: Borjas, Chapter 2

Session 3:

Labor Supply 2 / Reading: Borjas, Chapter 3

Session 4:

Labor Demand / Reading: Borjas, Chapter 4