Q2- Describe the purpose and the primary objectives of Coca-Colas

H.R. department.
The Coca-Cola H.R. department provides associates with the opportunities to
develop knowledge and skills that lead to more effective job performance. The
developmental process is a joint responsibility between managers and
associates. This process includes determining development needs, agreeing on
the development methods, and coaching. Methods of development may include
on-the-job experiences, specific training programs, or other developmental
approaches. Development, coaching, and feedback are extensions of the
performance appraisal process, and prepare associates for current and future
business needs.
To enhance the performance of individuals and departments to meet business
needs, a combination of internal and external resources may be utilized.
Coca-Cola operates in a pay for performance business environment. The
companys total compensation programs are structured to drive value creation,
to provide cost-effective rewards that are meaningful to associates, and to
encourage continuous learning, making the company as successful as it can be.
Integral to the success in the nearly 200 countries where they do business are
the people of the Coca-Cola business system who remain intensely focused on
creating long-term value for their share owners. Such value creation depends on
the people ability to consistently identify new growth opportunities and to
develop innovative ways to convert opportunity to value. The company institute
processes to enhance skills and capabilities.

Q7- As director to H.R. department with Coca-Cola, what are the main reasons
behind expatriate failure in his/her international assignment?
The company uses expatriate for many reasons, including their competence to
fill positions, their need to foreign experience, the need to refine their business
skills, and their ability to control operations according to headquarters
preferences.
Some candidates face problem during their international assignment. Some of
these problems are the following:

Technical competence

Adaptiveness

Local acceptance
A major failure occurs when the expatriate is unfamiliar with the technical
necessities of the position and how to adapt to foreign variations. Because of the
need of technical competence, managers have several years of work experience
behind them before a company offers them a foreign assignment.
A malfunction also exists when the expatriate lack the following types of
adaptive characteristics:

Those needed for self-maintenance, such as self-confidence and personal

resourcefulness.

Those related to the development of satisfactory relationships with host

nationals, such as flexibility and tolerance.

Cognitive skills and sensitivities that help one to perceive accurately what is

occurring within the host society.

A frequent reason for failure in a foreign assignment is the inability of the
members of his family to adjust to their new home.
Expatriates may encounter some acceptance problems regardless of who they
are or where they come from. It usually takes time before employees view
managers as legitimate.
Those are some of the main failure that faces an expatriate in his international
assignment.
The Challenger model creates great sales representatives, but can chief HR officers apply the models concepts to their teams, too?
We think so: in multiple studies we have found that the best HR staff improve the talent and business outcomes of their organizations in
ways that have clear parallels to how Sales Challengers work to achieve great sales results.
Sales Challengers teach their customers by focusing sales conversations on insightnot productsto bring a unique perspective on
the customers business. They are also not afraid to be assertive; they are comfortable with tension and are unlikely to acquiesce to
every customer demand.
The best HR staff teach with their strong analytical abilities and lead conversationsnot just with HR databut with data-driven talent
insights to articulate the link between business and people challenges. Secure in their analyses and functional expertise, they are also
comfortable in asserting the value of talent management solutions and influencing leaders to select the best solutions the HR function
can deliver.
The Chief People Officer and SVP at The Coca-Cola Company, Ceree Eberly, takes an active role in developing HR Challengers at
the organization. We discussed key talent management issues with Ms. Eberly; below is an excerpt from that conversation.
CEB: How are you developing your HR team to be better at understanding the business and, from there, to teach and tailor talent
solutions?
Ceree Eberly, Coca-Cola: Our global, regional, and individual development plans all include programs aimed at building our business
muscle. It doesnt matter which chair youre in, if youre doing transactions or designing global compensation solutions in a center of
expertise, you have to understand the customer and the business around the world. Being part of a global team gives us an
opportunity to learn whenever we travel. Part of our leadership teams development plan is to spend time in the market, and we build in
local market visits as part of our global routines. We get to spend time with the business leader learning about the business, the
salespeople, and the operations team, as well as visit many places in the market where our products are offered. Afterward we debrief
our learnings and observations as a way to have fresh eyes for our leaders as well. Its fun and benefits both parties in learning about
the business.
CEB: Do line leaders appreciate the curiosity and interest in learning that your team demonstrates?
Ceree Eberly, Coca-Cola: The fascinating thing is that the leaders and general managers who work with us in a specific location are
so excited about our engagement. They appreciate that we genuinely want to learnthat is really something they value. Weve built the
strength of the partnership and the credibility of the function, because were incredibly curious, asking a lot of good questions, were
debriefing the visit, making recommendations on how the business can do certain things. The leaders are really engaged with us. Ive
had leaders re-arrange their schedules to fly back in to be with us at a dinner or to take us into the marketplace. They know that by our
actions that were learning and can add value to their business.
The full text of this interview can be found in CHRO Quarterly magazine (for CEB Corporate Leadership Council members), which
examines the most important issues related to managing human capital. Articles feature the latest insights from around the corporate
suite, new trends in HR, and personal stories from heads of HR at the worlds largest organizations. Read More

One of the biggest mistakes managers make is that they dont listen to their employees, says
Sameer Wadhawan, who heads human resources for Coca-Cola Co.s India and South West
Asia operations.
Mr. Wadhawan says that in a rush to accomplish targets, managers often dont take the time
to listen to their subordinates aspirations and problems. If they did, this could boost the
teams performance and elevate the manager into a leader.
In a wide-ranging interview with India Real Time, Mr. Wadhawan shared tips on how to
become better managers and how Coca-Cola hires in India. The following interview has been
edited.
WSJ: What are common mistakes managers make?
Mr. Wadhawan: Management is all about leadership. Im not talking about setting an
example in your area of expertise. Thats taken for granted. What matters is your ability to
envision, inspire, and accordingly motivate others to excel at what they do.
One of the biggest mistakes managers make is that, in a rush to accomplish their targets, they
sacrifice quality listening time. They dont stop to ask: Is my team member motivated
enough? Is he happy working for the organization? Is he performing up to his potential?
A simple, two-minute conversation can go a long way in solving your employees concerns
and addressing potential issues which may hamper their performance in the future.
WSJ: How can managers deal with employees who are upset about their performance
reviews?
Mr. Wadhawan: The trick to tackling this situation is to let there be no surprises at the yearend performance review.
For instance, if throughout the year, you are telling an employee hes excellent at his job and
at the end of the year his score card reads no better than an average performer, theres clearly
a problem.
So, the onus lies on how well a manager defines objectives for his team, sets tangible goals
for each team member and imparts regular feedback for each of the assigned tasks.
However, if such a situation still arises, have an open door discussion and spell out why you
rated an employee in a particular way. While setting up a transparent mechanism is important,
dont forget to picture yourself in the employees shoes while imparting feedback.
WSJ: How should an employee cope with office politics?
Mr. Wadhawan: Well, office politics is a reality. The only way to tackle the situation is to
create a free, fair and transparent environment where coworkers are encouraged to put forth
their views.

Coca-Cola India
Pictured, Mr. Wadhawan.
The first step would be to facilitate a debate and discussion with the colleague affecting you.
While you are entitled to spell out whats on your mind, recognize that the coworker in
question is also entitled to his view.
Dont be stuck up on what you feel is right. Try understanding the issue from his perspective.
By doing so, you may realize that the problem lies in your perception of the situation.
However, if that doesnt solve things, leverage off your companys whistle-blowing
mechanisms. For example, at Coca-Cola, you can choose to anonymously report your
grievances at an employee hotline or approach the ethics officer in your branch with your
concerns.
WSJ: What can a manager do in such a situation?
Mr. Wadhawan: Take immediate action if politics is being played. Spend time to understand
the situation and facilitate a healthy discussion among your team members. As a manager, its
your responsibility to take an informed, apolitical, and transparent decision at the end of the
day.
WSJ: On another note, what are Coca-Cola Indias hiring plans for the year?
Mr. Wadhawan: We hire as per requirement. Our attrition is much below the industry
average and hence we dont have to hire too many employees. The business unit along with
its bottling partners currently has about 25,000 employees.
Our hiring spans diverse domains. Being a marketing and bottling company, a major chunk of
our talent is primarily for those functions, but we also hire for our tech, finance, human
resources, communications and operations divisions.
WSJ: What are the big no-nos in a managerial interview?
Mr. Wadhawan: For starters, dont talk about something if you are unsure of it. Instead, be
candid and admit your lack of expertise in that particular field. Its a quality well appreciated
by an interviewer. Youre not expected to know everything!
Second, dont let the brand name be the driving force for a job switch. Of course, its
phenomenal that you want to work for a great brand, but what interviewers really want to
hear is how the job would enhance your long term career.

Third, dont talk about what youve accomplished stress how you accomplished it.
Lastly, you may have the right skills for the job, but if you dont appear to have invested in
building the softer aspects of your personality, you are unlikely to be picked. Are you
positive, open-minded, relationship-oriented, or perhaps a good listener? Your personality can
go a long way in ensuring you have a successful interview. Dont overlook that factor.
Correction: Coca-Cola system, which includes a bottling unit and some bottling partners,
has 25,000 employees in India. An earlier version of this post misstated the number of
employees.

Global Human Resource Management at Coca-Cola

The Coca-Cola Company is one of the most successful multinational enterprises. With
operations in close to 200 countries and nearly 80 percent of its operating income derived
from businesses outside the United States, Coca-Cola is typically perceived as the
quintessential global corporation. Coca-Cola, however, likes to think of itself as a "multilocal" company that just happens to be headquartered in Atlanta but could be headquartered
anywhere and that presents the Coca-Cola brand with a "local face" in every country where it
does business. The philosophy is best summarized by the phrase "think globally, act locally,"
which captures the essence of Coca-Cola's cross-border management mentality. Coca-Cola
grants national businesses the freedom to conduct operations in a manner appropriate to the
market. At the same time, the company tries to establish a common mind-set that all its
employees share.
Coca-Cola manages its global operations through 25 operating divisions that are organized
under six regional groups: North America, the European Union, the Pacific Region, the east
Europe/Middle East Group, Africa, and Latin America. The corporate human resource
management (HRM) function is charged with providing the glue that binds these various
divisions and groups into the Coca-Cola family. The corporate HRM function achieves this in
two main ways: (1) by propagating a common human resources philosophy within the
company, and (2) by developing a group of internationally minded mid-level executives for
future senior management responsibility.
The corporate HRM group sees its mission as one of developing and providing the underlying
philosophy around which local businesses can develop their own human resource practices.
For example, rather than have a standard salary policy for all its national operations, CocaCola has a common salary philosophy--the total compensation package should be competitive
with the best companies in the local market. Twice a year the corporate HRM group also
conducts a two-week HRM orientation session for the human resource staff from each of its
25 operating divisions. These sessions give an overview of the company's HRM philosophy
and talk about how local businesses can translate that philosophy into human resource
policies. Coca-Cola has found that information sharing is one of the great benefits of bringing
HRM professionals together. For example, tools that have been developed in Brazil to deal
with a specific HRM problem might also be useful in Australia. The sessions provide a
medium through which HRM professionals can communicate and learn from each other,

which facilitates the rapid transfer of innovative and valuable HRM tools from region to
region.
As much as possible, Coca-Cola tries to staff its operations with local personnel. To quote
one senior executive: "We strive to have a limited number of international people in the field
because generally local people are better equipped to do business at their home locations."
However, expatriates are needed in the system for two main reasons. One is to fill a need for
a specific set of skills that might not exist at a particular location. For example, when CocaCola started operations in Eastern Europe, it had to bring in an expatriate from Chicago, who
was of Polish descent, to fill the position of finance manager. The second reason for using
expatriates is to improve the employee's own skill base. Coca-Cola believes that because it is
a global company, senior managers should have had international exposure.
The corporate HRM group has about 500 high-level managers involved in its "global service
program." Coca-Cola characterizes these managers as people who have knowledge of their
particular field, plus knowledge of the company, and who can do two things in an
international location--add value by the expertise they bring to each assignment and enhance
their contribution to the company by having international experience. Of the 500 participants
in the program, about 200 move each year. To ease the costs of transfer for these employees,
Coca-Cola gives those in its global service program a US-based compensation package. They
are paid according to US benchmarks, as opposed to the benchmark prevailing in the country
in which they are located. Thus, an Indian manager in this program who is working in Britain
will be paid according to US salary benchmarks--and not those prevailing in either India or
Britain. An ultimate goal of this program is to build a cadre of internationally minded highlevel managers from which the future senior managers of Coca-Cola will be drawn.

Introduction
Continuing our survey of specific functions within an international business, this chapter
examines international human resource management (HRM). Human resource
managementrefers to the activities an organization carries out to use its human resource
effectively.1 These activities include determining the firm's human resource strategy, staffing,
performance evaluation, management development, compensation, and labor relations. As the
opening case on Coca-Cola makes clear, none of these activities is performed in a vacuum;
all are related to the strategy of the firm because, as we will see, HRM has an important
strategic component.2 Through its influence on the character, development, quality, and
productivity of the firm's human resources, the HRM function can help the firm achieve its
primary strategic goals of reducing the costs of value creation and adding value by better
serving customer needs.
The strategic role of HRM is complex enough in a purely domestic firm, but it is more
complex in an international business, where staffing, management development, performance
evaluation, and compensation activities are complicated by profound differences between
countries in labor markets, culture, legal systems, economic systems, and the like (see
Chapters 2 and 3). For example,

Compensation practices may vary from country to country depending on prevailing

management customs.
Labor laws may prohibit union organization in one country and mandate it in another.
Equal employment legislation may be strongly pursued in one country and not in
another.

If it is to build a cadre of international managers, the HRM function must deal with a host of
issues related to expatriate managers. (An expatriate manager is a citizen of one country
who is working abroad in one of the firm's subsidiaries.)
The opening case detailed how Coca-Cola deals with some of these issues. Coca-Cola copes
with differences between countries by articulating a common HRM philosophy, but by letting
each national operation translate this philosophy into HRM specific policies that are best
suited to their operating environment. Coca-Cola also tries to build a cadre of internationally
minded executives through its global service program, which involves the HRM function of
identifying and managing the career development of a key group of executives from which
future senior management will be selected. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Coca-Cola
sees the HRM function as a vital link in the implementation of its strategic goal of thinking
globally and acting locally.
In this chapter, we will look closely at the role of HRM in an international business. We begin
by briefly discussing the strategic role of HRM. Then we turn our attention to four major
tasks of the HRM function--staffing policy, management training and development,
performance appraisal, and compensation policy. We will point out the strategic implications
of each of these tasks. The chapter closes with a look at international labor relations and the
relationship between the firm's management of labor relations and its overall strategy.

Human Resources: its a term that, in recent years, has become more associated with process and
administration than care, and the employees journey. However, as companies increasingly examine
the treatment of people outside their corporate walls their customers and their experience at every
point of engagement with the company, so are leadership teams scrutinizing the employee
experience, and looking to ensure their internal customers are on a similarly joyful path.
For the regular shared services organization, sometimes there is confusion over who the customer is
is it the payee of the shared services bill (ie the country CFO or the Managing Director of a business
unit), or is it all employees that have a touch point with the SSO? Shared services globally have
begun to register the importance of the internal customer journey. But so far it seems especially to
be the companies that have made or are making the transition to Global Business Services that really
get the importance of the concept and know how to deliver on it.
This article examines how shared services and Global Business Services can get better at enhancing
not just the internal customer experience, but the employee experience as well, when engaging with
the GBS on HR matters.
At a recent sharedserviceslink event in Atlanta, speaker Patrick van Hoegaerden, Global Director of
HR Operations at The Coca-Cola Company, illustrated the steps taken by the companys Global
Business Services to look specifically at the employees journey, to see that an employee is treated
with compassion, care, thoughtfulness and consistency.
Here are the nine recommendations that Patrick shared with the audience:

1. Start with the end user experience in mind. When mapping out ideal processes, we often start
in the weeds, without asking ourselves, What is the intention of this process? What does the end
result look like that shows us we have been successful in this process? Start with the end, and build
your process from there. For The Coca-Cola Company, this has meant that the Global Business
Service organization has gotten as close as possible to what a company associate would want to
experience when engaging with HR. This means a Global Business Services needs empathy they
need to walk in the shoes of their employees, and be sensitive to the emotional state that an
associate might be in at a particular HR moment.
2. Avoid the cold experience. We are all aware when we are at the receiving end of a cold
experience but sometimes unaware when we are creating one. Being empathetic when looking at
your HR strategy at a macro level, and then in the thick of an HR moment at a micro level, is key.
Always check in with yourself are you listening? Do you understand? Are you showing care? How
would you feel in their shoes right now? Are you letting the process dominate this experience, or are
you showing real thoughtfulness and consideration?
3. Move away from scripts. When we talk to someone who is obviously reading off a script, we feel
as if we may as well be speaking to a machine. Care never comes from reading a script. Care relies
on thoughtfulness, not script-following. This may mean you will require a different calibre of person in
your Global Business Services center. But if you start with the end in mind, you may be recruiting a
different type of person anyway.
4. Decide which HR experiences to insource and outsource. The Coca-Cola Company initially
outsourced tier one HR activities, but decided to insource when employees started to experience
coldness, and as a result stopped calling in. The outsourcer relied on scripts, so the experience was
bound to be cold. When starting with the end in mind, and then drawing up the ideal process, be clear
on who is best placed to manage which part of the process, based on your key requirements. You will
likely end up with a blended approach stemming from outsourced and captive services, but you need
clarity on who is really better at what, for each step in the process.
5. Standardize and consolidate as much as you can, while being sensitive to local cultures and
habits. The Coca-Cola Company came from a place of complex systems, where it had eight hundred
benefit programs, and over one hundred payroll providers. This complexity meant programs and
providers could potentially become unmanageable. By standardizing and consolidating, you are
introducing efficiencies which the employee will certainly benefit from. The Coca-Cola Company now
has a reduced number of benefit programs and two payroll providers, globally.
6. Deal with the employee, not the request. This is a key tip, and Patrick talked about the big
difference this approach made. By focusing on a request, a service agent can think job done, when
they havent really understood the context of the employee's problem. The Global Business Services
team has moved away from a task-focussed perspective, to being clear on what success looks like
a happy and cared-for employee.
7. Use a CRM tool and run reporting off it. The Coca-Cola Company uses salesforce.com and by
ensuring all information is captured in the tool, they can recognize any inconsistencies in its service.
The Global Business Services organization offers twelve services per associate, but by reporting off
salesforce.com, it would be able, for example, to see that in a given country it only offered six. Data,
tools, and analytics can deliver this information, and enable you to respond appropriately.
8. Watch out for your language. Patrick talked about having a high awareness of what language
you use when talking with the associate. Within HR, certain terms and language are used which can
be confusing to anyone outside the function. Move away from the jargon, (however non-jargony it
seems to you), and talk like a regular person. See that you are communicating in terms that dont
leave the associate feeling confused or isolated.
9. Look after your new joiners. We all remember our first few days at a company. And we certainly
remember the glitches, like desks not being assigned, our lap top not being ready, no induction taking
place. At The Coca-Cola Company, the Global Business Services center has one person looking after
each recruit, and seeing that all onboarding steps are started, finished and completed. This means the

new joiner is essentially account-managed by one person through this sometimes tense experience.
The HR results have been impressive for The Coca-Cola Companys Global Business Services.
The service level agreement is now 97%
The HR part of the Global Business Services is increasing its scale, and taking on more HR
services
The customer satisfaction score stands at 4.8 out of 5
And every good story ends with a twist. Patrick leads the HR part of the Global Business Services, but
heres the rub: this is the first HR role hes had. He joined The Coca-Cola Company in 1998 as CFO
for Egypt, and became Finance Director for larger markets and, most recently, Finance
Transformation Director for Europe. The message is this: with Global Business Services now
encompassing finance, HR, procurement and other chief back-office functions, finance processionals,
who make up the majority of Shared Services Leaders, need not be daunted by the prospect of
leading a multi-functional Global Business Services organization.
- See more at: http://www.sharedserviceslink.com/article/9-ways-the-coca-cola-company-is-puttinghuman-back-into-hr#sthash.3lM4G1FN.dpuf

The Human Resource Issues Faced By

Coca Cola
This assignment will give you an overall idea about human resource issues because Coca-Cola brought 10,000
employees, and thus doubling its workforce. In such conditions, as stated, Coca-cola faced complexity with
unnecessary employees and, resignations and sacks. Under these circumstances HR management needed to
conduct staff appraisal to setup objectives to achieve company's goals.

1a) Critically appraise varied human resource management perspectives and their
impacts on the development of business strategy.
Three varied human management perspectives are Universalist approach, fit or contingency approach and
resource-based approach.
Positive impacts of the Universalist approach are: not dependent on competitive strategy of organization, based
on four HR policy goals (strategic integration, commitment, flexibility and equality), clarify organisational goals,
considers stakeholder's influence on employee's performance. The negative impacts are: the goals are often
unachievable, internal consistency difficult due to contradictions, some elements lead to confusion.
Positive impacts of the fit or contingency approach are: provides a simple framework showing how selection,
appraisal, development and rewards can be mutually geared to produce required employee performance.
Negative impacts of this approach are: does not address what to do if unable to produce required employee
behavior and performance, assumes employees will behave as requested.
Positive impacts of the resource-based approach are: it's concerned with the relationships between internal (HR)
resources, strategy and firm performance, focuses on achieving competitive advantage using human capital,
focus on behavior, skills, knowledge, attitudes and competencies, involves measuring, reporting and managing
human capital, organisation can 'loan' human capital. Negative impacts are: requires coherent framework in order
to decide on the measures, and refers to people as 'human capital'.

1b) What are the current situations/difficulties regarding these issues in Coca-Cola and
Dabur companies?
Coca-Cola changed their pay rate in line with other Indian companies, thus meaning it was dependent on their
competitive strategy. This does not follow the Universalist approach as it contradicts their decision. Coca-Cola
instead adapted the resource-based approach; they focused on achieving competitive advantage by investing in

developing human capital. The fact they concentrated significantly on human resource development satisfied
several criteria of this approach.
Dabur to some degree maintained the universalist approach as it provided clarity of goals (the three-fold
recommendations), and it recognized the majority stakeholders' (the Burman family) influence in creating a
'family-oriented' working environment for its employees. Dabur met the criteria of the fit or contingency approach
by aiming for consistency across workforce; recognizing it had to give rewards to junior sales officers and
representatives for achieving target, they allowed certain employees to club their leaves and enjoy a vacation.

1c) How can they improve this situation?

The best way for Coca-Cola and Dabur to improve their situation was to meet more criteria for any certain
approach. E.g. Coca-Cola should concentrate on the resource-based approach as it has already met some of its
criteria, whereas Dabur should concentrate on the fit or contingency approach as it has already met a lot of its
criteria. By maintaining and meeting the criteria of any one approach both companies can hope to be in a better
situation.

2a) Critically analyse the importance of alignment between an organizations corporate

strategy and objectives, and its human resource strategy.
Each of the five steps to the alignment of an organisation's corporate strategy and objectives, and its human
resource strategy, contribute and are of significant importance:
1. separation - no relationship at this stage, thus unimportant.
2. fit -recognises importance of people in achieving organizational strategy.
3. dialogue - recognises need for two-way communication and some debate.
4. holistic - recognises people as the key to competitive advantage rather than a way of implementing
organisational strategy.
5. HR Driven - places HR strategy in prime position.

2b) Then by considering the case study compare real activities about alignment between
an organizations corporate strategy and objectives in Coca Cola and Dabur with best
practice (theoretical view) to identify what the difficulties are regarding this issue in
these companies?
Coca-Cola began by recognising human resource's significance in the restricting process. This led to
appointment of managers in the six regions, and an area general. They then recognised the importance of two
communications by ensuring the Regional General Managers report to the VP, who in turn report to the CEO.
Coca-Cola then took the fourth step by recognising their employees as the key to competitive advantage by
bringing together employees from different work cultures and value systems. Their final step was to put the
employees in prime position by taking a strategic level decision to turn itself into people-driven company.
Dabur used HR strategy as an important part of its restructuring process. It started by recognising the importance
of people in achieving the organisational strategy by introducing employee friendly initiatives like annual sales
conferences. It then recognised two-way communication by introducing an interactive newsletter. It further
recognised employees as key to competitive advantage by commissioning consultants to formulate an employee
stock Option Plan. To put HR in prime position they decided to extend the scheme.

2c). How can you solve these problems?

Coca-cola's problems were the number of employees leaving the company. By better control of the unrest among
employees, and by other means such as not downgrading the centres, would have allowed Coca-Cola to avoid
this crisis. Problem was Dabur didn't use HR strategy as significantly. If HR strategy played a bigger role in the
organisational strategy it would have been more beneficial to the Dabur.

3a). Judge the required processes of assessing the effectiveness of a given human
resource strategy and its impact on overall corporate strategy.
In assessing the effectiveness of a HR strategy we use the below issues: the HR approach by reaching the
corporate strategy objectives. We evaluated the impact of human resource (HR) managers' capabilities on HR
management effectiveness and the latter's impact on corporate strategy. Effectiveness is associated with
capabilities and attributes of HR staff. We also found relationships between HR management effectiveness and
productivity, cash flow, and market value. Findings were consistent across market and accounting measures of
performance and with corrections for biases.

3b). What are the existing condition/difficulties regarding this issue in these companies?
Coca-Cola HR carefully revised plan to achieve goals, or developing/carrying-out planned strategies. Coca-cola
decreased payment and additional facilities for the employees. Virtually they compact the needless extra facilites.
At the first phase Coca-Cola HR strategy could not develop leadership and management released a flow of
records which led the company to loss with extra outlay.
Darbur has a people-leaning work culture, therefore has no proper HR development to target. The evaluation of
companionship earnings and expenses is not vigorously monitored it was a stride following its competitors. From
the case study we could not find any loot system from the Dabur before restricting. According to information given
Dabur is a family business so the relation between family members are okay but the relation between employees
and higher management might be problematic.

3c) How can these companies improve their situation regarding this issue?
The companies need to reform their organization and make sure that changes need to be accepted by people.
The concern is Coca-cola need a stable leader. Because need of business chiefs will affect company's direction
and profits. The rewards are incentives, oversee operation etc. Also, employee encouragement needed for better
outcome.

4a) Argue the appropriate human resource strategies for organizations facing mergers,
acquisitions, strategic alliances and joint ventures.
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and corporate restructuring are a big part of the corporate finance world. We
have little information regarding these events. To understand and study the authors mainly developed a
connectional framework. HR management gives a border process of leaning model. This model represents
similarities and complements of merging companies. The HR strategies are different for each company, and also
depend on circumstances. The merger, acquisition, strategies and joint venture take place because of four
motives. Those are enlargement and synergy. Actually human resources management will study both motives of
these companies. They will decide whether they will merge or acquisition a company for faster growth synergy, if
these companies rapidly increase. We can say using the change in technique. In some company merger or
acquisition planning, we need to understand what we are getting into (Do I go ahead? Adjust the price? Walk
away?). This is your one shot in understanding the business before closing the deal. You also want to reduce any
post-acquisition surprises (what will we need to work on after acquisition; integration issues, personnel issues,
obsolete equipment requiring replacement, warranty exposures, major contracts, and customer's base). An
important key to remember is "It's not only the numbers!"

4b). After that by relying on the given information in the case study compare current
situation of HR strategies in the occasions of mergers, acquisitions, strategic alliances
and joint ventures in Coca Cola and Dabur with best practice (theoretical views) to
detect possible difficulties regarding this issue in these companies?
In the case study Coca-cola used the HR management strategy. Coca-Cola merged with four bottling companies.
Coca-cola used growth and synergy for these merges. This means harder HR issues because of merges, CocaCola brought 10000 employees, meaning doubled work force. In this condition Coca-cola faced complexity with
unnecessary employees and, resignations and sacks. Under these circumstances HR management needed to
decrease outlay. With too much labor they cannot be so, they discharge people so it threats an unstable situation.

4c). How these problems can be solved?

As of the company outlook, if they want to reduce employees, then they can do so, but from employee's view
these dismissals affect their families. So companies could consider the employee's experience with them. By
providing compensation for dismissal there is fairness (HR management has to balance both side).

5a) Appraise different methods of employees' selection.

The different methods of employees' selection are as follows:
Interview:
Positive sides of interviews are: have the chance to see how the person dress, speak, communicate, behave,
whether clean or not, and learn their personalities. Negatives are: stressful for interviewees, very subjective,
'talking is not everything', unable to explore technical skills, and personality clashes.
Assessment centres:
Positives are: candidates like them and generally predict job performance accurately. Negatives are: slow
process, costly method and not always reliable.
Psychometric tests:
Psychometric tests (test for normal or abnormal personality, ability or intelligence, interests or attitudes) are used
along with assessment centres, as it gives a better evaluation than either used alone.
Work simulations:
Candidates are put into small scale job situations.
Full Reference checks:
Consider the 'reference letters', contact people who recommended applicants, contact applicant's manager or
colleagues, get information from independent assessors.
CV/Biographical information:
Positive side: it's a very good source of information regarding the applicant. But, negative side is that it is useful
only if real and true.
Graphology:
Involves analyzing handwriting in relation to human psychology. Positive side: helps understand applicant's
personality. Negative side: based fully on psychological decisions.

5b) What are the current situations/difficulties regarding these issue in these
companies?
Coca-cola appointed a new CEO, a VP (Operations), six Regional General Manager. They also appointed Arthur
Anderson to inspect accounts in North India.
Dabur appointed a new CEO and 3 vice presidents.

5c) How can they improve this situation?

Coca-cola needs to ensure they hire trustworthy and uncorrupted employees in order to avoid scandals like the
one they faced with the North India operations.
As it is the first time Dabur is taking such a step by reorganising their structure, it would be best to hire a
professional external recruitment agency as they would have better experience and knowledge regarding hiring
employees then Dabur would.

6a) Critically assess strategies for employee deployment, redeployment, poor

performance and retention.
Employee Deployment is the number of employees required in each department, time period for which they are
required and the skills required. Employee Redeployment is transferring employees from one
department/position to another for effectiveness. Poor Performance is mainly due to Lack of Ability (lack of
training or resources) and Low Motivation (lack of desire and commitment). Employee Retention is the policies
and practices used by companies to stop valuable employees from leaving (mainly because they spend
considerable time, effort and money to find, recruit and train employees).

6b) Then by considering the case study compare real activities about "employee
development, performance and retention" in Coca Cola & Dabur with best practice
(theoretical views) to identify what the difficulties are regarding these issues in these
companies?
Coca-cola decided to employ new managers and senior officers, which required Employee Deployment, during
their restructuring. They used Employee Redeployment in order to ensure the new 10,000 employees brought
from merger were being used efficiently. They tried combating Poor Performance by introducing 'talent
development meetings', training and foreign internship. But, couldn't prevent Employee Retention as 40
managers and some senior personnel left.
Dabur used Employee Deployment to employ new senior officers (i.e. a CEO and three Vice Presidents) and
restructure their business. Dabur tried to prevent Poor Performance by introducing newsletters for better
employee communication. Dabur maintained Employee Retention as they successfully kept hold of employees.

6c) How can you solve these problems?

Coca-cola can solve this problem by preventing Employee Retention by putting in place policies and practices to
stop employees leaving. Dabur could be more efficient by using Employee Redeployment.

7a). Assess the relative importance of the creation of the learning organization through
self-managed learning, the promotion of intellectual capital and knowledge
management.
Learning organization is the organization's ability to use mental capacity of its members to create the processes
that will improve its own. The technical view assumes that organizational learning is about the effective
processing interpretation of, and response to, information both inside and outside the organization.
The points below will help understand why the learning organization is important to both companies, they are:
Awareness of new and different perspectives.
Personal growth and development.
Ability to see complexities in making decisions.
Awareness of new options and ability to create options
Companies to thinking about reduce to the work force, as they have double than required.
Sense of career directions.
The promotion of intellectual capital and knowledge management:
Intellectual capital is knowledge that can be exploited for money - making or other useful purpose. The term
combines the idea of the intellect or brain power with the economic concept of capital, the saving of entitled
benefits so that they can be invested in producing more goods and services.
Enhance productivity through improved creation, access and distribution of knowledge. Promoting changed
organization to achieve more effective knowledge management. Coordinating technology and human resource
development. The management of the intellectual capital in the knowledge intensive organization might also
contribute positively to individual well being, as well argue.

Knowledge management is the first competency that an organization needs to develop for the management of
intellectual capital. Knowledge management constitutes the ability of an organization to learn, to remember what
it learned, and to leverage what it learned internally and externally. Internally by transferring it to different workers
and department. Externally by sharing it with supplier's distributor's partners and customers.

7b). What are the existing condition/difficulties regarding this issue in these companies?
There were difficulties in Coca Cola and Dabur. They are: learning organization, intellectual capital, knowledge
management.
Difficulties of learning organization: there is no problem with teaching workers presentation skills. Coca cola and
Dabur's scheme did not. Companies thought about reducing employees.
Intellectual capital is more difficult to put a value on, the extent to which it has loyal customers, how it is regarded
in the local community and the extent to which it has long term satisfactory relationship with key external
agencies. For company recruitment of pupils from the local catchments area might seem an obvious surrogate
but it is not a good measure on its own as parents often have no choice.
Difficulties of knowledge management: reports about successful and failed knowledge management initiatives
using various IT systems exist, it is important to analyse the reports before defining the requirement of a
knowledge management. The following list shows the problems and they are;
Restructuring are a big part of both company, it has to resolve.
System not accepted. Lack of user uptake due to insufficient communication.
Information is not classified properly in knowledge management system.
Using theoretical knowledge for practical problem.
Lack of time and training.
The knowledge distribution system does not make sense.
Knowledge management not integrated into normal work procedures.

7c). How can these companies improve their situation regarding this issue?
Difficulties in Coca Cola and Dabur: negative media reports, heavy investment in India and Japan,
accommodation and foreign trips for bottlers. Both companies think about reducing employees.
Hence, we believe the below discussions may help to improve their situation regarding the above mentioned
issues:
We must be completely updated on current assignments and accomplishments of employees. If employees do
not have own initiatives to work, then HR consultants need to review the situation with the employee to achieve
more work progress and to reduce employees.
Specify problems with productivity, quality of work, interactions with co-workers, clients or any other problematic
behaviour/incidents in the office. If there are specific complaints from supervisors, clients and customers we
should read them and conduct necessary investigation to obtain full details and follow proper procedure
regarding how we are handled Coca Cola and Dabur evaluation.

8a) Critically evaluate the role of performance review and strategies for management
development.
The Appraisal Scheme aims to identify the management development needs of staff in order to improve the
performance of individuals and of the organisation to achieve company's key objectives.
We believe, it'ss responsible for the line manager to check and review each objectives every year. 6-monthly
interim reviews are optional. Such as:
staffs need to know how they can contribute to organisational success

review past performance

develop potential and help improve current performance
maintain high performance
set up both companies objectives to achieve companies goals
assess learning and management development needs
Appraisal link assessment for future development with current performance. It provides a stronger role for line
management in development. It gives the individual the opportunity to discuss his or her career intentions
concerns and views with somebody else. It becomes a vehicle for mentoring where the manager is supported
and provided with development opportunities.
Performance management is strategic in the sense it is concerned with the broader issues facing businesses if
it's to function effectively in its environment and with the general direction in which the business intends to go.

8b). After that by relying on the given information in the case study compare current
situation of performance review and management development in Coca-cola and Dabur
with best practice (theoretical views) to detect possible difficulties regarding this issue in
these companies?
Both companies have difficulties with media reports, heavy investment in India and Japan, accommodation and
foreign trips, we also believe both companies' managers hasn't conducted the staff performance review and
haven't given objectives to employees. They had other staff during that period and so was having financial
looses.
As best practice management development is best described as the process from which managers learn and
improve their skills, investment in management development can have economic benefits to the organization.

8c). How these problems can be solved?

Discussion below may help improve Coca Cola and Dabur's problems:
leadership and motivation creates and maintains an effective/motivating environment where people strive for
quality of service and is supportive of all staff; fosters a commitment for achieving companies goals
consultant managers will meet with employees at the end of the evaluation period to formally discuss, evaluate
and develop company's new goals.
reduce employees
requires promotion and advertising
talent managers have to setup objectives for the employees to achieve company's goals for the coming years
identify and implement changes to improve performance to provide a clear understanding of how to be
successful
provide feedback regarding employees' performance and development
role-based performance metrics and look at training needs across a group

Conclusion:
The company outlook to reduce employees, so companies could consider employees experience, provide
compensation for dismissal.
Advertising and promotion required for both companies to achieve goals. Performance of employees is
evaluated. We also found relationships between HR management effectiveness and productivity, cash flow, and
market value.
The companies need reorganization with expert employees to overcome the issues faced.

Introduction
In the era of present competitive business world, Human Resource Management is an important and
one of the vital issues for any type of organization. Day by day human resource management is
becoming as a part and parcel study management. By human resource management we mean that it is
a process of recruiting, selecting and developing people at work. Human resource management can be
distinguished from personnel management in terms of some key issues of managerial activities.

Human Resources: its a term that, in recent years, has become more associated with process and
administration than care, and the employees journey. However, as companies increasingly examine
the treatment of people outside their corporate walls their customers and their experience at every
point of engagement with the company, so are leadership teams scrutinizing the employee
experience, and looking to ensure their internal customers are on a similarly joyful path.

For the regular shared services organization, sometimes there is confusion over who the customer is
is it the payee of the shared services bill (ie the country CFO or the Managing Director of a business
unit), or is it all employees that have a touch point with the SSO? Shared services globally have
begun to register the importance of the internal customer journey. But so far it seems especially to
be the companies that have made or are making the transition to Global Business Services that really
get

the

importance

of

the

concept

and

know

how

to

deliver

on

it.

This article examines how shared services and Global Business Services can get better at enhancing
not just the internal customer experience, but the employee experience as well, when engaging with
the

GBS

on

HR

matters.

At a recent sharedserviceslink event in Atlanta, speaker Patrick van Hoegaerden, Global Director of
HR Operations at The Coca-Cola Company, illustrated the steps taken by the companys Global
Business Services to look specifically at the employees journey, to see that an employee is treated
with

compassion,

Here

1.

are

the

nine

care,

thoughtfulness

recommendations

that

Patrick

and

shared

consistency.

with

the

audience:

Start with the end user experience in mind. When mapping out ideal processes, we often start

in the weeds, without asking ourselves, What is the intention of this process? What does the end

result look like that shows us we have been successful in this process? Start with the end, and build
your process from there. For The Coca-Cola Company, this has meant that the Global Business
Service organization has gotten as close as possible to what a company associate would want to
experience when engaging with HR. This means a Global Business Services needs empathy they
need to walk in the shoes of their employees, and be sensitive to the emotional state that an
associate

2.

might

be

in

at

particular

HR

moment.

Avoid the cold experience. We are all aware when we are at the receiving end of a cold

experience but sometimes unaware when we are creating one. Being empathetic when looking at
your HR strategy at a macro level, and then in the thick of an HR moment at a micro level, is key.
Always check in with yourself are you listening? Do you understand? Are you showing care? How
would you feel in their shoes right now? Are you letting the process dominate this experience, or are
you

3.

showing

real

thoughtfulness

and

consideration?

Move away from scripts. When we talk to someone who is obviously reading off a script, we feel

as if we may as well be speaking to a machine. Care never comes from reading a script. Care relies
on thoughtfulness, not script-following. This may mean you will require a different calibre of person in
your Global Business Services center. But if you start with the end in mind, you may be recruiting a
different

4.

type

of

person

anyway.

Decide which HR experiences to in source and outsource. The Coca-Cola Company initially

outsourced tier one HR activities, but decided to in source when employees started to experience
coldness, and as a result stopped calling in. The outsourcer relied on scripts, so the experience was
bound to be cold. When starting with the end in mind, and then drawing up the ideal process, be clear
on who is best placed to manage which part of the process, based on your key requirements. You will
likely end up with a blended approach stemming from outsourced and captive services, but you need
clarity

5.

on

who

is

really

better

at

what,

for

each

step

in

the

process.

Standardize and consolidate as much as you can, while being sensitive to local cultures and

habits. The Coca-Cola Company came from a place of complex systems, where it had eight hundred
benefit programs, and over one hundred payroll providers. This complexity meant programs and
providers could potentially become unmanageable. By standardizing and consolidating, you are
introducing efficiencies which the employee will certainly benefit from. The Coca-Cola Company now
has

6.

reduced

number

of

benefit

programs

and

two

payroll

providers,

globally.

Deal with the employee, not the request. This is a key tip, and Patrick talked about the big

difference this approach made. By focusing on a request, a service agent can think job done, when

they havent really understood the context of the employee's problem. The Global Business Services
team has moved away from a task-focussed perspective, to being clear on what success looks like
a

7.

happy

and

cared-for

employee.

Use a CRM tool and run reporting off it. The Coca-Cola Company uses salesforce.com and by

ensuring all information is captured in the tool, they can recognize any inconsistencies in its service.
The Global Business Services organization offers twelve services per associate, but by reporting off
salesforce.com, it would be able, for example, to see that in a given country it only offered six. Data,
tools, and analytics can deliver this information, and enable you to respond appropriately.

8.

Watch out for your language. Patrick talked about having a high awareness of what language

you use when talking with the associate. Within HR, certain terms and language are used which can
be confusing to anyone outside the function. Move away from the jargon, (however non-jargony it
seems to you), and talk like a regular person. See that you are communicating in terms that dont
leave

9.

the

associate

feeling

confused

or

isolated.

Look after your new joiners. We all remember our first few days at a company. And we certainly

remember the glitches, like desks not being assigned, our lap top not being ready, no induction taking
place. At The Coca-Cola Company, the Global Business Services center has one person looking after
each recruit, and seeing that all onboarding steps are started, finished and completed. This means the
new joiner is essentially account-managed by one person through this sometimes tense experience.

The HR results have been impressive for The Coca-Cola Companys Global Business Services.

The

service

level

agreement

is

now

97%

The HR part of the Global Business Services is increasing its scale, and taking on more HR

services

The

customer

satisfaction

score

stands

at

4.8

out

of

And every good story ends with a twist. Patrick leads the HR part of the Global Business Services, but
heres the rub: this is the first HR role hes had. He joined The Coca-Cola Company in 1998 as CFO
for Egypt, and became Finance Director for larger markets and, most recently, Finance
Transformation Director for Europe. The message is this: with Global Business Services now
encompassing finance, HR, procurement and other chief back-office functions, finance processionals,
who make up the majority of Shared Services Leaders, need not be daunted by the prospect of
leading

multi-functional

Global

Business

Services

organization.

There are a few good habits an HR manager must adopt to stay relevant and be highly effective
Shyam Sharma
An organisation is only as good as its people. Organisations today lay greater emphasis on the alignment of people
with the business to ensure sustainable growth. HR professionals now serve more as strategic partners than
transactional and administrative facilitators. Businesses have realised that their ability to compete in the market is
directly related to their ability to attract, train, develop, engage, motivate and retain talented people; and hence, HR
professionals have a very critical role to play.
Lets look at certain habits an HR professional should inculcate and practice, so as to excel in todays dynamic
environment:
1. Be with the business:
What is required for the business, determines everything, including the need for people. An HR professional must keep
sharpening his/her business acumen and learning about the business as it grows. He/she should continually analyse HR
metrics to ensure people in the organisation are heading in the right direction.
2. Be with the people:
It is critical for the HR manager to strike a balance and yield win-win outcomes for sustainable growth of organisation.
Only a right blend of motivated people and business acumen can help actualise the vision. An HR professional should
make oneself available to people as a mentor to create comfort among people.
3. Keep updating self:
Knowledge and skills ought to be updated from time to time. Learning is an ongoing process; and an HR professional
should keep oneself abreast of new HR practices and trends in the industry and beyond. He/she should be an avid
reader, stay creative and be open to new ideas.
4. Communicate Act - Communicate:
There is no other way to drive people and business in the right direction than communication. Being an HR
professional, one must continuously and directly communicate all good or bad news occurring in the organisation - in
the right manner at the right time. Speaking to people strengthens the trust of people and therefore, they stay aligned
with the business needs. Listening empathetically to the concerns of people forms an inseparable part of
communication; hence, an HR professional should keep enhancing one's listening skills. It should be better done than
said. Every action-oriented communication must be followed by appropriate action, and closing the loop with
communication on the action taken.
5. Take charge of the change:
An HR professional should not only act as an authority, but also as a friend and facilitator who helps people grow with
time. S/he should take charge of the changes needed for organisational development. He/she should analyse
organisational reality and study best practices in the market to proactively come up with change solutions. He/she
should continuously think out-of-box for various processes and systems innovations required in the organisation.
He/she should initiate, control and implement the change, thus collaborating people across the organisation. It must be
borne in the mind that no one is the expert of all areas, and metamorphosis occurs with integrated efforts of diverse
people in the organisation.

There are many facets to the laissez faire style of leadership at the workplace
Palak Bhatia
A critical part of an organisations culture is the style of leadership adopted by the superiors. While certain employees
require constant guidance, others need freedom to let their imagination fly. Laissez-faire leadership is a style that gives
the requisite space and encouragement to the latter kind. However, leaders need to be careful in adopting such a
style, for it can considerably lower performance in employees that are not suited for such leadership.
What kind of employees is this style of leadership suitable for? Swapnil Kamat, founder, CEO and chief trainer, Work
Better, answers, Employees who are highly skilled, motivated, and capable of working on their own are best suited for
laissez-faire leadership. Such employees are capable of accomplishing tasks with very little guidance and have the
knowledge and skills to work independently. They have a high-level of passion and intrinsic motivation for their work.
On the other hand, employees who lack the knowledge or experience, are not good at setting their own deadlines,
managing their own projects and solving problems on their own, should not have laissez-faire leaders. Leadership can
and should be situational, depending on the needs of the team.

There are many benefits and pitfalls associated with this laissez-faire leadership. Kamat lists a few:
This leadership style leads to advantages like:
>> It promotes trust in the employees;
>> This style instills a higher sense of responsibility among team members;
>> It allows the visionary worker the opportunity to do what they want to free from any interference.
This leadership style leads to disadvantages like:
>> Team members may get off track and may not prioritise correctly;
>> Laissez-faire leaders are often seen as uninvolved and withdrawn, which can lead to a lack of cohesiveness within
the group;
>> The achievement of targets may be at great risk due to potential less productivity from workers.
It is important for leaders to observe and analyse their team members, and pick a leadership style that works best for
them. Rajneesh Mishra, AVP, HR, Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance, elaborates, Every organisation should enable its leaders
with instruments to know the strengths and capabilities of their team-members well in order to drive them in an
appropriate path that suits best for each individual to ultimately leverage opportunities and achieve its goals.
Hence, the laissez-faire style of leadership can be effectively used to promote efficiency and innovation in skilled
employees.

Multifunctional teams: what are the benefits and challenges?

Harsh Kapur Pillai
The old adage goes that two heads are better than one. In todays changing business and team environments, the
question is, are many heads better than one, especially if they are specialists in their own fields?
Recent business successes suggest that they are. The reason being when you have different perspectives visiting
different angles to arrive at a set of or one solution, they are likely to be more comprehensive; they also reduce the risk
of failure and perform well under a varied set of conditions. For example, when you set up a green field project and
constitute a project team not only from industrial engineering but also from manufacturing, supply chain, finance and
project management, you invite participation of design and product development members at appropriate stages.
Having said the above, do all such multi-functional teams function efficiently and effectively? Not always, and certainly
not unless some of the hygiene conditions are met.
The team leader
At the onset, the success of this equation depends on the ability of the team leader to work with multiple specialists
and the capability to manage his own and their egos. He should have knowledge of more than one function, which is
higher than that of his team members. His experience should cover not just the customer but equally the
delivery/execution process. At an operational level, success relies on the leaders skills of effective programme
management, time management, prioritisation and problem-solving/conflict resolution. On the peoples front, he must
have the ability to build camaraderie amongst team members, take timely decisions, motivate, drive, control and
monitor progress. External influencing and networking skills are also important.
The team member
The team member needs to be a subject matter expert in his/her own function with the interest and inclination to
understand and assimilate key aspects of functions other than his own.
Team members need to have a mind-set of openness towards their colleagues opinion and have the ability to put the
pieces of a puzzle together; it might not be necessary that the team members are at the same hierarchical level in the
company but they should have the ability to voice their views, irrespective of their position.
The team members should bring complementing strengths if one is detail-oriented, another should understand the
big picture; if one is good with data, facts and logic, the other should have strong people and networking skills. In
short, you need people and skill-sets that are diverse, open to innovation and a single-minded dedication to getting it
right.
What cross-functional teams need to do to be successful:

One goal;

All team members aligned to the same goal;

Understand their respective roles and deliverables;

Possess a drive to succeed;

Have an allocated budget and resources;

Review mechanisms in place;

Set of rules;

Commitment and adherence to discipline;

Risk mitigation.
Challenges
Even within a traditional system where a person is allocated greater responsibility, the challenges suddenly become
more visible. In the scenario of multi-functional teams, the challenges are that much greater considering the
complexity that is already inherent within the demands of such a structure.
Here are some of the challenges and questions that need answering if a multi-functional team is going to
be out together and for it to be successful:

What is the level of management buy-in and where does this feature in their list of priorities high-mediumlow?

Are they fully dedicated to the project or carry this responsibility in addition to their regular deliverables?

If fully dedicated, there is the risk of feeling lost once the project is over and having to go back to a routine
role;

If in addition, they might have conflicting priorities, balancing time between the two jobs could be stressful or
have an adverse impact on time schedules, quality, costs, etc;

The absence of a strong leader can put the project in jeopardy. Likewise, losing a team member in the midst
of the project can put a strain on all involved;

If there is no one project leader and say four managers driving the project - they need to be significantly
aligned with the ability to take decisions in a democratic manner;

Is it a completely new area of work or is it an extension of known skills since that will require different types
of timeline, approaches and constitution of teams?

A multi-functional team has high rewards but the foundation for success has to be present across different
levels within the organisation.

Nina Chatrath
Is there a position of head of talent that exists in organisations, today? If there is, then the incumbent is likely to be
fighting a battle on many fronts - a battle of aligning talent with business strategy, battle of not being bestowed with
adequate power, or indeed not having enough metrics to show to one and all that they are doing a good job! Couple
this with the role itself being somewhat intangible, not very clear, and can be seen to cross the fine line between what
the business head, or indeed the head of HR ought to be delivering on. So there are many disparities regarding this
new and evolving position, including its nomenclature that differs from company to company; therefore a lot depends
on what the incumbent delivers to bring credibility to the role.
If heads of talent can clearly define their roles and overcome some of the problems (detailed below), they can make an
invaluable contribution to a companys success.
SOME OF THE ISSUES A HEAD OF TALENT IS MOST LIKELY TO FACE:
1. SEEMS TO HAVE INSUFFICIENT EXPERIENCE FOR THE ROLE
Since the current heads of talent are the first to take up the role, with the scope of their job being undefined, their
focus may also be unclear, else different folks interpret it differently! Some may concentrate on infrastructure and
leadership development, others flag off specific development initiatives, and since the CEOs themselves feel less
familiar with the HR aspect, instead of having better comfort with established functions like marketing, sales or even
distribution, they may not know how to best align talent management with business strategies. This can be seen as an
opportunity by the heads of talent and they can define how to find and develop effective managers, conduct regular
talent reviews and keep track of their progress.
2. A LACK OF ALIGNMENT OF BUSINESS AND TALENT STRATEGY
This seems like the most obvious thing to do, which is placing leaders with the appropriate skills in the optimal
positions, to help companies better execute their business strategy. Then why is it so hard to do? One issue is the
changing demographics as business moves from the East to the West, jobs increasingly require more diverse

leadership skills to bridge the gap. In addition, heads of talent need to understand the needs and views of a whole new
generation of leaders. You could address the challenges in these ways:
>> Work backwards from identifying the companys strategy to assessing the talent execution of the strategy requires;
>> Work forward while looking at the talent risk facing the company and gauging the risk to the firms growth;
>> Make a hybrid glocal talent model that blends local delivery needs and global consistency.
3.CHALLENGES OF NOT HAVING ADEQUATE POWER
Due to downsizing and de-centralisation, many companies have appointed line managers to hire, develop and retain
talent in their units. Although this makes line managers more accountable, heads of talent are usually given the task of
dealing with the resulting inconsistencies in the divisions. To tackle this issue, they can:
>> Bring together their relationship skills and business acumen;
>> Act as diplomats rather than commanders;
>> Talk business rather than HR and form ties with line managers, CEO and senior leadership;
>> Use their strengths, such as influence, interpersonal skills, HR knowledge, strategic thinking and resilience.
4. TOO LITTLE ACTION ON SUCCESSION PLANNING, BUT THAT CAN BE CHANGED
Organisations need to reduce their leadership risk by aligning their leadership pipeline practices, coupled with talent
agendas so they have succession-ready pools internally and externally. Once succession planning becomes identified
as a priority area, the heads of talent can drive it to be a sustainable and a successful model.
5. SKILLS SHORTAGE
Despite the economic crisis that leads to unemployment, it is not easy to find high-quality, commercially-savvy people
with the right brand-building, marketing and client relationship building skills. Skilled people are hesitant to change
jobs and need very attractive incentives. Talent management is therefore required to shift its focus from identifying and
attracting new executives, to developing, motivating and retaining existing ones.
6. NO MEASURES FOR SUCCESS
Are there any metrics at all that indicate to us that the heads of talent are succeeding, in what they set out to do? The
following can be some indicators:
>> Directly monitoring small pools of talent moving to larger pools;
>> Comparing the companys performance to others in the industry;
>> Keeping track of the demand for leadership interventions;
>> Focusing on regular assessments and benchmarking to know the organisations pool of talent;
>> Putting together a nine-box matrix that plots managers on axes for performance and potential.
Although heads of talent have one of the most significant roles in talent management, they lack clarity about their role
and the power to perform effectively. By aligning talent and business strategies, they can speed up change and
mitigate risk to future performance. If they have established long-term aims, their colleagues will better understand
their function and these heads of talent will more effectively nurture current and future talent that will go a long way in
adding to the business.
- The author is founder, Enhance Consulting

y Hirak Kayal, VP - product management India and PPM/JAPAC, Oracle

Here are the key steps for effective leadership
A successful leadership development programme begins with the alignment of leadership development with the
companys strategy and an understanding of the type of leadership style(s) needed to execute that strategy.
1. Determine the best leadership style for your organisation:
One of the main reasons for the high failure rate of new CEOsmore than half never make it past the four-year mark
is poor organisational fit. Here are two ways to assess leaders fitment in an organisation:

Get to know them better: Psychological and behavioural assessments have been statistically linked to the
current and future success in leadership roles;

Understand the culture better: Ask your board, employees, vendors and consultants for insight into what
makes an effective leader in the company.

Use both sets of information to find alignments or disparities. If there is a glaring cultural conflict, be ready to
find a better candidate who possesses the unique skills your organisation requires.
2. Identify current and potential leaders within or outside the company:
Leaders can be found both internally and externally. Companies must weigh the cost and timing of developing internal

leadership against the cost and availability of hiring from outside the firm. Research has shown that one of the key
advantages of developing leaders internally is that they achieve productivity almost 50 per cent faster than external
candidates.
3. Identify leadership gaps:
To fully recognise leadership gaps, companies should determine current and future leadership requirements and
compare those with the current leadership team. Then, look at the leadership development pipeline and identify gaps
in skills and the time required to fill those gaps, either via a succession plan or recruitment.
4. Develop succession plans for critical roles:
Succession planning avoids disruption and employee trauma when the CEO leaves, whether the departure is
anticipated or not. But a succession plan should not be confined to executive roles only. As a part of the leadership
programme, companies should evaluate critical roles throughout the organisation.
For the greatest efficacy, succession planning should be supported by technology systems that provide the ability to:

Create backfill strategies that use data captured in the recruiting and performance review processes, coupled
with individual career plans;

Add multiple candidates to a succession shortlist and view all the best options;
Display multiple talent profilesfrom C-level executives to individual contributorsside by side to quickly
identify the best fit;

Track candidate readiness based on skills, competencies, and performance. Also, promote top candidates
based on relative ranking and composite feedback scores.
5. Develop career planning goals for potential leaders
Companies that support career planning for their employees gain in retention, engagement, and protection of the
leadership pipeline. Combining employee development with career planning enables employees to select development
activities necessary to attain them.
6. Develop a skill roadmap for future leaders:
In todays connected world, development programmes need to support both traditional and non-traditional learning
such as incorporating networking tools into the development process.

y Kumar Parakala
As we move into the future, we experience both changes and opportunities in the business
world that challenge us in ways we have never experienced in the past. Life is full of
changes, some good and some bad. Imagine this, when clouds roll in and thunder is heard in
the distance, it is an indication of change in weather patterns. Just as with the weather, change
can be indicators of storms presenting unexpected and chaotic measures. These changes can
bring uncertainty, conflict, and confusion. So, is change a bad thing?
Leading change is an important leadership skill; it is rarely for the faint hearted. Such
challenging programs require good planning and utilization of time. Strangely enough, the
best way to ensure successful change is to know what to do wrong!
During my travels, I had the opportunity of meeting some of the most successful change
drivers in the current history who transformed the face of law enforcing agencies in US and
UK. The current FBI director - Robert Mueller and former British Intelligence Agency (MI5)
director-general - Baroness Eliza Manningham-Buller have become internationally renowned
for driving unprecedented changes in the organizations they lead. Both leaders forged change
through their sheer determination and an unrelenting attitude. They tore across bureaucracy
and politics and transformed their age old intelligence agencies to combat major threats in
face of terrorism post the 9/11 attacks.
So how did they do this? Mueller took over as the FBI director just one week before the 9/11
attacks and faced one of the biggest security challenges in the American history. He had the
difficult task of protecting the people for future attacks. To fulfill this objective, Mueller

sought to transform FBI's entire institutional and operational architecture. He declared that
the FBI's top priority was preventing domestic terrorist attacks and that the FBI needed to
become an intelligence-centric agency rather than purely law-enforcement? centric
organization. Manningham-Buller had a similar task of transforming MI5 to prevent future
attacks on British soil.
They both faced differences of opinion in their organization and had to deal with bureaucracy
and politicians. However, they remained firm on their plans in the face of opposition. Both of
them were extremely successful in driving unprecedented change and transforming their
organization into protecting thousands of lives. This is a great example of sticking by your
beliefs and remaining undeterred when driving change. CEOs must remember that people are
threatened by change and prefer to stick to routine. It is a challenge to shift this mind frame in
any organization. Hence, change has to be driven from the top and must comprise among the
top priorities of a CEOs agenda.
Change surrounds us and is unrelenting. All a person needs to do is walk into an electronics
store and survey all the new gadgets available for purchase and you will witness a world of
change. Change is an essential component of every organization to remain abreast with
today's market, technology, competition and maintain revenues. As changing and adopting
helps organizations remain relevant to the evolving marketplace.
So we ask ourselves, how do some leaders make change seem easy? During my interaction
with both Intelligence agency chiefs, I learnt a few valuable lessons on driving change, this is
applicable to every leader in an organization. I understood that both leaders did not fear
change and had the courage to do things differently against long standing traditions. They
operated at a large scale and expanded their agencies to a significant size. So, that they were
capable of dealing with major national threats. Both of them earned a reputation for being
open and honest and proactive to criticism. They were both dealing with a major national
problem that was difficult to either fully comprehend or quantify, yet they did not balk at the
challenge. They judged the circumstance and took the necessary action to succeed under very
difficult conditions.
There are several lessons to be learned for today's corporate leaders in driving change. Some
of the important lessons include, being open and honest in their approach, seeking proactive
feedback on their initiatives, standing by their values and ensuring they are firm on their
commitment to bring in change. When leaders apply this approach, trust and confidence is
build within a team to embark on the journey of change.
After all, we have to remember that changes are made necessary for the greater good of the
organization to maintain their competitive-edge. Most importantly, a leader needs to take bold
steps, so that their organization thrives in tomorrow's world rather than being complacent
with today's reality!
HR COMPETENCY
1) Strategic Contribution High-performing companies have HR professionals
involved in the business at a strategic level. These HR professionals manage the
culture, facilitate rapid change, and are involved in the strategic decision making
and create market-driven connectivity of the operation [7]. In this competency
area, culture management, rapid change efforts, and a business partner role

along with customer focus emerged as important factors for HR professionals,

making their impact on their organizations' financial performance significant [8].
2) Personal Credibility HR professionals must be credible to both their HR
counterparts and the business line managers whom they serve. They need to
promise and deliver results and establish a reliable track record. Furthermore,
working well with others by building good relationship is vital in developing the
ability to work together with others effectively. In addition, HR professionals must
have effective writing and verbal communication skills [7]. The findings of the
study by [7] correspond with the prior research of [9], who found that that the
personnel directors require professional competence in social skills to develop
effective interpersonal relations with other board directors. This is one of the
competencies of personal credibility.
3) HR Delivery HR professionals deliver both traditional and operational HR
activities to their business in four major categories. First, by designing
developmental programs and challenging work experiences. This is done by
offering career planning services, and facilitating internal communication
processes. These efforts include both individual development as well as
organisation-wide development. Second, by structuring and HR measurement:
restructuring the organisation, measuring impact of HR practices, and managing
global implications of HR practices. Third, by attracting, promoting, retaining,
and out-placing appropriate people. Finally, by performance management in
terms of designing performance-based measurements and reward systems and
providing competitive benefit packages [7].
4) Business Knowledge to become key players in the organisation, HR
professionals must understand the business or industry of the company they
serve. Key areas of knowledge include applied understanding of the integrated
value chain (how the firm horizontally integrates) and the firms value
proposition (how the firm creates wealth). The labour factor, representing
institutional constraints such as labour legislation, is the third factor that
constitutes the domain of business knowledge [7]. Human resources
professionals must understand how their business or agency operates. This
includes the organizations strategy, how the organization makes money or
achieves its primary purpose, its technological processes and organizational
capabilities etc.
5) HR Technology HR professionals need to be able to leverage technology for HR
practices and use e-HR/web-based channels to deliver value to their customers.
further argues that the pace of technological innovation will continue to
accelerate. HR can take advantage of these changes by automating HR
processes and becoming more effective in communicating with its internal
/external customers. More importantly, by absorbing the latest technology, HR
can project a forward looking image that will help it earn the respect of skeptical
colleagues. According to a recent survey by Society for Human Resource
Management, the top workplace trend identified was technology.

Functions of Human Resource Department

A typical Human Resource Department is carries out the following functions:
Manpower Planning

It involves the planning for the future and finding out how many employees will
be needed in the future by the business and what types of skills should they
possess.
It depends on the following factors
The number of people leaving the job
The projected growth in sales of the business
Technological changes
Productivity level of the workers
Job analysis and Job description
HR Department is also involved in designing the Job analysis and Job description
for the prospective vacancies.
A job analysis is the process used to collect information about the duties,
responsibilities, necessary skills, outcomes, and work environment of a particular
job.
Job descriptions are written statements that describe the:
duties,
responsibilities,
most important contributions and outcomes needed from a position,
required qualifications of candidates, and
reporting relationship and co-workers of a particular job.
Determining wages and salaries
HR Department is also involved in conducting market surveys and determining
the wages and salaries for different position in an organization. These decisions
may be taken in consultation with top management and the Finance department.

Recruitment and Selection

One of the most important jobs HR department is to recruit the best people for
the organization. This is of crucial importance as the success of any organization
depend on the quality of its workforce. Details regarding the recruitment and
selection procedure can be found here.
Performance Apprasial
Once the employees are recruited , the HR Department has to review their
performance on a regular basis through proper performance appraisals.

Performance appraisal is the process of obtaining, analyzing and recording information about the
relative worth of an employee. The focus of the performance appraisal is measuring and
improving the actual performance of the employee and also the future potential of the employee.
Its aim is to measure what an employee does.

On the basis of performance appraisal the HR Department will set up an action

plan for each employee. If the employees needs any training then he provided
that.
Training and Development
HR department is constantly keeping a watch over the employees of the
organisation. In order to improve the efficiency level of the employees they have
to undergo regular trainings and development programmes. All trainings and
development needs are carried out by this department. Training might include on
the job or off the job training. Find more information on training.

Employee welfare and motivation

Happy employees mean a healthy organization. HR Department conducts various
employee welfare activities which might include employees get together, annual
staff parties etc. HR department also reviews organizational policies and its
impact on the motivation of the employees.
Addressing employees grievances
HR department is the link between the workers and the management. Employees
grievances related work environment are usually entertained and resolved by the
HR Department.
Labour management relations
For the smooth operation of any organization, it is crucial to have good labour
management relations. HR department has to ensure that these relations are
cordial. In case of any labour-management conflict the HR Department will play a
vital role in bringing both management parties to the negotiation table and
resolving the issue.
Implementing organizational policies
HR Department has to coordinate with line manager and see that the
organizational policies are being implemented in a proper manner. Disciplinary
action can be initiated against employees who are not following organizational
rules and regulations. All these actions are conceived and implemented by the
HR department.
Dismissal and redundancy
HR Department has to take firm actions against employees who are not following
the organizational code of conduct, rules and regulations. This can result in the
dismissal of the employee.
Sometimes, an organization may no more require the services of an employee.
The employee may be made redundant. HR Department has to see that
organizational and government regulations are being followed in this process.

Human resource planning is the responsibility of all managers. It focuses on the demand and supply of labour and
involves the acquisition, development and departure of people. This is recognised as a vital HR function as the success
of an organisation depends on its employees.
The purpose of HR planning is to ensure that a predetermined number of persons with the correct skills are available at
a specified time in the future. Thus, HR planning systematically identifies what must be done to guarantee the
availability of the human resources needed by an organisation to meet its strategic business objectives. To achieve this
HR planning cannot be undertaken in isolation. It must be linked to the organisations overall business strategy, and
concentrate on the organisations long-range human resource requirements.
Process of Human Resource Planning
1. Analysing the Corporate Level Strategies: Human Resource Planning should start with analysing corporate level
strategies which include expansion, diversification, mergers, acquisitions, reduction in operations, technology to be
used, method of production etc. Therefore Human Resource Planning should begin with analysing the corporate plans
of the organisation before setting out on fulfilling its tasks.

2. Demand forecasting: Forecasting the overall human resource requirement in accordance with the organisational
plans is one of the key aspects of demand forecasting. Forecasting of quality of human resources like skills, knowledge,
values and capabilities needed in addition to quantity of human resources is done through the following methods: a. Executive or Managerial Judgement: Here the managers decide the number of employees in the future. They adopt
one of the three approaches mentioned below: -

Bottom-Up approach: Here the concerned supervisors send their proposals to the top officials who compare
these with the organisational plans, make necessary adjustments and finalise them.

Top-Down approach: Here the management prepares the requirements and sends the information
downwards to the supervisory level who finalises the draft and approves it.

Participative Approach: Here the supervisors and the management sit together and projections are made
after joint consultations.

Drawbacks

The chief drawback of these methods is that estimation of manpower is made using guesswork.

b. Statistical Techniques: These methods use statistical methods and mathematical techniques to forecast and
predict the supply and demand of Human Resources in the future.

Ratio-Trend analysis: In this method depending on the past data regarding number of employees in each
department, like production department, sales department, marketing department and workload level, etc ratios for
manpower are estimated. Past values are plotted and extrapolated to get fairly accurate future projections.

c. Work Study method: This technique is suitable to study the correlation between volume of work and labour i.e.
demand for human resources is estimated based on the workload. Work study method is more appropriate for repetitive
and manual jobs when it is possible to measure work and set standards.
d. Delphi Technique: Delphi Technique is named after the Greek Oracle at the city of Delphi. In this method, the
views of different experts related to the industry are taken into consideration and then a consensus about the Human
Resource requirement is arrived at. Delphi technique is used primarily to assess long-term needs of human resource.
3. Analysing Human Resource Supply: Every organisation has two sources of supply of Human Resources: Internal
& External. Internally, human resources can be obtained for certain posts through promotions and transfers. In order to
judge the internal supply of human resources in future human resource inventory or human resource audit is necessary.
Human resource inventory helps in determining and evaluating the quantity of internal human resources available. Once
the future internal supply is estimated, supply of external human resources is analysed.
4. Estimating manpower gaps: Manpower gaps can be identified by comparing demand and supply forecasts. Such
comparison will reveal either deficit or surplus of Human Resources in the future. Deficit suggests the number of
persons to be recruited from outside, whereas surplus implies redundant employees to be re-deployed or terminated.
Employees estimated to be deficient can be trained while employees with higher, better skills may be given more
enriched jobs.
5. Action Planning: Once the manpower gaps are identified, plans are prepared to bridge these gaps. Plans to meet
the surplus manpower may be redeployment in other departments and retrenchment. People may be persuaded to quit
voluntarily through a golden handshake. Deficit can be met through recruitment, selection, transfer and promotion. In
view of shortage of certain skilled employees, the organisation has to take care not only of recruitment but also retention
of existing employees. Hence, the organisation has to plan for retaining of existing employees.
6. Modify the Organisational plans: If future supply of human resources form all the external sources is estimated to
be inadequate or less than the requirement, the manpower planner has to suggest to the management regarding the
alterations or modifications in the organisational plans.
7. Controlling and Review: After the action plans are implemented, human resource structure and the processes
should be controlled and reviewed with a view to keep them in accordance with action plans.

WHAT IS KNOWLEDGE?

Knowledge is a very slippery concept with many different variations and

definitions, each of which is valid in its own right. The nature of knowledge
and what it means to know something are epistemological questions that
have perplexed philosophers for centuries and no resolution looms on the
horizon.
According to Websters Dictionary, knowledge is the fact or condition of
knowing

something

with

familiarity

gained

through

experience

or

association. In practice, though, there are many possible, equally plausible

definitions of knowledge. A frequently used definition of knowledge is the
ideas or understandings which an entity possesses that are used to take
effective action to achieve the entitys goal(s). This knowledge is specific to
the entity which created it.
There are two basic kinds of knowledge in an Organization: Explicit and Tacit.
Explicit knowledge is knowledge that has been articulated and, more often
than not, captured in the form of text, tables, diagrams, product
specifications and so on. According to a Harvard Business Review article titled
The Knowledge Creating Company, explicit knowledge is referred to as
formal and systematic and examples include product specifications,
scientific formulas and computer programs. An example of explicit knowledge
with which we are all familiar is the formula for finding the area of a rectangle
(i.e., length times width). Other examples of explicit knowledge include
documented best practices, the formalised standards by which an insurance
claim is adjudicated and the official expectations for performance set forth in
written work objectives. Thus explicit knowledge is systematically
documented know-how that becomes available to everyone in the
organization.
Tacit knowledge is knowledge that cannot be articulated. Tacit knowledge is
the know how possessed by individuals. Its often intuitive and
demonstrated more in how someone goes about his/her work in a
knowledgeable way, even though this knowledge is not written down
anywhere. Of course, one of the goals of knowledge management is to make
tacit knowledge more widely available and to the degree possible, capture it
in explicit terms. Tacit knowledge resides in a few, often-in just one person
and has not been captured by the organization or made available to others. It
is this tacit knowledge that provides strategic edge to the organization.
Typically tacit knowledge is asked for and transferred in non-formal situations
and so it is extremely difficult to record it.
Data

and

information

are

the

essential

components

of

Knowledge

Management but are totally different entities. Knowledge often gets mixed up

with data and information and creates problems. The understanding of these
three distinct concepts is therefore equally important.
Data can be broadly defined as a collection of facts, facts about specific
events and about an industry in general. These facts can originate from a
variety of sources and includes such items as raw statistics, demographic and
marketing information, and so forth. Data can form the basis of knowledge,
as it is gathered, analysed, and synthesized by individuals within an
organization.
Information, which is sometimes referred to as explicit knowledge, results
from the collection and communication of ideas and experiences. Information
is usually codified into documents, e-mail, voice mail, and other forms of
communication, which can be easily shared between individuals. It is explicit
precisely because it has been written down in some format, and it is useful
because it can be stored and reused to avoid the duplication of work and the
repetition of mistakes.
Knowledge, however, transcends both data and information in that it
comprises ideas, experiences, and insights themselves. For this reason, true
knowledge is often referred to as tacit knowledge. Knowledge also
represents the intelligence that individuals apply to data and information to
draw conclusions and to make decisions. Without intelligence, information
cannot become knowledge. Therefore, it is the possession of knowledge,
along with intelligence and the ability to create new knowledge, which
determines an individuals value to a business. Thus knowledge is not just an
explicit tangible thing, like information, but information combined with
experience, context, interpretation and reflection. Knowledge involves the full
person, integrating the elements of both thinking and feeling.
Knowledge Management is the process through which organizations
generate value from their intellectual and knowledge-based assets. Most
often, generating value from such assets involves sharing them among
employees, departments and even with other companies in an effort to
devise best practices. The term is used loosely to refer to a broad collection
of organizational practices and approaches related to generating, capturing
and disseminating know-how and other content relevant to the organizations
business.
Knowledge management can be explained as an effort by organizations to
manage some or all of the knowledge within them as a resource, much as
they manage real estate, inventory, and human resources. It involves the
following:

Capturing it; that is, explicitly recording the tacit knowledge within an
organization.

Cataloguing and storing it; that is, placing the information into a central
area where all members of an organization who have a need to know have
access to it

Transforming it for use in other contexts (when appropriate); that is,

making

connections

among

pieces

of

information

to

create

new

approaches

Disseminating it; that is, transferring knowledge to people when and

where they need it.

Hawthorne Experiment by Elton Mayo

In 1927, a group of researchers led by Elton Mayo and Fritz Roethlisberger of
the Harvard Business School were invited to join in the studies at the
Hawthorne Works of Western Electric Company, Chicago. The experiment
lasted up to 1932. The Hawthorne Experiment brought out that the
productivity of the employees is not the function of only physical conditions
of work and money wages paid to them. Productivity of employees depends
heavily upon the satisfaction of the employees in their work situation. Mayos
idea was that logical factors were far less important than emotional factors in
determining productivity efficiency. Furthermore, of all the human factors
influencing employee behavior, the most powerful were those emanating
from the workers participation in social groups. Thus, Mayo concluded that
work arrangements in addition to meeting the objective requirements of
production must at the same time satisfy the employees subjective
requirement of social satisfaction at his work place.
The Hawthorne experiment consists of four parts. These parts are briefly
described below:1. Illumination Experiment.
2. Relay Assembly Test Room Experiment.
3. Interviewing Programme.
4. Bank Wiring Test Room Experiment.

1. Illumination Experiment:

This experiment was conducted to establish relationship between output and

illumination. When the intensity of light was increased, the output also
increased. The output showed an upward trend even when the illumination
was gradually brought down to the normal level. Therefore, it was concluded
that there is no consistent relationship between output of workers and
illumination in the factory. There must be some other factor which affected
productivity.

2. Relay Assembly Test Room Experiment:

This phase aimed at knowing not only the impact of illumination on
production but also other factors like length of the working day, rest hours,
and other physical conditions. In this experiment, a small homogeneous
work-group of six girls was constituted. These girls were friendly to each
other and were asked to work in a very informal atmosphere under the
supervision of a researcher. Productivity and morale increased considerably
during the period of the experiment. Productivity went on increasing and
stabilized at a high level even when all the improvements were taken away
and the pre-test conditions were reintroduced. The researchers concluded
that

socio-psychological

factors

such

as

feeling

of

being

important,

recognition, attention, participation, cohesive work-group, and non-directive

supervision held the key for higher productivity.

3. Mass Interview Programme:

The objective of this programme was to make a systematic study of the
employees attitudes which would reveal the meaning which their working
situation has for them. The researchers interviewed a large number of
workers with regard to their opinions on work, working conditions and
supervision. Initially, a direct approach was used whereby interviews asked
questions

considered

important

by

managers

and

researchers.

The

researchers observed that the replies of the workmen were guarded.

Therefore, this approach was replaced by an indirect technique, where the
interviewer simply listened to what the workmen had to say. The findings
confirmed the importance of social factors at work in the total work
environment.

4. Bank Wiring Test Room Experiment:

This experiment was conducted by Roethlisberger and Dickson with a view to
develop a new method of observation and obtaining more exact information
about social groups within a company and also finding out the causes which
restrict output. The experiment was conducted to study a group of workers
under conditions which were as close as possible to normal. This group
comprised of 14 workers. After the experiment, the production records of this
group were compared with their earlier production records. It was observed
that the group evolved its own production norms for each individual worker,
which was made lower than those set by the management. Because of this,
workers would produce only that much, thereby defeating the incentive
system. Those workers who tried to produce more than the group norms were
isolated, harassed or punished by the group. The findings of the study are:

Each individual was restricting output.

The group had its own unofficial standards of performance.

Individual output remained fairly constant over a period of time.

Informal groups play an important role in the working of an

organization.

Contributions
of
the
Hawthorne
Experiment to Management
Elton Mayo and his associates conducted their studies in the Hawthorne plant
of the western electrical company, U.S.A., between 1927 and 1930. According
to them, behavioral science methods have many areas of application in
management. The important features of the Hawthorne Experiment are:
1. A business organization is basically a social system. It is not just a
techno-economic system.
2. The employer can be motivated by psychological and social wants
because his behavior is also influenced by feelings, emotions and
attitudes. Thus economic incentives are not the only method to motivate
people.

3. Management must learn to develop co-operative attitudes and not rely

merely on command.
4. Participation becomes an important instrument in human relations
movement.

In

order

toachieve

participation,

effective

two-way

communication network is essential.

5. Productivity is linked with employee satisfaction in any business
organization. Therefore management must take greater interest in
employee satisfaction.
6. Group psychology plays an important role in any business organization.
We must therefore rely more on informal group effort.
7. The neo-classical theory emphasizes that man is a living machine and
he is far more important than the inanimate machine. Hence, the key
to higher productivity lies in employee morale. High morale results in
higher output.

THE CONCEPT OF OUTSOURCING

In recent decades, outsourcing has emerged as a major trend in human

resources all over the world. It has become the practice in where certain job
functions are sent outside of a company instead of performing them in house.
Day by day, more and more companies are focusing on outsourcing as an
easy way to grow as well as reducing overhead and payroll costs.
In the simplest terms outsourcing can be described as farming out of different
services to third parties. For example in case of information technology,
outsourcing includes any task such as outsourcing all kinds of management
of IT to HP or IBM, or even outsourcing a very easy and small task, such as
data storage, data editing, disaster recovery or, and any task in between. No
precise definition of outsourcing can be found. The term is often used in an
inconsistent way.
Outsourcing is often involved contracting out of business activities to an
external provider. Outsourcing is any job, task, process or operation, which
could be done by the internal employees of an organisation, but instead of
doing so; such companies contract a third party to perform the task. In
addition, the tasks which are done by the third party may be done off-site or
on-site. In recent years one of the major changes has occurred from the
growth of individuals outsourcing as a way to develop a feasible service
providing business that can be operated virtually from anywhere in the world
using internet and online technologies. Some common areas of this business
are marketing services, website creating, analysis and etc. All elements can
be performed remotely and delivered through internet.

Importance of Outsourcing in Modern

Businesses
Outsourcing has brought a significant change in the organisational structure.
Many organisations prefer works to be done through outsourcing at a lower
cost. Such organisation reduces the size of its formal structure and focus on
outsourcing. In the past, it was considered that an organisation must have
some physical structures. But in modern age there are some organisation
purely based on virtual structure. In response to these changes resulting
from globalization, business organisations are changing their structure and
the way of operation. Organisations which are exposed to global forces of
demand, supply and increased international competition, are not any more
protected by local business environment. These companies are now focusing
on adopting global forces. Companies which cannot cope with the global
forces have to struggle for survival. Companies which can adjust their
strategy and actions with response to the changes brought by globalization
can certainly be successful to achieve their goal in this globally competitive
market. In the perspective of business world and the global economy,
outsourcing can be considered very important in terms of cost savings,
emphasizing on core activities, controlling operation, continuity of operation,
reducing investment in internal infrastructure, staffing flexibility, and access
to innovation.
Outsourcing enables organisations reducing costs and overheads required to
perform its back office activities. As a result they can provide goods and
services at a low cost. In todays business world organisations have to
expand its back office activities. Such expansion may consume resources at
the expense of the main activities of the company. Outsourcing, through
doing back office activities, helps the companies to refocus on the main
business activities. Operations or activities whose costs are going out of
control must to be considered for outsourcing. Departments which are
running in uncontrolled and poorly managed condition over time are
motivators for outsourcing. In addition, outsourcing can bring improved
management skills for organisations.
In the periods of high employee turnover operations of business may become
uncertain. In such condition of uncertainty, outsourcing can provide a
significant level of continuity of operations of the company. Through
outsourcing, companies can transfer a significant portion of its work to third
parties. As a result it requires less number of internal employees. Thus it

requires less investment in internal infrastructure. Businesses that have

seasonal or cyclical demands to increase activities can think of outsourcing.
Outsourcing brings flexibility in employment system. Outsourcing allows
companies to gather innovative business ideas and planning from widely
diversified sources.

Disadvantages of Outsourcing
When a company outsources HR activities such as Training and Development,
Payroll and Recruitment services, there is a significant level of risk if
confidential company information is exposed to a third-party. If wrong party is
selected for work, it may result a low quality output or inappropriate timing. It
is easier to control quality inside the organisation rather than with an
outsourced party. In case of outsourcing it is very difficult to ensure specific
customer focus. An outsourced vendor may work on task of many companies
at a time. It results ales customer focus. There may have some hidden costs
in

case

of

outsourcing.

Outsourcing

requires

international

contract.

Additionally it may require some legal fees.

THEORIES OF LEARNING

Learning is an important psychological process that-determines human

behavior. Learning can be defined as relatively permanent change in
behavior that occurs as a result of experience or reinforced practice.
Important theories of learning are:

1. Classical Conditioning
The work of the famous Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov demonstrated the
classical conditioning process. When Pavlov presented a piece of meat to the
dog in the experiment, Pavlov noticed a great deal of salivation. He termed
the food an unconditioned stimulus and the salivation an unconditioned
response. When the dog saw the meat, it salivated. On the other hand, when
Pavlov merely rang a bell, the dog did not salivate. Pavlov subsequently
introduced the sound of a bell each time the meat was given to the dog. The
dog eventually learned to salivate in response to the ringing of the-bell-even
when there was no meat. Pavlov had conditioned the dog to respond to a
learned stimulus. Thorndike called this the law of exercise which states that

behavior can be learned by repetitive association between a stimulus and a

response.
Classical conditioning has a limited value in the study of organizational
behavior. As pointed out by Skinner, classical conditioning represents an
insignificant part of total human learning. Classical conditioning is passive.
Something happens and we react in a specific or particular fashion. It is
elicited in response to a specific, identifiable event. As such it explains simple
and reflexive behaviors. But behavior of people in organizations is emitted
rather than elicited, and it is voluntary rather than reflexive. The learning of
these complex behaviors can be explained or better understood by looking at
operant conditioning.

2. Operant Conditioning
An operant is defined as a behavior that produces effects. Operant
conditioning, basically a product of Skinnerian psychology, suggests that
individuals emit responses that are either not rewarded or are punished.
Operant conditioning is a voluntary behavior and it is determined, maintained
and controlled by its consequences.
Operant conditioning is a powerful tool for managing people in organizations.
Most behaviors in organizations are learned, controlled and altered by the
consequences; i.e. operant behaviors. Management can use the operant
conditioning process successfully to control and influence the behavior of
employees by manipulating its reward system.

3. Reinforcement Theory
Reinforcement is anything that both increases the strength of response and
tends to induce repetitions of the behavior. Four types of reinforcement
strategies can be employed by managers to influence the behavior of the
employees, viz., positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, extinction
and punishment.

Positive Reinforcement : Positive reinforcement strengthens and

increases behavior by the presentation of a desirable consequence
(reward). In other words, a positive reinforce is a reward that follows
behavior and is capable of increasing the frequency of that behavior.
There are two typos of positive: reinforces: primary and secondary.

Primary reinforcers such as food, water and sex are of biological

importance and have effects, which arc independent of past experiences.
For instance, a primary reinforcer like food satisfies hunger need and
reinforced

food-producing

behavior.

Secondary

reinforcers

like

job

advancement, recognition, praise and esteem result from previous

association with a primary reinforcer. Primary reinforcers must be learned.
In order to apply reinforcement procedures successfully, management
must select reinforcers that are sufficiently powerful and durable.

Negative Reinforcement : The threat of punishment is known as

negative reinforcement. Negative reinforcers also serve to strengthen
desired behavior responses leading to their removal or termination.

Extinction :

Extinction

is

an

effective

method

of

controlling

undesirable behavior. It refers to non-reinforcement. It is based on the

principle that if a response is not reinforced, it will eventually disappear.
Extinction is a behavioral strategy that does not promote desirable
behaviors but can help to reduce undesirable behaviors.

Punishment :

Punishment

is

control

device

employed

in

organizations to discourage and reduce annoying behaviors of employees.

ORGANISATIONAL LEARNING

Organizational
learning
is the activity and the process by which
organizations eventually reach the ideal of a learning organization (Senge,
1990). Organizational learning is just a means in order to achieve strategic
objectives. But creating a learning organization is also a goal, since the ability
permanently and collectively to learn is a necessary precondition for thriving
in the new context. Therefore, the capacity of an organization to learn, that
is, to function like a learning organization, needs to be made more concrete
and institutionalized, so that the management of such learning can be made
more effective (Dunphy, 1998).
Learning organizations are organizations where people continually expand
their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and
expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set
free, and where people are continually learning to see the whole together.
(Senge 1990: 3)

The Learning Company is a vision of what might be possible. It is not brought

about simply by training individuals; it can only happen as a result of learning
at the whole organization level. Learning Company is an organization that
facilitates the learning of all its members and continuously transforms itself.
(De Geus, 1996)
An important objective of the organizational learning process is to promote
trust, dialogue and networking among staff that can foster the formation of
social capital and thereby contribute to more dynamic communications,
knowledge-sharing and management in the public service. Such
communication processes can either be facilitated or hindered by the existing
institutional structures in the public sector. In traditional bureaucracies, for
example, institutional structures and cultural characteristics are often not
conducive to effective communications and knowledge-sharing among staff,
as mentioned earlier. Progressive and reform-minded organizations, on the
other hand, use technology and incentives in addition to normal person-toperson exchange to encourage staff to share knowledge and to collaborate
(Argyris, 1996).
Effective networking and teamwork may not only facilitate the timely
completion of tasks but also improve the quality of work. For instance, in
cases when a long time may be spent in trying to solve a particular problem,
effective networking, collaboration and knowledge-sharing with peers may
reduce this time considerably and thereby contribute to organizational
learning. The most productive staff members in any organization are
generally those with a very strong ability to network and collaborate with
both internal colleagues and external partners. The promotion of a culture of
networking, knowledge-sharing and collaboration is therefore an essential
part of the organizational learning process in the private as well as in public
sectors.
There are significant hurdles to jump over in for public organizations
attempting, particularly in developing countries, to create an effective
knowledge management system. First, staff often have little incentive
financial or otherwiseto share knowledge with other colleagues. One way to
address this is to try to make knowledge-sharing an integral part of
performance assessment of staff. Another option is to recognize publicly the
staff most active in knowledge-sharing in the organization (Aguilar, 1967).
Second, it is very difficult to capture the tacit knowledge of staff. Doing so will
require organizations to either encourage the more experienced staff to
mentor and coach the younger professionals or provide adequate
opportunities for senior public servants to document and codify their tacit
knowledge. Third, resistance to change should not be underestimated in any
organization attempting to introduce knowledge management practices.
Many staff may be uncomfortable with sharing their knowledge with other
colleagues. Overcoming such resistance will require education and coaching

of the staff concerned. Fourth, more openness and knowledge-sharing raise

the question of how to create appropriate protocols to handle sensitive and
confidential information. All these issues need to be addressed in the
development of a knowledge management strategy in any organization.
Various means of achieving organizational learning are:

Coaching
Coaching is a powerful teaching and learning process that can enhance
learning and effectiveness and help to achieve personal and organizational
change. Coaching frequently is an integral part of the process of planning and
implementing other interventions, such as team development, survey
feedback, organization and process redesign, strategic leadership, and largegroup development activities. Coaching is defined as helping someone else
expand and apply his or her skills, knowledge, and attitudes. It generally
takes place within a defined context, such as a specific task, skill, or
responsibility. Coaching might also be developing and maintaining an ongoing
developmental relationship with one or more of the organizations rising
stars. In general, a successful coach helps others succeed through guiding,
teaching, motivating, and mentoring (Aldrich, 1999).

Promote Mentoring Programmes for Staff

Organizational learning can be further facilitated in certain environments by
fostering a culture of mentoring among staff. Mentoring usually involves
offering guidance and advice, particularly when an experienced person
imparts knowledge, skills, values and attitudes to a more junior colleague in
order

to

facilitate

professional

and

career

development.

Mentoring

relationships are undoubtedly an untapped resource in the public service in

many countries and the development of such relationships needs to be
facilitated (Argyris, 1978).
The use of mentoring as an instrument for organizational learning is by no
means a new concept, however. In some societies, the idea of mentoring is
an integral part of the national culture. In Japan, for instance, it is common
practice, where the senior- junior relationship is an institution in itself not only
in the public service but throughout society. In other countries, the notion of a
mentoring relationship between a senior and junior person is not so
widespread in society in general, yet it is still well established in both the
private and public sectors. It is also very common in universities, where

professors become mentors to their students. Providing career development

through mentoring has also proven effective over time. Several countries
(e.g., Singapore and the United Kingdom) have opted for fast-track
programmes where high-flying candidates are put on a path to senior
management under the guidance and advice of mentors. Sometimes
mentoring by targeting the career development of a particular group within
the public service is able to serve several purposes.

Strategies for Improving Organizational Learning

Capability
When starting to improve its learning capabilities, an organization may
decide to focus on any stage of the learning cycle knowledge acquisition,
dissemination, or utilization. While it may be possible or necessary to look at
all three phases simultaneously, focusing on a single area is more
manageable (Argyris, 1999). The next task is to select an option for focus:
Improve on learning orientations. There are two reasons for selecting this
option. First, the organization may decide to shift its position on one or more
learning orientations. Second, the current pattern of learning orientations has
resulted in identifiable strong competencies, so improving or expanding them
may be the best way to enhance the units learning capabilities. This focus
assumes that facilitating factors meet an acceptable standard and that more
can be accomplished by adding to the strong base established by the
learning orientations.
Change both learning orientations and facilitating factors. An organization
should select this option when it sees the other variables as inadequate. This
option assumes that large-scale change is necessary and that changing one
group of variables without changing the other will be only partially successful
(Hunter, 1996).

COMPONENTS OF LEARNING PROCESS

Learning is an important psychological process that-determines human

behavior. Learning can be defined as relatively permanent change in
behavior that occurs as a result of experience or reinforced practice.
There are four important points in the definition of learning:

1. Learning involves a change in behavior, though this change is not

necessarily an improvement over previous behavior. Learning generally
has the connotation of improved behavior, but bad habits, prejudices,
stereotypes, and work restrictions are also learned.
2. The, behavioral change must be relatively permanent. Any temporary
change in behavior is not a part of learning.
3. The behavioral change must be based oh some form of practice or
experience.
4. The practice or experience must be reinforced in order so as
to facilitate learning to occur.
The components of learning process are: drive, cue stimuli, response,
reinforcement and retention.
Drive: Learning frequently occurs in the presence of drive any strong

stimulus that impels action. Drives are basically of two types -primary (or
physiological); and secondary (or psychological). These two categories of
drives often interact with each other. Individuals operate under many
drives at the same time. To predict a behavior, it is necessary to establish
which drives are stimulating the most.
Cue

Stimuli: Cue

stimuli

are

those

factors

that

exist

in

the

environment as perceived by the individual. The idea is to discover the

conditions under which stimulus will increase the probability of eliciting a
specific response. There may be two types of stimuli with respect to their
results in terms of response concerned: stimulus generalization and
stimulus discrimination.

Generalization occurs when a response is elicited by a similar but

new stimulus. If two stimuli are exactly alike, they will have the same
probability

of

evoking

specified

response.

The

principle

of

generalization has important implications for human learning. Because

of generalization, a person does not have to completely relearn each of
the new tasks. It allows the members to adapt to overall changing
conditions and specific new assignments. The individual can borrow
from past learning experiences to adjust more smoothly to new
learning situations.

Discrimination is a procedure in which an organization learns to emit

a response to a stimulus but avoids making the same response to a
similar but somewhat different stimulus. Discrimination has wide
applications in organizational behavior. For example, a supervisor can
discriminate between two equally high producing workers, one with low
quality and other with high quality.

Responses: The stimulus results in responses. Responses may be in

the physical form or may be in terms of attitudes, familiarity,
perception or other complex phenomena. In the above example, the
supervisor discriminates between the worker producing low quality
products and the worker producing high quality products, and
positively responds only to the quality conscious worker.

Reinforcement: Reinforcement is a fundamental condition of learning.

Without reinforcement, no measurable modification of behavior takes
place. Reinforcement may be defined as the environmental events
affecting the probability of occurrence of responses with which they are
associated.

Retention: The stability of learned behavior over time is defined as

retention and its contrary is known as forgetting. Some of the learning
is retained over a period of time while others may be forgotten.

BRANCH MODELS OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

Salovey and Mayer add that abilities that emerge relatively early in
development are to the left of a given branch; later developing abilities are to
the right. They also say that, people high in emotional intelligence are
expected to progress more quickly through the abilities designated and to
master more of them.
The following diagram depicts different areas of four branch model of
emotional intelligence.
More specifically, this four branch model defines emotional intelligence as
involving the abilities to:
1. Perceive emotions: The nonverbal reception and facial expressions

such

as

happiness,

sadness,

anger,

and

fear,

were

universally

recognizable in human beings. The capacity to accurately perceive

emotions in the face or voice of others provides a crucial starting point for
more advanced understanding of emotions.
2. Using emotions to facilitate thoughts: This was the capacity of the

emotions to guide the cognitive system and promote thinking and help
direct thinking toward matters that are truly important. A number of
researchers have suggested that emotions are important for certain kind
of creativity to emerge.
3. Understanding emotions: Emotions convey its own pattern of

possible messages, and actions associated with those messages. This

coupled with the capacity to reason about those meanings.
4. Managing emotions: Finally, emotions often can be managed. To the

extent that it is under self control, a person may want to remain open to
emotional signals so long as they are not too painful, and block out those
that are overwhelming. In between, within the persons emotional comfort
zone, it becomes possible to regulate and manage ones own and others
emotions so as to promote ones own and others personal and social
goals. An emotionally intelligent teacher can guide students in a better
way.
The first two branches of four branch model of emotional intelligence,
Perception, and Facilitation, are termed experiential EI, because they
relate most closely to feelings. They involve, first, the capacity to perceive
emotions in others accurately, and, second, the ability to use emotions to
enhance how we think. The third and fourth branches are termed strategic
EI because they pertain to calculating and planning with information about
emotions. The third branch, Understanding Emotions, involves knowing how
emotions change, in and of themselves, as well as how they will change
people and their behaviors over time. The fourth branch, Emotional
Management, focuses on how to integrate logic and emotion for effective
decision-making. These four skill areas are related to one another, but they
are functionally distinct as well.
5 DOMAINS OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

Several studies have demonstrated that individuals with purely high IQs
possess a great range of intellectual interests and abilities, they have
difficulty dealing with their own emotions and with the emotions of others.
Other intangible characteristics and abilities, such as self-motivation, impulse
control, the ability to regulate ones own emotions, and empathizing with
others clearly have an effect on a persons accomplishments in life; these
qualities have been collectively termedEmotional Intelligence. People with
high emotional intelligence levels excel socially, are outgoing and cheerful,
are rarely fearful or worried, and are sympathetic and caring in their
relationships.

Five Domains of Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence can be broken down into five main domains: knowing
ones

emotions,

managing

emotions,

motivating

oneself,

recognizing

emotions in others, and handling relationships.

1. Knowing Ones Emotions Self Awareness

People deal with their emotions by either being aware of them, engulfed by
them, or accepting of them. Individuals who are aware of their emotions are
able to manage their emotions more easily because they are able to
recognize that they are feeling a particular emotion at a certain time and are
able to reflect on their emotions. Conversely, those who are engulfed by
their emotions are not very aware of their own feelings, and therefore
become lost in them, resulting in a feeling of being overwhelmed by their
emotions. People who are accepting of their moods are clear about their
feelings, but they also do not try to change them. In addition, being aware of
ones emotions also plays a role in making decisions, such as in trusting ones
gut feeling. Therefore, individuals who are aware of their own emotions are
able to have a more certain sense of how they really feel about the decisions
they make throughout their lives.

2. Managing Emotions Self Regulation

Anger is a powerful emotion that builds on itself; escalating anger is caused
by a series of aggravations, resulting in emotions ability to overcome

reason. Ways in which people manage their anger include reflection on the
situation, distraction through a long walk or exercise, and relaxation.
However, if individuals are not aware of their anger, it will be difficult for
them to cool off. Worry is another emotion that can spiral out of control
without careful management. Chronic worry can lead to an intensifying cycle,
possibly leading to phobias, obsessions and compulsions, or panic attacks.
Worry can also worsen feelings of melancholy and depression. Like anger,
worry can be controlled through self-awareness of its onset, and further
control may be achieved through relaxation techniques. Individuals who are
able to manage their emotions can more easily rebound from setbacks,
disappointments, and frustrations, while those who are poor managers of
their feelings find themselves always fighting feelings of distress and anger.

3. Motivating Oneself Motivation

Managing ones emotions in order to reach a goal is essential for paying
attention, mastery, creativity, and self-motivation. For example, students
who are anxious, angry, or depressed have difficulty learning. Students who
are overwhelmed by worry before an exam will not be able to perform well
because they will be worrying about failing rather than thinking about the
exam questions.

When emotions overpower concentration, as in the

aforementioned situation, the working memory is overwhelmed, making even

simple tasks such as reading a sentence difficult.

In contrast, positive

motivation has an obvious positive function in successful individuals. Selfmotivation may include pleasure from performing the current task, a healthy
degree of anxiety, optimism, or hope. In addition, emotional self-control, or
the ability to stifle impulsiveness and delay gratification, is the building block
for achievement.
Successful individuals have described situations in which they have achieved
a level of peak performance, and have disappeared into an ecstatic and
steady absorption in the moment. This state is called flow or the zone.
People in the flow state have perfect control over the task at hand, are able
to unconsciously respond to changing demands, and receive positive selffeedback in the form of ecstasy and relaxation. Some have proposed using

the concept of flow in education. Entry to the flow state can occur when
students find a task they are skilled at, and face it at a level that slightly
taxes their ability. In addition, because being in the flow state results in
positive self-feedback, students who are in flow will be more interested in
what they are learning about. Further, students in the flow state are not
bored because their tasks are not too simple, nor are they worried and
anxious because their tasks are not overly difficult. Being able to get into the
flow state enables outstanding performance of all types; people who have
this skill tend to be more highly productive and effective in any enterprise.

4. Recognizing Emotions in Others Empathy

Empathy, or the ability to perceive the subjective experience of another
person, develops from self-awareness; if people are more understanding of
their own emotions, they will be more adept in understanding the feelings of
others. The development of empathy begins in infancy through the process
of attunement between parent and child. Through attunement, parents let
their children know that they have a sense of what that child is feeling. Lack
of attunement during infancy may develop into later emotional dysfunction
for the child; a study demonstrated that a cohort of violent criminals had life
histories that suggested emotional neglect and lack of attunement during
infancy and childhood.

Not surprisingly, lack of empathy is a common

characteristic in murderers, rapists, and child molesters.

In contrast,

individuals who are empathic are more attuned to the subtle social signals
that indicate what others need or want, making them proficient in
occupations

such

as

the

caring

professions,

teaching,

sales,

and

management. In addition, empathy is the root for caring for others and acts
of altruism.

5. Handling Relationships Social Skills

While the exchange of emotions between people is often subtle and virtually
unnoticeable,

these

emotional

signals

are

essential

in

interpersonal

interactions; people who are poor at receiving these cues are prone to
problems in their relationships.

Individuals who possess interpersonal

intelligence are skilled in organizing groups, negotiating solutions, personal

connection, and social analysis. Unlike some people who would do almost
anything to gain approval, these individuals are able to please others while
staying true to themselves and without compromising their own beliefs or
values. Studies of children trying to become part of an established play
group have found that popular children take time to passively observe the
group dynamic, eventually join the group in a tentative and cautious fashion,
and then continue to observe the groups interactions in an attempt to
understand the group dynamic before entering in the group activity or
conversation. On the other hand, children who have trouble reading others
emotions are often frustrated, unpopular, and socially isolated. The ability to
initiate and maintain relationships is due, in large part, to skill in managing
emotions in others.

4 COMPONENTS OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

Emotional Intelligence was first described by Daniel Goleman, PhD, in the
Harvard Business Review. Dr. Goleman has described many important
scientific discoveries about emotions and human behavior in his book,
Emotional Intelligence.

The book

organizes

the

information

into a

description of how emotion drives behavior, and describes intelligent ways of

managing both.
According to Goleman, people who know and monitor their own
feelings and recognize and deal with the feelings of others, have
advantages in all areas of life, but those who cannot get a control
over their emotional lives battle constantly and this prevent them to
produce continued work and clear thoughts.
He has identified a set of competencies that differentiate individuals with
Emotional Intelligence.

Components
Emotional Intelligence

Golemans

Model: Four

of

Emotional Intelligence consists of two kinds of abilities. The vertical axis

describes awareness vs. behavior. What You See (left column) is the ability
to recognize and understand emotions in yourself and in others and What

You Do (right column) is the ability to manage your own emotions and
behaviors to interact effectively with other people. The horizontal axis
describes an individual perspective vs. group/interactive perspective. What
Im aware of and how I manage myself (top row) and whats happening with
others and how I manage those relationships (bottom row). All four
perspectives should be considered in order to have the most positive result in
your interactions with others.

1. Self-Awareness
Self-Awareness means being aware of your own emotions, and being able to
identify them correctly. This is the most important of the EI skills. It allows you
to recognize your own strengths and weaknesses. If you are aware of your
feelings, you know what causes you to feel happy, proud, alarmed, disgusted,
and so on. These are your biases, positive as well as negative. When you are
aware of your feelings you can more easily manage your own reactions and
your behavior. This is very important to managing relationships with others
successfully.

2. Self-Management
Self-Management is the ability to control your emotional reactions while still
behaving

with

honesty

and

integrity.

person

who

is emotionally

intelligent does not let bad moods or a strong emotional reaction govern his
or her behavior. She or he is able to be honest and frank in a calm manner,
without attacking others. When moods or feelings are too strong to set aside,
an emotionally intelligent person lets others know she/he is upset, and how
long this is likely to last so they know what to expect and can adjust.
Self-Management also means being able to direct your own behavior toward a
goal. It means being able to put off gratification in the present in order to get
better results at a future time, like saving money now to buy a house later.
And it means being able to motivate yourself to stick with something over
time, even though it may be difficult and time consuming.

3. Social Awareness

Social awareness has two parts: empathy, and attention (noticing how others
are reacting to you).
Empathy means being able to sense what the other person is feeling, and to
know what their emotion feels like from your own experience. It does not
necessarily mean you agree with the other person. However it does mean
that you know how they feel and can communicate that you understand, and
that you care.
The other part of social awareness is attention or knowing how other people
are reacting, or anticipating how they are likely to react to what you do and
say. It means having a sense of how others feel when you announce a
change, make a request, or simply make a statement. Once you have the
ability to sense how others react, you can be more effective in choosing how
to deliver a message. This lays the foundation for the fourth skill, relationship
management.

4. Relationship Management
Relationship management includes the ability to communicate in a clear and
convincing way. Being clear means being able to say what you mean simply,
and being able to offer examples.
Being

convincing

does

not

rely

on

rational

argument.

It

relies

on

understanding how people feel and what emotions are important in their
decision-making process. You can observe this in the way national and
community leaders attempt to influence their constituents. They will typically
talk about issues of security, faith, family, health and prosperity all things
that have a strong emotional impact on people. This does not mean you
should abandon rational argument, it means you must also understand how
to use emotion to communicate and persuade.
A person who is emotionally intelligent can communicate ideas, information,
and requests to others effectively. They pay attention to how others are
reacting and adjust their approach to get a better result. Because they pay
attention to emotional response, they are often able to predict how others will
react and plan accordingly. They are often quite good at building enthusiasm

and calming down interpersonal conflicts. The key is social awareness and
flexibility in how they talk to other people. They can adjust words, non-verbal
behavior, and timing to get the best reaction from others.

Conclusion
Emotional intelligence is a set of skills that involve the ability to identify and
monitor their own thoughts, as well as those of others, using them to steer
the way of thinking and acting. Emotional intelligence is therefore an ability,
single or composite, which helps people to harmonize it.

Self-Awareness: Capacity for understanding ones emotions, ones

strengths, and ones weaknesses.

Self-Management: Capacity for effectively managing ones motives

and regulating ones behavior.

Social Awareness: Capacity for understanding what others are saying

and feeling and why they feel and act as they do.

Relationship Management: Capacity for acting in such a way that

one is able to get desired results from others and reach personal goals.

A person who masters the first three is in a better position to effectively

manage relationships. Each of these four domains comprises a number of
functional units or competencies. Developing competencies across these four
main areas is essential for success in life and the workplace.

INTRODUCTION TO PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL

In almost every organization, every employee is subjected to

periodic appraisal of his/her performance. This is highly important if the
organizations human resource development objectives are to be realized, if
the organization wants to make best use of its human resource available and
if the organization wants to have a scientific and retinal compensation
system. Aneffective performance appraisal system brings rationality in
management. If an organization wants to maximize its effectiveness then the
organization must have tool by which it can discriminate between an
effective employee and not so effective employee. Today, appraisal is not
something of a choice left to the wishes of the corporate bosses, nor it is a
privilege to be enjoyed by few businesses conglomerates.
Therefore, it is a must for every organization for its survival and growth. The
appraisal practices are in somewhere structured and formally sanctioned

and in other instances they are an informal and integral part of daily
activities. Thus, across the human activities someway or other performance
appraisal is conducted in different ways and all of us, consciously or
unconsciously evaluate our own actions from time to time. In social situation,
performance is conducted in a systematic and planned manner to achieve
various organizational goals in social system.
Read More:
1. Performance Appraisal
2. Objectives of Performance Appraisal

Background of Performance Appraisal

Performance appraisal is not something new. The appraisal system existed
in early centuries, though the nature of appraisal was not so formal and the
tools used were not so scientific. In fact the appraisal gained momentum in
the post Second World War period with the advent ofprofessionalization
in management. At the early stages the performance appraisal was done
just on the basis of the degree to which a person possessed certain traits,
which were considered essential for effective performance of a particular
task. Performance Appraisal of individuals, groups and organizations is
common practice of all societies.
The history of performance appraisal is quite brief. Its roots in the
early 20th century can be traced to Frederick Taylors pioneering time and
motion studies. But this is not very helpful, for the same might be said about
almost everything in the field of modern human resources management. As a
distinct and formal management procedure of evaluation of work
performance, appraisal system was used dates from the time of the Second
World War. Yet in a broader sense, the practice of appraisal of employees
performance in different work places is a very ancient art. Appraisal, it
seems, is both inevitable and universal for human activities. In the absence
of a carefully structured system of appraisal, people will tend to judge the
work performance of others, including subordinates, naturally, informally
and arbitrarily.
The human inclination to judge can create serious motivational, ethical and
legal problems in the workplace. Without a structured appraisal system, there
is little chance of ensuring that the judgments made will be lawful,
fair, defensible and accurate. Performance appraisal systemsbegan as

simple methods of income justification. That is, appraisal was used to decide
whether or not the salary or wage of an individual employee was justified.
The process was firmly linked to material outcomes. If an employees
performance was found to be less than ideal, a cut in pay would follow. On
the other hand, if their performance was better than the supervisor expected,
a pay rise was in order. As a result, the traditional emphasis on reward
outcomes was progressively rejected. In the 1950s in the United States, the
potential usefulness of appraisal as tool for motivation and development was
gradually recognized. The general model of performance appraisal, as it is
known today, began form that time.

Concept of Performance Appraisal

In the context of an industrial organization, performance appraisal is
a systematic evaluation of personnel by supervisors or those familiar with
their performance. In other words, performance appraisal is a systematic
and objective way of judging the relative worth or ability of an employee
in performing his/her task.
Many authors described and some of them were tried to define the concept
of performance appraisal in their own way.
According to Dale Beach,
Performance

appraisal

is

the

systematic evaluation

of

the

individual with regard to his or her performance on the job and his
potential for development.
According to Gary Dessler,
Performance appraisal is an evaluation of employees current or
past performance relative to his/her performance standards. Further
he mentioned that the appraisal process involves three steps;
1. Setting work standards,
2. Assessing the employees actual performance relative to
these standards, and

3. Providing

feedback

to

the

employee

with

the aim

of

motivating that person to eliminate performance deficiencies or

to continue to perform above par.

McGregor discusses

the

formal

performance

appraisal

plans

in

view

of meeting three needs. Out of which one is relating to organization and other
two for

individual.

The

first

one,

organization

level,

is

to

provide

systematic judgments to back up salary increases, transfers, demotions, or

terminations. The other two, individual level, are relating to certain means
which are meant for subordinate to tell subordinate how boss is doing, and
suggesting needed changes in behavior, attitudes, skills or job knowledge.
Make subordinate to know the level of performance standards and the
superior uses them as a base for coaching and counseling the individual
employee.
Performance

appraisal may

be

defined

as

structured

formal

interaction between a subordinate and supervisor, that usually takes the form
of

periodic interview

(annual

or

semi-annual),

in

which

the

work

performance of the subordinate is examined and discussed, with a view to

identifying

weaknesses and

strengths

as

well

as

opportunities

for

improvement and skills development. Appraising the performance is method

of evaluating the behavior of employees in the work spot, normally including
both

the

quantitative

and qualitative

aspects

of

job

performance. Performance refers to the degree of accomplishment of the

tasks that make up an individuals job. It includes how well an individual is
fulfilling the job demands. In order to find out whether an employee is worthy
of continued employment or not, and if so, whether he should receive a
bounds, a pay rise or promotion, performance needs to be evaluated form
time to time. It is by and large useful for not only for the different payments
purpose but also to make aware of once strengths and weaknesses. So that
employees can able to understand that in which area they are suppose to
improve their performance. Under this exercise evaluation is not only the
performance

of

worker

on

for development for future

appraisals should

focus

on

the

job

but

also employee

expecting job roles. Moreover

wok

planning

and continuous

potential

performance
review

for

development. They should also focus on quality to survive in the current

environment.

Every organization has to decide upon the content to be appraised before the
programme is approved. Generally content to be appraised is determined
on the basis of job analysis. Contents to be appraised in the form of
contribution to organizational objectives like production cost saving return on
capital so on. Other measures are based on; behavior which meaner
observable physical actions and movements, objectives which measure job
related results like amount of deposits mobilized, and traits which measures
in terms of personal characteristics observable in employees job activities.
The contents to be appraised may vary with the purpose of appraisal and
type and level of employee. There are different methods designed and
experimented in this regard.
METHODS OF PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL
Performance appraisal are considered to be the vital tool, to measure the
performance of an employee and use the information collected, to optimize
the resource of individuals in an organization. It is systematic evaluation of
individuals with respect to their task performance and their potential for
development individually and collectively. It refers to the assessments of an
employees actual performance, behaviour on jobs and his/her potential for
further performance. The main purposes of appraisal are to assess training
need to effect promotion and to give high pay.
We may say that appraising the performance of an individual has been known
as merit rating, but in recent years, we may closure different terminologies
have been used to denote this process such as performance appraisal,
performance review, performance evaluation, employee appraisal, progress
appraisal report, personal preview and so on.
Following methods are widely used in Performance Appraisal.
1. Forced-Choice Rating
This technique was developed to reduce bias and establish objective
standards of comparison between individuals, but it does not involve the
intervention of a third party. Although there are many variations of this
method, the most common one asks raters to choose from among groups of

statements those which best fit the individual being rated and those those
which least fit him. The statements are then weighted or scored, very much
the way a psychological test is scored. People with high scores are, by
definition, the better employees; those with low scores are the poorer ones.
Since the rater does not know what the scoring weights for each statement
are, in theory at least, he cannot play favorites. He simply describes his
people, and someone in the personnel department applies the scoring
weights to determine who gets the best rating.
The rationale behind this technique is difficult to fault. It is the same rationale
used in developing selection test batteries. In practice, however, the forced
choice methods tend to irritate raters, who feel they are not being trusted.
They want to say openly how they rate someone and not be second-guessed
or tricked into making honest appraisals.
2. Field Review
When there is reason to suspect rater bias, when some raters appear to be
using higher standards than others, or when comparability of ratings is
essential, essay or graphic ratings are often combined with a systematic
review process. The field review is one of several techniques for doing this. A
member of the personnel or central administrative staff meets with small
groups of raters from each supervisory unit and goes over each employees
rating with them to (a) identify areas of inter-rater disagreement, (b) help the
group arrive at a consensus, and (c) determine that each rater conceives the
standards similarly.
This group-judgment technique tends to be fairer and more valid then
individual ratings and permits the central staff to develop an awareness of
the varying degrees of leniency or severity-as well as bias- exhibited by
raters in different departments. On the negative side, the process is very
time consuming.

3. Essay Appraisal
In its simplest form, this technique asks the rater to write a paragraph or
more covering an individuals strengths, weaknesses, potential, and so on. In

most selection situations, particularly those former employers, teachers, or

associates carry significant weight. The assumptions seems to be that an
honest and informed statement either by word of mouth or in writing form
someone who knows a man well, is fully as valid as more formal and more
complicated methods.
The biggest drawback to essay appraisals is their variability in length and
content. Moreover, since different essays touch on different aspects of a
mans performance or personal qualifications, essay ratings are difficult to
combine or compare. For comparability, some type of more formal method,
like the graphic rating scale, is desirable.
4. Management By Objectives
To avoid, or to deal with, the feeling that they are being judged by unfairly
high standards, employees in some organizations are being asked to set-or
help set-their own performance goals. Within the last five or six years, MBO
has become something of a fad and is so familiar to most managers that I will
not dwell on it here.
It should be noted, however, that when MBO is applied at lower
organizational levels, employees do not always want to be involved in their
own goal setting. As Arthur N. Turner and Paul R. Lawrence discovered, many
do not want self-direction or autonomy. As a result, more coercive variations
of MBO drifting into a kind of manipulative form of management in which
pseudo-participation substitutes for the real thing. Employees are consulted,
but management ends up imposing its standards and its objectives.
Some organizations, therefore, are introducing a work-standards approach to
goal setting in which management openly sets the goals. In fact, there
appears to be something of a vogue in the setting of such work standards in
white-collar and service areas.
5. Assessment Centers
So far, we have been talking about assessing past performance. What about
the assessment of future performance or potential? In any placement
decision and even more so in promotion decisions, some prediction of future

performance is necessary. How can this kind of prediction be made most

validly and most fairly?
One widely used rule of thumb is that what a man has done is the best
predictor of what he will do in the future. But suppose you are picking a man
to be a supervisor and this person has never held supervisory responsibility?
Or suppose you are selecting a man for a job from among a group of
candidates, none of who has done the job or one like it? In these situation,
many organizations use assessment centers to predict future performance
more accurately.
Typically, individuals from different departments are brought together to
spend two or three days working on individual and group assignments similar
to the ones they will be handling if they are promoted. The pooled judgment
of observers sometimes derived by paired comparison or alternation
ranking leads to an order of-merit ranking for each participant. Less
structured, subjective judgment is also made.
There are good deals of evidence that people chosen by assessment center
methods work out better than those not chosen by these methods. The
center also makes it possible for people who are working for departments of
low status or low visibility in an organization to become visible and, in the
competitive situation of an assessment center, show how they stack up
against people from better-known departments. This has the effect of
equalizing opportunity, improving morale, and enlarging the pool of possible
promotion candidates.
6. Graphic Rating Scale
This method is more consistent and reliable. Typically, a graphic scale
assesses a person on the quality and quantity of his work and on a variety of
other factors that vary with the job but usually include personal traits like
reliability and cooperation. It may also include specific performance items like
oral and written communication.
The graphic scale has come under frequent attack, but remains the most
widely used rating method. In a classic comparison between the oldfashioned graphic scale and the much more sophisticated force-choices

technique, the former proved to be fully as valid as the best of the forcedchoice forms, and better than most of them. It is also cheaper to develop and
more acceptable to raters than the forced-choice form. For many purposes
there is no need to use anything more complicated than a graphic scale
supplement by a few essay questions.
7. Ranking Mathods
For comparative purposes, particularly when it is necessary to compare
people who work for different supervisors, individual statements, ratings, or
appraisal forms are not particularly useful. Instead, it is necessary to
recognize that comparisons involve an overall subjective judgment to which a
host of additional facts and impressions must somehow be added. There is no
single form or way to do this.

Alternation ranking: In this method, the names of employees are listed

on the left-hand side of the sheet of paper preferably in random order. If
the rankings are for salary purposes, a supervisor is asked to choose the
most valuable employee on the list, cross his name off, and put it at the
top of the column on the right-hand side of the sheet. Next, he selects the
least valuable employee on the list, cross his name off, and puts it at
the bottom of the right-hand column. The ranker then selects the most
valuable person from the remaining list, crosses his name off and enters it
below the top name on the right-hand list, and so on.

Paired comparison ranking: This technique is probably just as

accurate as alternation ranking and might be more so. But with large
numbers of employees it becomes extremely time consuming and
cumbersome.

Certain

techniques

in

performance

appraisal

have

been

thoroughly

investigated, and some have been found to yield better results than others.
Encourage Discussion
Research studies show that employees are likely to feel more satisfied with
their appraisal result if they have the chance to talk freely and discuss their
performance. It is also more likely that such employees will be better able to

meet future performance goals. Employees are also more likely to feel that
the appraisal process is fair if they are given a chance to talk about their
performance. This especially so when they are permitted to challenge and
appeal against their evaluation.
Constructive Intention
It is very important that employees recognize that negative appraisal
feedback is provided with a constructive intention, i.e., to help them
overcome present difficulties and to improve their future performance.
Employees will be less anxious about criticism, and more likely to find it
useful, when the believe that the appraisers intentions are helpful and
constructive. In contrast, other studies have reported that destructive
criticism which is vague, ill-informed, unfair or harshly presented will lead
to problems such as anger, resentment, tension and workplace conflict, as
well as increased resistance to improvement, denial of problems, and poorer
performance.

Set Performance Goals

It has been shown in numerous studies that goal setting is an important
element in employee motivation. Goals can stimulate employee effort, focus
attention, increase persistence, and encourage employees to find new and
better ways to work. The useful of goals as a stimulus to human motivation is
one of the best-supported theories in management. It is also quite clear that
goals which are specific, difficult and accepted by employees will lead to
higher levels of performance than easy, vague goals (such as do your best) or
no goals at all.
Appraiser Credibility
It is important that the appraiser (usually the employees supervisor) be well
informed

and

credible.

Appraisers

should

feel

comfortable

with

the

techniques of appraisal, and should be knowledgeable about the employees

job and performance. When these conditions exist, employees are more likely
to view the appraisal process as accurate and fair. They also express more
acceptances of the appraisers feedback and a greater willingness to change.

LEARNING STYLES
Learning style refers to the ability of an individual to learn. A managers
long-term success depends more on the ability to learn than on the mastery
of the specific skills or technical knowledge.

Kolbs Learning Styles Model

Kolbs model of learning styles is one of the best-known and widely used
learning style theories. Kolbs learning theory sets out four distinct learning
styles (or preferences), which are based on a four-stage learning cycle. Much
of Kolbs theory is concerned with the learners internal cognitive processes.
Learning is the process whereby knowledge is created through the
transformation

of

experience.

Knowledge

results

from

the

combination of grasping experience and transforming it. (David A.

Kolb, 1984).
These four learning styles are: accommodation, divergence, assimilation and
convergence. The fourlearning styles are based on dimensions: feeling
versus thinking and doing versus observing.

1. Accommodator: An accommodator learns by doing and feeling. He

tends to learn primarily from hands-on experience. He tends to act on gut

feeling rather than on logical analysis. An accommodator tends to rely
more heavily on people for information while making decisions. He seeks
action-oriented careers such as marketing, politics, public relations and
management.

2. Diverger: A diverger learns by observing and feeling. The diverger has

the ability to view concrete situations from different angles. When solving
problems, diverger enjoys brainstorming. He takes time and analyses
many alternatives. Diverger is imaginative and sensitive to the needs of
the other people. He seeks careers in entertainment, arts and services
sector.
3. Converger: A converger learns by doing and thinking. The converger

seeks practical use for information. When presented with problems and
making decisions, the converger tends to focus on solutions. Converger
tends to prefer dealing with technical tasks and problems rather than
social and interpersonal issues. Converger seeks technical careers in
various

scientific

fields

and

work

at

engineering,

production

supervision, IT and managerial jobs.

4. Assimilator: An assimilator learns by observing and thinking. The

assimilator is effective at understanding a wide range of information

and putting in to concise and logical form. It is more important for the
assimilator that an idea or theory is logical than practical. Assimilator
tends to be more concerned with abstract idea and concept than with
people. He tends to seek careers in education, information and science.
CURRENT TRENDS IN HRM

The world of work is rapidly changing. As a part of organization, Human

Resource Management (HRM) must be prepared to deal with effects of
changing world of work. For the HR people it means understanding
the implications of globalization, work-force diversity, changing skill
requirements, corporate downsizing, continuous improvement initiatives, reengineering, the contingent work force, decentralized work sites and
employee involvement. Let us consider each of them one by one.

1. Globalization and its implications

Business today doesnt have national boundaries it reaches around the
world. The rise ofmultinational corporations places new requirements on
human resource managers. The HR department needs to ensure that the
appropriate mix of employees in terms of knowledge, skills and cultural
adaptability is available to handle global assignments. In order to meet this
goal, the organizations must train individuals to meet the challenges of
globalization. The employees must have working knowledge of the language

and culture ( in terms of values, morals, customs and laws) of the host
country.
Human Resource Management (HRM) must also develop mechanisms that
will help multicultural individuals work together. As background, language,
custom or age differences become more prevalent, there are indications that
employee conflict will increase. HRM would be required to train management
to be more flexible in its practices. Because tomorrows workers will come in
different colors, nationalities and so on, managers will be required to change
their ways. This will necessitate managers being trained to recognize
differences in workers and to appreciate and even celebrate these
differences.

2. Workforce Diversity
In the past HRM was considerably simpler because our work force was
strikingly homogeneous. Todays work force comprises of people of different
gender,

age,

social

class

sexual

orientation,

values,

personality

characteristics, ethnicity, religion, education, language, physical appearance,

martial status, lifestyle, beliefs, ideologies and background characteristics
such as geographic origin, tenure with the organization, and economic status
and the list could go on. Diversity is critically linked to the organizations
strategic direction. Where diversity flourishes, the potential benefits from
better creativity and decision making and greater innovation can be accrued
to help increase organizations competitiveness. One means of achieving that
is through the organizations benefits package. This includes HRM offerings
that fall under the heading of the family friendly organization. A family
friendly organization is one that has flexible work schedules and provides
such employee benefits such as child care. In addition to the diversity
brought by gender and nationality, HRM must be aware of the age differences
that exist in todays work force. HRM must train people of different age
groups to effectively mange and to deal with each other and to respect the
diversity of views that each offers. In situations like these a participative
approach seems to work better.

3. Changing skill requirements

Recruiting and developing skilled labor is important for any company

concerned about competitiveness, productivity, quality and managing a
diverse work force effectively. Skill deficiencies translate into significant
losses for the organization in terms of poor-quality work and lower
productivity, increase in employee accidents and customer complaints. Since
a growing number of jobs will require more education and higher levels of
language than current ones , HRM practitioners and specialists will have to
communicate this to educators and community leaders etc. Strategic human
resource planning will have to carefully weigh the skill deficiencies and
shortages. HRM department will have to devise suitable training and short
term programmes to bridge the skill gaps & deficiencies.

4. Corporate downsizing
Whenever an organization attempts to delayer, it is attempting to create
greater efficiency. The premise of downsizing is to reduce the number of
workers employed by the organization. HRM department has a very important
role

to

play

in

downsizing.

HRM

people

must

ensure

that

proper

communication must take place during this time. They must minimize the
negative effects of rumors and ensure that individuals are kept informed with
factual data. HRM must also deal with actual layoff. HRM dept is key to the
downsizing discussions that have to take place.

5. Continuous improvement programs

Continuous improvement programs focus on the long term well being of the
organization. It is a process whereby an organization focuses on quality and
builds a better foundation to serve its customers. This often involves a
company wide initiative to improve quality and productivity. The company
changes its operations to focus on the customer and to involve workers in
matters affecting them. Companies strive to improve everything that they do,
from hiring quality people, to administrative paper processing, to meeting
customer needs.
Unfortunately, such initiatives are not something that can be easily
implemented, nor dictated down through the many levels in an organization.
Rather, they are like an organization wide development process and the

process must be accepted and supported by top management and driven by

collaborative efforts, throughout each segment in the organization. HRM
plays an important role in the implementation of continuous improvement
programs. Whenever an organization embarks on any improvement effort, it
is introducing change into the organization. At this point organization
development initiatives dominate. Specifically, HRM must prepare individuals
for the change. This requires clear and extensive communications of why the
change will occur, what is to be expected and what effect it will have on
employees.

6. Re-engineering work processes for improved

productivity
Although continuous improvement initiatives are positive starts in many of
our organizations, they typically focus on ongoing incremental change. Such
action is intuitively appealing the constant and permanent search to make
things better. Yet many companies function in an environment that is
dynamic- facing rapid and constant change. As a result continuous
improvement programs may not be in the best interest of the organization.
The problem with them is that they may provide a false sense of security.
Ongoing incremental change avoids facing up to the possibility that what the
organization may really need is radical or quantum change. Such drastic
change results in the re-engineering of the organization.
Re-engineering occurs when more than 70% of the work processes in an
organization are evaluated and altered. It requires organizational members to
rethink what work should be done, how it is to be done and how to best
implement these decisions. Re-engineering changes how organizations do
their business and directly affects the employees. Re-engineering may leave
certain employees frustrated and angry and unsure of what to expect.
Accordingly HRM must have mechanisms in place for employees to get
appropriate direction of what to do and what to expect as well as assistance
in dealing with the conflict that may permeate the organization. For reengineering to generate its benefits HRM needs to offer skill training to its
employees. Whether its a new process, a technology enhancement, working
in teams, having more decision making authority, or the like , employees
would need new skills as a result of the re-engineering process.

7. Contingent workforce

A very substantial part of the modern day workforce are the contingent
workers. Contingent workers are individuals who are typically hired for
shorter periods of time. They perform specific tasks that often require special
job skills and are employed when an organization is experiencing significant
deviations in its workflow. When an organization makes its strategic decision
to employ a sizable portion of its workforce from the contingency ranks,
several HRM issues come to the forefront. These include being able to have
these virtual employees available when needed, providing scheduling options
that meet their needs and making decisions about whether or not benefits
will be offered to the contingent work force.
No organization can make the transition to a contingent workforce without
sufficient planning. As such, when these strategic decisions are being made,
HRM must be an active partner in these discussions. After all its HRM
departments responsibility to locate and bring into the organization these
temporary workers. As temporary workers are brought in, HRM will also have
the responsibility of quickly adapting them to the organization. HRM will also
have to give some thought to how it will attract quality temporaries.

8. Decentralized work sites

Work sites are getting more and more decentralized. Telecommuting
capabilities that exist today have made it possible for the employees to be
located anywhere on the globe. With this potential, the employers no longer
have to consider locating a business near its work force. Telecommuting also
offers an opportunity for a business tin a high cost area to have its work
done in an area where lower wages prevail.
Decentralized work sites also offer opportunities that may meet the needs of
the diversified workforce. Those who have family responsibilities like child
care, or those who have disabilities may prefer to work in their homes rather
than travel to the organizations facility. For HRM, decentralized work sites
present a challenge. Much of that challenge revolves around training
managers in how to establish and ensure appropriate work quality and ontime

completion.

Work

at

home

may

also

require

HRM

to

rethink

its compensation policy. Will it pay by the hour, on a salary basis, or by the

job performed. Also, because employees in decentralized work sites are full
time employees of the organization as opposed to contingent workers, it will
be

organizations

responsibility

to

ensure

health

and

safety

of

the

decentralized work force.

9. Employee involvement
For todays organizations to be successful, there are a number of employee
involvement

concepts

that

are delegation, participative

appear

to

be

management, work

accepted.
teams,

setting, employee training and empowering of employees.

These
goal

HRM has a

significant role to play in employee involvement. What is needed is

demonstrated leadership as well as supportive management. Employees
need to be trained and thats where human resource management has a
significant role to play. Employees expected to delegate, to have decisions
participatively handled, to work in teams, or to set goals cannot do so unless
they know and understand what it is that they are to do. Empowering
employees requires extensive training in all aspects of the job. Workers may
need to understand how new job design processes. They may need training in
interpersonal skills to make participative and work teams function properly.
TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT

Meaning of Training and Development

Training typically involves providing the employees the knowledge and skills
needed to do a particular task or a job through attitude change. It is
concerned with imparting and developing specific skills for a particular
purpose. For example, Flippo has defined training as the act of increasing
the skills of an employee for doing a particular job. Thus, training is a
process of learning a sequence of programmed behavior. This behavior, being
programmed, is relevant to a specific phenomenon, that is, a job.
The term development refers broadly to the nature and direction of change
induced in employees, particularly managerial personnel through the process
of training and educative process.
National Industrial Conference Board has defined development as
Managerial Development is all those activities and programmes

when recognized and controlled, have substantial influence in

changing the capacity of the individual to perform his assignment
better and in doing so are likely in increase his potential for future
assignments.

Thus managerial development is not merely training or a combination of

various training programmes, though some kind of training is necessary; it is
the overall development of the competency of managerial personnel in the
light of the present requirement as well as the future requirement.
Development has a long term focus on preparing for future work
responsibilities, while also increasing the capacities of employees to perform
their current jobs.

Training
and
Comparison

Development

Thus, training and development differ from each other in terms of their
objectives and consequently in terms of their contents.
Steinmetz has differentiated the two concepts as: Training is a
short-term process utilizing a systematic and organized procedure
by which non-management personnel learn technical knowledge and
skills for a definite purpose. Development is a long-term educational
process utilizing a systematic and organized procedure by which
managerial personnel learn conceptual and theoretical knowledge
for general purpose.
Training

and

development is considered as a continuum. Training-

development continuum has manual training at the one end and philosophy
at the other end. The training-development continuum contains the following
stages:

Manual Skills

Specific job techniques

Techniques

Concepts

Philosophy

The manual skills training is given to operatives for performing specific jobs.
As it progresses, we find more emphasis on other points of the continuum.
Managerial personnel have greater needs for conceptual and human relations
skills as compared to job-related skills. Therefore, their need for training does
not remain confined to the development of skills needed for specific jobs.
They require skills and competence for future managerial jobs besides their
present of contents rather than on account of process involved.

Need for Training and Development

There is continuous pressure for efficiency and if the organization does not
respond to this pressure, it may find itself rapidly losing its market. Training
imparts skills and knowledge to employees in order that they contribute to
the organizations efficiency and be able to cope up with the pressures of
changing environment. The viability of an organization depends to a
considerable extent on the skills of different employees, especially that of
managerial cadre, to relate the organization with its environment. Therefore,
in any organization, there is no question of whether to train its employees or
not, the only choice is that of following a particular training and
development method. Three factors which necessitate continuous training
in an organization are technological advances, organizational complexity and
human relations. All these factors are related to each other.
Training and development can play the following role in an organization.
1. Increases Efficiency. Training and development increases skills for

doing a job in better way. This is more important in the context of

changing technology because the old method of working may not be
relevant. As such, training is required even to maintain minimum level of
output.
2. Increases Morale. Training and development increases morale of

employees. High morale is evidenced by employee enthusiasm. Training

increases employee morale by relating their skills with their job
requirements. Possession of skills necessary to perform a job well often
tends to meet human needs such as security and ego satisfaction. Trained
employees can see the jobs in more meaningful way.

3. Better Human Relations. Training increases the quality of human

relations in an organization. Growing complexity of organizations has led

to various human problems like inter-personal and inter-group problems.
These problems can be overcome by suitable human relation training.
4. Reduced Supervision. Trained employees require less supervision.

Autonomy and freedom can be given if the employees are trained

properly to handle their jobs without the help of supervision. With
reduced supervision, a manager can increase his span of control in the
organization which saves cost to the organization.
5. Increased Organizational Viability and Flexibility. There is no

greater organizational asset than trained personnel, because these

people can turn the other assets into productive whole. Viability relates to
survival of the organization during bad days and flexibility relates to
sustain its effectiveness despite the loss of its key personnel and making
short-term adjustment with the existing personnel. Such adjustment is
possible if the organization has trained people who can occupy the
positions vacated by key personnel. The organization, which does not
prepare a second line of personnel who can ultimately take the charge of
key personnel, may not be successful in the absence of such key
personnel for whatever the reason.

PEOPLE CAPABILITY MATURITY MODEL (PCMM)

People Capability Maturity Model (PCMM) is a maturity framework that
focuses on continuously improving the management and development of the
human assets of a software or information systems organization. PCMM can
be perceived as the application of the principles of Capability Maturity
Model to human assets of a software organization. It describes an
evolutionary improvement path from ad hoc, inconsistently performed
practices, to a mature, disciplined, and continuously improving development
of the knowledge, skills, and motivation of the workforce. Although the focus
in People CMM is on software or information system organizations, the
processes and practices are applicable for any organization that aims to
improve the capability of its workforce. PCMM will be guiding and effective
particularly for organizations whose core processes are knowledge intensive.

The primary objective of the People Capability Maturity Model is to

improve the capability of the entire workforce. This can be defined as the
level of knowledge, skills, and process abilities available for performing an
organizations current and future business activities.

The People Capability Maturity Model consists of five maturity levels.

Each maturity level is an evolutionary plateau at which one or more domains
of the organizations processes are transformed to achieve a new level of
organizational capability. The five levels of People CMM are defined as
follows:
1. At PCMM Level

1,

an

organization

has

no

consistent

way

of

performing workforce practices. Most workforce practices are applied

without analysis of impact.
2. At PCMM Level 2, organizations establish a foundation on which they
deploy common workforce practices across the organization. The goal of
Level 2 is to have managers take responsibility for managing and
developing their people. For example, the first benefit an organization
experiences as it achieves Level 2 is a reduction in voluntary turnover.
The turnover costs that are avoided by improved workforce retention
more than pay for the improvement costs associated with achieving Level
2.
3. At PCMM Level 3, the organization identifies and develops workforce
competencies and aligns workforce and work group competencies with
business strategies and objectives. For example, the workforce practices that
were implemented at Level 2 are now standardized and adapted to
encourage and reward growth in the organizations workforce competencies.
4. At PCMM Level 4, the organization empowers and integrates workforce
competencies and manages performance quantitatively. For example, the
organization is able to predict its capability for performing work because it
can quantify the capability of its workforce and of the competency-based
processes they use in performing their assignments.
5. At PCMM Level 5, the organization continuously improves and aligns
personal, work-group, and organizational capability. For example, at

Maturity Level 5, organizations treat continuous improvement as an

orderly business process to be performed in an orderly way on a regular
basis.
The People

Capability

knowledge-intense

Maturity

organizations

Model was

and workforce

designed

initially

for

management processes.

However, it can be applied in almost any organizational setting, either as a

guide in implementing workforce improvement activities or as a vehicle for
assessing workforce practices.

COMMON TEAM PROBLEMS

1. Floundering
This problem occurs in the teams which are having trouble starting or ending
a project or different stages of the project. Solution to this state are to look
critically at the improvement plan, review the mission statement, determine
the cause of the holdup, and have each member write down reasons and
discuss them at the next meeting.
2. Overbearing participants
These participants have an unusual amount of influence in the team. They
usually have a passion of authority or a particular expertise. Teams need
these abilities; however, it becomes detrimental when they discourage
discussion on their expertise and discount other members ideas. Solutions
are to reinforce the ground rules, talk to the person off-line and ask for
cooperation, and enforce the importance of data and the problem-solving
method.
3. Dominating participant
They like to themselves talk, use overlong anecdotes, and dominate the
meeting. Members get discouraged and find excuser for missing meetings.
Solutions are to structure discussion on key issues for equal participation. Talk

to the offending person off-line, and have the team agree in the needs for
limits and a balanced participation. In addition the leader may act as a
gatekeeper by asking questions.
4. Reluctant participants
They feel shy or unsure of themselves and must be encouraged to contribute.
Problems developed when there are no built-in activities that encourage
introverts to participate and extraverts to listen. In addition to structured
activities, solution includes dividing the task into individual assignment and
acting as a gatekeeper by asking questions such as, what is your
experience in this area?
5. Unquestioned acceptance of opinions as facts occurs
When members assert personal beliefs with such confidence that other
members think they are facts. Solutions are to request data and to follow the
problem-solving method.
6. Rush to accomplish
It is common to teams being pushed by one or more members who are
impatient for results. Teams must realize that improvements do not come
easily and rarely overnight. Solutions are to remind members that the ground
rules call for the problem-solving method or to confront the rusher off-line
and explain the effects of impatience.
7. Attribution
This is the activity of guessing at a persons motives when team members
disagree or dont understand his or her opinion or behavior. Solutions are to
reaffirm the importance of the problem-solving method, question whether
this opinion is based on data, and find out the real meaning of the problem.
8. Discounts and plops
These things arise when members fail to give credit to anothers opinions or
no one responds to a statement that plops. Every member deserves the
respect and attention from the team. Solutions are to reinforce active
listening as a team behaviour, support the discounted member, or talk offline with members who frequently discount, put down or ignore.

9. Wanderlust
Digression and tangents happened when members loss track of the
meetings purpose or want to avoid a sensitive topic. Discussions then
wonder off in many directions at once. Solutions are to use a written agenda
with time estimates, write meeting topics on flip charts or redirect the
conversation back to the agenda.
10. Feuding team members
This can disrupt an entire team with their disagreement. Usually these feuds
predate the team and are best dealt with outside the team meetings. Solution
are to get the adversaries to discuss the issues off-line, offer to facilitate the
discussion, and encourage them to forms some contract about their
behaviours.

JOB TRAINING TECHNIQUES

The aim of training and development programs is to improve organizational
capabilities and employee ability. When the organization invests in improving
the skills and knowledge for its employees, the investment will lead to more
productive and effective employees. Successful Training and development
programme focuses on employee performance or team performance. Training
and development programmes should be based on training needs identified
by their analysis, that money and time invested in training and development
should be related or linked to the mission or core business strategy of the
organization.
Training
and
development
can
be classified
as
external
and
internal. Externally training and development can be provided by private
training organizations and co-workers, while Internal training can be on-thejob or off-the-job. On-the-job training is a training being instructed by another
trainer, fellow worker or supervisor while off-the-job training provided by the
organization in the form of demonstrations and lectures, but far away from
the work station. Training and development however, have a lot of similarities
which is often difficult to differentiate and as such are used interchangeably.

On the Job Training Methods

In these methods, training is provided on the job, in realistic job situations, at
employers cost and time. The trainee usually learns as well as earns. In
terms of learning principles, there is highermotivation, participation, and
involvement

of

the

trainees

in

the learning

process.

There

is

also

quick transference of learning to the job. However, its biggest limitation is

that the supervisor-trainers may not take full interest in the training, may

only fulfill the ritual of training and leave the trainee to sink and swim at his
own risk.
The main methods of on-the job training are:
i) Job Instruction Method: It is also called, on the job training . In this
method the trainee is placed directly on the job under the care of his
immediate supervisor. This training involves five steps: First, the supervisortrainer explains to him the basic nature of the job, rules, procedures,
methods, dos and donts etc. Second, he demonstrates to him, step-by
step, how the work is done, explaining every step carefully. Third, he makes
the trainee practice the work in front of him repeatedly, guiding him every
time when he falters because of lack of confidence or skill. At the fourth step
the supervisor allows the trainee to perform simple routines at first at his own
and then more difficult operations in his guidance. Lastly, the supervisor
leaves the trained worker free under the guidance of some senior co-worker
and occasionally checks his progress and gives him more practical tips.
The main advantages of this method are: i) It is easily organized, and
realistic, ii) it stimulates high motivation, iii) it speeds up the workers
adjustment to his superior and fellow workers, iv) its cost is less, v) in terms
of learning principles the method is job-relevant, facilitates repetition and
positive transfer, provides active participation, and immediate knowledge of
results.
The main disadvantages are: i) The immediate supervisor may be a poor
instructor or unwilling instructor, ii) the worker in his haste for immediate
production, may fail to learn the best way of doing the job, iii) the actual
costs, considering lost time of trainee and trainer, as well as the wasted
material and damaged equipment, may be heavy, and iv) this training is
often too brief and poorly structured to provide complete training.
ii) Vestibule Training: In this method, the trainees, before being placed on
the job, are trained, in a training-workshop attached and adjacent to the main
production line almost on identical equipment, but by trained instructors. This
training is more systematic and complete because it moves on the principle
of progressive learning, i.e. first learn the first step and then only move to the
learning of the second step. This gives greater satisfaction and confidence to
the trainee and saves costly equipment from misuse. However, its cost is a
little higher because it requires spare equipment, special instructors, and a
special training workshop near the main production line. This type of training
is given to workers on technical jobs where costly equipment is used and the
operations require meticulous moves, or where the operation cycle is long

and involves several workstations

manipulations on the way.

and

workers

performing

several

iii) Job Rotation: This is a method of training in which a worker is moved

systematically from one job to the other job, in such a manner that he learns
and masters the nuances of different jobs of the same order and level in the
same department or in different departments. This training gives him a wider
exposure, develops in him multiple skills, allows management to use his
services in different department on different jobs, and prepares him to
assume supervisory responsibility for all the jobs he learnt during training. In
management development programmes this technique is known as position
rotation technique.
The main advantages of this training are: a) it trains workers in a variety of
duties and responsibilities and thus develops multiple skills. b) Workers also
get an overall perspective of related activities and jobs; c) It helps
management to use the services of these workers on multiple jobs as per
staff

requirements.

d) Learning is

more

effective

because

of higher

motivation (variety of skills and challenges), active participation in learning

process, quick transference of skills to jobs, and prompt feedback on progress
etc. e) it improves the marketability of the trained employees skills, he can
easily get alternative employment anywhere.
The main limitations of this method are: i) this training is time-consuming and
costly too. ii) Due to individual differences, people are not equally suited for
all jobs. iii) It weakens a workers commitment to a given job. iv) Placement of
worker might create a problem when a particular workers shows inclination
for a different job than the one being offered to him.
iv) Apprenticeship Training: This is a very old system for training artisans.
In this system a new worker is tutored and mentored by an established
craftsman in the intricacies of the trade for a considerable period of time, say
from two to five years. In this training the emphasis is placed first on the
development of right attitudes and aptitudes and then on the intricacies of
the trade and lastly on developing creative genius in the trade.
In the modern version, classroom instructions are imparted typically in the
evening at local training school for about 144 or more hours per year. Each

apprentice is usually given a workbook consisting of reading materials, tests

to be taken and practice problems to be solved. The apprentice serves as
assistant and learns the craft by working with a fully skilled member of the
trade called a Journeyman.
This training is used in such trades, crafts, and technical fields in which
proficiency can be acquired only through practice over a relatively long
period of time in and under direct supervision of experts. At the end of the
training, the person is promoted to the position of a journeyman. This training
is intense, lengthy and usually on one-to-one basis.
v) Internship Training: This training combines a heavy dose of theoretical
and practical training for developing professional knowledge, skills, abilities
and attitudes in the trainees. Training imparted in such professions as
medicine, para-medicines, nursing, accountancy, law, computers etc. provide
very apt examples of this training. In this training, the internees, after or
alongside the passing of theory examination .have to undergo an intense
internship training at actual place of professional practice e.g. hospitals,
nursing homes, audit firms, law courts, etc. under the close guidance of
established practitioners and learn practical tips and skills.
vi)

Coaching

and

Counseling: At

management

levels,

coaching

and counseling of immediate subordinates by their managers to make them a

better fit at the job and for improving their job skills and abilities, is a
common practice. Coaching is similar to apprenticeship to some extent
because the coach attempts to provide a model for the trainee to copy.
However, this is less formal than apprenticeship training, because it generally
does not include classroom sessions. Further, it is provided only when needed
rather than as a part of a carefully planned program.
In management development programs the designated trainee may be
inducted as an assistant to the manager or as his understudy. This training
also

involves

effective

use

of

main

learning

principles:

relevance,

participation, feedback. and job-transference.

This type of coaching thrives in a climate of confidence, a climate in which
subordinates respect the integrity, achievements and capability of their
superiors. Its greatest advantage is individualized informal instructions,
concentrating on those specific stimulus-situations, which subordinates find
hardest to deal with, and those specific performance-requirements which
subordinates find hardest to improve. The kind and quality of feedback
provided also has great impact on subordinates. However, this training is less

effective, if relations between trainee and coach are ambiguous or lack

mutual trust.

Off the Job Training Methods

These training progammes take place away from the daily pressure of the job
and are conducted by highly competent resource persons, like consultants,
technicians and academicians etc. who have training expertise. Its main
advantages are, full attention on training aspect, guidance by the best
experts in the area, freeing of the busy executives from often-unwanted
instructional task, and freedom to the trainee from the daily pressure of work
routine.
However, this has some limitations too: e.g. poor transferability to the job
more often the trainee learns new facts and principles at lectures, workshops,
and conferences but have no idea how to apply what he has learned, once he
is back in his job.
i) Lecture Method: To make this method effective the instructor expert
must plan his lecture by taking into consideration: who comprise his
audience, what do they need from him, what is the time available, and what
and how will he like to convey it. The lecture should be brief and to the point,
presenting the theme of the subject in a manner that arouses interest in the
audience from the start. The speaker should be poised, courteous, and
sincere; his gestures and actions should be spontaneous. Affectations are
extremely distracting and annoying. It is best to use simple language that has
less chance of being misunderstood.
The main advantages of this method are: i) large number of trainees can be
covered at the same time, ii) it is cost-effective, and iii) it is also an efficient
method for acquiring latest knowledge in the field.
The main limitations are: i) it gives little opportunity for active practice,
knowledge of results, or transfer of learning, ii) there is danger of overlearning when the experts try to cover too much in too little time, and iii) this
method can not meet the needs of individual differences among learners
their backgrounds, personality , motivations etc.

The lecture method may be strengthened with the use of several instructional
audio-visual aids like Blackboards, Flip-charts, Magnetic Boards, Overhead
Projectors as tools of effective presentation, and short visuals, slides,
enactments, case films etc. as tools to highlight the concepts. These aids
make presentations more lively, precise and understandable. Further, the
contents get etched in the memory of the trainees more permanently.
ii)

Conference

(Discussion)

Method: This

method

encourages

the

participation of all members of the group in an exchange of opinions, ideas,

and criticism. It is a small group discussion in which leader plays a neutral
role providing guidance and feedback. This method is effective when the
material needs clarification and elaboration or where lively discussion would
facilitate understanding all the implications of a problem and in developing
creative and effective solutions to the problems at hand.
The main objectives of this method are: a) developing the decisionmaking and problem-solving skills of participants, b) presenting new and
sometimes complex ideas and concepts, c) changing and modifying attitudes
through group discussions. The method can draw on the learning principles of
motivation, participation and feedback.
iii) Programmed Instructions: It is also called a teaching machine. It was
developed in the late 1950s for both school and industrial applications. Its
main features are: i) the trainees learn at their own place, ii) the instructors
are not a key part of the learning, iii) the material to be learnt is broken down
into very small units or stages, iv) each step logically builds upon those that
have preceded it, v) the trainee is given immediate knowledge of results for
each answer he gives, and vi) there is active participation by the learner at
each step of the programme. The programmed instructions include elaborate
teaching machines, films, sound tapes, programmed books, illustrations,
printed material, diagrams etc. The core feature of programmed instructions
is participation by the trainee and immediate feedback to him.
iv) Vocational Guidance: Vocational guidance is a facilitative process, in
which an expert advises individual employees about the type of jobs, and
careers most suitable for them taking into consideration their interests,
aptitudes and abilities and the available or likely to be available job/position
opportunities in the organization or employment market. The expert is called
vocational and career counselor. In a working organization he guides new
employees in the selection of the right assignment for placement. He also
guides existing employees in the selection of their career goals and
progression paths. Vocational guidance involves the following steps: i)
collection of information from the candidate and his parents regarding the

persons past history, ii) securing information about the candidates aptitudes
and interests through various psychological tests, and of his occupational
abilities and skills through various trade tests iii) Making an opinion about the
candidates talent, interests and potential, iv) Matching the candidates
capabilities with various jobs/positions available or likely to be available in
the organization v) Giving vocational advice and guidance to the candidate
how he can benefit.
v) Case Study Method: It is a written description of an actual situation in
business which provokes, in the reader, the need to decide what is going on,
what the situation really is, or what the problems are, and what can and
should be done. Taken from actual experience of organizations, these cases
represent attempts to describe, as accurately as possible, real problems that
managers face. Trainees study the cases to determine problems, analyze
causes, develop alternative solutions, select the best and workable, and
debate and defend their choices. Case study can provide stimulating
discussions among participants, as well as excellent opportunities for
individuals to develop their analytical and judgmental abilities. It appears to
be an ideal method to promote decision-making abilities within the
constraints of limited data. Cases are usually organized around one or more
problems or issues that are confronted by an organization. They are meant to
illustrate problematic issues, rather than to portray success stories.
The main advantages of case study method are: a) It allows participative
discussion, b) when cases are meaningful and similar to work related
situations,

there

is

immediate

learning

transference,

c)

it

improves

participants analytical, decision-making and problem solving skills, d) it

brings home to the participant that nothing is absolutely right or wrong in the
field of human behaviour.
vi) Simulation: It is an approach that replicates certain important
characteristics of the real world situations so that the trainees can react to
them as if it were real and then carry the knowledge gained to their actual
work practices. This type of training generally enhances trainees cognitive,
decision-making and behavioural skills. Main methods for simulation are:
1. Role Playing: In this method the trainees are given some real life

business situations requiring inter-personal interactions and they are

asked to play assigned roles as per their understanding of the situation
and the responses from the other party. The chosen person in an assigned

role has to think of his moves and statements as per the on-going
dialogue, there and then, and not forget the basic purpose, which that
role confers on him. This method is used for the development of interpersonal skills, or human relation skills as well as customer relation skills.
2. In basket Exercise: In this method the trainee managers are
confronted with real management situation. They are placed on the job for
which they are trained and given two basketsan in basket in which the
days decisional problem are lined up and an out basket in which the
trainees decisions are passed on. The trainee takes actual decisions
under the watchful eyes of the experienced managers and at the end of
the day these decisions are discussed to understand and evaluate the
decision-making abilities of the trainee manager.
3. Business Games: These games are designed to develop decisionmaking skills of the trainees in a group. Participants are divided into
teams, which compete with each other in achieving some business
goals in a given external and internal environment, with the help of
available resources. They have to plan their team strategy, define
functional goals for members, allocate resources, plan action programmes,
budget and schedules, coordinate the programmes of different functional
in-charges, follow the market changes and show how their plans, in the
light of the competitive teams plans, work better.
vii) Sensitivity Training: This training uses small number of trainees,
usually 10-12 in a group. They meet with a passive trainer and gain insight
into their own and others behaviours and sensitivities. Meetings, that have
no agenda, are held away from workplaces, and questions deal with the here
and now of the group process. Discussions focus on why participants behave
as they do, how they perceive each other, and the feelings and emotions
generated in the interaction processes.
The main objectives of sensitivity training are: a) to make participants
increasingly aware of, and sensitive to, the emotional reactions and
expressions in themselves and others, b) to increase the ability of
participants to perceive, and to learn from, the consequences of their actions
through attention to their own and others feelings, c) to stimulate the
clarification and development of personal values and goals consonant with a
democratic and scientific approach to problems of personal and social
decisions and actions, d) to develop achievement of behavioral effectiveness
in participants, and e) to develop concepts and theoretical framework for
linking personal values and goals to actions consistent with these inner
factors and situational requirements.

Nine Qualities all HR Professionals Should Have

1) Clarity of Thoughts In most of the situations and circumstances, we come across two options; either we want
to do or we dont want to do; either we agree to it or we dont agree to it; either it is acceptable or it is not
acceptable; either you want or you dont want. It has been seen that many HR Professionals are confused. They are
not clear, where they want to take their company. They dont know what role they like to play in the organization.
They dont have clarity of role. They dont have clear expectations, neither from themselves, or from their team or
from their internal customers (employees). With this confusion, they fail to take decisions. They fail to take stand.
2) Efficiency in Time Management - HR professionals is expected to be efficient in time management. They are
expected to set time-frame and meet those expectations. Most of the time they dont give any time limit. You
approach them for any work and they respond by saying, Ok, it will be done. But when? I agree that Good HR
Professionals have many things to do. Recruitments, Employee Relations, Talent Management, Career Development,
Benchmarking, etc are the things, which takes lots of time. But, all goals, all dreams, all activities, all commitments
looks good and are achievable, if there is a closing date for that. For Example, I want my company to be in top-10
companies in the world. Its a Vision. Its a good dream. But, if I dont specify, by which year or in how many years, I
want to achieve that goal, it will only remain as a dream and will never become a reality. Uncertainty, Ambiguity,
Open-Ended commitment, Confusion, these are things, that are not expected from any HR Professional.
3) Compare Performances / Compare Situations & Circumstances but do not compare individuals / People
-Knowingly or unknowingly but quite often, instead of Circumstances and Situations, we tend to compare two different
people. Instead of analyzing the behavior of a person we tend to analyze them as an individual and take this as our
right. The very basic principle of science and management says that no two individuals are same.
4) Knowledge about the Business and Industry Everybody should be aware of their strengths and weaknesses.
They should be aware as what they want in their life and career. It is a well known fact and has been proved in various
surveys that HR professionals dont care to understand the business of the company and the industry that they are
working in.
5) Vision and Goal for the Department, Team and Organization What you want to do for the organization? Are
you planning to implement a competitive compensation plan? Do you want to take your company in the bracket of 25
Best Employers in the Country? Are you planning to acquire best of the talent from market? Do you think that you
need to control the growing Attrition Rate of your company? Have you thought about Organization Development and
Talent Management? Usually, that is the confusion. HR professionals and HR heads dont have that vision. They want
to do something in HR but dont know what they can do or should do. They should have vision for the organization for
HR perspective and goals for their department and team. Its a must have. Until and unless you are sure about your
destination, you cannot take the path.
6) Love for Number / Data / Figures / Calculations / Analysis / Projections You talk to any person in any
other profession and tell them that you are in HR; two things will automatically flash in their mind Theory and
Politics. One reason why HR professionals in India have not been able to enter into the Board Room and make their
presence felt in the organization is because though they have ideas, they have strategies and policies but they are not
able to support those strategies with data. (It is because there is no mathematics and calculations involved in this
subject that many people [mostly females] love to join this profession).
For example, if I have a Retention Strategy and I want to implement in the organization. I need to show, how much
the implementation of that strategy will cost; by what percentage the company will be able to increase the employee
retention and decrease the attrition; which are the companies that are using this particular strategy and how effective
it has been in their cases. If, I am going with this data, calculation and analysis, I am sure that my strategy will be
implemented.
Hence, HR professionals need to be more analytical, data oriented and good in calculations. They should not be
subjective and theory oriented.
7) Enthusiasm to Share / Develop / Coach and Mentor We have heard and read in our schools and colleges
that Knowledge is a wealth; the more you distribute/share the more you gain. In this profession of HRM & D; we are
privileged and are in a very unique position where we can develop people. We can develop their career. We can
develop their life. We can help them in changing their perception and behavior. We can groom them, so that they can
be successful in their life. Dont you think that we have very important and crucial role to play?? How many of us have
actually thought of those lines? Do, think about it, you have one life, give what you can. If 10 people will remember
me once I bid adieu to this world for helping them in developing their life, I will consider my life as successful.
8) Self Discipline This again is a common quality that everyone should have, irrespective of their respective
professions, but it is more appreciable in HR Professionals and is like a must have. They need to set standards for
others to follow; they need to benchmark their own behavior and if they start flowing with water, everything else will

go for a toss and things will go out of control. I have heard, people saying that I am doing this or that because others
are also doing it but that is not expected from HR Professionals. Discipline in life is a must to grow, prosper and being
successful. So, set standards and dont just flow.
9) Trust Worthy This is very important quality and must have for all HR Professionals. Candidates, at the time of
interview share important information with HR; Employees share lots information, personal, professional, ideas,
suggestions, future related, dreams etc. Imagine, if the HR professional keep sharing that information with everyone
in the team of HR; will that employee ever comeback to HR to share anything with him. NEVER. HR professionals need
to win that trust and then maintain and keep that trust. This is very true for HR Professionals, who are working in
Employee Relations. Relation of any kind, be it with employees, is based on trust and honesty. If ever, you break that
trust, you will never be able to win it again.