Human Resources

Q. 1 Write down the difference between Personnel management and Human Resource management. Ans. Distinction between Personnel management & Human Resources management The history of Human Resources management traces its roots to the erstwhile Personnel management that was prevalent in the companies of a few decades ago. Though the two terms ‘Personnel Management’ and ‘Human Resources Management’ are interchangeably used by most of the authors, there are key differentiators that make Personnel Management (PM) different from Human Resources Management (HRM). HRM is clearly based on the foundation of behavioural science knowledge relating to the handling of employees to motivate organizational goals. The focus is more proactive approach and pays attention to employee satisfaction and delight. Business goals and objectives and the strategies that will enable this to happen are the foundation for HRM. The basic philosophy is driven by the Theory Y approach where the belief is that people like to work and do not prefer t be supervised and made to perform. The employee becomes a champion for the organization and its product/service. PM is that management style that deals with the control and reactive problem solving approach to resolve employee issues in a organizations. The philosophy for the PM approach relied on the Theory X approach that believed that people do not naturally like to work and need to be coerced to work and often need to be driven to work. Is more the ‘stick’ approach rather than ‘carrot’ approach. Rigid rules of do’s and dont’s exist and these provide the framework for employee’s behaviour at the workplace. Employee welfare and formal grievance systems play a significant role here and thereby managing industrial relations with high amount of trade union activity are highlighted. Very few organizations today practice this style to people management, as the benefits and the long term gains from a HRM approach, impact business results far more. HRM emphasizes on training, as an important area of people management, which covers the following aspects: 1. Increasing productivity 2. Improving quality 3. Improving organizational climate 4. Ensuring personnel growth etc. Q. Write a note on scope of HR in India. Ans. Scope of HR in India Contrary to these forces, in India the owner manager/government/public sector manager was an industry icon and a national hero of sorts. The Personnel Management practices were dominant of the ‘brick-and-motor’ industry. Though the approach was largely welfare oriented and reactive in nature it served effectively for the large PSU organizations that built the country’s foundation. Its only in the past 10-12 years with the immense growth on account of the IT industry that winds of change began to blow. It was largely the advent of the Information Technology era in India that brought with it the western management practices. MNC’s (multinational companies) started up their operations in India. The FDI (foreign direct investment) went up steeply as the world saw the potential in the country’s human resources. India became a preferred location for MNC’s primarily from the USA, followed by other developed countries. The gave birth to a new generation of management as well as HRM practices. New hiring methods, new ways of paying salaries, new employment terms and most importantly increased focus on individual performance and outcomes. There was emphasis on deliverables and linking individual and team performance to business results and success. Given the highly educated workforce there was a de-emphasis in the role of the trade unions. The era of the trade union dominance gave way to the new order of individual negotiated salaries and terms and clearly performance linked assessment systems. Another transformation that the Indian workplace witnessed was the focus on ethics and ethical practices in doing business. It was only fair to expect that with the weak legal system, it needed the support of the government policies and the corporate policies to beat the corruption that existed. This has significantly contributed to India emerging as a preferred destination for doing business. All of this has yielded to give way to the birth of the ‘professional manager’ Professional managers today are a critical and essential part of the Indian corporate. The professional manager brought about a shift in the culture from a highly authoritarian approach of getting work done, to a more collaborative and participative approach. The entrepreneurs who earlier operated in a secure, sheltered market and hardly face challenges, were challenged by the globalization that swept in with the liberalization policies and measure brought in by the Indian government late 1995 and onwards. Despite the challenges, the Indian employee and his manager evolved. Together they stepped up to face the challenge head-on and to win not only in India but also globally. The levers of (a) low cost, (b) highly skilled, and (c) English as the medium of education and it being the corporate-language: were the key drivers that enabled the flow of global business to India. There was exponential growth in employment both directly (jobs in the international and domestic companies) as well as indirectly (as support industries like transport, catering and ancillary industries). The simultaneous investment of the government in building the necessary infrastructure did its share of providing impetus towards creating more jobs for the people of the country. Hence, human relations movement in India has evolved very differently as compared to what we see in the developed economies of the USA and the UK. What is currently acting as a limitation is the enhanced awareness on the need for research based HRM practices. While there is a lot of work happening in the Indian education system to promote this, it is going to take a while before it can create a distinct body of knowledge that is referenceable. For now the industry relies on emulating westerns HR practices and customizing on a as-needed basis for the Indian corporation. For the rest the industry forums and consortiums like the NASSCOM act as a hub bringing together organizations on a regular basis to discuss challenges and share best practices and identify ways and means o overcome them together. So far this has been successful and working to the advantage of the Indian corporate. Leading MNC research and consulting firms like Mercer and Hewitt too contribute to the industry through carrying out research and sharing reports on a regular basis. The approach however remains analytical and less prescriptive. Q. 3 Explain the critical steps in Human Resource Planning system. Ans. We will attempt to discuss in details the critical steps that are part of the above system. A. Purpose of Human Resource Planning: Human Resource Planning fulfils individual as well as organizational goals. What it essentially amounts to is â€Å"striking a balance† between the future human resources needs and the future enterprise needs. And this is done with the clear objective of maximizing the future return on investment in human resources. And this objective may be laid down for a short-term (i. e. for one year). B. Estimating/Forecasting the future Manpower Requirements: the first step in the process is to arrive at the desired organizational structure at a given point in time. Mapping this structure with the existing structure helps in identifying the gap in resources requirement. The number and type of employees needed have to be determined. In addition to the structure there are a number of external factors that affect this determination. They include business forecasts, competitor strategy, expansion plans, product/skills mix changes, profit/revenue growth projections, in addition to management philosophy and government policies. This step also includes an analysis of the external labour/talent environment, its demographics, demand/supply of the required talent, and cost considerations. C. Auditing Human Resources: Once the future human resource needs are estimated, the next step is to determine the present supply of manpower resources. This is done through what is called â€Å"Skills Inventory†. A skills inventory contains data about each employee’s skills, abilities, work preferences and other items of information which indicate his worth to the company. Skills inventory are also referred to as competency dictionaries. This information is us ually retained as part of the performance management system with the HR department. This step in the HRP system helps identify the existing profile of the manpower and its efficiency. It helps highlight where the organization is vs. where it ought to be. The step concludes with identifying clear gaps in the skills/ manpower mix required to meet the upcoming business objectives. D. Job Analysis: After having decided how many persons would be needed, it is necessary to prepare a job analysis. The recorded details of training, skills, qualification, abilities, experience and responsibilities, etc. as needed for a job are studied. Job analysis includes the preparation of job descriptions and job specifications. E. Developing a Human Resource Plan: This step refers t the development and implementation of the human resource plan, which consists in finding out the sources of labour supply with a view to making an effective use of these sources. Some important considerations at this point are: †¢ Specific roles/disciplines being hired for, of them which roles are pivotal for the business †¢ Competencies and capabilities needed †¢ Manager vs. employee hiring †¢ Hire internally vs. External sourcing †¢ Planning for new skills through training existing staff vs. hiring new teams †¢ In case of surpluses, planning for redeployment/ reduction in orkforce as required †¢ Succession planning for key positions in the company. Q. 4 With reference to the compensation and salary system what are the systems that are helpful to raise the effectiveness of employees Ans. Compensation/ salary systems are designed to ensure that employees are rewarded appropriately depending on what they do and the skills and knowledge (intellect) required for doing a specific job. It must therefore provide for the following key factors in order to be effective: The following factors may be helpful to raise the effectiveness employees Signal to the employee the major objectives of the organizations- therefore it must link to the overall goals and objectives of the company. For example if doing a quality job is critical for the company its compensation system has to ensure that this is adequately rewarded. On the other hand if a company values productivity and units produces, the compensation system would be designed such that productivity is rewarded. †¢ Attract and retain the talent an organization needs – the need to benchmark salaries to the prevalent market standard for that job / skill so that the company is able to attract the right talent. If a enterprises pays a salary lower that what the market does for that job/responsibilities, the probability that suitable candidates would take the job offer and join the company. Even if they do join subsequently when they find that the market pays more for that job they would quickly find a more remunerative job and leave the company. †¢ Motivate employees to perform effectively – as discussed at the outset, money is a key motivator and it often might be the only motivator for most employees, therefore ensuring that compensation is appropriately disbursed need to be taken care of while designing the compensation system. Jobs in the brick and motor, production setups would focus on higher incentive policies that would motivate the employee to produce more while the base-salary would be low. †¢ Create the type of culture the company seeks to engender – compensation systems play a critical role as sponsors for the organizations culture. A performance driven culture would build compensation policies that clearly and significantly reward performance. A company that rewards loyalty would reward employees who stay longer in the company with significantly better incentive programs. Hence we see how compensation systems are reflective of the organizations over all philosophy of what its goals and objectives are and how this can be linked to salary payout. Q. 6 â€Å"Dynamic Learning† is an organization that wants to revise the HR policies. It has conducted a survey and the results of survey indicated that r=there is employee unrest, tardiness, absenteeism, more grievances. This all clearly indicates low morale. Suggest the measures that can be taken to improve employee morale. Ans. Employee Morale Boosters. Morale boosters can take the form of recognition, eompensation, special perks or simply terminating employees. Here are 11 low cost morale boosters: Welcome ideas: Employee morale improves when staff feel they are valued. Share and implement their innovations and ideas. Keep Score: Mount a large score board in the office to recognize top performers and to motivate those on the bottom of the list. Inspect: The old management adage, inspect what you expect is true. Companies with a lack of focus can confuse staff and lead to less morale. Thank You Notes: Send a special thank you letter to you staff’s family or spouse, praising their good work and efforts. Huddle: Have a daily morning huddle to highlights tasks for the day and to cheer yesterday’s wins. Open Up: Provide an open forum or one-on-one time to allow employees to express their concerns and feelings can be an easy means to boost morale. Have Fun: Special events and outside work activities can take the pressure off the day-to-day grind in the office. Show Charity: Get your staff involved in a bigger cause to help them see there is more to life than work. Add Perks: Use low cost perks such as a Foosball table in the lunch room. Fire Staff: Sometimes the root cause of low employee morale can be a staff member whose negativity brings down the group. Even a top performer can bring down staff behind your back. Measure it: Keep tabs on the levels of morale in your business by regularly measuring employee satisfaction. The backbone of business success resides in the productivity and output of your employees. Those companies who remain vigilant to the signs of low morale and who focus on improving morale can thwart off the impact of a low morale workplace. Human Resources 1 â€Å"If you are working in a company that is not enthusiastic energetic, creative, clever, curious, and just plain fun, you’ve got trouble, serious troubles† (Tom Peters. Indeed, the success of any organization depends on several issues amongst them, organizational culture, teamwork, management style and the level of motivation amongst the employees. Leadership The whole organizational momentum is decided by the top management, the style they adopt determines how decisions are going to be made, what kind of decisions the business is likely to make, the nature of policies which the company is going to adopt as well as how the organization will respond to management issues such as competitor activity, industrial attractiveness employee relations, public relations as well as corporate social responsibilities. The strategic fit of the organization is determined by whether the leaders are visionary or non-visionary whether these exercise foresight and how they balance risk taking and the drive for initiative. According to (Stacey, 1992p. 31-39), the momentum of a company is generated from the top management and perfected in bottom level, the success of an organization squarely rests on reach and every single employee irregardless of the role and position held in the organization. Therefore, to achieve a well coordinated and motivated team, the leadership and in essence, every single employee must be able to play their role so as to achieve a synergetic effect. The company which succeeds is that which handles all departments’ issues in regard to solving problems which arise and keep on arising. The challenges can serve as the source of de-motivating an otherwise motivated staff, if issues are not well attended to, while on the other hand, the challenges can afford an organization the opportunity to bond its workforce and reassure unity of purpose in the organization positive organizational behavior leads to organizational success while a negative corporate behavior leads to loss of profits and therefore organizational failure 2. You have been hired as the H. R director of the Schapiro Inn & out Motel. What are some of the key issues you should address the First day of work? Do you want to make your presence known the first day, or would you ease into the job slowly? What . R. management philosophies do you plan to adopt to make sure that you have the best workforce possible? Although take over calls for moderation, definitely there are some things that a new H. R manager would need be familiar with the first day of reporting to work. This is mainly because of the fact that on the fist day of work, one has already signed an agreement letter, and a letter of agreement. Probably they have been oriented and all relevant hand over details completed. This therefore implies that one is responsible for all happenings and is mandated to execute the relevant tasks as though that day was his/her 1000th day. Since not any board of directors would take the excuse that the H. R. M is new and therefore the reason for the numerous mistakes. But for the fact that different organizations have different needs, all HRM functions are similar and the rest calls for understanding of a company dynamics. On assuming office, an HRM manager has an obligation to execute normally all relevant duties such as pay issues, employee complaints, recruitment and staffing issues as well as formulate HR policies in collaboration with the administration. Where applicable, the HRM is supposed to solve any pending issues. The above is undertaken in the understanding that in an organization, smooth running is of utmost importance and a breakdown should never be experienced, for this may affect operations of the whole organization and therefore result into losses and interruptions to normal functioning of the organization. The best workforce can be achieved only by adopting suitable policies notably, pay related policies as well as employee motivation issues. The appraisal method adopted, problem solving and disciplinary issues as well as equality and equity policies at the place are of importance to an organisation. If the above are practiced, motivation results and staff often give their best. 3 â€Å"Call it what you will, incentives are what get people to work harder. † (Nikita Khrushchev) Research findings on the impact of pay and incentives on performance and output have overwhelmingly supported the above contention. Most employees work to satisfy their basic needs as opposed to achieving other goals. Although other factors such as job environment, tools and machinery, job policies as well as terms of contract are relevant to. All of the above play important roles in ensuring that employees and well equipped to perform at their best. Incentives basically refer to salaries and all other benefits which allow employees to function with minimum constraints. Incentives as a motivator should be administered carefully and uniformly. Job grading should be predictable and done in guidelines of a clear and open policy whereby employees are aware of what they need to do in order to move to the next level or to move to a higher job group. In a situation where by the issue of incentives is handled unprofessionally, conflicts arise and output and performance are negatively affected. 4 Discuss the term â€Å"turnover† in the hospitality industry. What does it mean? How can it be controlled? What are some of the causes? What does it mean to you? Turnover can be defined as the situation whereby employees keep on quitting job in unusually high rates. This could either be due to natural attrition, unfavorable working conditions as well as due to service termination. Turnover is a very common occurrence in the hospitality industry mainly due to the nature of the industry. Since many businesses in the hospitality sector peg their staff needs on seasons, low or high seasons call for flexible employment and contract terms in which organisations increase or retrench staff to reflect on market activity, this in turn results into un-usually high staff turnover occasioned by unpredictability of demand forces. â€Å"Laziness may appear attractive, but work gives satisfaction† (Anne Frank) Job satisfaction refers to a state whereby one is able to work hard and in turn receive self assurance from the job upon being contented with the results of the work. Job satisfaction is good for employees in that it lead to high level of concentration and therefore high output. Lack of satisfaction leads to lack of concentration, something which a ffects performance. Laziness is a leading cause of job dissatisfaction in that for one to be truly satisfied with their work hard work and effort is needed. One needs to concentrate and exercise a lot of patience for that leads to satisfaction. Therefore, laziness hinders performance and this prevents job satisfaction. Employees should derive job satisfaction from the tasks allocated to them. This in turn leads to high profitability of the organization and a healthy work force. Human Resources 1 â€Å"If you are working in a company that is not enthusiastic energetic, creative, clever, curious, and just plain fun, you’ve got trouble, serious troubles† (Tom Peters. Indeed, the success of any organization depends on several issues amongst them, organizational culture, teamwork, management style and the level of motivation amongst the employees. Leadership The whole organizational momentum is decided by the top management, the style they adopt determines how decisions are going to be made, what kind of decisions the business is likely to make, the nature of policies which the company is going to adopt as well as how the organization will respond to management issues such as competitor activity, industrial attractiveness employee relations, public relations as well as corporate social responsibilities. The strategic fit of the organization is determined by whether the leaders are visionary or non-visionary whether these exercise foresight and how they balance risk taking and the drive for initiative. According to (Stacey, 1992p. 31-39), the momentum of a company is generated from the top management and perfected in bottom level, the success of an organization squarely rests on reach and every single employee irregardless of the role and position held in the organization. Therefore, to achieve a well coordinated and motivated team, the leadership and in essence, every single employee must be able to play their role so as to achieve a synergetic effect. The company which succeeds is that which handles all departments’ issues in regard to solving problems which arise and keep on arising. The challenges can serve as the source of de-motivating an otherwise motivated staff, if issues are not well attended to, while on the other hand, the challenges can afford an organization the opportunity to bond its workforce and reassure unity of purpose in the organization positive organizational behavior leads to organizational success while a negative corporate behavior leads to loss of profits and therefore organizational failure 2. You have been hired as the H. R director of the Schapiro Inn & out Motel. What are some of the key issues you should address the First day of work? Do you want to make your presence known the first day, or would you ease into the job slowly? What . R. management philosophies do you plan to adopt to make sure that you have the best workforce possible? Although take over calls for moderation, definitely there are some things that a new H. R manager would need be familiar with the first day of reporting to work. This is mainly because of the fact that on the fist day of work, one has already signed an agreement letter, and a letter of agreement. Probably they have been oriented and all relevant hand over details completed. This therefore implies that one is responsible for all happenings and is mandated to execute the relevant tasks as though that day was his/her 1000th day. Since not any board of directors would take the excuse that the H. R. M is new and therefore the reason for the numerous mistakes. But for the fact that different organizations have different needs, all HRM functions are similar and the rest calls for understanding of a company dynamics. On assuming office, an HRM manager has an obligation to execute normally all relevant duties such as pay issues, employee complaints, recruitment and staffing issues as well as formulate HR policies in collaboration with the administration. Where applicable, the HRM is supposed to solve any pending issues. The above is undertaken in the understanding that in an organization, smooth running is of utmost importance and a breakdown should never be experienced, for this may affect operations of the whole organization and therefore result into losses and interruptions to normal functioning of the organization. The best workforce can be achieved only by adopting suitable policies notably, pay related policies as well as employee motivation issues. The appraisal method adopted, problem solving and disciplinary issues as well as equality and equity policies at the place are of importance to an organisation. If the above are practiced, motivation results and staff often give their best. 3 â€Å"Call it what you will, incentives are what get people to work harder. † (Nikita Khrushchev) Research findings on the impact of pay and incentives on performance and output have overwhelmingly supported the above contention. Most employees work to satisfy their basic needs as opposed to achieving other goals. Although other factors such as job environment, tools and machinery, job policies as well as terms of contract are relevant to. All of the above play important roles in ensuring that employees and well equipped to perform at their best. Incentives basically refer to salaries and all other benefits which allow employees to function with minimum constraints. Incentives as a motivator should be administered carefully and uniformly. Job grading should be predictable and done in guidelines of a clear and open policy whereby employees are aware of what they need to do in order to move to the next level or to move to a higher job group. In a situation where by the issue of incentives is handled unprofessionally, conflicts arise and output and performance are negatively affected. 4 Discuss the term â€Å"turnover† in the hospitality industry. What does it mean? How can it be controlled? What are some of the causes? What does it mean to you? Turnover can be defined as the situation whereby employees keep on quitting job in unusually high rates. This could either be due to natural attrition, unfavorable working conditions as well as due to service termination. Turnover is a very common occurrence in the hospitality industry mainly due to the nature of the industry. Since many businesses in the hospitality sector peg their staff needs on seasons, low or high seasons call for flexible employment and contract terms in which organisations increase or retrench staff to reflect on market activity, this in turn results into un-usually high staff turnover occasioned by unpredictability of demand forces. â€Å"Laziness may appear attractive, but work gives satisfaction† (Anne Frank) Job satisfaction refers to a state whereby one is able to work hard and in turn receive self assurance from the job upon being contented with the results of the work. Job satisfaction is good for employees in that it lead to high level of concentration and therefore high output. Lack of satisfaction leads to lack of concentration, something which a ffects performance. Laziness is a leading cause of job dissatisfaction in that for one to be truly satisfied with their work hard work and effort is needed. One needs to concentrate and exercise a lot of patience for that leads to satisfaction. Therefore, laziness hinders performance and this prevents job satisfaction. Employees should derive job satisfaction from the tasks allocated to them. This in turn leads to high profitability of the organization and a healthy work force.