Human resource management e notes

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Chapter : 1
Human Capital Management

1.1 INTRODUCTION

An organization is made up of four resources, namely men, material, money
and machinery. Of these, the first one id living one, i.e. human resource and
other three are non-living i.e.non human. It is the human/people that make
use of non human resources. Hence, people are the most significant
resources in an organization. It is man who makes all the difference in
organizations. L.F.Urwick had remarked that “business houses are made or
broken in the long run not by markets or capitals, patents or equipments, but
by men”. According to Peter F.Drucker, “ man, of all the resources available
to man, can grow and develop.”

The main objective of this chapter is to present a perspective for human
capital management in the Indian context. Accordingly the meaning,
objectives, scope and functions become the subject matter of this chapter.

Before we define HRM, it seems pertinent to first define the term “human
resources.” In common parlance, human resources mean people. OR
Personnel means the persons employed. Personnel management is the
management of people employed.

Organization may be a manufacturing firm, a business concern, an
insurance company, a governmental agency, social organizations, hospital, a
university and even families. It may be small or large, simple or complex.
An Organization is a human grouping in which work is done for the
accomplishment of some specific goals, or missions.

1.2 MEANING & DEFINITION OF HUMAN RESOURCE
MANAGEMENT

1.2.1 Human Resource Management means:

“The management of human resources is viewed as a system in which
participants seeks to attain both individuals of group goals”.

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If an analysis is made of this definition it will be seen that personnel
management involves procedures and practices through which human
resources are managed (i.e. organized and directed) towards the attainment
of the individual, social and organizational goals. By controlling and
effectively using manpower resources, management tries to produce goods
and services for the society.
1.2.2 Definitions:
1.2.2a Human Resource Management involves all management decisions
and practices that directly affect or influence the people, or human resources,
who work for the Organization. An organization’s employees enable an
Organization to achieve its goals, and the management of these human
resources is critical to an organization’s success.

1.2.2b According to Process Systems View Human Resource
Management means:

“ Human Resource Management is the systematic planning, development,
and control of a network of inter related process affecting and involving all
members of an Organization”.

Key Terms used in this definition:

Process: Process is an identifiable flow of interrelated events moving
towards some goal, consequence and end. An example of the human
resource management is the staffing process, a flow of events that results in
the continuous filling of positions within the Organization. These events
include such activities as recruiting applicants, making hiring decisions, and
managing career transitions such as transfers and promotions.
 Flow: Flow implies movement through time and in the direction of a
result;
 Inter-related: implies interaction within the process and between events;
 Goal and Consequence (Purpose): suggest a human objective;
 Events: are activities, happenings or change;
 End: implies some conclusion or consequence that may not necessarily
be sought or planned by man.

System: System is a particular set of procedures or devices designed to
control a process in a predictable way. For e.g. Staffing System of an
Organization.

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As a process it includes:
 Human Resource Planning;
 Job and Work Design;
 Staffing;
 Training and Development;
 Performance Appraisal and Review;
 Compensation and Reward;
 Employee protection and representation;
 Organization Improvement.

1.2.2c “Human Resource Management is the planning, organizing, directing
and controlling of the procurement, development, compensation, integration,
maintenance and separation of human resources to the end that individual,
organizational and societal objectives are accomplished".
Edward Flippo
This definition is a comprehensive and covers both the management
functions and the operative functions. The purpose of all these functions is
to assist in the accomplishment of basic objectives.

1.2.2 General Definition:

“Personnel Management is the recruitment, selection, development,
utilization of and accommodation to human resources by organizations. The
human resources of an organization consists of all individuals regardless of
their role, who are engaged in any of the organizations activities”.

1.3 Three aspects of Human Resource Management:

 Welfare Aspect: concerned with working conditions and amenities such
as canteens, crèches, housing, personal problems of workers, schools and
recreations;
 Labor or Personnel Aspect: concerned with recruitment, placement of
employees, remuneration, promotion, incentives, productivity etc.;
 Industrial Relations Aspect: concerned with trade union negotiations,
settlement of industrial disputes, joint consultation and collective
bargaining.

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1.4 Difference between Personnel Management and Human Resource
Management
Table: 1

Dimensions PM HRM
Nature of relations Pluralist Unitarist or neo-unitarist
Perception of conflict Conflict is Conflict is pathological
institutionalized
Contract Emphasis on compliance Beyond contract commitment
Role of procedures Rules dominated Culture and values dominated
Planning perspective Adhoc, reactive Integrated, proactive
Acceptability of Acceptable Non desirable
unions
Level of trust Low High
Key relation Labour management Customer
Management’s Role Transactional Transformational
Basis of job design Division of labour Teams
Key people PM/IR specialist Line people and general mangers
Skills acquisition Training and Learning Organization
Development
Reward Management Standardized job Performance related
evaluation

1.5Characteristics of Human Resource Management

1. Human Resource Management is concerned with managing people at
work. It covers all levels of personnel, including blue collared employees
and white collared employees;
2. It is concerned with employees, both as individuals as well as group;
3. Human Resource Management is concerned with helping the employees
to develop their potentialities and capacities to the maximum possible
extent, so that they may derive great satisfaction from their jobs;
4. It is a major part of the general management function and has roots and
branches extending throughout and beyond each Organization;
5. Human Resource Management is of a continuous nature;
6. Human Resource Management attempts at getting the willing co-
operation of the people for the attainment of the desired goals.

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HRM can be of full value to an Organization only when it is consistently
throughout out and applied at all levels and to all management functions; in
corporate policies, in the systems, procedures and in employment practices,
etc. this integrative aspect of HRM is, therefore, of vital importance.

Personnel
Administratio
Employee n
Relations HRM

Industrial
Relations

Fig, 1

1.6 Objectives of Human Resource Management
Objectives are pre-determined ends or goals at which individual or group
activity in an Organization is aimed. Objectives can be divided in to two
parts:
1.6.1 Primary Objectives:
 HRM’s main goal is the creation of a workforce with the
ability and motivation to accomplish the basic organizational
goals;
 They relate to the satisfaction of the personal objectives of
the members of an Organization through monetary and non
monetary devices;
 They relate to the satisfaction of community and social
objectives, such as serving the customers honestly,
promoting a higher standard of living in the community,
bringing comfort and happiness to the society, protecting
women and children and providing for aged personnel;
 To utilize human resource effectively;
 To establish and maintain a productive and self respecting
relationship among all members of an Organization;
 To establish and maintain an adequate organizational
structure;
 To bring about maximum individual development of the
members of an Organization;
 to maintain a high morale and better human relations inside
an Organization by sustaining and improving the conditions

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which have been established so that employees may stick to
their jobs for a longer period;

1.6.2 Secondary Objectives:
 The secondary objectives aim at achieving the primary
objectives economically, efficiently and effectively.

1.7 Functions of Human Resource Management

According to different authors HRM functions can be divided in to different
categories. Some of the categories are as follows:
1. General and Specific functions;
2. Personnel administration and Industrial relations functions.
3. Managerial and Operative functions

1.7.1 General and Specific functions:
General Functions:
 To conduct personnel research;
 To assist in the programmes of personnel administration;
 To develop appraisal plans;
 To launch education and training programmes;
 To develop a competent work force;
 To establish and administer varied personnel services delegated to
personnel department.
Specific Functions:
 Employment;
 Safety;
 Wage and salary;
 Benefit Schemes;
 Community relations and
 Advice and counseling the employees.

1.7.2 Personnel Administration and Industrial Relations Functions:

Personnel Administration:
These functions relate to the function of managing people from the lower to
the upper level of the Organization and embraces policy determination as
well as implementation of policies by the personnel at the lower levels;

Industrial Relations Functions:

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These functions relate to interactions between the management and the
representatives of the unions. Such functions involve all activities of
employer employee relationship, such as Organization of the union
members, negotiations of contracts, collective bargaining, grievance
handling, disciplinary actions, arbitration etc- the purpose of all these being
to prevent conflict between two parties.

1.7.3 Managerial and Operative Functions;

Managerial Functions:
Management is Personnel administration. It is the development of the people
and not the direction of the things. Managing people is the heart and essence
of being a manager. Thus, a Human Resource Manager is a manager and as
such he performs the basic functions of management.

Inputs Planning Organizing Directing Controlling
Human and Determination Development Stimulation Assurance that
Economic of short to of the Orgn. and directed action
Resources long range Structure motivation of is taking place
interacting plans to according to Organization according to
with accomplish predetermined personnel predetermined
environment Organization plans according to plans.
al changes objectives predetermined
plans

Outputs
Goods and
services needed
by the
Feedback of significant deviations from planned performance organization
customers
(Managerial Functions)

Fig: 2

Operative Functions:
These functions are concerned with the activities specifically dealing with
procuring, developing, compensating and maintaining an efficient work
force. These functions are also known as service functions.
 Procurement Function;
 Development function;

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 Compensating function;
 Integrating function;
 Maintenance function.

Managerial Functions:

 Planning: Is a predetermined course of action. Planning is a hard job, for
it involves the ability to think, to predict, to analyze and to control the
actions of its personnel and to cope with a complex, dynamic fluid
environment. They bridge the gap from where we are to where we want
to go. The two important features of planning are research and
forecasting. The task of forecasting personnel needs in relation to
changes in production or seasonal variations and the leveling out of
differences in the production extremely important, both for employees
and for management. Therefore, planning and decision making has to be
undertaken much in advance of an action so that unforeseen or
anticipated problems and events may be properly handled. This as also
stressed by the saying: “ Good managers make things happen”.
 Organizing: An Organization is a means to an end. It is essential to
carry out the determined course of action. Complex relationships exist
between the specialized departments and the general departments as
many top managers are seeking the advice of personnel manager. Thus,
Organization establishes relationship among the employees so that they
can collectively contribute to the attainment of company goals.
 Directing: Direction is an important managerial function in building
sound industrial relations besides securing employee contributions. Co-
ordination deals with the task of blending efforts in order to ensure
successful attainment of an objective. The personnel manager has to
coordinate various managers at different levels as far as personnel
functions are concerned. Personnel management function should also be
coordinated with other functions of management like management of
money, machine, and material.
 Controlling: Controlling involves checking, verifying and comparing of
the actualize with the standards, identification of deviations if any and
correcting of identified deviations. Thus, action and operation are
adjusted to predetermined plans and standards through control.

Fig. 3: Functions of Personnel Office/ Personnel Management.

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Functions of Personnel Office

Managerial Functions Operative Functions

Planning Organizing Directing Controlling

Employment HRD Compensation Human Relations, Placement.

H R P; Performance- Job Evaluation; Motivation;
Recruitment; Appraisal; Wage & Salary Morale;
Selection; Training; Quality- Circles. Orgn.Change & Dev.
Induction; Mgmt. Dev. Fringe Benefits.
Career Planning

Operative Functions:
The operative functions of human Resource Management are related to
specific activities of personnel management e.g. employment,
development, compensation & Relations. All these functions are
interacted by managerial functions.

 Employment: Employment is concerned with securing and employing
the people possessing required kind and level of human resources
necessary to achieve the organizational objectives. It covers the functions
such as job analysis, human resource planning, recruitment, selection,
placement, induction and internal mobility.

 Human Resource Development: It is the process of improving, molding
and changing the skills, knowledge, creative ability, aptitude, attitude,
values, commitment etc. based on present and future job and
organizational requirements. This function includes Performance
Appraisal, Training, Management Development, Career Planning and
Development, Internal Mobility (Promotion, Demotion), Organizational
Development.

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 Compensation: It is the process of providing adequate, equitable and fair
remuneration to the employees. It includes job evaluation, wage and
salary administration, incentives, bonus, fringe benefits, social security
measures etc.
 Human Relations: Practicing various human resource policies and
programmes Loire employment, development and compensation and
interaction among employees create a sense of relationship between the
individual worker and management, among workers and trade unions and
management. It is the process of interaction among human beings.
Human relations is an area of management in integrating people in to
work situation in a way that motivates them to work together
productively, cooperatively and with economic, psychological and social
satisfaction.
1.8 Human Resource Management Environment
HR manager can’t perform his job in a vacuum as a number of
environmental factors affect the HRM. In fact, these factors influence the
Organization through human resources.
Environment (with special reference to Human Resource Management):
means the totality of all factors, which influence both the Organization and
HRM sub system.

Fig. 4: Environmental Scanning of HRM
Technological
Marketing

Government & Legal Customers

Orgn. Politics HRM Production

Political Trade
Unions

Finance Orgn. Structure

Economic Social & Religious
The environment furnishes the macro context and the Organization is the
micro unit. The external environment is comprised of those factors, which

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affect an organization’s human resources from outside the Organization.
Important among them are:
 Economic;
 Social;
 Political;
 Governmental;
 Legal;
 Technological;
 Manpower in the country;
 Tradition and culture;
 Customers;
 Other organizations;
 Trade Unions in other organizations.

1.8.1 Internal Environment:

The internal environment also affects the job of a personnel manager. The
internal environmental factors include Organization objectives, policies,
organizational structure, and the functional areas of the Organization with
which the personnel manager works continuously like finance, marketing
and production. Impact of internal environment factors is profound as they
frequently and closely interact with HRM function in an Organization.

1.8.2 External Environment:

The influence of external environment on HRM is also equally important,
though the severity is comparatively less. People are essentially self-
managing. In other words, while people manage other resources, themselves
manage personnel. People themselves decide about the nature, time, and
place of their employment. And people react to the changing conditions and
to the techniques of management unlike money, material and machine. The
changes includes in the external environment are:
 Technological obsolescence;
 Cultural and social changes;
 Changes in the policies of govt.;
 Politics and the like.

With the result, the work environment changes thereby affecting their
productivity level.

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Considering the complexities and the challenges in the HRM now and in
near future management has to develop sophisticated techniques and
efficient specialists to among the personnel on sound lines

1.9 Functional Areas/ Scope of Human Resource Management

1. Organizational planning, development and task specification;
2. Staffing and Employment;
3. Training and Development;
4. Compensation, Wage and Salary administration;
5. Motivation and Incentives;
6. Employee services and Benefits;
7. Employee records;
8. Labor and Industrial Relations;
9. Personnel Research and Personnel Audit.

1.10 Role of HR Practitioner

The coordination and integration of activities in an organization just not
happen, it has to be worked out. People tend to head off in different
directions- to go their own sweet way. They will jot necessarily cooperate
with one another. Thus, to begin with, the HR manager should have three
main objectives in mind:
1. To gain the commitment and cooperation of all the members in his
work group;
2. To get the group into action to achieve agreed objectives;
3. To make the best use of the skills, energies and talents of all the
members.

In the modern era, the personnel manager typically performs a variety of the
roles, such as a role of a conscience, of a counselor, a mediator, a company
spokesman, a problem solver and a change agent. He performs many roles as
per needs of the situation. Such as:
I. The conscience role is that of humanitarian who reminds the
management of its moral and ethical obligations to its employees;
II. The personnel manager plays the role of a counselor to whom the
employees frequently go for consultation and with whom they
discuss their marital, health, mental, physical and career
problems;

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III. As a mediator, he plays the role of a peacemaker, offering to
settle the disputes that may arise among individuals or groups.
He acts a liaison and communicating link between an individual
and a group and between labour and management;
IV. The personnel a manger has always been a frequent spokesman
for or representative of the company because he has a better
overall picture of his company’s operation, since he deals
intimately with many key organizational activities and functions;
V. The personnel manager also acts as a problem solver with respect
to the issues that involves human resources management and
overall long range organizational planning;
VI. He works as a change agent within the organization because he is
best suited to introduce and implement major institutional
changes. He takes initiative for installing organizational
development programmes and convinces the top management of
their need. It is he who alerts the top management regarding
managerial obsolescence in his organization;
VII. The personnel manager plays many other roles as well. Any
matter which need someone’s attention and which no body wants
to deal with is, often handled by the personnel department. Such
activities may be peripheral but important and crucial to the
efficient and effective operation of an organization.
It has been now fully recognized that the basic role of the personnel manager
if “the management of the manpower resources.” Such management is
concerned with “leadership” both in-group and individual relationship, and
labour management relations. It effectively describes the process of
planning, and directing the application, development and utilization is now
considered as one of the four main functions, viz. finance, production,
marketing, and human relations.

The ideal personnel manager is not a “decision maker” but a counselor not
“collector of responsibilities” but an “advisor” to help the management make
more reliable personnel decisions. In any organization it is these “line man”
who determine the “personnel climate” for the entire organization. If the
personnel man can meet the challenge of “staff role” he would make the
effective contribution to industry.

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Personnel Role Welfare Role Administrative Fire Fighting/Legal
Role Role
Advisory: Research in Time keeping Grievance handling
advising personnel and
management on organizational
effective use of problems
human resources
Manpower Managing Salary and wage Settlement of
planning: services- administration disputes
Recruitment, canteens,
selection etc. transport etc.
Training and Group Human engineering: Handling
development of dynamics: man machine disciplinary actions
line man group relationship
counseling,
motivation,
leadership,
communication
etc.
Measurement and - - Collective bargaining
assessment of
individual and
group behavior
- - - Joint consultation

Table 2

1.11Evaluating HR Function

Organizations can promote human excellence by offering a potential site for
the flowering most forms of human excellence. Within an organization, if
there is meritocracy, people compete for promotion and other rewards on the
basis of good work rather than on the basis of “pull.” Recognition and
rewards for creative ideas, discoveries, inventions, innovations etc. promote
creative excellence. The human resource development movement in industry
is aimed at facilitating organizationally useful individual growth and
development. The more an organization promotes individual or team
excellence, the more the organization itself is likely to excel because the
work of any organization is dependent on the work of its individual
members and employee groups.

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The human factor across all organizations comprises three basic elements:

1. The people themselves who work in the organization; the skills
and capabilities they possess and their attitude towards the
company;
2. The management style prevalent in the organization, which
usually stems from the top. The style may be aggressive,
authoritarian, democratic or laissez faire and each type has a
different impact on the way people work as individuals or in
groups;
3. The organizational climate i.e. the work atmosphere in the
company, as determined by the degree of interpersonal
cooperation, the types of conflict resolution, the amount of
trustworthiness, the prevalent organizational politics etc.;
The quality of HRM practices prevalent in a particular organization can be
rated by scrutinizing the following factors:

1.11.1Organization Climate:
1. Do people feel they are giving enough responsibility?
2. Do people know what is expected of them in the shape of objectives
and standards of performance?
3. Do people see themselves being fairly rewarded for their work and
feel that promotion policies are fair?
4. Do the employees feel that they belong to a worthwhile company and
are valuable members of working teams?
5. Is there adequate feedback to people on their performance, whether it
is good, bad or indifferent?
6. Is there sufficient to challenge in their jobs?
7. Are people given enough support by their managers or supervisors in
the shape of guidance or help?

1.11.2 Type of Management Style:

1. Does it tend to be Autocratic?
2. Does it tend to be Task centered or people centered?
3. Do managers tend to be distant or cold or approachable and friendly?
4. Do managers tend to be hard or soft on people?
5. Thus, an amalgamation of all the factors throws some light as an
indicator of the quality of HRM practiced in an organization.

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PERSONNEL POLICIES

The dictionary meaning of “policy” is a “planned action” and that “plan”
is a policy. Policy making and planning are, therefore, synonymous. “A
policy,” says Flippo, “is a man made rule of pre-determined course of
action that is established to guide the performance of work toward the
organization objective it is a type of standing plan that serves to guide
subordinates in the execution of their tasks.” According to Calhoon,
personnel polices constitute guides to action. They furnish the general
standards or base on which decisions are reached. Their genesis lies in an
organization’s values, philosophy, concepts and principles.” “Policies are
statements of the organization over all purpose and its objective in the
various areas with which its operation are concerned –personnel finance
production marketing and so on.”

AIMS AND OBJECTIVE OF PERSONNEL POLICIES

The aims of personnel policies should be/are:

1. To enable an organization to fulfill or carry out the main objective
which have been laid down as the desirable minima of general
employment policy;

2. To ensure that its employees are informed of these items of policy and
to secure their cooperation for their attainment;

3. To provide such condition of employment and produces as will enable
all the employees to develop a sincere sense of unity with the
enterprise and to carry out their duties in the most willing and
effective manner;

4. To provide an adequate, competent and trained personnel for all levels
and types of management; and motivated them;

5. To protect the common interest of all the parties and recognize the
role of trade union in the organization.
6. To provide for a consultative participation by employee in the
management of an organization and the framing of condition for this

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participation, which, however shall not take place in technical,
financial or trading policy;

7. To provide an efficient consultative service which aims at creating
mutual faith among those who work in the enterprise;

• By developing management leadership which aims is bold and
imaginative and guide by moral values;
• By effectively delegating the human relation aspects of
personnel function of line managers by enforcing discipline on
the basis of cooperative understanding and humane application
of rules and regulation; and
• By providing for a happy relationship at all levels

. 8. To establish the conditions for mutual confidence and avoid
confusion misunderstanding between the management and the workers, by
developing suggestion plans, joint management councils, work committees,
etc., and by performance appraisal discussion;

9.To provide security of employment to workers so that may not be
distracted by the uncertainties of their future;

10. To provide an opportunity for growth within the organization to
person who are willing to learn and undergo training to improve their
future prospects.

11. To provide for the payment of fair an adequate wages and salary to
the workers so that their healthy cooperation may be ensure for efficient
working of the undertaking;

12. To recognize the work and accomplishment of the employees by
offering non-monetary incentives rewards;

13. To create a sense of responsibility on the part of those in authority,
for the claims of employees as human being, who should be guaranteed
protection of their fundamental rights and offered enough scope for
developing their potential.

ESSENTIAL CHARACTERSTICS OF A SOUND PERSONNEL
POLICY

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The main features of a good personnel policy are:

1. The statement of any policy should be definite, positive, clear and easily
understood by anyone in the organization so that what it proposes to
achieve is evident.

2. It should be written in order to preserve it against loss to stimulate careful
consideration before its formulation and to prevent the promulgation of
numerous, differing and temporary oral policies from multiple sources.

3. It must be reasonably stable but not rigid, i.e., it should be periodically
revised, evaluated, assessed and revised and should, therefore, be in tune
with the challenge of changes in the environment and should have built in
resilience for adjustment from time to time.

4. It must be supplementary to the over-all policy of an organization, for if
departmental policy were made such as to come into conflict and violet
the company policy, it would be tantamount to insubordination. Peter
drucker has observed: “the policies of an enterprise have to be balanced
with the kind of reputation an enterprise wants to build up with special
reference to the social and human needs, objectives and value.”

5. It should be indicate that the management knows that workers prefer to
deal with the management on an individual basis.

6. It should recognize the desire of many workers for recognition as groups
in many of their relationships.

7. It should be formulated with due regard for the interests of all the
concerned parties-the employers, the employees and the public
community.

8. It should be the result of a careful analysis of al the available facts.

9. It must provide a two-way communication system between the
management and the employees so that the latter are kept informed of the
latest developments. In the organization and the employers are aware of
the action and reaction of employees on particular issues.

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10.It should be consistent with public policy, i.e., with the spirit rather than
the letter of the law, so that the intensions and settled course of an
organization are appreciated in terms of public opinion from the
standpoint of national, economic and social justice for the employees and
for the community at large.

11.All interested parties should generally know it.

12.It must have not only the support of the management but also the co-
operation of employees at the shop floor level and in the office.

13.Before evolving such a policy, trade unions should be consulted in

14.Matters of industrial relations; and the role of trade unions should be
restricted only to this area.

15.It should be progressive and enlightened, and must be consistent with
professional practice and philosophy.

16.It must make a measurable impact, which can be evaluate and qualified
for the guidance of all concerned, especially in the field of the three ‘R’s
of personnel management viz., recruitment, retainment and retirement.

17.It should be uniform throughout the organization, though, in the light of
local conditions, slight variation may be permitted in specific policies
relating to staffing compensation, benefits and services.

18.It should have a sound base in appropriate theory and should be
translable into practices, terms and peculiarities of every department of
an enterprise.

19.Except in rare cases, policies should not prescribed detailed procedures.
HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING

INTRODUCTION

Planning is thought prior to action

Planning has been visualized as a thought proper to action, embracing a
scheme of action involving the determination of the strengths and

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weaknesses in the choice of the best course of action from the standpoint of
strategy and programmes.

The term “Plan” is defined as a forecast of future attainment and forms a
written statement of what will be the outcome of this action specifying a
time period ranging from one year to five years.

Meaning of Human Resource Planning:

Is both a process and a set of plans. It is the process used by organisations
for assessing the supply and demand for future human resources. In addition,
an effective HR plan also provides the mechanisms that will be used to
eliminate any gaps that may be exist between supply and demand. Thus HR
planning is process that is used to determine the number of employees to be
recruited in to the organisation or the phased out of it.

Human Resource Planning as a process involving the following activities:

1. Forecasting of future human resource requirements;
2. Task of inventorying present resources and assessing the extent to which
these resources are optimally utilized;
3. Anticipation of human resources problem, and
4. Planning of necessary human resource programme.

Manpower Planning Provides information in three dimensions:

 The estimated manpower requirements (including expectations of
manpower utilization);
 The analysis of the external manpower market situation,&
 The resulting estimate of manpower availability from the two
dimensions.

Strategies for Manpower Planning

Manpower planning involves the application of a set of 9 strategies:

1. Collect, maintain and interpret relevant information regarding human
resources;
2. Report periodically manpower objectives, requirements and existing
employment and allied features of manpower;

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3. Develop procedures and techniques to determine the requirements of
different types of manpower over a period of time from the standpoint of
organizational goals and modify these goals, if they make unrealistic
demands for human resources;
4. Develop measures of manpower utilization as a component of forecasts
of manpower requirements along with –if possible- independent
validation;
5. Employ- if suitable- techniques leading to effective allocation of work
with a view to improving manpower utilization;
6. Conduct research to determine factors hampering the contribution of the
individuals and groups to the organization with a view to modifying or
removing these handicaps;
7. Develop and employ methods of economic assessment of human
resources reflecting its features as income generator and cost and
accordingly improving the quality of decisions influencing manpower;
8. Evaluate the procurement, promotion and retention of the effective
human resources in the context of the forecast requirements of the
enterprise; &
9. Analyze the dynamic process of recruitment , promotion and loss to the
organization and control these processes and organization structure with
a view to encouraging the maximum individual and group performance
without involving excessive costs.

Reasons for Human Resource Planning

All organizations perform human resource planning, either formally or
informally. The major reasons for employment planning are:

 More effective and efficient use of human resources:
Human resources planning should precedes all other HRM
activities. Careful analysis of all HRM activities shows that their
effectiveness and efficiency, which result in increased productivity, depend
on human resource planning.
 More satisfied and better developed employees:
Employees who work for organizations that use good human
resource planning systems have a better chance to participate in planning
their own careers and to share in training and development experiences.
Thus they are likely to feel their talents are important to the employer, and
they have a better chance to utilize those talents;

21


 More effective equal employment opportunity planning:
The govt. has increased its demands for equal employment opportunities.In
sum, effective human resource planning ensures that HRM activities and
programme will be built on a foundation of good planning. Proper planning
should cut down on the number of surprises that occur involving human
resource availability, placement and orientation.

The HR Planning Process

HR Planning involves four distinct phases or stages:

 Situation analysis or environmental scanning;
 Forecasting human resource records;
 Human resource supply analysis;
 Action plan development.

Situation analysis and Environmental scanning:

The first stage in HR Planning is where the HRM function and
strategic planning initially interact. The strategic plan must adapt to
environmental circumstances, and the HRM function is one of the primary
mechanisms that an organization can use during the adaptation process. For
e.g. rapid changes in the technological environment can force an
organization to quickly identify and hire employees with new skills that
previously weren’t needed by the organization.
Without an effective HR plan to support the recruitment and
selection
functions in the organization, it will be impossible to move fast enough to
stay competitive. Thus, organizations are becoming more dependent on an
ability to gather relevant information about their environment and to react to
this information.

Forecasting future demand for employees:
The next phase of an effective HR Planning process is
estimating not only how many but what kinds of employees will be needed
in the future. Forecasting yields these advanced estimates or calculations of
the organization’s staffing requirement. Although there are many
quantitative tools to help with forecasting, it is a process that involves a
great deal of human judgment. In addition, many successful HR planners

22


also rely heavily on their “gut instincts” about future conditions. For e.g.,
planners at Unilever attribute much of their global successes to such
instincts.

Analysis of the supply of current Employees:
The third phase of HR Planning id designed to answer the
question “How many and what kind of employees do I currently have in
terms of the skills and training necessary for the future?” It should be
obvious that this phase of HR Planning involves much more that simply
counting the number of current employees in the organisation.
The major tool used to assess the current supply of employees
is the Skill Inventory. It is a list of names, certain characteristics and skills
of the people working for the organisation. It provides a way to acquire these
data and makes them available where needed in an efficient manner.

Action decisions in Human Resource Planning:
After the HR Planning system has analyzed both the supply of
and demands for future workers, these two forecasts are compared to
determine what, if any, action should be taken. Whenever there is a
discrepancy between these two estimates, the organization needs to choose a
course of action for elimination the gap.
No matter how good the HR Planning system is, an exact match
between supply and demand forecasts is rare. Even when overall estimates
are similar, there are frequently important gaps in certain subgroups. These
data become inputs to facilitate decisions about training, promotion,
demotion and similar decisions.

Action decisions with a shortage of employees:
When employment specialists comparing demand to supply
find the supply of workers is less than the demand, several possibilities are
open to the organization. If the shortage is small and employees are willing
to work overtime, it can be filled with present employees. If there is shortage
of highly skilled employees, training and promotions of present employees,
together with the recruitment of lower skilled workers, are possibilities.

Action decisions in surplus conditions:

When comparison of employee demand and supply indicates a
surplus, the alternative solutions include attrition, early retirements,
demotions, layoffs, and terminations. Employee decisions in surplus

23


conditions are some of the most difficult decisions managers must make,
because the employees who are considered surplus are seldom responsible
for the conditions leading to the surplus. A shortage of raw material such as
fuel, or a poorly designed or marketed product can cause an organization to
have a surplus of employees.
Fig. 1: Human Resource Planning Process

Strategic Management Human Resource Human Resource
Decisions Demand Supply
Technological Forecasts; Annual Employment Existing Employment
Economic Forecasts; Requirements; Inventory;
Market Forecasts; Numbers; After Application of
Organisational Planning; Skills; Expected Loss and
Investment Planning; Occupational Categories.
Attrition rates.
Annual Operating Plans.

Variances End
If None:

If surplus If Shortage

Decisions: Decisions:
Layoff etc. Overtime etc.

End End

In short, Human Resource Planning is a process by which the management
of an organization ensures that it has the right number and kind of people at
the right places and at the right times to successfully achieve its overall
objectives. Human Resource planning differs from Manpower Planning in
the sense that the former is primarily concerned with the human aspects of
people, the latter mainly concentrates on the power of the people.

24


Long Answer Type Questions

1. What do you understand by Human Resource Planning? Explain with
suitable illustrations the process of Manpower Planning.
2. Discuss the problems faced in Human Resource Planning. How can
these problems be overcome?
3. “The Human Resource Planning is becoming more and more
important and complex with organizations are becoming more global
”. Comment.
4. What do you mean by Personnel Policy? Explain the objectives
behind implementation of Personnel Policies in an organization?
5. Explain various features of Personnel Policies of an organization.

6. What is meant by the term Human Resource? What does Human
Resource Management mean?
7. What is the difference between Human Resource Management and
Personnel Management?
8. Elucidate the role and functions of an effective Human Resource
Manager?
9. Write a short note on the various HRM Programmes which could be
implemented in the organizational set up?
10.Enlist some key organizational indicators, which could highlight the
practice of favorable HRM policies in the work set up?
11.Discuss the issues impending on future HR managers.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Human Resource Management
Unit 2

Job Analysis

Job Analysis is one of the most important functions of Human Resource
Manager. Performance Appraisal, Job Designing, Personnel selection,
employee training, career development and planning are among the many
activities that depends upon the information gathered in the job analysis.

Key terms:

Job: A job may be defined as “a collection or aggregation of tasks, duties
and responsibilities which as a whole is regarded as a regular assignment to
individual employees”. Putting in different words the meaning of a job can
be described as a pocket containing differentiated set of total workload in an
organization.

Position: Position is collection of tasks and responsibilities regularly
assigned to a person.

It is to be noted that job is impersonal and position is personal.

Today, however, the word job has many mutations depending upon how,
when and by whom it is used. It is often used interchangeably with the terms
like position and tasks. Before proceeding with a detailed discussion on “job
Analysis” it would be fruitful to familiarize ourselves with terms that form
specific job attributes.

Fig. Relationship among the different job components: 9
8
7
6
5

4
3
2

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1
1 – Micro Motion
2 – Elements
3- Tasks
4- Duties
5- Positions
6- Job
7- Job Family
8- Occupation
9- Career

Micro Motion: The simplest unit of work is the micro motion. A micro
motion involves a vary elementary movement such as reaching different
work performed in an organization can be traced from a micro motions to an
occupation grasping, positioning and releasing an object. It is the most
elementary unit in to which a job can be broken down.

Elements: An element is alignment of two or more micro motions to make a
basic movement like picking up an object.

A task is congregation of elements to constitute an activity for a specific
purpose like preparing a lecture. Two or more related tasks performed in
carrying out specific job responsibilities are referred to as duty.

A position constitutes specific duties and tasks group together. In an
organization there may be one or more person assigned a position. A
position constitutes the whole unit of work assignment

Job: When positions are combined they create a job.

A job family is a group of two or more jobs that either call for similar
worker characteristics or contain parallel work tasks as determined by job
analysis.

Occupation: A grouping of similar jobs or job families across organizations
is termed as occupation.

A Career represents a sequence of positions, jobs or occupations that a
person has over his or her working life.

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Having familiarized oneself with the basic conceptual framework which acts
as foundation stone for the knowledge on job analysis, we shall now proceed
with a step-by-step discussion of the main topics.

Job Analysis
Job Analysis is a written record of actual requirements of the job
activities.

Definitions:

“Job Analysis is the process of determining and reporting pertinent
information relating to the nature of a specific job.”
Bayers and Rue

It is the determination of tasks, which comprise the job of the skills,
knowledge, abilities, and responsibilities required of the holder for the
successful job performance. Putting it in other words it is the process of
getting information about the job incumbent’s skills, education and training
to carry out the job effectively and terms on time for completion,
performance standard.

It is procedure by which pertinent information is obtained about a job, i.e. it
is detailed and systematic study of information relating to the operations and
responsibilities of a specific job.

A job analysis results in two important documents:
• Job Description;
• Job Specification.

Job Description:

Job description is written record of the duties, responsibilities and
requirements of particular jobs. It is concerned with the job itself and not
with the work. It is a statement describing the job in such terms as its title,
location, duties, working conditions and hazards. In other words, it tells us
“What to be done, and how it is to be done and why.” It is a standard of
function, in that it defines the appropriate and authorized contents of a job.

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Job Specification:

Job specification is a standard of personnel and designates the qualities
required for an acceptable performance. It is a written record of the
requirements sought in an individual worker for a given job. In other words,
it refers to a summary of the personnel characteristics required for a job. It is
a statement of the minimum acceptable human qualities necessary for the
proper performance of a job.

Purpose and Uses of Job Analysis

Job Analysis is not useful but an essential part of organizational strategies to
serve the following purposes:

• Organization and Manpower Planning: It is helpful in organization
planning, for it defines labour needs in concrete terms and coordinates
the activities of the work force, and clearly divides duties and
responsibilities;
• Recruitment and Selection: By indicating the specific job
requirements of each job (i.e. the skills and knowledge), it provides a
realistic basis for the hiring, training, placement, transfer and
promotion of personnel. “Basically, the goal is to match the job
requirements with a worker’s aptitude, abilities and interests”. It also
helps in charting the channels of promotion and in showing lateral
lines of transfer;
• Wage and Salary Administration: By indicating the qualification
required for doing a specified job and the risks and hazards involved
in its performance, it helps in salary and wage administration. Job
analysis is used as a foundation for job evaluation;
• Job Re-Engineering: Job Analysis provides information, which
enables us to change jobs in order to permit their being managed by
personnel with specific characteristics and qualification.
• Employee Training and Management Development: Job Analysis
provides the necessary information to the management of training and
development programmes. It helps to determine the content and
subject matter of in training courses. It also helps in checking
application information, interviewing, weighing test results, and in
checking references.

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• Performance Appraisal: It helps in establishing clear cut standards
which may be compared with the actual contribution of each
individual;
• Health and Safety: It provides an opportunity for identifying
hazardous conditions and unhealthy environmental factors so that
corrective measures may b taken to minimize and avoid the possibility
of accidents.
• Employee Orientation: Effective job orientation cannot be
accomplished without a clear understanding of the job requirements.
The duties and responsibilities of a job must be clearly defined before
a new employee can be taught how to perform the job.
• Utilizing Personnel: Job Analysis information can help both
employees and managers, pinpoint the root of a problem if employee
functions are not adequate.
In sum, it may be noted that job analysis is a systematic procedure for
securing and reporting the information, which defines a specific job.

Steps in Job Analysis/Process
The major steps to be followed in carrying out job analysis in an
organization can be described as follows:

Step 1: Studying job vis a vis the organization: Review the available
Background information through organization workflow or process
charts. Studies the job inter relationships. Often, a restructuring,
down
sizing, merger, or rapid growth will initiate this review.

Step 2: Selection of uses of job analysis information: Be selective
regarding the future uses of job analysis. The employee or the
manager may request a job analysis to determine the appropriate
compensation, but they also be interested in formally documenting
changes in recruitment, placement and training for a particular job.

Step 3: Identify the “job” to be analyzed: it is always advisable to
choose flow representative and key positions for job analysis, thus
avoiding unnecessary time and financial expenditure.

Step 4: collection of Job Analysis data: manager should consider using a
number of different methods of data collection because it is

30


unlikely that any one method will provide all the necessary
information needed. Three of the most popular form of data
collection is:
• Observation of tasks and behavior with the job incumbent i.e. both
physical and mental activities;
• Interviews;
• Questionnaires and checklists;

Step 5: Develop a Job Description: Highlight the major tasks, pertaining to
effective job performance through the written description;

Step 6: Develop a Job Specification: Transcript the information obtained
after step 4 highlight what personal qualities, trait, skills, background
is necessary for optimal job performance.

Job Performance
Observation Degree of
Interview interaction
Critical incident technique with
Data Collection methods Questionnaires personal
Diary method
Training material
Dictionary of occupation

Step 7: Review and update of information: If no major changes have
occurred in the organization, then a complete review of all jobs
should be performed every three years.

Review & Update of information

Develop a job specification

Develop a job description

Collection of job analysis data

Identify the job to be analyzed

Selection of uses of job analysis information

Studying job visContents of Job Analysis
a vis the organisation

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A job Analysis provides the following information:

1. Job Identification;
2. Significant characteristics of a job;
3. What the typical worker does;
4. Which materials and equipment of a worker uses;
5. How a job is performed;
6. Required personnel attributes;
7. Job relationship.

It is obvious from the foregoing that a job analysis is usually a clear
indication of a job description and job specification.

Recruitment

Successful human resource planning should identify our human resource
needs. Once we know these needs, we still want to do something about
meeting them. The next step in the acquisition function, therefore, is
recruitment. This activity makes it possible for us to acquire the number and
types of people necessary to ensure the continued operation of the
Organisation.

Recruiting is the discovering of potential candidates for actual or
anticipated organizational vacancies or from other perspective, it is a linking
activity- bringing together those with jobs to fill and those seeking jobs.
“ Recruitment a process to discover the sources of manpower to meet the
requirements of the staffing schedule and to employ effective measures for
attracting that manpower in adequate numbers to facilitate effective selection
of an efficient working force”
Yoder & others

“It is a process of searching for prospective employees and stimulating and
encouraging them to apply for jobs in an Organisation. It is often termed
positive in that it stimulates people to apply for jobs to increase the “hiring”
ratio i.e. the no. Of applicants for a job.”
Flippo

Technically speaking, the function of recruitment precedes the selection
function and it includes only finding, developing the sources of

32


prospective employees and attracting them to apply for jobs in an
organization, whereas the selection is the process of finding out the most
suitable candidate to the job out of the candidates attracted (recruited).

Objectives of recruitment:

♦ To attract people with multi dimensional skills and experience that suit
the present and future organizational strategies;
♦ To induct outsiders with a new perspective to lead the company;
♦ To infuse fresh blood at all levels of the Organisation;
♦ To develop an organizational culture that attracts competent people to the
company;
♦ To search or head hunt/ head pouch people whose skills fit the
company’s values;
♦ To devise methodologies for assessing psychological traits;
♦ To seek out non-conventional development grounds of talent;
♦ To search for talent globally and not just with in the company;
♦ To design entry pay that competes on quality but not on quantum;
♦ To anticipate and find people for positions that does not exist yet.

Fig. 1:Recruiting and other Human Resource Management activities

Human Recruiting Job Selection
Resource Applications
Planning

Which provides
new employees
for

♦ Orientation;
♦ Training/
Development;
♦ Etc.
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Factors affecting Recruitment

There are a number of factors that affect recruitment. These are broadly
classified in to two categories:
1. Internal Factors;
2. External Factors.

External Factors: The external factors include supply of and demand for
human resources, employment opportunities and /or unemployment rate,
labour market conditions, political and legal requirement and govt. Policies,
social factors, information systems etc.
External factors:
 Socio economic factors;
 Supply and demand factors;
 Employment rate;
 Labour market conditions;
 Political, legal and governmental factors;
 Information systems.

Internal Factors: The internal factors include the company’s pay package
including salary, fringe benefits and incentives, quality of work life,
organizational culture, career planning, growth opportunities, size of the
company, company’s product and services, company’s growth rate, role of
trade unions and cost of recruitment.

Internal factors:
 Company’s pay package;
 Quality of worklife;
 Organizational culture;
 Career planning and growth;
 Company’s size;
 Company’s products and services;
 Geographical spread of the company’s operations;
 Company’s growth rate;
 Role of trade unions;

34


 Cost of recruitment;
 Company’s name and fame.

Internal Environmental
External Environmental
Influences:
Influences:
♦ Strategy;
♦ The union;
♦ Goals;
♦ Govt. Requirements,
regulations and laws; ♦ Organizational Culture;
♦ Economic conditions; ♦ Nature of the task;
♦ Composition of the labour ♦ Work Group;

Effectiveness
People
Criteria:
HRM activities:  Abilities;
 Performance;
♦ Equal employment  Attitudes
 Satisfaction;
opportunities;  Preference
 Absenteeism;
♦ Job analysis; s;
 Turnover;
♦ Recruitment;  Scrap rates;
♦ Planning;  Grievance rates;
 Organisation End
♦ Selection; Results;  Accident rates.
♦ Training and development;  Competitive
♦ Career planning and products;
development;  Competitive
♦ Benefits and services; services.
♦ Discipline;

Sources of Recruitment

Recruitment is more likely to achieve its objectives if recruiting sources
reflect the type of position to be filled. Sources are those where
prospective employees are available like employment exchanges while
techniques are those, which stimulate the prospective employees to
apply for jobs like nomination by employees, advertising, promotion etc.
Certain recruiting sources are more effective than others for filling
certain types of jobs are.
The sources of recruitment are broadly classified in to internal
sources and external sources.

35


Internal Sources: are the sources within organizational pursuits. It includes
(a) Present permanent employees; (b) present temporary/ casual employees;
(c) retrenched or retired employees; (d) dependents or deceased, disabled,
retired and present employees; (e) Promotions; (f) Transfers.
 Present Permanent Employees: Organizations consider the
candidates from this source for higher-level jobs due to: (1) availability
of most suitable candidates for jobs relatively or equally to the external
source, (2) to meet the trade unions demands; (3) to the policy of the
Organisation to motivate the present employees.
 Present temporary or Casual employees: Organizations find this
source to fill the vacancies relatively at lower levels owing to the
availability of suitable candidates or trade and pressures or in order to
motivate them on the present job.
 Retrenched or Retired employees: Generally a particular
Organisation retrenches the employees due to lay-off. The
Organisation takes of the candidates for employment from the
retrenched employees due to obligation, trade union pressure and the
like. Sometimes the organizations prefer to re employ their retired
employees as a token of their loyalty to the Organisation or to postpone
some inter personal conflicts for promotion etc.
 Dependents of Deceased, Disabled, Retired and Present
Employees: Some organizations with a view to developing the
commitment and loyalty of build up image provide employment to the
dependent(s) of deceased, disabled and present employees. Such
organizations find this source as an effective source of recruitment.
 Promotions: Most of the internal candidates would be stimulated to
take up higher responsibilities and express their willingness to be
engaged in the higher level jobs if management gives them the
assurance that they will be promoted to the next higher level.
 Transfers: Employees will be stimulated to work in the new sections
or places if management wishes to transfer them to the places of their
choice.

Why do organizations prefer Internal Source?
 Internal recruitment can be used as a technique of motivation;
 Morale of the employees can be improved;
 Suitability of the internal candidates can be judged better than the
external candidates as “known devils are better than unknown angles”;

36


 Loyalty, commitment, a sense of belongings and security of the present
employees can be enhanced;
 Employee’s psychological needs can be met by providing an opportunity
for advancement;
 Employees economic needs for promotion, higher income can be
satisfied;
 Cost of selection can be minimized;
 Cost of training, induction, orientation, period of adaptability to the
Organisation can be reduced;
 Social responsibility towards employees may be discharged;
 Stability of employment can be ensured.

Why organizations don’t prefer internal sources?
 It often leads to inbreeding and discouraging new blood from entering in
an Organisation;
 There are possibilities that internal source may “dry up”, and it may be
difficult to find the requisite personnel from within an Organisation;
 Since the learner does not know more than the lecturer does, no
innovations worth the name can be made. Therefore, on jobs which
require original thinking (such as advertising, style designing and basic
research), this practice is not followed;
 As promotion is based on seniority, the danger is that really capable
hands may not be chosen. The likes and dislikes of the management may
also play an important role in the selection of personnel.

External Sources: External Sources are those sources, which are
outside the organizational pursuits. These sources include: (1) Campus
Recruitment; (2) Private Employment Agencies/ Consultants; (3) Public
Employment Exchanges; (4) Professional Associations; (5) Data Banks;
(6) Casual Applications; (5) Similar Organizations; (6) Trade Unions;
(7) Advertisements; (8) Employee Referrals.
 Campus Recruitment: different types of organizations like
industries, business firms, service organizations, social or religious
organizations can get inexperienced candidates of different types
from various educational institutions like colleges and universities
imparting education in science, commerce, arts, engineering and
technology, agriculture. Medicines from the training institutes. Most
of the universities and institutes imparting technical education in
various disciplines provide facilities for campus recruitment and
selection.

37


Fig.3 process of Campus Recruitment:
Form manpower Identify campuses to recruit on
addition plan

Conduct pre-placement Tasks Secure place in the queue on
each campus

Check application form of
candidates

Conduct written test for Interview intensively for
knowledge competence

Cross check for Identify suitable candidates
inconsistencies
Stay in touch with those who Make job offers
accept

Advice through Provide support Continue
final year’s to ease stress informal
specialization interaction

 Employment Agencies: These agencies or consultants perform the
recruitment function on the behalf of a client company by charging fee.
Line mangers are relieved from recruitment functions so they can
concentrate on their operational activities and recruitment functions are
entrusted to a private agency or consultants. These agencies are also
called Executive Search Companies.
 Public Employment Agencies: The govt. set up Public Employment
exchanges in the country to provide information about vacancies to the
candidates and to help the organizations in finding out suitable

38


candidates. Public sector and private sector industries have to depend on
public employment exchanges for the specified vacancies.
 Professional Organizations: Professional organizations maintain
complete data of their members and provide the same to various
organizations on requisition. They also act as an exchange between their
members and recruiting firms in exchanging information, clarifying
doubts etc.
 Data Banks: The management can collect the bio data of the candidate
from different sources like employment exchanges, educational Training
Institutes, candidates etc. and feed them in the computer. It will become
another source and the company can get the particulars as and when they
need.
 Casual Applicant: Depending upon the image of the Organisation, its
prompt response, participation of the Organisation in the local activities,
level of unemployment, candidates apply casually for the jobs through
mail or hand over the applications in Personnel Department. This would
be a suitable source for temporary and lower level jobs.
 Trade Unions: Generally, unemployed or underemployed persons or
employees seeking change in employment put a word to the trade union
leader with a view to getting suitable employment due to latter’s intimacy
with management.
 Similar Organizations: Generally, experienced candidates are available
in organizations producing similar products or are engaged in similar
business. The management can get most suitable candidates from this
source. This would be the most effective source for executive positions
and for newly established organizations or diversifies or expanded
organizations.
 Advertising: Advertising is widely accepted technique of recruitment,
though it mostly provides one-way communication. It provides the
candidates in different sources, the information about the job and
company and stimulates them to apply for jobs. It includes advertising
through different media like newspapers, magazines of all kinds, radios,
television etc.
 Employee referrals: Friends and relatives of present employees are also
a good source from which employees may be drawn. When the labour
market is very tight, large employers frequently offer their employee’s
bonuses or prizes for any referrals that are hired and stay with the
company for a specific length of time.

Modern sources or techniques of Recruitment:

39


 WALK IN: The busy organizations and the rapid changing companies
do not find time to perform various functions of recruitment. Therefore,
they advise the potential candidates to attend for an interview directly
and without a prior application on a specified place. The suitable
candidates among the interviewees will be selected for appointment after
screening the candidates through tests and interviews.
 Consult In: The busy organizations encourage the potential job seekers
to approach them personally and consult them regarding the jobs. The
companies select the suitable candidates from among such candidates
through the selection process.
 Head Hunting: The companies request the professional organizations to
search for the best candidates particularly for the senior executive
positions. The professional organizations search for the most suitable
candidates and advise the company regarding the filling up of the
positions. headhunters are also called search consultants.
 Body shopping: Professional organizations and the hi tech training
institutes develop the pool of human resources for the possible
employment. The prospective employers contact these organizations to
recruit the candidates. Otherwise, the organizations themselves approach
the prospective employees to place their human resources. These
institutions are called body shoppers and these activities are known as
body shopping.
 Business Alliances: Business alliances like acquisitions, mergers, and
takeovers help in getting human resources. In addition, the companies do
also have alliances in sharing their human resources on ad-hoc basis.
 Tele Recruitment: The technological revolution in the Tele
communication helped the organizations to use Internet as a source of
recruitment. Organizations advertise the vacancies through the World
Wide Web (www) Internet. The job seekers send their applications
through e-mail or Internet.

In short: successful and effective recruitment programme necesseciates to
have certain attributes such as:
 A well defined recruitment policy;
 A proper organizational structure;
 A well laid down procedure for locating potential job seekers;

40


 A suitable method and technique for tapping and utilizing these
candidates;
 A continuous assessment of effectiveness of recruitment programme
and incorporation of suitable modifications from time to time to
improve the effectiveness of the programme;
 An ethically sound and fool proof practice telling an applicant all
about the job and its position, the firm to enable the candidate
judiciously decide whether or no to apply and join the firm, if
selected.

SELECTION

Selection procedure is concerned with securing relevant information
about an applicant. The objective of the selection decision is to choose
the individual who can most successfully perform the job from the pool
of qualified candidates.

The selection procedure is the system of functions and devices adopted
in a given company to ascertain whether the candidate’s specifications
are matched with the job specifications and requirements or not.
The selection procedure cannot be effective until and unless:
1. Recruitment’s of the job to be filled, have been clearly specified (Job
analysis, etc.
2. Employee specifications (physical, mental, social, behavioral, etc.)
have been clearly specified;
3. Candidates for screening have been attracted.

SELECTION PROCEDURE

There is no standard selection process that can be followed by all
companies in all the areas. Companies may follow different selection
techniques or methods depending upon the size of the company, nature
of the business, kind and no. Of persons to be employed, govt.
regulations to be followed etc.

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Application Form

Written Examination

Preliminary Interview

Group Discussion

Tests

Final Interview

Medical Examination

Reference Checks

Line Manager’s Decisions

 Application Form: Also known as application blank. This technique is
widely accepted for securing information from the prospective
candidates. It can also be used as a device to screen the candidates at the
preliminary stage. Information is generally required on the following
items in the application forms:
a) Personal background information;
b) Educational attainments;

42


c) Work experiences;
d) Salary;
e) Personal details;
f) References.
 Written Examination: The organizations have to conduct examination
for the qualified candidates after they are screened on the basis of the
application blanks so as to measures the candidate’s ability in
arithmetical calculations, to know the candidates attitude towards the job,
to measure the candidate’s aptitude, reasoning, knowledge in various
disciplines, general knowledge and English language.
 Preliminary Interview: The Preliminary interview is to solicit necessary
in formation from the prospective applicants and to assess the applicant’s
suitability to the job. This step is useful as a process of eliminating the
undesirable and unsuitable candidates.
 Group Discussions: The technique of group discussion is used in order
to secure further information regarding the suitability of the candidates
for the job. Group discussion is a method where groups of the successful
applicants are brought around a conference table and are asked to discuss
either a case study or a subject matter.
 Tests: The next stage in the selection process is conducting different
tests. The objective of tests is to solicit further information to assess the
employee suitability to the job. The important tests are:

• Aptitude Test:
a) Intelligence test
b) Mechanical Test
c) Psychomotor Test
d) Clerical Test
• Achievement Test:
a) Job Knowledge Test;
b) Work Sample Test.
• Situational Test:
a) Group Discussion;
b) In Basket.
• Interest Test:
• Personality Test:
a) Objective Test;
b) Projective Test.

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• Aptitude Tests: These tests measure whether an individual has the
capacity or latent ability to learn a given job if given adequate training.
Aptitudes can be divided in to general and mental ability or intelligence
or specific aptitudes such as mechanical, clerical, manipulative capacity
etc. These are:
1. Intelligence Tests: These tests in general measure intelligence quotient
of a candidate. In detail these tests measures capacity for
comprehension, reasoning, word fluency, verbal comprehension,
numbers, memory and space.
2. Mechanical Tests: These tests measure the capacities of spatial
visualization, perceptual speed and knowledge of mechanical matter.
3. Psycho meter Tests: These tests measure abilities like manual
dexterity, motor ability and eye hand coordination of candidates.
4. Clerical Aptitude: Measure specific capacities involved in office work,
items of this test include spelling, computation, comprehension,
copying, word measuring etc.
• Achievement Tests: These tests are conducted when applicants claim to
know something as these tests are concerned with what one has
accomplished. These tests are more useful to measure the value of
specific achievement when an Organisation wishes to employ
experienced candidates. These are:
1. Job Knowledge Test: Under this test a candidate is tested in the
knowledge of a particular job.
2. Work Sample Test: Under this test a portion of the actual work is given
to the candidate as a test and the candidate asked to do it.
• Situational Test: This test evaluates a candidate in a similar real life
situation. In this test the candidate is asked either to cope with the
situation or solve critical situation of the job.
1. Group Discussion: This test is administered through group discussion
approach to solve a problem under which candidates are observed in the
areas initiating, leading, proposing valuable ideas, conciliating skills, oral
communicating skills, co-ordination and concluding skills.
2. In Basket Test: The candidate in this test is supplied with actual letters,
telephone and telegraphic message, reports and requirements by various
officers of the Organisation, adequate information about the job and
Organisation. The candidate is asked to take decisions on various items
based on the in basket information regarding requirements in the
memoranda.

44


• Interest Tests: These tests are inventories of the likes and dislikes of
candidates in relation to work, job, occupations, hobbies and recreational
activities.
• Personality Tests: These tests prove deeply to discover clues to an
individual’s value system, his emotional reactions, and maturity and
characteristic mood.
1. Objective Test: most personality tests are objective tests as they are
suitable for group testing and can be scored objectively.
2. Projective tests: Candidates are asked to project their own interpretation
of certain standard situations basing on ambiguous pictures, figures etc.,
under these tests
 Final Interview: Final Interview is usually followed by testing. This is
the most essential step in the process of selection. In this step the
interviewer matches the information abstained about the candidate
through various means to the job requirements and to the information
obtained through his own observation during interview.
Types Of Interview:

Type Type of questions
Usual applications
A predetermined Useful for valid results,
Structured checklist if questions, especially when dealing
usually asked of all with large number of
applicants. applicants.
Unstructured Few, if any, planned Useful when the
questions. Questions are interviewer tries to
made up during the probe personal details of
interview. the candidate to analyze
why they are not right
for the job.
Mixed A combination of A realistic approach that
structured and yields comparable
unstructured questions, answers plus in depth
which resembles what, insights.
is usually done in
practice.

Behavioral Questions limited to Useful to understand
hypothetical situations. applicant’s reasoning
Evaluation is based on and analytical abilities

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the solution and under modest stress.
approach of the
applicant.
Stress A series of harsh, rapid- Useful for stressful jobs,
fire questions intended such as handling
to upset the applicant. complaints.

 Medical Examination: Certain jobs require certain physical qualities
like clear vision, perfect hearing, unusual stamina, tolerance of hard
working conditions, clear tone etc. Medical examination reveals whether
or not a candidate possesses these qualities.
 Reference Checks: After completion of the final interview and medical
examination, the personnel department will engage in checking
references. Candidates are required to give the names of reference in their
application forms. In case the reference check is from the previous
employer, information for the following areas may be obtained. They are:
job title, job description, period of employment, pay and allowances,
gross emoluments, benefits provided, rate of absence, willingness of the
previous employer to employ the candidate again etc.
 Final decision by the line manager concerned: The line manager
concerned has to make the final decision whether to select or reject the
candidate after soliciting the required information through different
techniques. A true understanding between the line managers and
personnel mangers should be established to take proper decisions.
 Employment: Thus, after taking the final decision the Organisation has
to intimate the decision to the successful as well as unsuccessful
candidates. The Organisation sends the appointment orders to the
successful candidates either immediately or after sometime depending
upon the time schedule.

Placement

When once the candidate reports for duty, the Organisation has to place
him initially in that job for which he is selected. Immediately the
candidate will be trained in various related jobs during the period of
probation of training or trial. The Organisation, generally, decides the
final placement after the initial training is over on the basis of
candidate’s aptitude and performance during the training/probation
period. Probation period generally ranges between six months and two
years. If the performance is not satisfactory, the Organisation may

46


extend the probation or ask the candidate to quit the job .If the
employee performance during the probation period is satisfactory, his
services will be regularized and he will be placed permanently on a job.

Fig. 6: Employee Placement Process
Collect data about the employee

Construct the employee’s profile

Match between sub group profile and individual’s profile

Compare sub-group profile to job family profile

Match between job family profiles and sub-group profiles

Assign the individuals to job family

Assign the individual to specific job after further counseling and
assessment

Placement is “the determination of the job to which an accepted
candidate is to be assigned and his assignment to that job. It is a
matching of what the supervisor has reason to think he can do with the
job demands (job requirements), it is a matching of what he imposes (in
strain, working conditions) and what he offers in the form of pay roll,
companionship with others, promotional possibilities etc. It is not easy
to match all factors to the new employee who is still unknown to many.
So the new employee is placed as a probationer until the trial period is
over.

INDUCTION
Introducing the new employee who is designated as a probationer to the
job, job location, surroundings, Organisation, organizational
surroundings, various employees is the final step of employment
process. This process is important because of the high turnover rate
among the new employees compared to that among senior employees.
This is mainly because of the problem of adjustment and adaptability to
the new surroundings and environment. further absence of information,
lack of knowledge about new Organisation, cultural gap, and behavioral

47


variations, different levels of technology, variations in the requirements
of the job and the Organisation also disturb the new employee.
Induction is necessary as the newcomer feel insecure, shy,
nervousness and disturbing. This situation leads to instability and
turnover.

“Induction is the process of receiving and welcoming an employee when he
first joins a company and giving him the basic information he needs to settle
down quickly and happily and start work”.

Lecture, handbook, film, group seminar are used to impart the
information to new employees about the environment of the job and the
Organisation in order make new employee acquaint himself with the
following heads:
1. About the company;
2. About the department;
3. About the superiors, subordinates;

Objectives of Induction:
I. Putting the new employee at his ease;
II. Creating interest in his job and the company;
III. Providing basic information about working arrangements;
IV. Indicating the standards of performance and behavior expected of
him. Making the employee feel that his job, however small, is,
meaningful, that he is not a cog in the vast wheel;
V. Informing him about training facilities;
VI. Creating the feeling of social security;
VII. Minimizing the reality shock which would be caused due to
incompatibility caused between the employee expectations and
actually what the company provides/offers regarding pay,
benefits, status, working conditions, responsibility, opportunity
for growth, innovations, creative ideas etc.
Advantages of Induction
I. First impression matters a good deal and results in less turnover;
II. Newcomer adjusts himself to the work quickly, and it saves the
time of the supervisor;
III. Reduces employee dissatisfaction and grievances;
IV. Develop a sense of belongings and commitment.

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In general, productivity forms a measure of the output of
goods and services to the input of labour, material and
machinery. The more productive a sector, the better its
competitive position will be, as its unit cost will be lower.
With the increase in productivity, earnings will improve,
raising the standard of living. Improving productivity does
not mean working harder. Rather it means working
effectively. It means getting more out of what is put in. It is
doing better with what one has.
Dismissal

Dismissal is a termination of service of an employee as a punitive measure.
This may occur either on account of unsatisfactory performance of
misconduct. Persistent failure on the part of employee to perform up to the
expectations or specified standard is considered as unsatisfactory
performance. Willful violation of rules & regulation by the employee is
treated as misconduct.

Dismissal is a drastic step seriously impairing the earnings and image of an
employee. Therefore, dismissal as a measure should be resorted to with great
care and caution. It must be justifies and duly supported by the just and
sufficient cause. Before an employee is dismissed, he must be served
advance notice to explain his position. the reasons for dismissal must be
clearly made known to the employee.

TRAINING
Training is the act of increasing the knowledge and skill of an individual for
doing a particular job. In the present scenario training is increasingly viewed
as a means of fostering the growth of the individual employee but as an
integrated part of organizational growth.
Training is a process of learning a sequence of programmed behaviour. It is
application of knowledge. It gives people an awareness of the rules and
procedures to guide their behavior. It attempts to improve their performance

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