MU0013 – Set I

Q1. What are the main objectives of Human Resource Planning?

Ans:  The main objectives of Human Resource Planning are as follows:

1. To determine the number of employees to be employed: If organization has more number of employees than actually required, then the workforce will consist of underutilized staff. In contrast, if the opposite management is made, staff may be overstretched, making it hard or impossible to meet production or service deadlines at the quality level expected. You should ask following questions for planning right number of employees:

(a) How can output be  improved through your understanding about the interrelation between productivity, work organization and technological development? What does this mean for staff numbers? (b) What techniques can be used to establish workforce requirements?(c) Have more flexible work arrangements been considered?(d) How is the staff you need to be acquired?

The principles can be applied to any exercise to define workforce requirements, whether it be a business start-up, a relocation, or the opening of new factory or office.

2. To retain highly skilled staff: In this competitive world it is very important for the organization to retain its skilled staff. Thus organizations should do following: 

(a) Monitor the extent of resignation(b) Discover the reasons for it(c) Establish what it is costing the organization(d) Compare loss rates with other similar organizations. Without understanding of above points, management may be unaware of how many good quality workers are being lost. This will cost the organization directly through the bill for separation, recruitment and induction, but also through a loss of long-term capability.

3. To manage an effective downsizing programme: This is a very common issue for managers but yet the most difficult one. A downsizing strategy reduces the workforce for improving profitability or reducing costs.

For this you need to answer following question: How is the workforce to be cut painlessly, while at the same time protecting the long-term interests of the organization?

This is difficult for every manager because of business necessities and at the same time employee anxieties. Such an analysis can be presented to senior managers so that the cost benefit of various methods of reduction can be assessed, and the time taken to meet targets established. But before downsizing effects of it should also be taken into consideration. It has mixed effects on firm performance that is there may be some short-term costs savings, but long-term profitability and valuation not strongly affected. Firm’s reputation as a good employer suffers. For example, Apple

Computer’s reputation as good employer declined after several layoffs in 1990s. Downsizing forces re-thinking of Employment Strategy i.e. Lifelong employment policies may not be credible after a downsizing. For example, IBM abandoned lifelong policy after several layoffs in early 1990s.

4. To find out the procedure for recruiting the upcoming managersMany senior managers are troubled by this issue. They have seen traditional career paths disappear. They have had to bring in senior staff from elsewhere. But they recognise that while this may have dealt with a short-term skills shortage, it has not solved the longer term question of managerial supply: what sort, how many, and where will they come from? To address these questions you need to understand

(a) The present career system (including patterns of promotion and movement, of recruitment and wastage)(b) The characteristics of those who currently occupy senior positions(c) The organization’s future supply of talent.Below figure which summarizes the various objectives of Human Resource Planning (HRP).

Q2. Write a short note on employee orientation programme.

Q3. Explain the different types of competencies with examples.

Q4. What are the trends in HR audit seen in Indian scenario?

Q5. What are the reasons for implementing the human resource scorecard?

Ans: This mode of scorecard is based on the assumption that competent and committed employees are needed to provide quality products and services at competitive rates emphasizing on the ways to enhance customer satisfaction.

The Seven Steps in the HR Scorecard approach to formulating HR policies activities and strategies are as follows:

The first step is to formulate business strategies i.e. define the business strategy of the organization so as to be very clear about the way to exploit the human resource towards the achievement of the organizational goal.

The next step is to outline the companys value chain activities and identify the strategically required organizational outcomes.

Now after the outcomes have been decided clearly, identify the workforce requirements and behaviors expected so as to achieve the desired outcomes.

The next step is to formulate HR policies and practices which are strategically relevant such as new training and grievance systems.

After ensuring that all above steps are correctly conducted then develop detailed scorecard. Then design the HR Scorecard measurement system. In order to ensure the productivity, periodically re-evaluate the measurement system.

Q6. Elaborate on the need for Human Resource Audit.

MU0013 – Set II

Q1. Explain the linkages between HR Audit and business functions.

Q2. Write a short note on focus groups.

Ans: A focus group is a form of qualitative research in which a group of people are asked about their perceptions, opinions, beliefs, and attitudes towards a product, service, concept, advertisement, idea, or packaging.[1] Questions are asked in an interactive group setting where participants are free to talk with other group members. The first focus groups were created at the Bureau of Applied Social Research in the USA, by associate director, sociologist Robert K. Merton.[2] The term itself was coined by psychologist and marketing expert 

Types of focus groups

Variants of focus groups include:

Two-way focus group - one focus group watches another focus group and discusses the observed interactions and conclusion

Dual moderator focus group - one moderator ensures the session progresses smoothly, while another ensures that all the topics are covered

Dueling moderator focus group - two moderators deliberately take opposite sides on the issue under discussion

Respondent moderator focus group - one and only one of the respondents are asked to act as the moderator temporarily

Client participant focus groups - one or more client representatives participate in the discussion, either covertly or overtly

Mini focus groups - groups are composed of four or five members rather than 6 to 12

Teleconference focus groups - telephone network is used

Online focus groups  - computers connected via the internet are used

Traditional focus groups can provide accurate information, and are less expensive than other forms of traditional marketing research. There can be significant costs however : if a product is to be marketed on a nationwide basis, it would be critical to gather respondents from various locales throughout the

country since attitudes about a new product may vary due to geographical considerations. This would require a considerable expenditure in travel and lodging expenses. Additionally, the site of a traditional focus group may or may not be in a locale convenient to a specific client, so client representatives may have to incur travel and lodging expenses as well.

Problems and criticism

Focus groups are "One shot case studies" especially if they are measuring a property-disposition relationship within the social sciences, unless they are repeated.[8] Focus groups can create severe issues of external validity, especially the reactive effects of the testing arrangement. [9] A fundamental difficulty with focus groups (and other forms of qualitative research) is the issue of observer dependency: the results obtained are influenced by the researcher, raising questions of validity.

Another issue is with the setting itself. If the focus groups are held in a laboratory setting with a moderator who is a professor and the recording instrument is obtrusive, the participants may either hold back on their responses and/or try to answer the moderator's questions with answers the participants feel that the moderator wants to hear. Another issue with the focus group setting is the lack of anonymity. With all of the other participants, there can not be any guarantee of confidentiality. Again we have to deal with the issues of the reactive effects of the testing arrangement (See above).

Douglas Rushkoff [10]  argues that focus groups are often useless, and frequently cause more trouble than they are intended to solve, with focus groups often aiming to please rather than offering their own opinions or evaluations, and with data often cherry picked to support a foregone conclusion. Rushkoff cites the disastrous introduction of New Coke in the 1980s as a vivid example of focus group analysis gone bad. In addition there is anecdotal evidence of focus groups rebelling, for instance the name for the Ford Focus, was created by a focus group which had grown bored and impatient and the irony of this was not picked up by the marketing team.[citation needed]

Jonathan Ive, Apple’s senior vice president of industrial design, also said that Apple had found a good reason not to do focus groups : "They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products."

Q3. Explain the audit of human resource function.

Ans: Audit of Human Resource Function

Good starting point of audit process is to take some time and reflect on HR functions which need to be audited. Simply listing them is a good first step. For achieving organizational goals, it is very important to carry out various HR functions smoothly. In this step of audit process, we define the various functions which need to be audited.s

In this step consider your areas of responsibility and traditional HR practices covered by the functions, you need to audit. In starting out, it is better to make more general statements and improve from year to year in those areas that you choose to raise the level of performance. For example as an audit manager, you may decide to audit any of following:

All human resource functions. Any specific function like recruitment process of your company. Any part of the specific function you have selected for audit like generating applicant pool

function of recruitment process,

The main purpose is to study and analyze each one of the specific areas of HRM. The analysis should focus on the planned measures, the method of implementation, and the results obtained. In order to

carry this out, the areas that need to be audited must be identified. A list of the indicators corresponding to the different areas of the HR function could contain some of the following:

Description of the staff of the company

The complete staff can be described by:

hierarchic levels years of service qualification sex nationality the number of permanent and temporary employees, interns and physically or mentally

challenged employees indexes of personnel rotation and absenteeism

Job analysis

The various indicators of Job analysis are as follows: The number of described posts Occupants per post Degree to which the job description cards have been updated The degree of detail in the job description cards The methods used to analyze and describe the jobs.

HR planning

HR planning, as you have studied in unit 7, is an important area of preplanning includes the methods employed to plan personnel needs, the measures adopted to cover future personnel needs, and the temporary planning horizon.

Recruiting and personnel selection

Main indicators of this are as follows: the number of days required to a vacant post the number of applications received by work place categories the average amount of days between the reception of the application the average cost of recruitment cost of selection per job post the degree to which internal and external sources of recruitment are used the average number of candidates that do not pass the selective tests the study of the reliability and validity of the selection tests

Training and development

The training indicators are as follows: the procedures followed frequency to which personnel training needs are analyzed the criteria followed in the training programs the evaluation criteria of the efficiency of the training programs the percentage of the HR budget dedicated to training the average number of hours of training per employee

The percentage of employees that participate in training programmes by work place categories.

Development of professional careers

These indicators focus on the vacancies covered internally.

These indicators include:

the percentage of people promoted per number of employees; the percentage of vacancies covered internally and externally and the average time per

employee it takes to receive a promotion.

Q4. What are the components of human resource development audit?

For understanding the HRD Audit as conducted in different organizations, you should know well the different components of HRD Audit. Look at Figure 2.1 to identify the components of HRD Audit.

Figure 2.1: Components of HRD Audit

The HRD audit is divided into three components:

· Organisation and Administration of Human Resource

· Information Management through Documentation

· Computerized HRIS

The various functions in HRD are carried out through its systems and sub-systems. HRD has five major systems and each of the systems has sub systems which are given below:

1. Career system: This is the most important HRD system. As an HRD system, career system ensures attraction and retention of human resources through the following sub-systems.

-Manpower planning

-Recruitment

-Career planning

-Succession planning

-Retention

2. Work system: It ensures that the human resources are not over or under utilized but is utilized in the best possible way to achieve organizational goals. Following are the sub-systems of the work planning system:

-Role analysis

-Role efficacy

-Performance plan

-Performance feedback and guidance

-Performance appraisal

-Promotion

-Job rotation

-Reward

3. Development system: The business environment is ever changing and very dynamic. So the human resources within the organization have to change accordingly if the organization wants to be in business. The development system ensures that the retained (career system) and utilized (work system) human resources are also continuously developed so that they are adaptable to the changing scenario. Following are some of the developmental sub- systems of HRD that contributes and ensures that human resources in the organization are continuously developed.

-Induction

-Training

-Job enrichment

-Self-learning mechanisms

-Potential appraisal

-Succession development

-Counseling

-Mentor system

4. Self-renewal system: It is important not only to develop individuals and teams in the organizations but occasionally there is a need to renew the organization itself. Following are some of the sub-systems that can be utilized to renew the organization:

-Survey

-Action research

-Organizational development interventions

-Organizational retreats

5. Culture system: To build up a desired culture is very important in today’s changing business scenario. It is the culture that will give a sense of direction, purpose, togetherness, and teamwork. You should note that whether an organization wants it or not along with the time common ways of doing things (culture) will emerge. Some of the culture building sub-systems are given below:

-Vision, mission and goal

-Values

-Communication

-Get-togethers and celebrations

-Task forces

-Small Groups

The Box 2.1 shows various commonly used HRD systems used in big Multi National Companies.

Box 2.1: HRD SystemsThe commonly used HRM systems are as follows:

· Human Resources Information System (HRIS)

· Personnel Action Tracking System (PATS)

· Financial Disclosure System (FINDIS)

· Modular Ethics Training Tracking System (METTS)

· Office of Workers Compensation Case Tracking System (OWCP)

· Leave Transfer System

· Research Position Evaluation System (RPES)

· Awards Tracking System

· OPF Tracking System

· Electronic Performance Management System (e-PMS)

Human resouree management (HRM) has experienced a strong evolution. In order to provide useful information to managers, it is necessary to evaluate the results generated by the design and implementation of personnel policies. This is the goal of the HR audit that includes two different analyses and valuations: the HR policies and their level of fit with the strategy of the firm, and the characteristics of human capital. Several criteria have been used to assess different HR policies. Nevertheless, the measurement of the value that human capital brings to the firm is a very complex topic. Consequently, different models are being presented that aim to properly solve this challenge. This paper will analyze the HR function from two perspectives: the evaluation of the implemented policies and the quality of human capital in relation to real competencies, and the capability to learn and develop new skills. (JEL M10)

Conceptualization of HR AuditingAuditing has evolved, becoming increasingly specific, until the term functional audit has emerged. The objective of a functional audit is to diagnose, analyze, control, and advise within the boundaries of each functional area of the company.

The HR audit is a type of functional audit. Thus, as a first approach, one could say that HR auditing consists of diagnosing, analyzing, evaluating, and assessing future lines of action within the framework of HRM.

HR auditing is a basic tool for the management of a company. Its objective is not only the control and quantifying of results, but also the adoption of a wider perspective that will aid in defining future lines of action in the HRM field. Thus, HR auditing must perform two basic functions [Cantera, 1995]. First, it must be a management information system whose feedback provides information about the situation in order to facilitate the development of managing processes or the development of HR. On the other hand, it must be a way of controlling and evaluating the policies that are being applied, as well as the established processes.

It can be understood that in order to secure the operative efficiency and user or client satisfaction, an appraisal of the results of the HR function is necessary. According to this approach, the results obtained can be valued from certain HR policies (an external type of measurement), or from the results of the policies or the policies themselves. The results can be valued through their cost (a measurement internal to the function) [Walker, 1998]. This would lead the company to consider some basic questions. Are adequate HR policies being developed? Are the desired results being obtained? To what extent do they add value to the company?

The purpose of this work is to offer a few guidelines for the appraisal of the HR function, which is in itself the basis for the auditing process. The objective is to set conceptual limits for its content and to present the different approaches with which the HR audit can be presented.

Q5. Explain how audit of training is conducted.

Q6. Elaborate on the different aspects work place policies and practices to be considered by the employers.