CHAPTER IV IMPLEMENTATION OF HUMAN RESOURCE STRATEGYACTION PLANS AND PRACTICES

The following Chapter dwells into the collective opinions and experiences of the Sample Respondents which were expressed in their unique individual styles. The responses from the Sample were assembled, tabulated, and classified to draw meaningful inferences and are presented in a textual format coupled with Human Resource action plan and practices.

Responsiveness towards Change

Business environment has become complex and aggressive. At any given moment of time, there are multiple forces on an organization such as competitors, customer demands, regulatory requirements, supply upsets, and technology breakthroughs. Organizations overcome these hurdles by anticipating change, formulating a change management strategy and finally by successfully implementing an action plan. Failing in any one of these would lead to loss of market share, profits in the long-term. Organizations could no longer succeed by producing the same goods or services year after year. Instead, they must adapt rapidly to the changing consumer demands and needs to cope with an unpredictable existing competition. The strategic ability of an organization to respond towards these unanticipated situations was referred to as adaptability in this Study.

140

In response to a question changes made in your organization are a reaction to circumstances from 186 Respondents 48 percent Respondents agreed and 41 percent Respondents strongly agreed that their organizations adapted to changes. Whereas 9 percent Respondents disagreed for adaptability toward change by their organization and 2 percent, Respondents remained neutral on this aspect (Chart IV. 1).

Without an exception, the Indian Banking Sector had undergone changes due to economic reforms. Changes had taken place with respect to: the ownership pattern of Banks; changes in delivery channels; and range of services provided to the customers. Banks like State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Axis Bank, ICICI Bank, and HDFC Bank, have broken the long-standing jams and started interacting in more friendly and professional manner with their customers. Banks had started accepting online applications, which made things easier for the aspirants.

One of a visible change symbol observed was an adoption of Bancassurance model by Banking Organizations. Canara Bank has tied up arrangements in both life and non-life insurance segments. In life insurance segment, Canara Bank has associated with AVIVA Life Insurance Company India Private Limited to undertaken the marketing of life insurance products. In non-life insurance segment, Canara Bank developed a strategic alliance with United India Insurance Company Limited for marketing of non-life insurance products.

141

CHART IV. 1 ORGANIZATIONS RESPONSIVENESS TO CHANGES

60%
50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 0% Strongly Disagree 9%

Adaptability 48% 41%

2% Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

To Study the change, three forms of change were discussed. First, Banks needs to change product portfolio. Product here referred to transient intermediary mechanisms through which the markets derive value from the organization and the organization derives value from the market. Second, process changes in Banks. Process here referred to the overall layout of the place concerned i.e., how the Banks branches is to designed to ensure maximum convenience to customers. Identifying the key processes which organization may excel to add value to their services made these processes simplified. To satisfy customers, organizations brought entirely new internal processes, which customers could easily understand and follow it. Third form of change was organizations responding to customer needs. In order to focus upon long-term relationship building with customers deep knowledge of customer needs was emphasized. Due to the rapid changes taking place, organizations needs to develop a more focused and coherent approach to manage customers preferences. On these three forms of change, Respondents were questioned.

142

In response to a question your organization has made continuous changes in its products and services from 186 Respondents, 52 percent Respondents strongly agreed and 45 percent Respondents agreed that their organizations made changes in the products and services offered by them. Whereas 3 percent Respondents disagreed on any kind of product portfolio modified by their organization (Chart IV. 2).

In response to a question your organization has made continuous changes in its processes from 186 Respondents, 58 percent Respondents agreed and 45 percent Respondents strongly agreed that their organizations had brought changes in the processes of their Banks (Chart IV. 2).

In response to a question your organization recognizes change in customer preferences from 186 Respondents, 67 percent Respondents strongly agreed and 32 percent Respondents agreed that their organizations were identifying changes taking place in customers requirements. Whereas 2 percent Respondents disagreed on any concern shown by their organization towards customers requirements (Chart IV. 2).

Overall Banks had undergone three major changes. As in case of traditional Banking there existed products which were limited to drafts, telegraphic transfers, bankers cheque and internal transfer of funds. Foreign, Private and few Public Sector Banks has also introduced customized Banking products like investment advisory services, photo-credit cards, cash management services, investment products and tax advisory services.

143

Today Banks have become into one-stop financial shop. For instance, ICICI Bank has added features to their services by allowing there users to access account information over a secure line, request chequebook and stop payment and transfers of funds on-line. ING Vysya Banks product portfolio offered products that catered to every financial requirement, for all life stages. ING Vysya Bank has developed the LifeMakerTM a simple tool that helped customers to choose a plan according to their requirements of saving, investment, or retirement and life stage of customers. State Bank of India brought an entirely new spectrum of loan products like housing loans, car loans, personal loans, consumer durable loans, education loans, loans against share and financing against gold. Banks are also providing financial assistances to agriculturists, through a network of rural and semi-urban branches and offered schemes covering a wide range of agricultural activities like crop loan, finance to horticulture, farm mechanization schemes, land development schemes and irrigation project loans.

Payment processes exercised by Banks are very different from the conventional methods. Due to the introduction of technology based processes different methods have evolved by which customers could make payments. Different methods of payment today are - cash, cheque, demand drafts, credit cards, debit cards, and electronic payments. Electronic payments could be made in the form of Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT), Electronic Clearing Service (ECS) for small value repetitive payments and through Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) System for large value payments. Customers could make payment as per their convenience, with the help of any processes.

144

Banks like State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, and many others Banks has become systematic and simpler to solve customers problems. Customer just needs to walk in the Banks branch and press the key related to his problem and machine automatically allocates the concern person from the branch to the customer, according to the type of problem of the customer. This has helped customers to save time and to overcome his hesitation and lack of knowledge about Banking processes. Bank of India has developed a customer centric infrastructure layout that enabled Bank to provide increased customer service levels with ability to attract new customers and manage customers with the help of Core Banking Solutions across branches.

To respond towards changing customers preferences Banks managed informations related to their: customers profiles, location and cash position; customers preferences; and complaints. Banks had also focused on region-specific campaigns rather than national media campaigns due to diversity in country like India. Another region-specific effort made by Banks was to use local languages on Automated Teller Machines. As customers found it much easier to operate in their local languages. Banks also noted down customers recommendations and inquired from customers about their impression about the services. All Commercial Banks including Public Sector Banks has understood the importance of customer retention.

145

CHART IV. 2 MAJOR CHANGES IN BANKS Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral 58% 52% 45% 48% 32% Agree Strongly Agree 67%

0%

3%

0%

0 0%

0% 2% 0% Organization's Responding to Customer Needs

Change in Product Portfolio

Process Changes in Banks

Nature of Change Strategic in Banking Organizations

Change accepted as an opportunity and a right perspective of the change might slice competitive edge over the competitors for the organization. The question here arises whether Change in Banks was strategic or not? If organization predicts changes, coming ahead in the business from the study of influences of various environmental factors; that means that organization is strategic. Different natures of change required different strategies to be adopted by organizations. If organization initiates for future environmental developments, one could state that the nature of change is strategic in the organization and this aspect referred to as predictability in this Study.

146

In response to a question your organization is able to anticipate changes, either internal or in external environment 74 percent Respondents agreed and 26 percent Respondents strongly agreed that their organizations were predictable with concern to changes which organization might come across in future (Chart IV. 3).

Respondent responses were further corroborated by the following observations: Banks are investing in the state of the art technology that ensured reliable service delivery; structural changes has taken place in Banks, prominently in Public Sector Banks; top-level strategic planning cells analyzed aspects related to technology up-gradation for instance, in Banks like Canara Bank, Union Bank of India and ICICI Bank.

Customer feedback and data collection was carried specifically in State Bank of India where customers could register their complaints through a touch screen device placed at the Banks branch that collected customers feedback. Further, this feedback machine transferred the stored information for processing and to be utilized by management to know how operations were carried. Another strategic approach adopted by Branch Managers was that they conducted conferences to acquaint employees about existing and expected environmental threats and opportunities. Almost all Public, Private and Foreign Banks has adopted systematic approaches towards environmental diagnosis including volatile changes in world financial markets and caution steps taken towards these changes.

147

CHART IV. 3 PREDICTABILITY OF CHANGE IN BANKS Preditability

80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%

74%

26% 0% 0% 0% Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

Strongly Disagree Disagree

Towards being strategic, organizations must follow the law of change to survive in this competitive era. Due to changing internal and external environment, rapid changes occurred in the organizations. Organizations needed to have four main aspects with respect to adjustment towards change. First, significance of change means organizations needed to view change as a vital constituent of their survival strategy. Second, Change as a process, means change could not be looked as with specific beginning or ending, suggesting changes should flow like stream through time 1. Third, change management means involvement of management to manage change. As support from management plays key role to carry the processes of changes. Management helps to change employee attitudes from avoidance to acceptance. Fourth, change as continuous means implementation to be uninterrupted. To get insight on these four aspects Respondents were questioned on these.

148

In response to a question your organization recognizes change as a crucial act from 186 Respondents , 72 percent Respondents agreed and 28 percent Respondents strongly agreed that their organization considered change as a vital component (Chart IV. 4).

In response to a question change is thought of as a process in your organization from 186 Respondents, 74 percent Respondents agreed and 26 percent Respondents strongly agreed that their organizations perceived change as process. (Chart IV. 4).

In response to a question change management involves top-management support from 186 Respondents, 60 percent Respondents agreed and 40 percent Respondents strongly agreed, that management of their organization played an important role in bringing changes (Chart IV. 4).

In response to a question change is implemented on a continuous basis in your organization from 186 Respondents, 76 percent Respondents agreed and 16 percent Respondents strongly agreed that their organizations implemented changes on continuous basis whereas, 8 percent Respondents disagreed on change implementation in their organizations (Chart IV. 4).

These finding were further corroborated by the following aspects: management talked with employee representatives, union leaders about issues like- introduction of technology into the work practices, additional allowances or variable remunerations to staff, changes in branch timings or working hours ; change curriculum has been included as a component in staff training programmes; bank circulars, newsletter explaining imperativeness of changes were circulated, showing the significance of change to Banking Industry.
149

Considering change being an essential factor, Banks had taken up skill up-gradation through proper training and re-training to keep their workforce efficient enough to take up the challenges due to the environmental changes unfolding every day. Training programmes on change management were organised by Banks like Bank of India, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Vijaya Bank, UCO Bank, and ICICI Bank with institutes like Indian Institute of Finance and Banking (IIFB), National Institute of Banking Management (NIBM). Due to change, sometimes even employees might need to even unlearn their past knowledge and re-orient themselves to the present knowledge.

Banks considered change as a process. For this reason, Banks hired outside specialist or consultants for changes occurring in their organizations. Banks faced changes due to acquisition or mergers taking place in order to achieve increased market presence. Apart from these Banks, undergo continuous changes due to the technological changes.

Banks developed state of the art accounting softwares like Online Tax Accounting Systems (OLTAS), specifically implemented by Bank of Baroda. This software helps to collect taxes on the behalf of Central Board of Direct Taxes, Government of India. Banks using software needs to upgrade their Information Security Management System to ensure confidentiality. These security systems included firewalls, anti-virus, centralized domain controlling, application security, database security, and other measures, which prevent fund transfer frauds. This raised the need of technological changes as technology becomes obsolete if not updated.

150

Other types of changes implemented by Banks included for instance, financial systems like Basel I in which Banks were focused on credit and market risks. Basel II implementation endeavoured Banks to constantly upgrade their risk management systems to address the changing environment. Banks, implemented 24* 7 Banking nationwide and worldwide to cope changes in the requirements of their customers. For example, ING Vyasa opens on Sundays, ICICI opens from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays and provided 24 hour customer service. Oriental Bank of Commerce service branch in Delhi required their officers to work in Morning Shift, between 6 a.m. to 1p.m. and in the Evening Shift, from 2 p.m. to 9 p.m. for this employees were given inconvenience allowance Rs. 2, 500/- per month to motivate them to work in odd hours.

ICICI Bank has successfully brought and implemented various changes to overcome the effects of recession during 2008- 2009. ICICI Bank clearly communicated the organizations position and strategies to its customers, investors, regulators, and employees. This open communication also acted as a significant confidence building measure among stakeholders in the background of a volatile environment and ensured stability. In Indian Bank (IB) Human Resource Practices, beginning from hiring to retirement was brought under SAP software. The Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) and ICICI Bank has introduced uniform for their employees in the branches operating in India. Both these Banks implemented change successfully.

151

CHART IV. 4 IMPLEMENTATION OF CHANGE IN BANKS Strongly Disagree 72% Disagree 74% 60% Neutral Agree Strongly Agree 76%

40% 28% 26% 16% 8% 0% 0% 0% Significance of Change 0% 0% 0% Change as a Process 0% 0% 0% Change Management 0% 0%

Change as Continuous

Performance Influenced by Strategic Intent

Performance standards help organizations to know, the strengths and weaknesses of their organizations. Thus, defining outcome metrics clearly identified the gaps existing in the organizations performance. Performance of organizations largely depended on policies, processes, and their effective implementation. Banking Organizations achieving their tangible and intangible objectives referred to as performance in this Study.

152

In response to question your organization is able to achieve both tangible and intangible goals from 186 Respondents, 71 percent Respondents agreed and 15 percent Respondents strongly agreed that their organizations were able achieve performance objectives. Whereas 14 percent Respondents disagreed that, their organizations failed to achieve the performance standards (Chart IV. 5).

Banking Sector has recorded marked improvement, as Non Performing Loans (NPL) has declined and Banks profitability levels has trended upwards 2. Banks had built up their assets size and diversified their product ranges from rural to urban products, along with diversification internationally. For instance, Bank of Indias net profit reached Rs. 3007 crore over and above the profit level of Rs. 2009 crore in 2008. The operating profit of the Bank went up by 47.45 percent from Rs. 3701 crore in 2007-08 to Rs. 5457 crore in 200809. The Returns on Assets reached the benchmark level of 1.0 percent 3. Besides financial measurements, Banks realized that its revenue comes from their customers who are willing to pay for the values provided to them by the organizations. Further, the performance improvements were also indicated by the increased market share, customer retention, customer acquisition, and customer satisfaction in Banking Industry. CHART IV.5 PERFORMANCE OF BANKS 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Performance 71%

14% 0% Strongly Disagree Disagree 0% Neutral

153

15%

Agree

Strongly Agree

As we discussed performance of an organization, at its backdrop lies Strategic Intent. Thus, defining Strategic Intent of an organization for Business or for Human Resource Strategy provided sense of purpose and direction to organizations. Strategic Intent could be expressed with the help of following components: the vision serves the purpose of stating what the organization wishes to achieve in the end .Vision statement also guided employees about the services that they have to provide to their customers; the m ission statement that defines the basic reason for the existence of the organization. The mission statement mentions about its purpose, the nature of business and customers it seeks to serve and satisfy; the values and principles that defines the personal values and helps employees to match their values with the organizational values and principles. Thus, defining the values and principles helped to avoid the situations of conflict and confusion. Organizations reflected the values in words like teamwork, communication, innovation or quality; the goals provide guidance, direction, facilitate in planning, motivation and helps organizations to evaluate and control performance. Goals formulated by organizations needed to be realistic which were achievable by employees; and the objectives defined, as strategic objectives which are guide to organization towards growth plans and financial objectives are related to the financial achievements of the organization. Thus, identifying organizations existing vision, mission, values and principles, goals and objectives gave a logical starting point for strategic management because these clearly presented situation and condition of organizations. To get insight on Strategic Intent aspects, Respondents were questioned accordingly.

154

In response to a question on employees are well aware of their respective service level agreements from 186 Respondents, 80 percent Respondents agreed and 12 percent Respondents strongly agreed that they were aware about the purposes of their services. Whereas, 6 percent Respondents disagreed on any specific purposes being stated by their organizations to be achieved by employees and 2 percent Respondents remained neutral on this aspect (Chart IV. 6).

In response to a question your organization has a purpose of existence in the society from 186 Respondents, 67 percent Respondents agreed and 20 percent Respondents strongly agreed that their organizations had a particular purpose to serve to the society. Whereas, 13 percent Respondents disagreed on any purpose that their organizations aimed at (Chart IV. 6).

In response to a question core values and principles are clearly defined in your organization from 186 Respondents, 72 percent Respondents agreed and 18 percent Respondents strongly agreed that they are aware about the values and principles that they have to adhere to, while working in the organization. Whereas, 10 percent Respondents disagreed on values and principles defined to them (Chart IV. 6).

In response to a question organizational goals are realistic from 186 Respondents, 54 percent Respondents agreed and 13 percent Respondents strongly agreed that the goals defined to them were realistic. Whereas, 33 percent Respondents disagreed about goals defined were realistic (Chart IV. 6).

155

In response to a question Mergers/Acquisitions, Integration/Diversification are considered important strategies for growth in your organization from 186 Respondents, 56 percent Respondents agreed and 14 percent Respondents strongly agreed that their organizations aimed to achieve higher growth objectives through merger, acquisition, integration and diversification. Whereas, 27 percent Respondents disagreed and 2 percent Respondents strongly disagreed that the growth plans formulated did not specified about the strategic aims of the organization and 1 percent Respondents remained neutral on this aspect (Chart IV. 6).

In response to a question financial objectives of your organization such as revenue, earnings or return on investment etc. are achievable and realistic from 186 Respondents, 64 percent Respondents agreed and 13 percent Respondents strongly agreed that their organizations had achieved the financial objectives, already defined. Whereas, 23 percent Respondents disagreed suggesting that their organizations were not able to achieve financial objectives (Chart IV. 6).

Banks have begun to explain strategic vision to their employees. For instance, Indian Bank defines its vision as first choice of the common man and to achieve this vision employees need to know how to achieve this vision of their organization. To reach to the common man Indian Bank has opened an exclusive Core Banking Solution branch along with online bio-metric voice guided Automated Teller Machine facilities in Dharavi, Mumbai, to target a large number of migrant workers who were under the unbanked sector from many decades and covered 770 villages under financial inclusion project (2006-07)4.

156

Banks also stressed on defining the purpose statement, which also acted as a guideline for structuring strategies. For instance, Yes Bank in their mission statement emphasized towards their commitment to add long-term value to the Society. Apart from vision and mission, every Banks branch manager define role to their employees that consisted of set of goals to be achieved by them in a particular period. Further, these goals were defined in terms of financial objectives like Return on Investment (ROI) and Return on Equity (ROE). Finally, clearly defined goals and objectives reduced the difficulty in the coordination of the activities and events. In context of Human Resource Department, the vision of Human Resource Department in some Banks is to have excellent people for their organization. The mission of Human Resource Departments could be to achieve strategic aims and business plans through the resourcing, development, and motivation of workforce. Banks had the following values and principles: right people in the right job; continuous improvement; compliance with the law; treating people with respect, fair and equitable practices and work-life-balance. CHART IV. 6 RESPONDENTS RESPONSE ON STRATEGIC INTENT Strongly Disagree Disagree 72% 64% 54% 33% 27% 20% 12% 13% 6% 0% 2% Vision 0% 0% Mission 10% 0% 0% Values and Principles 0% 0% Goals 18% 13% 2% Strategic Objectives 15% 14% 0% 0% Financial Objectives 23% 13% 56% Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

80%
67%

157

Human Resource Strategy and Organization Change

To meet the challenges due to change, organizations needed to focus on appropriate capacity building measures to handle advanced risk management system and to equip themselves with appropriate skills. Human Resource Strategy, calls for reviewing and reengineering the Human Resource functions, both at the level of corporate Human Resource Division and at the level of branch managers to proactively manage people at work. Human Resource Strategy defined as a co-ordinated set of actions aimed at integration of organizational resources 5. Thus, it is essential that Human Resource Strategies and Change intertwined with each other. Human Resource personnels may suggest best Human Resource Strategy, which could combine resources and behaviour to their best with the organizational changes.

In response to a question resources are utilized in a synergetic manner from 186 Respondents, 70 percent Respondents agreed that in their organization various resources were managed to produce higher results .Whereas, 18 percent Respondents disagreed that their exist hardly any combined fruitful effect of the resources present in their organization (Chart IV. 7).

158

CHART IV. 7 HUMAN RESOURCE STRATEGY IN BANKS Human Resource Strategy 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 70%

18%
0% 0% Agree

11%

Strongly Disagree Neutral Disagree

Strongly Agree

Existence of change has emphasized the existence of Human Resource Strategies in the organization. The change factors that Banking Organizations has to face are: workforce demographic changes which are complex to understand. These exist in the organizations due to the diversity of the workforce; changes in employee expectations due to changing social values ; technological changes are taking place at a faster rate and Banks are required to make review of the arrival of new tasks, techniques, and the skills associated with these ; organizational restructuring due to downsizing, mergers and closure intermediaries. Organizational restructuring bring in major realignments among culture, vision, values, strategy, structure, and management system; changes in customers means the changes taking place in the needs of customers; and changes in the economic conditions of an organization due to uncertainties existing in the external environment. To get insight on organization change Respondents were thus, questioned.

159

In response to a question diversity exists within your organization workforce from 186 Respondents, 52 percent Respondents strongly agreed and 41 percent Respondents agreed that workforce diversity existed in their organization. Whereas, 5 percent Respondents disagreed and 2 percent Respondents strongly disagreed on existence of diversity among the workforce in their organization (Chart IV. 8).

In response to a question employee expectations change continuously from the organization from 186 Respondents, 63 percent Respondents agreed and 22 percent Respondents strongly agreed that changes in the employees expectations had occurred. Whereas, 13 percent Respondents disagreed on any kind of variations that had occurred with respect to employee expectations in their organizations and 2 percent Respondents remained neutral on this aspect (Chart IV. 8).

In response to a question technological changes are appreciated and absorbed with swiftness from 186 Respondents, 49 percent Respondents agreed and 41 percent Respondents strongly agreed that the technological changes were adopted by their organizations speedily. Whereas 8 percent Respondents disagreed on technological changes being appreciated by their organizations and 2 percent, Respondents remained neutral on this aspect (Chart IV. 8).

In response to a question there have been change in your organization structure owing to a restructuring from 186 Respondents, 71 percent Respondents agreed and 20 percent Respondents strongly agreed that organizations structure had changed resulting into restructuring of their organizations (Chart IV. 8). Whereas, 7 percent Respondents

160

disagreed on any structural changes taken in their organizations and 2 percent Respondents remained neutral on this aspect (Chart IV. 8).

In response to a question customers preferences have changed in the past few years from 186 Respondents, 48 percent Respondents agreed and 34 percent Respondents strongly agreed that change in customer preferences had been observed. Whereas 11 percent Respondents disagreed and 3 percent Respondents strongly disagreed that their organization had hardly paid attention towards the changes in the customer preferences and 4 percent Respondents remained neutral on this aspect (Chart IV. 8).

In response to a question your organizational plans and policies are influenced by Indias economy from 186 Respondents, 60 percent Respondents agreed and 26 percent Respondents strongly agreed that their organizational plans and polices were influenced by changes in the economic conditions. Whereas, 13 percent Respondents disagreed that their organizations were not influenced due to the changes in the economic conditions and 1 percent Respondents remained neutral on this aspect (Chart IV. 8).

In the context of organizational changes, it was observed that Banks workforce constituted of different age groups, people from different castes, religions, and gender. The Private Sector Banks were transparent on employment terms and boosted job opportunities for employment of women. Banking Sector encouraged a high recruitment rate for women, as these jobs were perceived to provide a better stability, lesser travel, regular working hours, and a secure working environment, dissimilar from many other fields of jobs. Women like Naina Lal Kidwai of the HSBC Bank, Shikha Sharma of the Axis Bank, and Chanda Kochhar of ICICI Bank were encouraged to take up top management positions.
161

Employees expectations had changed from the traditional allurements such as job security, attractive remuneration, and housing to the employees wanting more information about their organizations, to know reasons behind managers decision and they want to be valued and personally recognized for their contributions.

Banks constantly face changes in technology and accordingly some of them have reconfigured the skill mix of their employees. The Public, Private, and Foreign Banks had adopted technology and benefited with respect to quality of risk management systems, better service delivery, improved handling of accounts and remittances and reduced operation cost in spite of vast expansion strategy adopted by them. For instance, Dena Bank has launched several technology enabled services like Dena bill-pay, Dena Mbanking, Dena internet banking, Multi-city cheque facility and value added services through Automated Teller Machine.

Union Bank of India has brought value added services like- online ticketing of air and rail, online tax payment, online trading of shares, online bill payments, online Demat information apart from the regular Banking services. With the introduction of technology, jobs had become more broad based and this made it mandatory on the part of Human Resource Management to train workers and to replace them in time. Human Resource Management plays an important role in selection and induction of competent people, and motivating them to perform at higher levels of efficiency, by providing them mechanisms that ensured that they maintain their affiliation with the organization.

162

Banks had realigned their existing human resource and readjusted staffing patterns. Due to the advent of computerization clerical and subordinate staffs were in excess in each Bank. Jobs were designed and restructured for Banks to get flattened organization structure, which also encouraged work innovation in the organizations. Surplus staff was relocated or reassigned with the job duties to overcome surplus manpower. Mobility of the staff was recommended and on this aspect, management had negotiated with employees and persuaded them, as mobility of staff improves organizational efficiency and productivity. Not only Public Sector Banks like State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank and Central Bank of India but also Foreign Banks like Standard Chartered Bank and BNP Paribas periodically introduced volunteer retirement schemes to get rid of extra flab 6.

Economic changes also influenced organizations and were mainly analyzed by top management. Human Resource Managers played a key role to scan and study the direct and indirect influences of these economic uncertainties on the Human Resource Strategies. In relation to this, Human Resource Managers adopted role of protector and screener in the Banking Industry. Economic uncertainties brought the change of interest rates, mergers and acquisition plans, reorganizations or relocation of Bank branches, and changes in bonus incentives of employees. For instance, ICICI Bank viewed economic changes and accordingly adopted a conscious strategy for building of stable and low cost funding base by consolidating their balance sheets and setting clear targets. This resulted into moderation of business volumes which helped Bank to position better and regain their growth cycle 7.

163

CHART IV. 8 ORGANIZATION CHANGE VARIABLES INFLUENCING BANKS Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

71% 63% 60% 54% 49% 41% 41% 34% 26% 22% 13% 8% 5% 0% 0% 0% 2% 0% 2% 7% 0% 2% 3% 4% 0% 1%
Economic Conditions

48%

20% 11% 13%

Workforce Emplyoees Demography Expectations

Technology Organizational Changes in Restructure Customers

164

People Centric Human Resource Strategies

The prime aim of the Human Resource Strategy is to put in place the building blocks of best practices for people management. This entailed developing a template of best practices in people management for the use. To know that organizations really valued there employees, Respondents were questioned.

In response to a question your organization consider its employees as value creators and its policies also reflect the same from 186 Respondents, 56 percent Respondents agreed and 34 percent Respondents strongly agreed that their organization considered their employees as value creator for their organization and organizations policies were employee centric. Whereas, 8 percent Respondents disagreed that their organization policies were not employee centric and 2 percent Respondents remained neutral on this aspect (Chart IV. 9). To add to this above findings, Banks had repeatedly mentioned in their various reports that human capital to be the most important valuable asset in this era of competition. CHART IV. 9 BANKING ORGANIZATIONS BEING PEOPLE CENTRIC 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree 8% 0% 33% People Centric 56%

2%

165

Any organization could be called as people centric organization if it adapts people centric strategies. To build employees relationship, organizations need to practice following strategies: teamwork, information sharing, creativity, participation, empowerment, quality of work-life, workplace feedback, employee management relationship/collective bargaining, grievance handling, and career progression planning. To strengthen relationships with employees, organizations need to provide benefits to their employees like - flexible benefits, flexi work arrangements, health and safety and working conditions.

Various employees related strategies are discussed. Teamwork here referred to as a set of values that encouraged behaviour such as listening and responding co-operatively to viewpoints expressed by others and providing support for organizational achievements. Along with teamwork, employees needed to be well informed thus raising the significance of the information sharing. Sharing information helped to remove confusion and resistance among employees. Information flow needs to be clear and consistent to generate trust and cooperation among employees of the organization and to sustain competition organizations need to allow their employees to work with creativity.

Stronger employee relationship stimulates employees to devise decisions that affected organizations well being. Initiative nature of employees allowed employees to take work related decisions covering issues like work methods, task assignments and performance outcomes. Thus, organizations needed to practice participative style to be a people centric organization. In order to motivate employees to make decisions and participate, employees needed to be empowered by their organizations. Apart from empowerment, quality of work- life needed to be improved to increase employees satisfaction by strengthening workplace learning and managing change transitions.
166

Further workplace feedback encourages understanding, acceptance, and ultimately behavioural modification among employees. It creates a timely opportunity to identify potential trouble and rectify if any mistake existed. Researchers had also emphasized that there should be a report after performance analysis of an employee and at the end detailed results and recommendations based on the analysis of resources and participants feedback8. Thus, work place feedback helps to develop better understanding.

Work place feedback will be fruitful if employee-management relationship/collective bargaining were encouraged by the organizations in which representatives of management and workers negotiate on terms and conditions of employment. Though cooperation may exist in an organization, still conflicts may arise in the organization due to day-to-day working, which could be handled with the help of grievance handling procedures. Grievance handling procedures allowed employees to ventilate their feelings. Thus, organizations needed to have a proper grievance resolution and handling procedure. Lastly, for an organization to be a people centric organization it requires to have career progression, as it aligns employees needs with career opportunities available within the organization.

In response to a question consistent joint efforts from superiors, peers and subordinates is present during day to day functioning from 186 Respondents, 76 percent Respondents agreed and 20 percent Respondents strongly agreed that in their organizations seniors, peers and subordinates provided support to each other at work place. Whereas 4 percent Respondents disagreed that, hardly any joint efforts were made by employees in their organizations (Chart IV. 10).

167

In response to a question information from top management is clear and consistent from 186 Respondents, 76 percent Respondents agreed and 20 percent Respondents strongly agreed that their organizations emphasized on the consistent and clear information flow. Whereas, 4 percent Respondents disagreed on any kind of emphasizes been made by their organizations on the sharing of information (Chart IV. 10).

In response to a question your organization encourages employees to provide creative suggestions from 186 Respondents, 63 percent Respondents agreed and 19 percent Respondents strongly agreed that their creative suggestions were encouraged by their organizations. Whereas, 13 percent Respondents disagreed and 1 percent Respondents strongly disagreed that hardly creative suggestion were heard or promoted by their organizations, and 4 percent Respondents remained neutral on this aspect (Chart IV. 10).

In response to a question your organization encourage participative style from 186 Respondents, 77 percent Respondents agreed and 9 percent Respondents strongly agreed that their organizations practiced participation. Whereas 13 percent Respondents disagreed that employees were hardly motivated to participate in the decision- making (Chart IV. 10).

In response to a question your job gives you enough prospects to resolve problems from 186 Respondents, 78 percent Respondents agreed and 9 percent, Respondents strongly agreed that they were allowed to take decisions within ones area of operations. Whereas, 11 percent Respondents disagreed suggesting that the job of employees hardly provided any prospects to resolve problems at the workplace and 2 percent Respondents remained neutral (Chart IV. 10).
168

In response to a question improvement in quality of life of employees and customers is emphasized from 186 Respondents, 63 percent Respondents agreed and 23 percent Respondents strongly agreed that quality of life was emphasized by their organizations. Whereas, 14 percent Respondents disagreed that hardly any emphasize was made to improve the quality of work-life for employees (Chart IV. 10).

In response to a question feedback is provided to employees in a regular and planned manner from 186 Respondents, 64 percent Respondents agreed and 25 percent

Respondents strongly agreed that they were provided proper feedback in their organizations. Whereas, 9 percent Respondents disagreed that hardly any emphasize was given on work-related feedback and 2 percent Respondents remained neutral on this aspect (Chart IV. 10).

In response to a question conflicts occur sometime between employees and management from 186 Respondents, 55 percent Respondents agreed and 22 percent Respondents strongly agreed that in their organizations there existed cooperation among employees and management. Whereas 15 percent Respondents disagreed and 1 percent Respondents strongly disagreed that hardly any cooperation existed between employees and management this aspect hinted towards existence of conflicts between employees and management 7 percent Respondents remained neutral on this aspect (Chart IV. 10).

169

In response to a question grievances and their resolutions are handled in a proper manner from 186 Respondents, 67 percent Respondents agreed and 17 percent Respondents strongly agreed that in their organizations grievances were resolved appropriately. Whereas, 16 percent Respondents disagreed suggesting that organizations were not handling grievances of their employees properly and 1 percent Respondents remained neutral on this aspect (Chart IV. 10).

In response to a question individual career planning is part of HR Strategy from 186 Respondents, 66 percent Respondents agreed and 10 percent Respondents strongly agreed that their career aspirations were taken care of by their organizations. Whereas, 23 percent Respondents disagreed that hardly any career planning was carried by organization for their employees and 2 percent Respondents remained neutral on this aspect (Chart IV. 10).

At the workplace, teamwork and supportive work-relationships helped both employees as well as the organization. In the work settings, their existed an urgent requirement to generate new ideas and to translate these into practical applications. Federal Bank believed in we and emphasized that individuals joining their organization must work as a part of the team. To support teamwork top management in Banks used a mixture of formal and informal, direct and indirect means of communication with employees. For instance, State Bank of India used circular, report, manual, and proceeding of the board as a means to provide information to their employees. The Bank also, recognized the importance of establishing several channels of communication between management and employees.

170

Banking Organizations need to promote creativity among their employees. As customers view Bank as a solution provider to their problems and look for the best solution. As a result, Private and Foreign Sector Banks have already started seeking for creative ideas for modern products for their customers. ICICI Bank implemented a project named e-Commodity Based Financing (e-CBF) which enabled funding against agricultural commodities to farmers, traders, and corporate according to their requirements.

Creative support to Banking Industry requires that their employees actively initiate new ideas for providing prompt services to their customers. Employees were found to be participating at different level like at -board level, staff work councils level, joint councils and committee level, collective bargaining level, and through suggestion schemes and quality circles. Private and Foreign Bank employees participate in formulation of their compensation packages. This helped to develop cordiality and friendly environment which explicitly helped Banks to motivate employees. Banks also provided quality of work-life to their employees to reduce number of grievances among employees. For instance, HDFC Bank promoted Employee Think Tank and introduced constant interaction with employees in the employee town halls and open houses to cover the gaps between employees and organization. Cementing of the gaps resulted into greater openness and transparency in launching initiatives like voice of employees and upward feedback or full circle feedback. The ultimate motivate behind this was to ensure maximum employee touch points for higher success in engagement efforts.

171

ICICI Bank has specifically empowered their newly joined employees and provided complete authority to them to handle their job roles. After two weeks of an orientation programme employee were given assignments and were motivated to make decisions in the very first week itself. Apart from employee participation, ICICI Bank practised performance feedback sessions to improve performance of their employees. During feedback, process employees were made aware of problem areas and were made to understand the consequences of the problem behaviour.

Kotak Mahindra Bank has developed a simpler way for feedback named as Kotak Integrated Sales and Service System (KISSS) worked as an online application, which defined the action plan for their employees. This online application consisted of details related to relationship calling, daily sales report, and appointment schedules. This software also sends weekly details about the performance scores and indicated employees lagging point so that employees could quickly work upon on the same before the end of the month. Kotak Integrated Sales and Service System clearly predicted the performance of their employees portfolio.

To overcome employees discontent the joint consultative committees were set up at different levels. In Banks, a grievance procedure has become an integrated part of the policy to promote better relationship between management and employees. For instance, Bank of Baroda has introduced a help-line directly connected to Chief Executive Officers office for those employees who faced any sort of crucial problems. ICICI Bank has started staff space on the intranet where employees could participate in collaborative activities such as- contributing documents, engaging in discussions and posting or answering queries leading towards better cooperation.
172

Banks also provided potential career opportunities for their employees. Opportunities such as addition of specialist skill or knowledge to employees with the help of training programme, promotion to a higher level and position rotation. For instance, in HDFC Bank, Senior Managers managed talent of their organization by categorizing potential employees across various levels and planned succession planning for them according to their career aspirations. ICICI Bank has established development centres that focused on people available in the organization rather than to hunt for talent from outside. These centres evaluated strengths, assessed development needs, and provided career opportunities to employees within the organization itself.

Bank of Baroda has undertaken a Human Resource initiative named as Khoj where organization-wide talent identification from officers to clerks was done and employees with high potential were deployed or promoted in the key business areas. Chinatrust Commercial Bank (CTCB) has created Individual Development Plan (IDP) for their key staff members. The Individual Development Plans comprised of career path and growth plan for employees in the years ahead. These plans included a detailed review of employees abilities, strengths, expertise, knowledge, development needs, employee satisfaction surveys, and feedback.

It was observed in Public Sector Banks that for top level vacancies political interference for filling up of the vacant positions was there. Along with this, hindrance like seniority based career progression and reservation quotas also acted as an obstacle in the way of young talented officers career path particularly in Public Sector Banks.

173

CHART IV. 10 EMPLOYEE DEVELOPMENT RELATIONSHIP STRATEGIES 20% Teamwork 0% 4% 0% 19% Information Sharing 0% 0% 18% 19% Creativity 4% 13% 1% 9% Participation 2% 11% 0% 9% Empowerment 1% 0% 0% 0% 13% 23% Quality of Work-life 14% Disagree 25% Workplace Feedback 2% 9% 0% 22% 7% 15% 1% 16% Grievances Handling 1% 0% 1% 0% 16% 10% Career Progression 23% 66% 64% Strongly Disagree 63%

76%

63%

78% Strongly Agree Agree Neutral

77%

63%

Employee-management Cooperation

55%

67%

174

Further, for Human Resource Strategy to become people centric, organizations need to provide benefits to their employees for social security purposes. Providing benefits helps organizations to retain and motivate employees to perform for their organizations. A growing number of organizations have adopted family friendly policies related to formal or informal sets of terms and conditions designed to enable employees to combine family responsibilities with employment. Organizations provided support to their employees by providing them flexible work arrangements and to provide protection against eventualities of todays modern lifestyle, employees were given flexible benefits as per their requirements. There existed awareness in the organizations to develop the workplace as a safe workplace. Organizations must promote health awareness at workplace. Health promotion motivates employees and improves performance of employees at the workplace along with good and safe working conditions in the organization.

In response to a question employees are allowed to choose flexible benefits like medical, insurance and retirement benefits from 186 Respondents, 43 percent Respondents agreed and 13 percent Respondents strongly agreed that their organizations provided facilities like childcare and flexible working hours whenever employees required. Whereas, 27 percent Respondents disagreed, 15 percent Respondents strongly disagreed that hardly any flexible work arrangements were provided by their organization and Respondents remained neutral (Chart IV. 11). 2 percent

175

In response to a question employee family friendly polices like childcare, flexible work time are realized from 186 Respondents, 49 percent Respondents agreed and 8 percent Respondents strongly agreed that they were provided with benefits like medical, insurance and retirement. Whereas, 31 percent Respondents disagreed and 9 percent Respondents strongly disagreed that hardly any emphasis was given towards flexible benefits for employees, and 3 percent Respondents remained neutral (Chart IV. 11).

In response to a question Programmes/campaigns on health awareness or related issues are regularly conducted from 186 Respondents, 56 percent Respondents agreed and 27 percent Respondents strongly agreed that regular health related programmes had taken place in their organizations. Whereas, 17 percent Respondents disagreed that hardly any health awareness programmes were carried by their organizations (Chart IV. 11).

In response to a question working conditions provided to employees are good from 186 Respondents, 46 percent Respondents agreed and 51 percent Respondents strongly agreed that the working conditions provided by their organizations were good . Whereas, 3 percent Respondents disagreed that hardly any emphasis was being made by their organization on working conditions and 1 percent Respondents remained neutral on this aspect (Chart IV. 11).

Private and Foreign Banks has introduced practices like parent leave, flexible working hour and supportive childcare polices. These practices provided sympathetic understanding and material aid to their employees to deal with stressful situations. Access to flexible scheduling helped employees to manage their work and family and increased job satisfaction and lowered their work-family conflicts.
176

For instance, HSBC Bank offered flexible working hours to their staff instead of conventional days per year basis. HSBC Bank also provided on-line job share register, which enabled employees to form a professional job sharing partnership. The Bank has offered flexible working arrangements to around 10 percent of their employees that was 6,500 workforce 9.

Retirement benefit like pension is provided to employees of Public Sector Banks as one of the major benefit to employees. Public Sector Bank employees are eligible to receive a benefit pension equivalent to 50 percent of their last salary drawn. In this, few variations might exist from one Public Sector Bank to another. For instance, SBI Bank employees received 40 per cent of their last salary drawn in the form of pension, provident fund and gratuity 10.

Public Sector Banks also provided medical benefits to their employees like medical expenses incurred on diseases. For medical benefits Banks tied with hospitals at major centers in India like Delhi, Mumbai and other metro cities where employee and his family members could walk-in. In these hospitals, reserved beds were kept for employees and their dependents.

Banks also emphasized on the health issues like physical health, mental health, stress management, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), alcoholism and drug abuse, and violence at work place. Fitness programmes and employees assistance to prevent health problems and health hazards that might occur were suggested to employees.

177

Most of the Public Sector Banks conduct medical check-up for their employees of 45 years of age and above once in 2 years in the approved diagnostic centre. Bank employees work on computer for more number of hours thus, the risks associated are highlighted to employees by their organizations.

Apart from these, recently after the instance of 26 November 2009, Mumbai terror attack, few Banks quickly offered a team of psychologists to their employees as a proactive measure to provide relief and reduce stress among employees. Banks also stressed upon the security of their employees, thus, they periodically reviewed implementation of security arrangements at branches. Security arrangements included, installation of time lock at the cash safe and constant observations were made by installation of Close Circuit TV (CCTV) to monitor and record the movements inside the branch premises round-the-clock.

CHART IV. 11 BENEFITS TO BANK EMPLOYEES

Strongly Disagree 51%

Disagree

Neutral

Agree 56%

Strongly Agree
50%

47%

46%

23% 21%

24% 18%
8% 5%

27%

17%

0% Flexi-benefits

3% Flexi-work arrangements

0%

0%

3% 1% 0%
Working Conditions

Health Promotion

178

Effectiveness of Human Resource Practices required Human Resource Strategies

Human Resource Practices depend on having the right Human Resource Strategy. Organizations need to consider relevant Human Resource Strategy to achieve effectiveness. Effectiveness of Human Resource Practices in this Study means how well the Human Resource Practices were implemented .

In response to a question there existed effective Human Resource Practices in your organization from 186 Respondents, 73 percent Respondents agreed and 12 percent Respondent strongly agreed that in their organizations, Human Resource Practices were implemented and well practised. Whereas 15 percent Respondents disagreed that, hardly their organizations practised well formulated Human Resource Practices (Chart IV. 12). CHART IV. 12 EFFECTIVENESS OF HUMAN RESOURCE PRACTICES IN BANKS Effectiveness of Human Resource Practices
80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%

73%

15% 0%
Strongly Disagree Disagree

12% 0%
Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

179

Human Resource Strategy in organizations acted as an active endeavour that managed people and their skills with the immediate and long-term aims of the business in their mind. The following Human Resource Strategies were studied in the backdrop of Banking Industry: manpower planning predominantly incorporated the number crunching. The manpower requirements change, due to the new emerging areas of operation and geographical dispersion nature of this industry; cost controlling of manpower helps to maximize productivity and minimise output cost per unit with the help of human resource budget; talent acquisition referred to as the policies and programmes that ensured that organization gets and keeps talent it needed ; deployment helps to overcome surplus or excess staff in Departments resulting into effective deployment of resources so that they could handle positions handed over to them ; job profile and designating employees in well planned manner make employees accountable for their decisions, for the job assigned to them; skill up-gradation helps employees to provide an environment in which employees were encouraged to learn and develop as organizations required their employees to perform in complex situations on multiple tasks; appraisal of employees helps to measure employees efficiency for the job assigned to an employee. Measuring performances of employees also helped to gain productivity for organizations; Compensation signifies that the rewards given to employees were as per their performance to encourage employees to contribute towards the fulfilment of the company goals. Understanding the workforce and recognizing what their employees find rewarding acts as, an effective reward; promotion policies help to motivate employees by means of reward systems contributing to increase productivity. Motivation through, rewards also contributed towards higher market value of the company and positively related to employees satisfaction and commitment; managing workforce diversity maximizes the utilization of employees potential and recognized the differences among workforce.
180

Thus, organizations need to successfully manage different groups; and finally outsourcing services such as hiring, training and many other services helps to overcome complexities and competition of business environment. To get insight on Human Resource Strategies prevailing in Banking Organizations Respondents were questioned.

In response to a question manpower planning is efficient in terms of right person at the right place and at right time from 186 Respondents, 65 percent Respondents agreed and 2 percent Respondents strongly agreed that organizations used their manpower to the best by placing right person at right place and at right time. Whereas 31 percent Respondents disagreed that, there existed hardly any proper utilization of the manpower (Chart IV. 13).

In response to a question there are strategies to control personnel cost to as low as possible from 186 Respondents, 72 percent Respondents agreed and 16 percent Respondents strongly agreed that their organizations designed strategies towards controlling the manpower cost. Whereas, 13 percent Respondents disagreed, indicating that their organizations did not paid attention towards cost reduction (Chart IV. 13).

In response to a question your organization is able to attract the best talent from 186 Respondents, 62 percent Respondents agreed and 21 percent Respondents strongly agreed that their organizations were able to attract best talent available in the market. Whereas, 17 percent Respondents disagreed that their organizations lacked in attracting the cream talent from the market (Chart IV. 13).

181

In response to a question employees are provided guidance and given training from 186 Respondents, 73 percent Respondents agreed and 10 percent Respondents strongly agreed that in their organizations they were guided and provided with knowledge to work in new areas .Whereas 17 percent Respondents disagreed that hardly any emphasis was given to guide employees for new responsibilities (Chart IV. 13).

In response to a question employees take responsibilities of the decisions made by them from 186 Respondents, 53 percent Respondents agreed and 44 percent Respondents strongly agreed that they were assigned job profiles and designations appropriately. Whereas, 2 percent Respondents disagreed that they were not clear about their job profiles and their designations and 1 percent Respondents remained neutral on this aspect (Chart IV. 13).

In response to a question there is a continuous effort to improve skills and competency of employees from 186 Respondents, 48 percent Respondents agreed and 42 percent Respondents strongly agreed that their organizations emphasized on improving employees competencies and skills. Whereas 9 percent Respondents disagreed that, their organization hardly emphasized on talent improvement and 1 percent Respondents remained neutral on this aspect (Chart IV. 14).

In response to a question employees efficiency is closely measured from 186 Respondents, 70 percent Respondents agreed and 19 percent Respondents strongly agreed that in their organizations their performances was monitored continuously. Whereas 11 percent Respondents disagreed that, their organizations hardly paid any attention to measure employees efficiency (Chart IV. 13).
182

In response to a question better performance is facilitated by rewarding employees from 186 Respondents, 58 percent Respondents agreed and 34 percent Respondents strongly agreed that in their organizations rewards were linked to performance of an employee. Whereas, 6 percent Respondents disagreed and 2 percent Respondents strongly disagreed that hardly any emphasis was made on reward based performance by their organizations (Chart IV. 13).

In response to a question recognition, rewards are as per merit and on long-term basis from 186 Respondents, 67 percent Respondents agreed and 16 percent Respondents strongly agreed that their organizations gave recognition and reward as per merit. Whereas 17 percent Respondents disagreed that, hardly their organizations considered merit as a basis to reward their employees (Chart IV. 13).

In response to a question all groups of the workforce are equally managed (age, gender, race, religion etc)from 186 Respondents, 69 percent Respondents agreed and 16 percent Respondents strongly agreed that in their organizations all different groups were managed well . Whereas, 15 percent Respondents disagreed that hardly their organizations paid attention towards managing diversity with respect to age, gender, race and religion (Chart IV. 13).

In response to a question processes like hiring, training have been outsourced from 186 Respondents, 53 percent Respondents agreed and 44 percent Respondents strongly agreed that their organizations had outsourced services. Whereas 3 percent Respondents disagreed that hardly any services were outsourced (Chart IV. 13).

183

Respondent responses were further corroborated with the observations. Banks viewed manpower planning as integration of strategic and operational plans to ensure future staffing needs. Public Sector Banks manpower planning focused mainly on the number of staff members and employees who would be required in the middle management. These manpower planning were mostly quantitative in nature and determined number of staff members that Banks would required to recruit for the next few years.

Banking Organizations are continuously reviewing their existing manpower requirements to manage changes in the market conditions and to keep inventory of skilled personnel to be utilized for the emerging job requirements. On the basis of revised requirements, Bank of Baroda and Punjab National Bank recognized the requirement of two Executive Directors to handle operations of Banks, as these two Banks were very large Banks. For the purpose of manpower planning Banks had taken help of technology. For instance, State Bank of India being one of the largest Bank in India has developed Human Resources Management System also known as SBI HRMS Portal, which helped in doing resource planning effectively and also reduced the cost factors related to manpower.

A decade back Banks faced a lot of Human Resource wastage due to the disparities between the demand and supply of manpower. Today Banks are making efforts to overcome these challenges by preparing details such as: surplus personnel existing in one unit; same skilled personnel again employed in another unit without any redeployment of surplus employee; and over employment resulting into assigning of work to workers below their abilities and capacities leading towards wastage. Mostly Private and Foreign Banks has well prepared Human Resource budget. As a result, their business per employees was higher as compared to Public Sector Banks.
184

Public Sector Banks recruited mostly staff, for which they advertised in the local and national newspapers and conducted written test, group interviews for selecting candidates. Banks are also fulfilling the requirements internally by reassignment, re-allocation of the responsibilities and even internal promotions for their internal candidates. Public Sector Banks like State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda, Allahabad Bank, UCO Bank and Canara Bank recruit employees at following levels: Clerks, Junior Management Grade Scale I, Middle Management Grade Scale II, Middle Management Grade Scale III, Senior Management Grade Scale IV and Top Executive Grade ScaleV. For these Banks, Banking Services Recruitment Board (BSRB) invite applications for various posts like - clerks, typist and agriculture clerks and many other for the respective regions.

Banks like ING Vysya Bank, Deutsche Bank, Barclays Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank identified and cultivated strategic talent pools from various resources like universities, management schools, and community forums. Business Head, Human Resource Head, or Chief Executive Officer approves recruitment activities in these Banks. Expenditures were budgeted and pre-approved by Business Unit Heads and Human Resource Heads. One of the Respondents from HDFC Bank mentioned that to end bulk recruitment they followed recruitment programmes in following ways: banking on internal network by using talent pool; and banking on external network by using job portal, direct sourcing, Bank website, placement agencies, job fairs, print media, and campus hiring. Innovative Human Resource recruitment processes aided by the latest technology backed all these programmes.

185

Banks constituted a huge number of job profiles, which has different responsibilities associated with them. Different job profiles existed were: customer service, front desk, cash handling, probationary officer, loan officer, personal loan officer, home loan officer, home loan agent, loan manager, loan processing officer, accountant, product marketing and sales executive, recovery officer, retail asset manager, property appraiser, customer service executive and many others. For instance, job profile of Loan Officer in Canara Bank includes checking the eligibility of the individuals seeking loans from the Bank. Evaluation of loan application and probability of loan repayment by customer verified. After this loan officer recommend or approve loan. HDFC Bank, Relationship Representatives promote different products and services offered by their Bank. Relationship Representatives were responsible for opening and closing accounts and keeping a record of all the financial transactions. Bank of America, Senior Operational Risk Specialist develops risk management tools, database and prepared appropriate risk metrics and reports. They were also required to lead process changes at individual unit level.

Skill up-gradation is an important area for Banks. SBI Bank has Strategic Training Unit (STU) focused on skill up gradation of employees in view of expansion, changing business environment, and competition. Employees had to attend a two-week training programme once in 18 to 24 months. This training unit also provided training programmes to other Public Sector Banks and some Foreign Banks on their request on cost-to-cost basis 11.

186

Union Bank of India has Staff College situated at Bangalore, and seven centers in various parts of the country. The staff college organized training programmes for various disciplines like International Banking, Credit, Information Technology, General Banking, Marketing, and Human Resource Development. Union Bank of India also conducted executive education programmes in association with ICFAI Business School, Hyderabad in the areas of software -project management, service edge - improving service quality etc. A new trend has emerged amongst Banking Organizations to groom candidates in specialist areas from the beginning for tomorrow. Canara Bank used interventions like SPANDAN for bringing attitudinal change among their front line staff, programme named PRATIBHA for grooming in-house talent in varied specialized areas and executive grooming through other reputed institutes also.

ICICI Bank conducted a Probationary Officer programme for graduate students to pursue their career in Banking through one year intensive residential classroom training and internship programme. This programme also helped Bank to develop specialists with Banking knowledge and skills in the areas like- corporate banking, private banking, risk and credit management, branch management, relationship management and these individuals were recruited as Assistant Manager. Training institutes established by Reserve Bank of India named Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT) provided facility of training to both Public and Private Sectors Banks in the areas such as networking technology, payment system, security technology, cyber crime, data warehousing and data mining, corporate intranet and electronic mail.

187

Chinatrust Commercial Bank provided training to their staff for supervisory roles in different fields. The supervisory skill training programme included people management, performance management, presentation and communication skills, and change

management. Finally, skill-building strategies are aimed to achieve following objectives: developing service orientation; focusing on the customers needs ; collaborating with the client ; awareness about customers satisfaction ; skills to seek information about the real underlying needs of the customers ; and development of skills to rapidly changing environment .

Indian Banks Association suggested re-naming Annual Confidential Reports as Annual Performance Assessment Reports and its contents to be shared with the officer concerned12. There also existed a provision in this report that if any employee does not agree with the appraisal grading then they are free to raise their comments against the final grading, but within a stipulated period of receiving the report. Mostly Banks carried appraisal processes once in a year. But, there also existed few Banks like ICICI Bank in which performance appraisal was carried out twice a year and on the other hand, HDFC Bank does it regularly with the help of Management Information System with which performance was calculated and monitored across the regions and branches. Centurion Bank of Punjab has online appraisal system used for conducting performance appraisals during the year.

188

The appraisal report constituted of appropriate list of objectives, which could clearly demonstrate the performance of an employee. For instance, State Bank of India appraisal form consisted of two parts. Part A consisted of details regarding employees duties and responsibilities, objectives to be achieved by employees in a stipulated period of time, employees capabilities in different areas required for the current role requirements (Scale: 1 to 3 poor, 4 to 6 satisfactory, 7 to 9 good, 10 excellent), and employee job aspirations; and Part B consisted of details listed by appraiser on appraises objectives achieved, appraises career direction options and wishes, and readiness for promotion. It also constituted of key responsibility areas considered such as: loan disbursement, bad loan recovery, fee-based income, and the number of new account added were used for evaluation of employee performance 13.

Private Sector and Foreign Sector Banks has given competition to Public Sector Banks as they offered much more attractive pay components. Public Sector Banks followed an industry-wide norm fixed by Indian Banks Association in consultation with Government of India, Ministry of Finance, New Delhi 14. Salaries offered by Private and Foreign Banks included a significant variable component linked to performance and this resulted into salary differential as high as 200 to 400 per cent. Government fixes the salaries for Public Sector Bank chiefs. Private Banks needed a clearance from Reserve Bank of India for remuneration to their top executives, but there existed no cap on it.

189

The compensation packages and bonuses of Chief Executive Officers, of Private and Foreign Banks were too high. For instance, Chanda Kochhar, Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer of ICICI Bank was offered salary between Rs. 84 lakh and Rs. 1.62 crore annually; Aditya Puri, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of HDFC Bank received basic pay ranging between Rs. 1.08-1.32 crore; Shikha Sharma, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Axis Bank, was offered a basic pay of Rs. 1.25 crore 15. In contrast to Chief Executive Officers of Public Sector Banks like State Bank of India Chief O.P Bhatt was paid salary of Rs. 26.51 lakh. Recently during the period of recession, Reserve Bank of India had proposed to limit the annual salary hikes of Chief Executive Officers or whole time directors of Private Banks to 10-15 percent as the fact that higher salaries and bonuses of bankers was blamed for the 2008 global financial meltdown.

Apart from remunerations, promotion policies are also essential for employees motivation. Promotions in Private Sector Banks were performance based and the pace of employees advancing in these organizations was faster as compared to Public Sector Banks
16

However, even Public Sector Banks like Union Bank of India, Mumbai based branch decided to put in place a fast track promotion policy up to the rank of Assistant General Manager (AGM) to ensure that senior executives had a sufficient tenure with the Bank. For instance, newly recruited officers used to become Assistant General Manager in 20 years, but with the help of fast track promotions employees could become Assistant General Manager within 11 years. These fast track promotion processes also acted as an inducement for retaining talent 17.

190

Banks had adopted policy measures to achieve greater participation from women employees. Women had taken employment in Banks on a priority basis as these organizations had gender sensitive work culture and relatively unrestricted environment with flexible timings. For instance, following Banks showed impressive malefemale ratios employed in their organizations: HSBC Bank male-female gender ratio was 64.5:35.5 in India out of which 50 percent of the top managers were women. HSBC Bank has also set up a task force of 100 employees consisting largely of women business heads, to pursue gender diversity 18; ICICI Bank has 70:30 male-female ratios; Axis Bank claimed that in metro branches, there ratio was even higher at 40 percent; Standard Chartered Bank male-female ratio of employees in India was 69:31. Private and Foreign Banks were ahead of Public Sector Banks with a healthy ratio of 30 percent
19

. On the other hand Public

Sector Banks provided job reservations to scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, other backward classes, disabled persons, and ex-defence and para-military personnel.

Banking Industry had experienced the need of infusion of some developmental services from outside to augment the internal knowledge capacities. Banks had adopted outsourcing strategies due to the following reasons- it helps in cost reduction through process improvement and control; it helps Banks to concentrate on its core business areas instead of back office operations; it helps to make services flexible to meet the changing customers requirements. For instance, IndusInd Bank has entered into an infrastructureon-demand agreement with IBM India, which included building an Information Technology infrastructure, implementing server consolidation, and setting up disaster recovery systems. This partnership also supported Banks goal to become totally customercentric by providing more secure, responsive, and efficient services. It also allowed Bank to scale up the operations and pursue aggressive growth plans as well.
191

CHART IV. 14 HUMAN RESOURCE STRATEGIES IN BANKS

Strongly Agree Agree 4% 0% 0% 16% Cost Controlling of Manpower 0% 0% 0% 0% 10% Deployment 0% 0% 1% 2% 0% 1% 0% 0% 0% 0% 6% 2% 16% Promotion Policies 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 3% 0% 17% 16% Managing Workforce Diversity 15% 44% Outsourcing 53% 69% 17% 44% Job Profile and Designation 53% 13% 21% Talent Acquisition 17% 73% 62% Neutral Disagree Strongly Disagree

Manpower Planning

65% 31% 72%

Skill up-gradation

42% 48% 9% 19% 70%

Appraisal of Emplyoees

11% 34% 58%

Compensation Realignment

67%

192

Customer retention was emphasized repeatedly to employees, because without customers an organization would not have any revenues, profits, and consequently no market value. Customer orientation among employees needs to be included as it helps to build customeroriented attitude of employees. Thus, organizations must emphasize to consider their customers as valuable. Employees learning how to build customer relationship help employees to select the right kind of customer. As it could not, be desirable or even possible to create relationship with all customers. To learn to build relationship with customers employees need to accurately identify changing customer needs and develop new complex products to satisfy their needs and to provide higher levels of customer services. Thus, product innovation has emerged as a significant feature to meet needs of customers.

A greater use of Human Resource Practices was associated with the higher level of productivity and excellent services. Quality services in Banks referred to as right service at the first time. Apart from quality services, Banking Organizations need to provide convenient services to their customers. Thus, organizations services procedures needed to be as per customers handiness. Ultimately, all these strategies helped to achieve customer satisfaction. To get insight on customer relationship strategies Respondents were questioned on these.

In response to a question each customer is considered valuable from 186 Respondents, 65 percent Respondents agreed and 26 percent Respondents strongly agreed that they considered each customer as valuable and paid attention towards relationship building. Whereas 9 percent Respondents disagreed that, their organizations were not vigilant on customer relationship building (Chart IV. 14).
193

In response to a question customers need gaps are closed by continuous new product development from 186 Respondents, 55 percent Respondents strongly agreed and 44 percent Respondents agreed that their organizations developed products as per customers needs .Whereas 1 percent Respondents disagree that hardly any new product developments took place in their organization (Chart IV. 14).

In response to a question customer-service procedures have changed in the past from 186 Respondents, 58 percent Respondents agreed and 35 percent Respondents strongly agreed that their organizations emphasized towards good services for customers. Whereas, 4 percent Respondents disagreed that no emphasis was given towards quality of services to be provided to the customers (Chart IV. 14).

In response to a question your organization emphasize on providing a good service to customers from 186 Respondents, 73 percent Respondents agreed and 9 percent Respondents strongly agreed that their organizations developed handy service processes. Whereas 11 percent Respondents disagreed and 5 percent Respondents strongly disagreed that their organizations hardly emphasized on convenient services to be provided to their customers and 1 percent Respondents remained neutral on this aspect (Chart IV. 14).

Respondent responses were further corroborated by the following observations. Banking organizations needed to develop new products so as to fulfil the customers need gap. For instance, SBI Bank conducted programme in 2007, named Parivartan for all levels of employees to change their mind set and to improve their communication skills.

194

In 2009, Bank launched another programme; Citizen SBI aimed at attitudinal change and transformation of their employees, through a series of Human Resources activities. Union Bank of India conducted Customer Day in all their branches on 15th of every month where employees interacted with customers. Customer empowerment through customer education was the key tool adopted by Banks. Towards this end, Bank had come out with a Citizens Charter in September 1997. Citizens Charter encompassed most of the Bank operations. This has been prepared to promote fair Banking practices and to give information with respect to various activities, related to customer services.

Union Bank of India, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and many other Banks have provided call centre services to their customers. In these call centres, customers could record complaints and deficiencies in the services provided to them by Bank. Banks had also enabled online grievance redressal mechanism whereby grievances could be lodged online for speedy redressal of any complaint. In addition to these Banking Codes and Standard Board of India (BCSBI) had set minimum standards to be practised by Banks while dealing with individual customers. These standards provided protection to customers and explained to Banks how to deal with customers for their day-to-day operations. Banks provided clear information about their products and services and details about the terms and conditions like interest rates or any service charges. In order to make exchange of information easier Banks provided information to their customers in Hindi, English or other appropriate local language.

195

The customer-oriented strategies helped Banks to retain customers and improve quality of services. Banks benefited as increased investment in technology to handle complaints of customers was prompt. Customer-oriented strategies also benefited customers by moving customers to lower cost automated channels, such as Automated Teller Machines and online Banking to make services convenient for customers. CHART IV. 14 CUSTOMER RETENTION STRATEGIES BY BANKS
Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

73%

65%
55% 44% 35% 26% 58%

9% 0% 0% 0%1%0%
Product Innovation

8% 0% 0%

11% 5% 1%

9%

Customer Relationship

Service Quality

Convenient Services

196

Cross-cultural Differences Influencing Human Resource Strategy Formulation and Implementation

Management of cultural diversity needs to be included in the Human Resource Strategy enabling the effective management of workforce differences created due to demographical changes. Human Resource Strategies must be aligned with the cultural differences because organizations cannot treat their workforce as a homogeneous workforce. Thus, Human Resource Strategies formulated should have inclination towards the cross-cultural differences existing in their organization.

In response to a question while formulating Human Resource Strategies, are cultural differences between headquarters and branches considered from 186 Respondents, 56 Respondents agreed and 15 percent Respondents strongly agreed that cultural differences were included in the Human Resource Strategies. Whereas 20 percent Respondents disagreed and 2 percent Respondents strongly disagreed that hardly any cultural differences were included in the Human Resource Strategies, and 6 percent Respondents remained neutral on this aspect (Chart IV. 15). Even during various seminars and summits Human Resource practitioners and key Banking, personnels has mentioned that organizations need to take seriously into account the cultural differences.

197

CHART IV. 15 HR STRATEGY CONSIDER CULTURAL DIFFERENCES Human Resource Strategies

60%

56%

50%
40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

20%
2% 6%

15%

Cross-culture means multiculturalism referring to the presence of many different cultural backgrounds within an organization. Understanding cross-cultural differences helps an organization to deal with people who differ dramatically in terms of ethnicity, race, gender, physical ability and sexual orientations. The management of cultural diversity has become a significant issue for Banking Industry due to workforce diversity. Following six cultural differences, factors were identified that would play an important role in the formulation of Human Resource Strategies with respect to cultural differences. First, an appropriate organization building up starts from acceptances of different opinions of employees liberally. It also reflects that how organizations viewed and valued their employees
20

Second, is time orientation refers to the different attitudes towards time (past, present and future), reflected by the notions that how employees prioritized their task. It also reflects how employees co-ordinated, planned and organised. Time orientation framed would decide for employees, in which sequence the task in the organization has to be completed. Thus, organizational and individual time orientation needs to be matched for better
198

performance. Third, control process refers to how people to be treated 21. It is essential that organizations approach of controlling their employees must be acceptable to their employees, according to their cultural backgrounds. Fourth, formality refers to how the exchange of information took place. Fifth, there should be both upward and downward communication with the use of appropriate communication channels in the organization. Sixth, differences existing among workforce with respect to identity. This refers to whether employees identified themselves with their organizations
22

. Signifying that in

organization individual must view themselves with organizations. To get insight on crosscultural aspects Respondents were questioned on these.

In response to a question differences in opinions are accepted liberally among employees from 186 Respondents, 77 percent Respondents agreed and 9 percent Respondents strongly agreed that their opinions were accepted liberally in their organizations. Whereas, 13 percent Respondents disagreed that hardly any attention was paid towards employees opinions and 1 percent remained neutral on this aspect (Chart IV. 16).

In response to a question completing an assigned task timely is considered as a significant measure in your organization from 186 Respondents, 48 percent Respondents agreed and 41 percent Respondents strongly agreed that they completed their tasks within the stipulated time period assigned to them. Whereas 11 percent Respondents disagreed that, hardly any importance was given towards completion of task on time by their organizations (Chart IV. 16).

199

In response to a question your organization have a well defined structure for decisionmaking from 186 Respondents, 81 percent Respondents agreed and 8 percent strongly agreed that the way they were controlled in their organization was acceptable to them. Whereas, 9 percent Respondents disagreed that they did not liked the way employees were commanded and 2 percent Respondents remained neutral on this aspect (Chart IV. 16).

In response to a question managers and co-workers provide mutual support from 186 Respondents, 53 percent Respondents agreed that information flow in their organization was irrespective of hierarchy levels. Whereas, 45 percent Respondents disagreed and 2 percent Respondents strongly disagreed that communication flow was strictly within the hierarchy levels (Chart IV. 16).

In response to a question your organization allow open communication to employees from 186 Respondents, 63 percent Respondents agreed and 18 percent Respondents strongly agreed that they could communicate openly. Whereas, 15 percent Respondents disagreed and 2 percent strongly disagreed that they were hardly allowed to express freely and 1 percent Respondents remained neutral (Chart IV. 16).

In response to a question there exist shared purpose among employees from 186 Respondents, 77 percent Respondents agreed and 10 percent Respondents strongly agreed that they identified themselves with their organizations. Whereas, 11 percent Respondents disagreed that they did not viewed themselves associated with the organization and 2 percent Respondents remained neutral on this aspect (Chart IV. 16).

200

Respondent responses were further corroborated by the following observations: Organization and individuals time orientation needed to be matched for better performance. Time emphasis might differ from Public Sector to Private Sector to Foreign Sector Banks. Even in few advertisements Banks had shown emphasis on time for their organizations. It was recognized that top leadership of organizations clearly determined the time orientation for the organization as a whole, so that the decision-making and assigned tasks completion move in consistent manner within organization. Another difference, which gave rise to conflict, was the ways in which employees were controlled. Mostly in Private and Foreign Sector Banks and in few Public Sector Banks, Bank Managers were visible to their employees, for example by walking and gathering information. However, managers who commanded too obviously or involved themselves in the work details of employees might de-motivate employees who take pride and honour in their work.

In Bank branches, employees used English language for business purpose, but not all employees could speak English fluently. Thus, in order to avoid miscommunication, employees communicated in Hindi or even in their local languages in their offices, this was specifically observed in Public Sector Banks and in few Private Sector Banks. Free ways of communication allowed by these Banks suggested that Banking Organizations have a moderate way for commanding employees. Other method of communication in Banking Industry existed were HumanComputer Interaction (HCI) culture. Banks practised computer mediated communication processes. Almost all Public, Private and Foreign Banks has adopted e-mail as major source of communication between employees.

201

Heads at HSBC India, communicate with their employees through blogs and town hall meetings and talked about business performances face-to-face with employees. Human Resource Strategies in which cultural differences were considered were: recruitment process; training and development; and compensation packages etc. Banks emphasise on alignment of Human Resource Strategy with cultural differences specifically during mergers and acquisition of Banks. CHART IV. 16 CROSS CULTURAL DIFFERENCES VARIABLES IN BANKS Strongly Agree Agree 10%
Identity

Neutral

Disagree

Strongly Disagree

2% 0% 0% 0% 2%

77%

11% 53% 45% 18%

Formality

Communication

1% 2%

63%

15% 81%

8%
Control

2% 0% 0% 0% 1% 0%

9% 41% 48% 11% 9% 77%

Time Orientation

Opinion of Emplyoees

13%

202

Strategy Implementation and Organizational Culture

The major challenge for organizations existed with respect to the implementation rather than generation of strategies. Strategy implementation involves the integration, assimilation of both individual goals and organizational goals. For implementation, individuals must be willing to work toward goals that not only allowed them to meet their own needs but, in doing so, organizational objectives were also achieved.

In response to a question there exists well integrated strategies within the organization from 186 Respondents, 80 percent Respondents agreed and 8 percent Respondents strongly agreed that their individual needs and organizational requirements were well integrated. Whereas, 9 percent disagreed that hardly any emphasis was made on integration of individual and organizational needs and 3 percent Respondents remained neutral on this aspect (Chart IV. 17).

Banks need to implement various Human Resource Strategies such as: acquiring talent which could identify key growth opportunities and design strategy and business plans for growth areas; developing strategy for enhancing performance in key products and enhancement of credit and risk management processes; developing strategies for people during merger and post merger better organizations integration; and evolving strategies to design a sales force for retail customers.

203

CHART IV. 17 STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION IN BANKS Integration

90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%

80%

9% 0%
Strongly Disagree Disagree

3%
Neutral Agree

8%
Strongly Agree

Organization culture is acquired with the period and passed on to new employees through the process of socialization and this influence the behaviour of employee. In turn, organization culture influences a host of practices, policies, and procedure implementation. Thus, for appropriate strategy implementation suitable organization culture needs to be embedded. For the purpose of the Study, following key components needed to be considered as part of organization culture for better strategy implementation such as: cultural differences, employee empowerment, accountability, innovation, mentoring, and equal opportunity practices.

Cultural differences resulted into differences among employee behaviour. Cultural differences needed to be managed for embedding organization culture. Various differences like dress and appearance, language, values and norms, relationships and work habits would exist in organizations but managers need to manage them.

204

Employees perception, expectation, and behaviour likely to be different and because of this, employees approach towards resolving and applying solutions are different. Thus, organizations emphasize on employee empowerment
23

. In order to avoid situations of

conflicts employees must know duties they have to perform and about decisions related to productivity, quality, and profit, they were responsible, so as to make employees accountable. For better strategy implementation, organization culture must be innovative. Employees need to be supported to remain innovative in order to promote them new ideas. For this reason, the embedding of organization culture through mentoring considered as an effective way to support implementation of strategies by fully integrating and transferring skill and knowledge. The mentor-protege relationships at workplaces speed up the rate of learning more easily as compared to the mere advices obtained from supervisors periodically and trial-and-error learning processes carried out routinely. Mentoring develops feeling of oneness by promoting acceptance towards organizational values. Organizations, which provided mentoring to their employees, were considered more relationship oriented. Apart from these organizations needed to practice equal opportunity for their employees.

In response to a question there are cultural differences between headquarters and branches from 186 Respondents, 55 percent Respondents agreed and 12 percent Respondents strongly agreed that in their organization cultural differences existed across branches and headquarters .Whereas 27 percent Respondents disagreed and 2 percent Respondents strongly disagreed that hardly any cultural differences existed in their organization and 4 percent Respondents remained neutral on this aspect (Chart IV. 18).

205

In response to a question, employee viewpoints influence organizational culture from 186 Respondents, 67 percent Respondents agreed and 4 percent Respondents strongly agreed that their viewpoints were considered. Whereas 27 percent Respondents disagreed that employees viewpoints were not considered and 2 percent Respondents remained neutral (Chart IV. 18).

In response to a question every employee is accountable for their decisions and actions from 186 Respondents, 53 percent Respondents agreed and 44 percent Respondents strongly agreed that in their organizations employees were accountable for the decisions made by them. Whereas, 2 percent Respondents disagreed and 2 percent Respondents remained neutral on this aspect (Chart IV. 18).

In response to a question new business ideas are well accepted from 186 Respondents, 66 percent Respondents agreed and 11 percent Respondents strongly agreed that in their organizations they were promoted to give new ideas .Whereas, 22 percent Respondents disagreed that innovation was not promoted (Chart IV. 18).

In response to a question your organization invests in coaching and mentoring of employees from 186 Respondents, 63 percent Respondents agreed and 29 percent Respondents strongly agreed that in their organizations mentoring existed. Whereas, 6 percent Respondents disagreed that hardly they were provided with mentors at the workplace and 1 percent Respondents remained neutral on this aspect (Chart IV. 18).

206

In response to a question employees are given equal opportunities from 186 Respondents, 67 percent Respondents agreed and 16 percent Respondents strongly agreed that they were provided with equal opportunities .Whereas, 17 percent Respondents disagreed that their organization did not practised equal opportunities practice (Chart IV. 18).

Recently, HDFC acquired Centurion Bank and their Human Resource Head tried to assimilate the cultures of two organizations together in which employees perspective played a major role emphasizing that organization culture should not be a left out aspect 24. Making employees accountable for their decisions helped in strategy implementation in an easier way and avoided conflicts between managers and employees. Most of the Banks provided training to their employees on the responsibilities they have to handle and each employee adhered to his areas of duties assigned to him.

Banking Industry has slowly agreed on the power of openness and innovation, of not just product and service but also of processes, to exploit opportunities and to manage the risks of globalization. Banks take skill advantage of their employees to promote innovation to achieve and to sustain. It has been observed that those Banks, which supported innovation for introduction of a new product, opening of a new markets for their products and services, implementation of new processes and new organization structure has performed better.

Few Private and Foreign Banks provided mentors to their new employees to help them navigate the organization and familiarize themselves with history, values, practices, and policies. Banks are also using mentoring to foster culture of learning organization towards better implementation of strategies.
207

Banks recognized that workforce with the composition of the local communities and transferring power and responsibilities to these employees helped to understand and respond to the needs of their customers locally even better. Hence, every Banks top management tried to ensure no discrimination on grounds of age, gender, colour, race, ethnicity, language, caste, creed, economic or social status or disability.

Almost all Bank have specified codes of conduct in order to avoid conflicts with employees : related to information on trade secrets, customer information, employee related information, strategies, research in connection with the Bank, legal, and technical data to be kept as confidential information and used for Banks business purposes only; regarding employees to proceed on deputation to other branches at short notice; Bank may at its discretion fix business hours at all branches/offices depending upon its business needs and requirements; Bank may at its discretion utilize the services of their staff . CHART IV. 18 CULTURAL VARIABLE INFLUENCING IMPLEMENTATION OF HR STRATEGY
Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

67% 55% 53% 44% 27% 12% 2% 4% 4% 2% 0% 2% 0% 1% 27%

66%

63%

67%

29%

22%
17% 16% 11% 0% 1% 7% 0% 1%
Mentoring

0% 0%
Equal Opportunity Practices

Cultural Emplyoee Accountability Innovation Differences Empowerment

208

Human Resource Strategy and Business Ethics

Formulation of corporate strategy should be dependent upon social strategy, which represents a set of social values. These values could best be tabulated through appropriate Human Resource Strategy in which such values may represent ethical behaviour of the organization towards its employees. In this way, a relationship between Human Resource Strategy and Business Ethics could be understood. To measure Human Resource Strategy with respect to Business Ethics it was measured by knowing Human Resource Strategies were trustworthy or not?

In response to a question your organization is trusted by employees and customers from 186 Respondents, 49 percent Respondents agreed and 42 percent Respondents strongly agreed that employees and customers had trusted organizational practices. Whereas, 6 percent Respondents disagreed that hardly they trusted organizational practices and 2 percent Respondents remained neutral on this aspect (Chart IV. 19). CHART IV. 19 HR STRATEGIES TRUSTWORTHINESS IN BANKS Trustworthiness
60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree

49%

42%

6% 0%

2%

209

For the purpose of the Study some ethical considerations has been taken in the research process such as: true information sharing for organizations was essential to build trust in its practices. Deceptions about organization conditions would result into lower value for the organization; consistency in saying and doing helps to build importance for policies and procedures; equality at work with relation to men and women and caste system to be practised by organization in order to be ethical; respect of employees acts as a hallmark of a modern and productive organizations, which means respect for the social and cultural backgrounds of all employees; privacy of employees, it means protecting, employees private life from intrusive actions
25

; employees volunteering help to build strong

relationship between individual and organization working towards the same objectives; and social responsibility of organization referred to their concern for various stakeholders.

In response to a question your organization allow sharing of factual information from 186 Respondents, 58 percent Respondents agreed and 38 percent Respondents strongly agreed that records and information communicated to employees was reliable. Whereas, 3 percent Respondents disagreed that information communicated was not true and 1 percent Respondents remained neutral on this aspect (Chart IV. 20).

In response to a question there is freedom from discrimination in your organization from 186 Respondents, 66 percent Respondents agreed and 28 percent Respondents strongly agreed that their organization practised equality. Whereas, 4 percent Respondents disagreed that hardly their organization practised equality and 2 percent Respondents remained neutral on this aspect (Chart IV. 20).

210

In response to a question employees are treated respectfully from 186 Respondents, 69 percent Respondents agreed and 18 percent Respondents strongly agreed that they were treated respectfully at workplace. Whereas 11 percent Respondents disagreed that in their organization employees were not treated courteously and 2 percent Respondents remained neutral on this aspect (Chart IV. 20).

In response to a question there exists consistency between saying and doing in your organization from 186 Respondents, 54 percent Respondents strongly agreed and 40 percent Respondents agreed that in their organizations consistency between saying and doing existed . Whereas 6 percent Respondents disagreed that, hardly any consistency existed in the practices (Chart IV. 20).

In response to a question employees are scrutinized against parameters other than their performance from 186 Respondents, 47 percent Respondents agreed and 19 percent Respondents strongly agreed that they were scrutinized on the parameters that they were informed already .Whereas 26 percent Respondents disagree that hardly their organization was concerned about the matters related to employee privacy and 8 percent Respondents remained neutral (Chart IV. 20).

In response to a question employees initiate and actively participate in social causes from 186 Respondents, 58 percent Respondents agreed and 27 percent Respondents strongly agreed that they took initiatives actively and contributing for various causes. Whereas, 13 percent Respondents disagreed that hardly they need to volunteer for any causes as it was not asked by their organization and 2 percent Respondents remained neutral on this aspect ( Chart IV. 20).
211

In response to a question your organization undertake social responsibility from 186 Respondents, 63 percent Respondents strongly agreed and 18 percent Respondents strongly agreed that their organizations took up social responsibility causes (Chart IV. 20).

Banks ensured and promoted for societal causes. For instance, HSBC Banks programme named Catalyst and HDFC Bank programme named Corporate Volunteering Program encouraged their employees to volunteer time and skills for causes like to celebrate festivals with the underprivileged or employees seeking donations for various natural disasters. Banks also conduct programmes to support community initiatives such as: educational sponsorships for girls, adoption of state-run schools, running of academic support classes, reading classes, providing skills training to school dropouts, youth, women and other disadvantaged groups. Punjab National Bank organized free medical, eye and general check-up camps, camps to distribute artificial limbs, blood donation camps. Punjab National Bank has taken keen interest in nurturing sports towards this end, PNB Hockey Academy was established which provided training to young players who represented country at various national and international level hockey tournaments. Hence, employees must be motivated to participate in these programmes, which could be fruitful for the society.

Human Resource professionals of various Banks have taken following steps to overcome the dilemmas in relation to ethical practices like providing written standards of workplace conduct to employees, orientation or training on ethical workplace conduct, and details about the disciplinary action associated with ethical violations.

212

CHART IV. 20 BUSINESS ETHICS IN BANKS

Strongly Agree Agree Neutral Disagree 37% Strongly Disagree 63%

Social Responsibility

0% 0% 0%
27%

Employees Volunteering

2% 0%

58%

13% 19%

Privacy 0% Consistency in Saying and Doing

8%

47% 26% 54%

0% 0%

40% 6% 18%

Respect of employees

2% 0%

69%

11% 28%

Equality

2% 4% 0% 38% 58%

66%

True Information Shared

1% 3% 0%

On the basis of Data Analysis, this part of the Chapter discussed the effectiveness of Human Resource Practices in Sample Banking Organizations. Further, in the next part, additional statistical analysis is undertaken for further enhancing the understanding of the research objectives.

213

Hypothesis Testing

The data is tested statistically to determine whether a research hypothesis should be accepted or not. The approach to analysis is sequential, ranging from bivariate analysis (2 variables) to multivariate analysis (more than 2 variables).

Bivariate Analysis:

Cross-tab with Chi square: Our research problem requires us to compare variables with each other hence; we have represented our collected data into a cross-tab. A cross tab is also called contingency table or a pivot. The most critical objective while testing a hypothesis was to identify relationships between variables, as our ultimate aim was to describe how the values of one variable vary according to the values of another variable. A key challenge in doing this was collecting data from a Sample whereas the inferences that we wanted to draw were for a larger population. In addition, there could be other random factors causing diffusion in results. Through Chi-square analysis, we could control this diffusion i.e., if the differences between our model and reality were small, our understanding was good. Further, a significant value of Chi-square does not indicate that there is necessarily a strong relationship in the population, it just indicates that there is some relationship i.e., different from what would be expected based on chance alone. Hence, Chi-square confirms that theres an association, but does not signify causality.

214

Pearson Correlation: Correlation is a measure of the relation between two or more variables. Correlation coefficients range from -1.00 to +1.00. The value of -1.00 represents a perfect negative correlation while a value of +1.00 represents a perfect positive correlation. A value of 0.00 represents a lack of correlation. Correlation helps in ascertaining a predictive relationship between two variables hence, causality could be determined through correlation.

Multivariate Analysis:

Prediction Model using Regression: If a hypothesis gets proved, we attempted a model using Regression analysis. The R-square value signifies the variation in dependent variables as explained by the combination of optimum independent variables.

Research Hypothesis 1: Banking Organizations are Responsive to Change.

Step a: Stating null hypothesis H0: There is no relationship between change and Banking Organizations response to it.

Step b: Decomposing the independent variable The null hypothesis states that there exists no relationship between change and Banking Organizations response to it. The Banks response is the dependent variable in this relationship as it is the outcome. Banks responsiveness was measured by values that were captured as adaptability.
215

Change is a complex phenomenon, hence to capture all perspectives it has been decomposed into following three variables: change in product portfolio; process changes in Banks; and organizations response to customer needs.

Step c: Hypothesis testing Cross-tab with Chi-square test was applied to find association between the variables. The output (Table IV. 1) showed that there exists a significant association between adaptability (dependent variable) and change (independent variable). The Chi-square test reads a significance level of less than < 0.1. This can be interpreted that we are 90 percent confident that the interval contains the true population mean. We can also say that 90 percent of all confidence intervals formed in this manner (from different samples of the population) will include the true population mean (Table IV. 2).

0.1 is the error or mistake that may happen by chance. Since the value of probability was less than 0.1 for all three independent variables, we may conclude that there has been an association between adaptability and change. Hence, we rejected the null hypothesis H0: There is no relationship between change and Banking Organizations response to it.

216

TABLE IV. 1 CROSSTAB BETWEEN CHANGE AND BANKS ADAPTABILITY Adaptability Disagree Disagree Change in Product Portfolio Agree Strongly Agree Total Process Changes in Banks Agree Strongly Agree Total Disagree Organizations Response to Customer Needs Agree Strongly Agree Total 6 7 3 16 16 0 16 3 12 1 16 Neutral 0 3 0 3 3 0 3 0 0 3 3 Agree 0 65 24 89 84 5 89 0 46 43 89 Strongly Agree 0 21 57 78 5 73 78 0 1 77 78 Total

6 96 84 186 108 78 186 3 59 124 186

TABLE IV. 2 CHI-SQUARE VALUES FOR CHANGE Value Change in Product Portfolio Process Changes in Banks Organizations Response to Customer Needs Pearson Chisquare 102.017 147.402 106.237 Df 6 3 6 Asymp. Sig. (2-sided) 0.000 0.000 0.000

217

Step d: Correlation analysis Chi-square test cannot determine the causality. Hence, correlation analysis was employed to determine cause and effect relationship. For one-to-one correlation all values in the correlation table were standardized ranging from -1 to+1, all variables were highly correlated (Table IV. 3). There existed positive significant correlation between adaptability with change in product portfolio(0.561), process changes in banks(0.703) and organizations responding to customer needs(0.624). This means that the chosen three variables were fairly independent of each other and were strongly correlated with Banks adaptability to change. This supports our Research Hypothesis that Banking Organizations are responsive to change. Therefore, from the overall results we could conclude that Banks are responsive towards changes in product, process, and customer preferences. TABLE IV. 3 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CHANGE AND BANKS ADAPTABILITY Adaptability Pearson Correlation Adaptability Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Change in Product Portfolio Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Process Changes in Banks Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Organizations Response to Customer Needs Sig. (2-tailed) 186 0.561** 0.000 186 0.703** 0.000 186 0.624** 0.000 1

N 186 ** Correlation significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

218

Step e: Developing a model To determine the quantum by which the independent variables, optimally predicted an organizations response towards change, multiple regression analysis was used. R-square value for the model was 0.648 this was the amount of variance in the predicted variable that was explained by independent variables: change in product portfolio, process changes in banks and organizations responding to customer needs.

Following model derived (Table IV. 4). Adaptability = -1.072 + 0.372(change in product portfolio) + 0.662 (process changes in banks) + 0.518(organizations responding to customer needs)

Hence, adaptability is predicted to: increase 0.372 when the change in product portfolio goes up by one; increase by 0.662 when process changes in banks goes up by one; increase by 0.518 when organizations responding to customer needs goes up by one ;and be -1.072 when all three independent variables are zero.

As is evident from the model that process changes in banks has the most effect on the dependent variable adaptability. Followed by organizations responding to customer needs and change in product portfolio

219

TABLE IV. 4 BACKWARD REGRESSION ANALYSIS FOR ADAPTABILITY Unstandardized Coefficients B (Constant) Change in Product Portfolio Process Changes in Banks Organizations Response to Customer Needs -1.072 0.372 0.662 0.518 Std. Error 0.132 0.065 0.098 0.077 0.286 0.384 0.349 Standardized Coefficients Beta -8.106 5.714 6.764 6.755 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000

Model

Sig.

The above Model through regression analysis has helped in explicating the Research Hypothesis. We now have a quantitative model for the relationship between adaptability and change. This model could be used to optimize this relationship. Thus, this confirms that Banking Organizations are responsive to change. Even during the interaction with Bank employees, they specified that Banks had changed the process for application of a personnel loan into an easy and simple procedure. Personnel loan process constituted mainly three things: producing of proper documents; filling up of application form; and paying for the initial down payment. They also specified that this process might fail if customers were asked to produce many documents along with the forms some of which may not be necessary at all.

220

Thus, it is necessary that customers should be asked for the minimum but most necessary documents instead of unnecessary documents. In case of application form, the application form must be in a language, easily understood by the customers and it should not be very lengthy eliciting a lot of unnecessary information. Thus, considering these aspects Banks changed their processes to make Bank processes simpler and also modified their products according to their customers preferences.

The above empirical findings were further supported by findings of the Researchers like Shanmugam and Das
26

; and Prasad and Ghosh 27, who pointed towards improvement in

the performances of the Banking Sector due to its adaptability towards changes. Avermatete, Viaene, Morgan, and Crawford
28

stressed on the importance of change in

products and processes of the organization in order to move the organization to exploit new markets. Leeladhar 29 supported that Indian Banks had adapted to the changes, specifically changes in the Banks processes like using of electronic transmission of payments and development of relationship-oriented products like small loans. Finally, Singh and Kumar30; and Verma, and Chaudhuri 31 in their studies mentioned that due to the existence of competitive landscape in Banking Sector most of the Public Sector Banks were in the process of adopting strategies, which could provide them competitive edge. Thus, this finally proves Research Hypothesis that Banking Organizations are responsive towards changes.

221

Research Hypothesis 2: The Nature of Change in Banking Organization is Strategic.

Step a: Stating null hypothesis H0: The nature of change in Banking Organization is not strategic

Step b: Decomposing the independent variable The null hypothesis states that the nature of change in Banking Organization is not strategic. To be strategic is the dependent variable in this relationship as it is the outcome. This was measured by values that were captured as predictability. Nature of change is a complex phenomenon, hence to better capture all perspectives it has been decomposed into following four variables: significance of change; change as continuing process; change management; and change implementation.

Step c: Hypothesis testing Cross-tab with Chi-square test was applied to find association between the two variables. The output (Table IV. 5) showed that there existed a significant association between predictability (dependent variable) and nature of change (independent variable). The Chi-square test reads a significance level of less than < 0.1. This can be interpreted, that we are 90 percent confident that the interval contains the true population mean. We can also say that 90 percent of all confidence intervals formed in this manner (from different samples of the population) will include the true population mean. (Table IV. 6).

222

0.1 is the error or mistake that may happen by chance. Since the value of probability was less than 0.1 for all four independent variables, we may conclude that there has been an association between being strategic and nature of change. Hence, we rejected the null hypothesis H0: The nature of change in Banking Organization is not strategic. TABLE IV. 5 CROSSTAB BETWEEN NATURE OF CHANGE AND PREDICTABILITY Predictability Agree Agree Significance of Change Strongly Agree Total Agree Change as a Process Strongly Agree Total Change Management Agree Strongly Agree Total Disagree Change as Continuous Agree Strongly Agree Total 15 138 93 45 138 13 125 0 138 34 48 0 48 48 2 17 29 48 49 186 93 93 186 15 142 29 186 7 138 123 45 48 14 52 186 137 131 Strongly Agree 3 134 Total

223

TABLE IV. 6 CHI-SQUARE VALUES FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF CHANGE IN BANKS Value Significance of Change Change as a Process Change Management Change as Continuous Pearson Chisquare 139.044 65.992 64.696 98.789 df 1 1 1 2 Asymp. Sig. (2-sided) 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000

Step d: Correlation analysis Chi-square cannot determine the causality. Hence, correlation analysis was employed to determine cause and effect relationship. For one-to-one correlation all values in the correlation table were standardized ranging from -1 to +1, all variables were highly correlated (Table IV. 7). There existed positive significant correlation between predictability with significance of change (0.865), change as a process (0.596), change management (0.590) and change as continuous (0.449). This means that the chosen four variables were fairly independent of each other and were strongly correlated with Banks predictability of change. This supports our Research Hypothesis that Banking Organizations nature of change is strategic. Therefore, from the overall results we could conclude that significance of change, change as a process, change management and change as continuous lead to Banking Organization being strategic.

224

TABLE IV. 7 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN NATURE OF CHANGE AND PREDICTABILITY Predictability Pearson Correlation Predictability Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Significance of Change Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Change as a Process Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Change Management Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Change as Continuous Sig. (2-tailed) N 186 0.865** 0.000 186 0.596** 0.000 186 0.590** 0.000 186 0.449** 0.000 186 1

** Correlation significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). * Correlation significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

225

Step e: Developing a model To determine the quantum by which the independent variables, optimally predicted nature of change, multiple regression analysis was used. R-square value for the model was 0.793 this was the amount of variance in the predicted variable thats being explained by independent variables: significance of change, change as a processes, change management and change as continuous.

Following model depicted (Table IV. 8). Predictability = 0.046(constant) + 0.704 (significance of change) -0.017(change as a process) +0.176(change management) +0.070(change as continuous)

Hence, predictability is predicted to increase: 0.704 when significance of change goes up by one; decreases by 0.017 when change as a process goes up by one; increase by 0.176 when change management goes up by one; increases by 0.07 when change as continuous goes up by one ;and be 0.046 when all four independent variables are zero.

As is evident from the model that significance of change has the most effect on the dependent variable predictability followed by change management and change as continuous. The variable change as a process has a relatively small albeit negative effect on predictability.

226

TABLE IV. 8 BACKWARD REGRESSION ANALYSIS FOR PREDICTABILITY Unstandardized Coefficients Std. B Error 0.046 0.704 -0.017 0.176 0.070 0.056 0.050 0.048 0.037 0.025 0.722 -0.017 0.201 0.110 Standardized Coefficients Beta 0.833 14.099 -0.364 4.799 2.773 0.406 0.000 0.717 0.000 0.006

Model

Sig.

(Constant) Significance of Change Change as a Process Change Management Change as Continuous

The above Model through regression analysis has helped in explicating the Research Hypothesis. We now have a quantitative model for the relationship between being strategic and nature of change. This model could be used to optimize this relationship. Thus, this confirms that Banking Organizations has a strategic approach towards change. The literature review on Banking Industry confirmed that this industry has performed well in order to cope change. The subject literature showed that the customers status has changed from an isolated to a connected, an unaware to a well informed, and a passive to an active customer. As Banks faced challenges from both the fronts domestic and international thus, Banks needed to predict changes and taken actions to overcome these challenges.

227

The above empirical findings were supported by the studies of the following Researchers as : Tyson 32 confirmed that being strategic means description of future action which were always directed towards change ; Quinn
33

emphasized on the strategic change as a

necessity for an organization; Truss and Gratton 34 mentioned there existed the requirement of quality practitioners involved into decision making, policy implementation and to predict the corporate world in the evolving and changing environment; Nadler 35 suggested regarding the implementation of change to be assured and controlled at the time of maintenance and after the transition; and an empirical study by Nath , Mukherjee and Pal 36 on Indian Nationalized Banks revealed that Banks, in order to survive must adapt to the changing environment and position themselves with respect to their strategic groups to improve their perceived service quality . Even their performance metrics need to be grouped strategically.

Apart from the above Researcher, Pettigrew and Whipp

37

issued warning to financial

services on the basis of their research that the implementation of change must be cumulative and stressed that employees responsible for the process of change need to make continual assessments, repeated choices and multiple adjustments. Thus, this finally proves the Research Hypothesis that the nature of change in Banking Organization is strategic.

228

Research Hypothesis 3: There is a Correlation between Strategic Intent and Performance.

Step a: Stating null hypothesis H0: There is no correlation between strategic intent and performance

Step b: Decomposing the independent variable The null hypothesis states that there exists no relationship between strategic intent and organizations performance. Here performance is the dependent variable in this relationship as it is the outcome. Strategic intent consists of hierarchical elements, to better capture all perspectives it has been decomposed into following six variables: vision; mission; values and principles; goals; strategic objectives; and financial objectives.

Step c: Hypothesis testing Cross-tab with Chi-square test was applied to find association between the variables. The output below (Table IV. 9) showed that there existed a significant association between performance (dependent variable) and strategic intent (independent variable). The Chisquare test reads a significance level of less than < 0.1. This can be interpreted as that we are 90 percent confident that the interval contains the true population mean. We can also say that 90 percent of all confidence intervals formed in this manner (from different samples of the population) will include the true population mean (Table IV. 10). 0.1 was the error or mistake that may happen by chance. Since the value of probability was less than 0.1 for all six independent variables, we may conclude that there has been association between performance and strategic intent.
229

Hence, we rejected the null hypothesis H0: There is no correlation between strategic intent and performance. TABLE IV. 9 CROSSTAB BETWEEN STRATEGIC INTENT AND PERFORMANCE OF BANKS Performance Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree Total Mission Total Value and Principles Total Goals Disagree Agree Strongly Agree Total Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree Total Disagree Agree Strongly Agree Total Disagree Agree Strongly Agree Disagree Agree Strongly Agree 3 0 21 2 26 19 7 0 26 12 14 0 26 17 9 0 26 2 20 0 4 0 26 22 3 1 26 Agree 9 3 108 12 132 12 111 9 132 7 105 20 136 11 105 16 132 0 28 0 90 14 132 20 101 11 132 Strongly Agree 0 0 20 8 28 0 6 22 28 0 15 13 28 0 14 14 28 0 2 2 10 14 28 0 15 13 28 Total 12 3 149 22 186 31 124 31 186 19 134 33 186 28 128 30 186 2 50 2 104 28 186 42 119 25 186

Vision

Strategic Objectives

Financial Objectives

230

TABLE IV. 10 CHI-SQUARE VALUES FOR STRATEGIC INTENT Value Vision Mission Value and Principles Goals Strategic Objectives Financial Objectives Pearson Chisquare 12.265 156.016 60.504 85.419 95.048 95.763 df 6 4 4 4 8 4 Asymp. Sig. (2-sided) .056 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000

Step d: Correlation analysis Chi-square cannot determine causality. Hence, correlation analysis was employed to determine cause and effect relationship. For one-to-one correlation all values in the correlation table were standardized ranging from -1 to +1, all variables were highly correlated (Table IV. 11). There existed positive significant correlation between performance with vision (0.158), mission (0.676), values and principles (0.509), goals (0.589), strategic objectives (0.540) and financial objectives (0.610). This means that the chosen six variables were fairly independent of each other and were correlated with Banks performance. This supports our Research Hypothesis that strategic intent and performance are correlated. Therefore, from the overall results we could conclude that vision, mission, values and principles, goals, strategic objectives, and financial objectives were planned well resulting into better performance of an organization.

231

TABLE IV. 11 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN STRATEGIC INTENT AND PERFORMANCE OF BANKS Performance Pearson Correlation Performance Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Vision Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Mission Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Value and Principles Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Goals Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Strategic Objectives Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Financial Objectives Sig. (2-tailed) N 186 0.158(*) 0.031 186 0.676(**) 0.000 186 0.509(**) 0.000 186 0.589(**) 0.000 186 0.540(**) 0.000 186 0.610(**) 0.000 186 1

** Correlation significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). * Correlation significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

232

Step e: Developing a model To determine the quantum by which the independent variables, optimally predicted an organizations performance, multiple regression analysis was used. R-square value for the model was 0.582 this was the amount of variance in the predicted variable that was explained by independent variables: mission, goals, and financial objectives as strong predictors of the performance of Banks.

Following optimum model derived (Table IV. 12). Performance = 0.197 + 0.382(mission) + 0.232(goals) + 0.228(financial objectives).

Hence, performance is predicted to: increase 0.382 when mission goes up by one; increase by 0.232 when goals goes up by one; increase by 0.228 when financial objective goes up by one; and be 0.197 when all three independent variables are zero.

As is evident from the model that mission has the most effect on the dependent variable performance, followed by goals of the organization and financial objectives.

233

TABLE IV. 12 BACKWARD REGRESSION ANALYSIS FOR PERFORMANCE OF BANKS Unstandardized Coefficients B (Constant) Mission Goals Financial Objectives 0.197 0.382 0.232 0.228 Std. Error 0.060 0.056 0.057 0.052 0.412 0.240 0.265 Standardized Coefficients Beta 3.309 6.881 4.048 4.399 0.001 0.000 0.000 0.000

Model

Sig.

The above Model through regression analysis has helped in explicating the Research Hypothesis. We now have a quantitative model to assess the relationship between strategic intent and performance. This model could be used to optimize this relationship. Thus, this confirms that strategic intent correlated with performance of organization. Strategic intent, represent a proactive mode i.e., a symbol of an organizations future and it also energize all organizational levels for a collective purpose was mentioned by Hamel and Prahalad Ghoshal
41 38

; Hart

39

; Hamel and Prahalad

40

. Lovas and

mentioned that goals and mission being a part of strategic intent, point out the

long-term market or competitive positions that an organization hopes to build along with the sense of direction to employees for better performance. Quinn 42; and Burgelman and Grove
43

highlighted that poor performance of an organization was due to the failure in

defining clearly the strategic intent. Thus, this finally proves the Research Hypothesis that there is a correlation between strategic intent and performance.

234

Research Hypothesis 4: Organization Change and Human Resource Strategy are Co-related.

Step a: Stating null hypothesis H0: There exists no correlation between organization change and Human Resource Strategy

Step b: Decomposing the independent variable The null hypothesis states that there exists no correlation between organizations change and Human Resource Strategy. Human Resource Strategy is the dependent variable in this relationship as it is the outcome of organizational changes. Hence, to better capture all perspectives of organization change it has been decomposed into following six variables: workforce demography; employees expectations; technology; organizational restructure; changes in customers; and economic conditions.

Step c: Hypothesis testing Cross-tab with Chi-square test was applied to find association between the variables. The output (Table IV. 13) showed that there existed a significant association between Human Resource Strategy (dependent variable) and organization change (independent variables). The Chi-square test reads a significance level of less than < 0.1. This can be interpreted, that we are 90 percent confident that the interval contains the true population mean. We can also say that 90 percent of all confidence intervals formed in this manner (from different samples of the population) will include the true population mean (Table IV. 14).
235

0.1 is the error or mistake that may happen by chance. Since the value of probability was less than 0.1 for all three independent variables, we may conclude that there has been association between Human Resource Strategy and organization change. Hence, we rejected the null hypothesis H0: There exists no correlation between organization change and Human Resource Strategy.

TABLE IV. 13 CROSSTAB BETWEEN ORGANIZATION CHANGE AND HUMAN RESOURCE STRATEGY Human Resource Strategy Disagree Disagree Workforce Demography Agree Strongly Agree Total Disagree Employee Expectations Neutral Agree Strongly Agree Total Disagree Technology Neutral Agree Strongly Agree Total 7 8 1 16 10 0 3 3 16 14 0 2 0 16
236

Neutral 3 0 0 3 0 3 0 0 3 0 3 0 0 3

Agree 0 64 25 89 8 0 81 0 89 0 0 87 2 89

Strongly Agree 0 4 74 78 7 0 33 38 78 0 0 2 76 78

Total

10 76 100 186 25 3 117 41 186 14 3 91 78 186

Human Resource Strategy Disagree Disagree Organizational Restructure Neutral Agree Strongly Agree Total Strongly Disagree Disagree Changes in Customers Neutral Agree Strongly Agree Total Disagree Economic Conditions Neutral Agree Strongly Agree Total 7 0 9 0 16 0 12 0 4 0 16 6 0 9 1 16 Neutral 0 1 2 0 3 0 0 3 0 0 3 2 0 0 1 3 Agree 4 2 81 2 89 3 4 1 81 0 89 11 0 62 16 89 Strongly Agree 2 0 40 36 78 2 5 3 4 64 78 5 1 42 30 78 Total

13 3 132 38 186 5 21 7 89 64 186 24 1 113 48 186

237

TABLE IV. 14 CHI-SQUARE VALUES FOR ORGANIZATION CHANGE Value Workforce Demography Employee Expectations Technology Organizational Restructure Changes in Customers Economic Conditions Pearson Chi-square 193.448 283.345 513.885 107.918 296.092 31.219 Df 6 9 9 9 12 9 Asymp. Sig. (2-sided) .000 .000 .000 .000 .000 .000

Step d: Correlation analysis Chi-square cannot determine the causality. Hence, correlation analysis was employed to determine cause and effect relationship. For one-to-one correlation all values in the correlation table were standardized ranging from -1 to +1, all variables were highly correlated (Table IV. 15). There existed positive significant correlation between Human Resource Strategy with workforce demography (0.733), employees expectations (0.459), technology (0.955), organizational restructure (0.527), changes in customers (0.584) and economic condition (0.316) (Table IV. 15). This means that the chosen six variables were fairly independent of each other and were correlated with Human Resource Strategies. This supported our Research Hypothesis that Organization change and Human Resource Strategy are co-related. Therefore, from the overall results we could conclude that workforce demography, employees expectations, technology, organizational restructure, changes in customers and economic condition changes would influence Human Resource Strategies.

238

TABLE IV. 15 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ORGANIZATION CHANGE AND HUMAN RESOURCE STRATEGY Human Resource Strategy Pearson Correlation Human Resource Strategy Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Workforce Demography Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Employee Expectations Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Technology Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Organizational Restructure Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Changes in Customers Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Economic Conditions Sig. (2-tailed) N 186 0.733(**) 0.000 186 0.459(**) 0.000 186 0.955(**) 0.000 186 0.527(**) 0.000 186 0.584(**) 0.000 186 0.316(**) 0.000 186 1

** Correlation significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). * Correlation significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

239

Step e: Developing a model To determine the quantum by which the independent variables, optimally predicted organizational change variables influencing the Human Resource Strategy for which, multiple regression analysis was used. R square value for the model was 0.918 this was the amount of variance in the predicted variable that was explained by independent variables: workforce demography, technology, and organizational restructure.

Following model depicted (Table IV. 16). Human Resource Strategy = -0.104 + 0.069 (workforce demography) +0.902 (technology) + 0.102(organizational restructure)

Hence, Human Resource Strategy is predicted to: increase 0.069 when the workforce demography goes up by one; increase by 0.902 when technology goes up by one; increase by 0.102 when organizational restructure goes up by one ; and be -0.104 when all three independent variables are zero.

As is evident from the model that technology has the most effect on the dependent variable Human Resource Strategy, followed by organizational restructure and workforce demography.

240

TABLE IV. 16 BACKWARD REGRESSION ANALYSIS FOR HUMAN RESOURCE STRATEGIES Unstandardized Coefficients B (Constant) Workforce Demography Technology Organizational Restructure -0.104 0.069 0.902 0.102 Std. Error 0.043 0.036 0.037 0.030 0.061 0.868 0.084 Standardized Coefficients Beta -2.414 1.888 24.522 3.428 0.017 0.061 0.000 0.001 t Sig.

Model

The above Model through regression analysis has helped in explicating the Research Hypothesis. We now have a quantitative model to the relationship between Human Resource Strategy and organization change. This model could be used to optimize this relationship. Thus, this confirms that organization change is co-related with Human Resource Strategy. These empirical finding were further supported by research studies undertaken by various Researchers. For instance, Dertouzos
44

raised the importance of

Human Resource requirements with respect to the new competencies such as strong computer skills, strong communication skills, customer friendly skills as technological changes had taken place. Tyson
45

; Armstrong and Baron

46

; and Palthe and Kossek

47

highlighted in their study that Human Resource professionals needed to start development of strategies at the embryonic stage of change programmes.

241

Palthe and Kossek 47 mentioned that the difference between top performing and an average organization arises due to the kind of strategic initiatives taken towards alignment of Human Resource Strategies with change. Bhattacharjee
48

further discussed in the study

that diversity of workforce had increased in the organizations due to the age gaps and due to geographical as well racial differences. Hence, the mixed composition of the workforce needs to work together by accepting each other with different viewpoints. Thus, this proves the Research Hypothesis that organization change and Human Resource Strategy are corelated.

Research Hypothesis 5: Organizations having HR Strategy are People Centric.

Step a: Stating null hypothesis H0: There exists no relationship between organizations having Human Resource Strategy and being people centric.

Step b: Decomposing the independent variable The null hypothesis states that there exists no relationship between Human Resource Strategy and organizations being people centric. Organization being people centric is the dependent variable in this relationship as it is the outcome.

242

There are numerous Human Resource Strategies, hence to better capture all perspectives it has been decomposed into following fourteen variables: teamwork; information sharing; creativity; participation; empowerment; quality of work-life; workplace feedback; employee-management cooperation ; grievance handling; career progression; flexible benefit; flexible work arrangements; health and safety; and working conditions .

Step c: Hypothesis testing Cross-tab with Chi-square test was applied to find association between the two variables. The output (Table IV. 17) showed that there existed a significant association between organizations being people centric (dependent variable) and Human Resource Strategy (independent variables). The Chi-square test reads a significance level of less than < 0.1. This can be interpreted that we are 90 percent confident that the interval contains the true population mean. We can also say that 90 percent of all confidence intervals formed in this manner (from different samples of the population) will include the true population mean (Table IV. 18).

0.1 is the error or mistake that may happen by chance. Since the value of probability was less than 0.1 for all three independent variables, we may conclude that there has been an association between organizations being people centric and Human Resource Strategy. Hence, we rejected the null hypothesis H0: There exists no relationship between organizations having Human Resource Strategy and being people centric.

243

TABLE IV. 17 CROSSTAB BETWEEN HUMAN RESOURCE STRATEGY AND ORGANIZATIONS BEING PEOPLE CENTRIC People Centric Total Disagree Disagree Teamwork Agree Strongly Agree Total Strongly Disagree Disagree Information Sharing Agree Strongly Agree Total Disagree Neutral Creativity Agree Strongly Agree Total 12 0 15
244

Neutral 0 4 0 4 0 3 1 0 4 3 0 1 0 4

Agree 8 80 17 105 0 13 80 12 105 13 5 71 16 105

Strongly Agree 0 42 20 62 0 9 31 22 62 5 3 34 20 62 8 141 37 186 3 31 117 35 186 24 8 118 36 186

0 15 0 15 3 6 5 1 15 3 0

People Centric Total Disagree Disagree Neutral Participation Agree Strongly Agree Total Disagree Empowerment Agree Strongly Agree Total Disagree Quality of Work-life Agree Strongly Agree Total Strongly Disagree Disagree Workplace Feedback Neutral Agree Strongly Agree Total 12 1 15 7 8 0 15 3 12 0 15 2 12 0 1 0 15 3 0 4 0 3 1 4 0 4 0 4 0 0 2 2 0 4 78 10 105 23 71 11 105 9 82 14 105 0 4 0 95 6 105 53 6 62 8 42 12 62 14 19 29 62 0 0 0 21 41 62 146 17 186 38 124 24 186 26 117 43 186 2 16 2 119 47 186 2 0 Neutral 0 1 Agree 15 2 Strongly Agree 3 0 20 3

245

People Centric Disagree Strongly Disagree Disagree Employeemanagement Cooperation Neutral Agree Strongly Agree Total Disagree Grievance Handling Neutral Agree Strongly Agree Total Disagree Career Progression Neutral Agree Strongly Agree Total Strongly Disagree Disagree Flexible Benefits Neutral Agree Strongly Agree Total 0 10 0 3 2 15 8 0 5 2 15 10 0 5 0 15 0 6 1 7 1 15 Neutral 0 1 2 1 0 4 3 0 1 0 4 2 1 1 0 4 0 2 0 1 1 4 Agree 1 6 0 91 7 105 15 0 73 17 105 17 1 86 1 105 7 32 5 54 7 105 Strongly Agree 0 5 1 13 43 62 3 1 45 13 62 4 1 31 26 62 10 17 0 30 5 62

Total

1 22 3 108 52 186 29 1 124 32 186 33 3 123 27 186 17 57 6 92 14 186

246

People Centric Disagree Strongly Disagree Disagree Flexible Work Arrangements Neutral Agree Strongly Agree Total Disagree Health Promotion Agree Strongly Agree Total Disagree Neutral Working Conditions Agree Strongly Agree Total 1 4 1 6 3 15 7 4 4 15 3 0 9 3 15 Neutral 0 1 0 2 1 4 4 0 0 4 0 1 0 3 4 Agree 16 28 3 45 13 105 17 77 11 105 2 0 67 36 105 Strongly Agree 11 17 0 27 7 62 3 24 35 62 0 0 10 52 62 Total

28 50 4 80 24 186 31 105 50 186 5 1 86 94 186

247

TABLE IV. 18 CHI-SQUARE VALUES FOR HUMAN RESOURCE STRATEGIES Value Teamwork Information Sharing Creativity Participation Empowerment Quality of Work-life Workplace Feedback Employee- management Cooperation Grievance Handling Career Progression Flexible Benefits Flexible Work Arrangements Health Promotion Working Conditions Pearson Chi-square 17.441 70.311 27.119 19.756 13.037 45.856 300.957 194.837 34.859 99.301 12.698 5.971 75.113 108.229 Df 6 9 9 9 6 6 12 9 9 9 12 12 6 9 Asymp. Sig. (2-sided) 0.000 0.000 0.001 0.019 0.042 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.00 0.000 0.391 0.918 0.000 0.000

248

Step d: Correlation analysis Chi-square cannot determine causality. Hence, correlation analysis was employed to determine cause and effect relationship. For one-to-one correlation all values in the correlation table were standardized ranging from -1 to +1, all variables were highly correlated (Table IV. 19). There existed positive significant correlation between organizations being people centric with workplace feedback (0.808) , employeemanagement cooperation (0.527), career progression (0.501), whereas independent variables like teamwork (0.187), information sharing (0.375) , creativity (0.216), participation (0.101), empowerment (0.220), quality of work-life (0.107) , grievance handling (0.332), health promotion (0.405) and working conditions (0.446), variables were positively correlated however their causality in presence of other variables was not substantial, but nevertheless they had a correlation, so we retained them. Whereas flexible benefits (-0.046) and flexible work arrangements (-0.081) were negatively correlated (Table IV. 20). This means that the chosen fourteen variables were fairly independent of each other and eleven chosen variables were positively correlated with organizations being people centric. Therefore, from the overall results we could conclude that teamwork, information sharing, creativity, participation, empowerment, quality of worklife, workplace feedback, grievance handling, career progression, health and safety and working conditions provided to employees lead organization to become people centric.

249

TABLE IV. 19 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HUMAN RESOURCE STRATEGY AND ORGANIZATIONS BEING PEOPLE CENTRIC People Centric Pearson Correlation People Centric Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Teamwork Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Information Sharing Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Creativity Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Participation Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Empowerment Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Quality of Work-life Sig. (2-tailed) N 186 0.187(*) 0.011 186 0.375(**) 0.000 186 0.216 0.003 186 0.101 0.171 186 0.220(**) 0.003 186 0.107 0.144 186 People Centric
250

Pearson Correlation Workplace Feedback Sig. (2-tailed) N Employee- management Cooperation Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Grievance Handling Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Career Progression Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Flexible Benefits Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Flexible Work Arrangements Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Health Promotion Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Working Conditions Sig. (2-tailed) N

0.808(**) 0.000 186 0.527(**) 0.000 186 0.332(**) 0.000 186 0.501(**) 0.000 186 -0.046 0.531 186 -0.081 0.000 186 0.405(**) 0.000 186 0.446(**) 0.000 186

** Correlation significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). * Correlation significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

251

Step e: Developing a model To determine the quantum by which the independent variables, optimally predicted organizations being people centric, multiple regression analysis was used. R-square value for the model was 0.764, this was the amount of variance in the predicted variable that was being explained by the independent variables: information-sharing, quality of work-life, workplace feedback, employee-management cooperation, grievance handling, career progression, health promotion, and working conditions.

Following model depicted (Table IV. 20) People Centric = -0.074+0.109 (information sharing) + 0.079 (quality of work-life) + 0.596 (workplace feedback) + 0.153(employee-management cooperation) 0.075(grievance handling) + 0.094 (career progression) + 0.082(health promotion) +0.140 (working conditions).

Hence, organization being people centric is predicted to: increase 0.109 when the information sharing goes up by one; increase by 0.079 when quality of work-life goes up by one, increase by 0.596 when workplace feedback goes up by one ; increase by 0.153 when employee-management cooperation goes up by one ; decrease by 0.075 when grievance handling goes up by one; increase by 0.094 career progression goes up by one; increase by 0.082 when health promotion goes up by one; increase by 0.140 working conditions goes up by one ;and be -0.074 when all eight independent variables are zero.

252

As is evident from the model that Workplace feedback has the most effect on the dependent variable Human Resource Strategy, followed by working conditions, employee -management cooperation, information sharing, career progression and health and safety. The variable grievance handling has a relatively small albeit negative effect on being people centric. TABLE IV. 20 BACKWARD REGRESSION ANALYSIS FOR ORGANIZATIONS BEING PEOPLE CENTRIC Unstandardized Coefficients Std. B Error -0.074 0.109 0.079 0.596 0.153 -0.075 0.094 0.082 0.140 0.085 0.033 0.036 0.044 0.038 0.039 0.036 0.036 0.055 0.133 0.087 0.617 0.171 -0.082 0.098 0.098 0.112 Standardized Coefficients Beta -0.877 3.341 2.222 13.630 3.973 -1.937 2.294 2.294 2.561 0.382 0.001 0.028 0.000 0.000 0.054 0.023 0.023 0.011

Model

Sig.

(Constant) Information Sharing Quality of Work-life Workplace Feedback Employee- management Cooperation Grievance Handling Career Progression Health and Safety Working Conditions

253

The above Model through regression analysis has helped in explicating the Research Hypothesis. We now have a quantitative model to the relationship between organizations being people centric and Human Resource Strategy. This model could be used to optimize this relationship. Thus, this confirms that Human Resource Strategies were correlated with organizations being people centric. These empirical finding are further supported by researchers studies such as: Wright et al.,
49

; Testa and Ehrhart

50

; and Singh

51

who

emphasized that organization must treat their employees, as assets .This raised the concern that organizations need to become people centric organizations. Ehrich, and Hansford
53

Dabholkar et al.,52;
55

; Youndt and Snell

54

; and Drew, and Murtagh

pointed that

organizations need to develop Human Resource Strategies, which consider employees as valuable part of their organization and these Human Resource Strategies must strengthen employees belief that the organization would provide support to them to deal with stressful situations at work or home.

Guest and Conway

56

found that grievance resolving provided an opportunity to

communicate about business related issues, harassment at work, job related issues and it also helped to improve the satisfaction level of an employee. Schuler and Jackson
57

emphasized that career progression was one of an important strategy, which needs to be a part of Human Resource Strategies as it define what people are required to know and be able to do to carry out work at progressive levels of responsibility. Holt and Andrews
58

mentioned that providing healthy, safe, and pleasant working conditions helped to achieve quality outputs and standards. Likierrman 59 emphasized on improved workplace feedback specifically through face to face. Thus, this finally confirms the Research Hypothesis that organizations having Human Resource Strategies are people centric.

254

Research Hypothesis 6: Effectiveness of Human Resource Practices is Co-related with Human Resource Strategy.

Step a: Stating null hypothesis H0: There exists no relationship between effectiveness of Human Resource Practices and Human Resource Strategy

Step b: Decomposing the independent variable The null hypothesis states that there exists no correlation between effectiveness of Human Resource Practices and Human Resource Strategy. The effectiveness of Human Resource Practices is the dependent variable in this relationship as it is the outcome. Effectiveness of Human Resource Practices was measured by values that were captured for it.

Human Resource Strategy consisted of many aspects, hence to better capture all perspectives it has been decomposed into following fifteen independent variables: manpower planning; cost controlling of manpower; talent acquisition; deployment; job profiling and designation; skill up-gradation, appraisal of employees; compensation realignment; promotion policies; managing workforce diversity; outsourcing; customer relationship; product innovation; and service quality.

255

Step c: Hypothesis testing Cross-tab with Chi-square test was applied to find association between the two variables. The output (Table IV. 21) showed that there existed a significant association between effectiveness of Human Resource Practices (dependent variable) and Human Resource Strategy (independent variable). The Chi-square test reads a significance level of less than < 0.1. This can be interpreted as that we are 90 percent confident that the interval contains the true population mean. We can also say that 90 percent of all confidence intervals formed in this manner (from different samples of the population) will include the true population mean (Table IV. 22).

0.1 is the error or mistake that may happen by chance. Since the value of probability was less than 0.1 for fifteen independent variables, we may conclude that there has been an association between effectiveness of Human Resource Practices and Human Resource Strategy. Hence, we rejected the null hypothesis H0: There exists no relationship between effectiveness of Human Resource Practices and Human Resource Strategy.

256

TABLE IV. 21 CROSSTAB BETWEEN HUMAN RESOURCE STRATEGIES AND EFFECTIVENESS OF HUMAN RESOURCE PRACTICES Effectiveness of Human Resource Practices Disagree Disagree Manpower Planning Agree Strongly Agree Total Disagree Cost Controlling of Manpower Agree Strongly Agree Total Disagree Talent Acquisition Agree Strongly Agree Total Disagree Deployment Agree Strongly Agree Total Strongly Disagree Disagree Job Profiling and Designation Neutral Agree Strongly Agree Total 28 0 0 28 12 14 2 28 24 4 0 28 16 12 0 28 0 10 0 17 1 28 Agree 30 102 4 136 12 105 19 136 8 105 23 136 16 110 10 136 1 4 2 117 12 136 Strongly Agree 0 18 4 22 0 14 8 22 0 6 16 22 0 13 9 22 0 0 2 13 7 22 58 120 8 186 24 133 29 186 32 115 39 186 32 135 19 186 1 14 4 147 20 186

Total

257

Effectiveness of Human Resource Practices Disagree Disagree Neutral Skill Up-gradation Agree Strongly Agree Total Disagree Appraisal of Employee Agree Strongly Agree Total Strongly Disagree Disagree Compensation Realignment Neutral Agree Strongly Agree Total Disagree Promotion Policies Agree Strongly Agree Total Disagree Managing Workforce Diversity Total Agree Strongly Agree 16 8 28 12 16 0 28 3 4 0 19 2 28 20 8 0 28 23 5 0 28 66 55 136 8 104 24 136 0 6 1 77 52 136 12 107 17 136 5 118 13 136 7 15 22 0 11 11 22 0 1 0 12 9 22 0 9 13 22 0 5 17 22 4 0 Agree 12 3 Strongly Agree 0 0

Total

16 3 89 78 186 20 131 35 186 3 11 1 108 63 186 32 124 30 186 28 128 30 186

258

Effectiveness of Human Resource Practices Disagree Disagree Outsourcing Agree Strongly Agree Total Disagree Customer Relationship Agree Strongly Agree Total Disagree Product Innovation Agree Strongly Agree Total Disagree Service Quality Agree Strongly Agree Total Disagree Convenient Services Neutral Agree Strongly Agree Total 3 21 4 28 15 12 1 28 1 10 17 28 9 15 4 28 2 0 18 8 28 Agree 2 74 60 136 2 104 30 136 0 66 70 136 4 85 47 136 13 3 65 55 136 Strongly Agree 1 3 18 22 0 5 17 22 0 6 16 22 1 7 14 22 1 0 6 15 22

Total

6 98 82 186 17 121 48 186 1 82 103 186 14 107 65 186 16 3 89 78 186

259

TABLE IV. 22 CHI-SQUARE VALUES FOR HUMAN RESOURCE STRATEGY Value Manpower planning Cost Controlling of Manpower Talent Acquisition Deployment Job Profiling and Designation Skill Up-gradation Appraisal of Employees Compensation Realignment Promotion policies Managing Workforce Diversity Outsourcing Customer Relationship Product Innovation Service Quality Convenient Services Pearson Chisquare 86.062 34.282 145.041 61.576 55.233 10.634 51.651 28.754 99.219 181.597 28.120 110.831 9.822 38.397 10.144 df 4 4 4 4 8 6 4 8 4 4 4 4 4 4 6 Asymp. Sig. (2-sided) 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.100 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.044 0.000 0.119

260

Step d: Correlation analysis Chi-square cannot determine causality. Hence, correlation analysis was employed to determine cause and effect relationship. For one-to-one correlation all values in the correlation table were standardized ranging from -1 to +1, all variables were highly correlated (Table IV. 23). There existed positive significant correlation between effectiveness of Human Resource Practices with manpower planning (0.640) , talent acquisition (0.743), deployment (0.491), appraisal of employee (0.479), promotion policies (0.623) , managing workforce diversity (0.784), and customer relationship (0.640), whereas rest of variables like cost controlling of manpower (0.387), job skill up-gradation (0.174), compensation

profiling and designation (0.380),

realignment (0.331), outsourcing (0.325) , product innovation (0.055), service quality (0.388) and convenient services (0.098) were positively correlated however their causality in presence of other variables was not substantial, but nevertheless they were correlation, so we retain them. This means that the chosen fifteen variables were fairly independent of each other and were correlated with effectiveness of Human Resource Practices. This supports our Research Hypothesis that effectiveness of Human Resource Practices is correlated with Human Resource Strategy. Therefore, from the overall results we could conclude that various Human Resource Strategies discussed here leads to effectiveness of Human Resource Practices.

261

TABLE IV. 23 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HUMAN RESOURCE STRATEGY AND EFFECTIVENESS OF HUMAN RESOURCE PRACTICES Effectiveness of HR Practices Effectiveness of HR Practices Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Manpower Planning Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Cost Controlling of Manpower Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Talent Acquisition Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Deployment Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Job Profiling and Designation Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Skill up-gradation Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Appraisal of Employee Sig. (2-tailed) N 186 0.640(**) 0.000 186 0.387(**) 0.000 186 0.743(**) 0.000 186 0.491(**) 0.000 186 0.380(**) 0.000 186 0.174(*) 0.018 186 0.479(**) 0.000 186 Effectiveness of HR Practices
262

Pearson Correlation Compensation Realignment Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Promotion Policies Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Managing Workforce Diversity Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Outsourcing Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Customer Relationship Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Product Innovation Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Service Quality Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Convenient Services Sig. (2-tailed) N

0.331(**) 0.000 186 0.623(**) 0.000 186 0.784(**) 0.000 186 0.325(**) 0.000 186 0.640(**) 0.000 186 0.055 0.459 186 0.388(**) 0.000 186 0.098 0.184 186

**Correlation significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). * Correlation significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

263

Step e: Developing a model To determine the quantum by which the independent variables, optimally predicted effectiveness of Human Resource Practices, multiple regression model was used. R-square value for the model was 0.759, this was the amount of variance in the predicted variables that was explained by the independent variables manpower planning, talent acquisition, job profiling and designation, promotion policies, managing workforce diversity and convenient services as strong predictors of the dependent variable effectiveness of Human Resource Practices .

Following model derived (Table IV. 24). Effectiveness of HR Practices = 0.077 +0.135 (manpower planning) + 0.303 (talent acquisition) + 0.174 (job profiling and designation) + 0.115(promotion policies) + 0.343 (managing workforce diversity) -0.104 (convenient services).

Hence, effectiveness of Human Resource Practices is predicted to: increase 0.135 when manpower planning goes up by one; decreases by 0.303 when talent acquisition goes up by one; increase by 0.174 when job profile and designation goes up by one; increases by 0115 when promotion policies goes up by one; increases by 0.343 when managing workforce diversity goes up by one; and be 0.077 when all six independent variables are zero.

264

As is evident from the model that managing workforce diversity has the most effect on the dependent variable effectiveness of Human Resource Practices. Followed by talent acquisition, job profile and designation, manpower planning and promotion policies. TABLE IV. 24 BACKWARD REGRESSION ANALYSIS FOR EFFECTIVENESS OF HUMAN RESOURCE PRACTICES Unstandardized Model Coefficients B (Constant) Manpower Planning Talent Acquisition Job Profiling and Designation Promotion Policies Managing Workforce Diversity Convenient Services 0.077 0.135 0.303 0.174 0.115 0.343 -0.104 Std. Error 0.066 0.042 0.048 0.047 0.046 0.059 0.039 0.159 0.343 0.144 0.125 0.357 -0.107 1.173 3.211 6.332 3.714 2.486 5.769 -2.658 0.242 0.002 0.000 0.000 0.014 0 0.009 Standardized Coefficients Beta t Sig.

265

The above Model through regression analysis has helped in explicating the Research Hypothesis. We now have a quantitative model for the relationship between effectiveness of Human Resource Practices and Human Resource Strategy. This model could be used to optimize this relationship. Thus, this confirms that Human Resource Strategy correlated with effectiveness of Human Resource Practices.

In literature, review it has been emphasized during several instances from quantitative and qualitative research findings of Researchers like Fombrum et al., Jackson61,62 ; Pfeffers 63; and Richardson and Thompson
64 60

; Schuler and

that the best Human Resource

65

Practices depended on Human Resource Strategy. Kandola and Fullerton

stated that

managing diversity would create a productive environment by making everyone feel valued and their skills utilized fully to meet the organizational goals, results into the effectiveness of Human Resource Practices. A survey of 835 Private Sector Organizations by Guest et al.,
66

discussed that the better usage of Human Resource Practices was

67

associated to higher levels of services provided by employees. Finally Becker et al.,

highlighted that linking of promotion decisions with Human Resource Practices, enable management to obtain the best talent available within the organization to fill posts. Thus, this finally proves the Research Hypothesis that effectiveness of Human Resource Practice and Human Resource Strategy are co-related.

266

Research Hypothesis 7: Cross-cultural Differences influence Human Resource Strategy Formulation and Implementation.

Step a: Stating null hypothesis H0: Cross-cultural differences do not influence Human Resource Strategy formulation and implementation.

Step b: Decomposing the independent variable The null hypothesis states that there exists no relationship between cross-cultural differences and Human Resource Strategy formulation and implementation. Human Resource Strategy is the dependent variable in this relationship as it is the outcome.

Human Resource Strategy was measured by values that were captured for it. Cross-cultural differences is a complex phenomenon , hence to better capture all perspective it has been decomposed into following six variables: opinion of employees; time orientation; control; communication; formality; and identity.

Step c: Hypothesis testing Cross-tab with Chi-square test was applied to find association between the two variables. The output (Table IV. 25) showed that there existed a significant association between Human Resource Strategy and three independent variables. The Chi-square test reads a significance level of less than < 0.1 for these three variables (opinion of employees; formality; and identity). This can be interpreted, that we are 90 percent confident that the interval contains the true population mean.
267

We can also say that 90 percent of all confidence intervals formed in this manner (from different samples of the population) will include the true population mean. (Table IV. 26). However, we cannot draw the same inference for the other three variables (time orientation; control; and communication).

0.1 is the error or mistake that may happen by chance. This value of probability was less than 0.1 for three independent variables (opinion of employees; formality; and identity) and is more than 0.1 for the rest of the three variables (time orientation; control; and communication). Cross-cultural differences cannot exclude concepts of time orientation, control, and communication; since these three variables do not show an association, we accepted the null hypothesis H0: Cross-cultural differences do not influence Human Resource Strategy formulation and implementation. TABLE IV. 25 CROSSTAB BETWEEN CROSS CULTURAL DIFFERENCES AND HUMAN RESOURCE STRATEGY Human Resource Strategy Total Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Opinion of Employees Agree Strongly Agree Total 0 0 3 0 3 Disagree 6 0 30 2 38 Neutral 2 2 8 0 12 Agree 14 0 80 11 105 Strongly Agree 2 0 23 3 28 24 2 144 16 186

268

Human Resource Strategy Total Strongly Disagree Disagree Time Orientation Agree Strongly Agree Total Disagree Neutral Control Agree Strongly Agree Total Strongly Disagree Formality Disagree Agree Total Disagree Neutral Identity Agree Strongly Agree Total 2 1 3 28 7 38 8 1 12 87 4 105 18 7 28 143 20 186 3 0 3 0 3 0 3 0 0 33 1 38 0 27 11 38 0 3 11 0 12 0 12 0 12 3 0 82 11 105 4 37 64 105 14 0 21 4 28 0 4 24 28 3 0 150 16 186 4 83 99 186 20 3 0 1 2 3 0 0 Disagree 5 15 18 38 2 2 Neutral 0 7 5 12 1 0 Agree 12 55 38 105 10 2 Strongly Agree 3 12 13 28 3 0 20 90 76 186 16 4

269

Human Resource Strategy Total Strongly Disagree Strongly Disagree Disagree Communication Neutral Agree Strongly Agree Total Disagree Neutral Identity Agree Strongly Agree Total 2 1 3 28 7 38 8 1 12 87 4 105 18 7 28 143 20 186 0 0 0 3 0 3 0 0 Disagree 0 5 0 26 7 38 0 3 Neutral 0 0 0 12 0 12 3 0 Agree 1 14 2 67 21 105 14 0 Strongly Agree 0 9 0 13 6 28 3 0 1 28 2 121 34 186 20 3

TABLE IV. 26 CHI-SQUARE VALUES FOR CROSS-CULTURAL DIFFERENCES Value Opinion of Employees Time Orientation Control Formality Communication Identity Pearson Chisquare 33.345 5.053 8.708 46.112 17.766 33.887 df 12 8 12 8 16 12 Asymp. Sig. (2-sided) 0.001 0.752 0.728 0.000 0.338 0.001

270

However, the above empirical findings do not support the Research Hypothesis stated as Cross-cultural differences influence Human Resource Strategy formulation and implementation. Nevertheless, there existed instances in various research studies of many researchers like, Jackson and Schuler
68

who framed a model, which emphasized the

interplay between cultural differences and Human Resource Management. Bowen and Ostroff
69

in their study suggested the influence of culture on Human Resource Practices

suggesting that Human Resource activities must include cross-cultural differences. Rousseau and Schalk 70; Sparrow et al.,7 1 ; Tung 72; Von Glinow et al., 3 had documented that Human Resource Strategies needed to be adjusted according to the culture in which the organization operates and Human Resource professionals needs to be sensitive toward the cultural variations with respect to employees opinions, communication and hierarchy system . The research work of Hall
74, 75

emphasized that people from different cultural

background needs to synchronize their time and behaviour with their organization to have harmonized and smooth running. Phatak et al.,
76

contributed to define the control

methodologies with Human Resource Management so as to visualize how organization culture monitor and evaluate employees. Finally, Cotte and Ratneshwar 77 in their research suggested cultural differences to be made part of an organization. According to these viewpoints, one could conclude that cross-cultural differences influence the formulation and implementation of Human Resource Strategies but owing to the lack of empirical proofs from the survey data, we cannot accept the Research Hypothesis.

271

Research Hypothesis 8: Organization Culture and Strategy Implementation have a Strong Relationship.

Step a: Stating null hypothesis H0: There exist no relationships between organization culture and strategy implementation.

Step b: Decomposing the independent variable The null hypothesis states that there exists no relationship between strategy implementation and organization culture. Strategy implementation is the dependent

variable in this relationship as it is the outcome. Strategy implementation was measured by values that were captured for integration. Organization culture being complex phenomenon, hence to better capture all perspectives it has been decomposed into following six independent variables: cultural differences; employee empowerment; accountability; innovation; mentoring; and equal opportunity practices.

Step c: Hypothesis testing Cross-tab with Chi-square test was applied to find association between the two variables. The output (Table IV. 27) showed that there existed a significant association between integration (dependent variable) and organization culture (independent variable). The Chi-square test reads a significance level of less than < 0.1 for five variables (cultural differences, employee empowerment, accountability, mentoring, and equal opportunity practices) except one (innovation). This can be interpreted as that we are 90 percent confident that the interval contains the true population mean.

272

We can also say that 90 percent of all confidence intervals formed in this manner (from different samples of the population) will include the true population mean (Table IV. 28).

0.1 is the error or mistake that may happen by chance. Since the value of probability was less than 0.1 for five independent variables except for one, we may conclude that there has been an association between integration and organization culture. The variable named innovation with which on the basis of survey data the value of probability is greater than 0.1 but, many Researchers emphasized that the key to organizational success lies in developing a new set of thinking type of culture to yield innovative idea . To name the studies one of the most ambitious research programmes in the area of innovation was led by Van de Van de Ven et al., 78 at the University of Minnesota. The literature review by McLean79 explored relationship between organization culture and innovation. Recently an empirical study by Dasanayaka
80

, on the gift and decorative-ware industry in Sri Lanka

was undertaken to identify the culture types (clan, adhocracy, hierarchy, and market) which stimulate towards innovativeness thereby increasing the organizations

competiveness. This study clearly demonstrated relationship between innovation and organization culture. Thus, based on these prior research studies, innovation was

considered as an important variable to be studied. Hence, we rejected the null hypothesis H0: There exist no relationships between organization culture and strategy implementation.

273

TABLE IV .27 CROSSTAB BETWEEN ORGANIZATION CULTURE AND INTEGRATION Integration Disagree Strongly Disagree Disagree Cultural Differences Neutral Agree Strongly Agree Total Disagree Employee Empowerment Neutral Agree Strongly Agree Total Disagree Neutral Accountability Agree Strongly Agree Total Disagree Neutral Innovation Agree Strongly Agree Total 6 2 16 4 0 6 101 17 149 12 2 15 123 21 186 13 3 16 8 0 1 4 6 2 0 78 67 149 29 2 7 8 15 1 0 99 82 186 40 2 0 5 0 9 2 16 2 0 14 0 16 0 0 Neutral 2 3 0 1 0 6 6 0 0 0 6 0 1 Agree 2 41 7 82 17 149 43 3 98 5 149 4 0 Strongly Agree 0 1 0 10 4 15 0 0 13 2 15 0 0 Total

4 50 7 102 23 186 51 3 125 7 186 4 1

274

Integration Disagree Disagree Neutral Mentoring Agree Strongly Agree Total Disagree Equal Opportunity Practices Agree Strongly Agree Total 12 3 16 16 0 0 16 5 0 6 0 3 3 6 92 46 149 15 120 14 149 9 5 15 0 3 12 15 1 0 Neutral 0 1 Agree 10 1 Strongly Agree 1 0

Total

12 2 118 54 186 31 126 29 186

TABLE IV. 28 CHI-SQUARE VALUES FOR ORGANIZATION CULTURE Value Cultural Differences Employee Empowerment Accountability Innovation Mentoring Equal Opportunity Practices Pearson Chi-square 38.913 28.245 38.344 11.990 17.930 144.456 Df 12 9 9 9 9 6 Asymp. Sig. (2-sided) 0.000 0.001 0.000 0.214 0.036 0.000

275

Step d: Correlation analysis Chi-square cannot determine causality. Hence, correlation analysis was employed to determine cause and effect relationship. For one-to-one correlation all values in the correlation table were standardized ranging from -1 to +1, all variables were highly correlated (Table IV. 29). There existed significant positive correlation between integration with equal opportunity practices (0.627) whereas rest of variables like cultural differences (0.136), employee empowerment (0.086), accountability (0.106), innovation (0.211) and mentoring (0.060) were positively correlated however their causality in presence of other variables was not substantial, but nevertheless they had a correlation, so we retain them. This means the chosen six variables were fairly

independent of each other and were correlated with strategy integration within the organization. This supports our Research Hypothesis that organization culture and strategy implementation have as strong relationship. TABLE IV. 29 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ORGANIZATION CULTURE AND INTEGRATION Integration Pearson Correlation Integration Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Cultural Differences Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Employee Empowerment Sig. (2-tailed) N
276

186 0.136 0.064 186 0.086 0.246 186

Integration Pearson Correlation Accountability Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Innovation Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Mentoring Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Equal Opportunity Practices Sig. (2-tailed) N 0.106 0.151 186 0.211(**) 0.004 186 0.060(**) 0.413 186 0.627(**) 0.000 186

** Correlation significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

Step e: Developing a model To determine the quantum by which the independent variables, optimally predicted for integration, multiple regression model was used. R-square value for the model was 0.413, this was the amount of variance in the predicted variable that was explained by the independent variables: innovation and equal opportunity practices.

277

Following model derived (Table IV. 30) Integration = 0.432 +0.102 (innovation) +0.456(equal opportunity practices) Hence, integration is predicted to: increase 0.102 when innovation goes up by one; increases by 0.456 when equal opportunity practices goes up by one; and be 0.432 when both independent variables are zero.

As is evident from the model that equal opportunity practices has the most effect on the dependent variable integration. Followed by innovation. TABLE IV. 30 BACKWARD REGRESSION ANALYSIS FOR INTEGRATION Model Unstandardized Coefficients Std. B Error 0.432 0.102 0.456 0.056 0.040 0.043 0.144 0.611 Standardized Coefficients Beta 7.679 2.520 10.722 0.000 0.013 0.000

Sig.

(Constant) Innovation Equal Opportunity Practices

The above Model through regression analysis has helped in explicating the Research Hypothesis. We now have a quantitative model for the relationship between strategy implementation and organization culture. This model could be used to optimize this relationship. Thus, this confirms that organization culture have a relationship with strategy implementation.

278

These empirical findings were further supported by research studies undertaken by various Researchers. Martin
81

highlighted that integration was necessary for strategy

implementation in an organization as it helped to bring employees closer to organizational objectives. Integration also helps to build organization where commitment flourishes. Frink et al.,
82;

Baird and Meshoulam

83;

and Palthe and Kossek

84

supported the

implementation of strategies based on equality authorizes employees and allow them to express their cultural differences. Research scholar for instance, Amabile et al.,85 supported organizational encouragement by empowering employees on aspects of risk taking, idea generation, and participative decision-making to ensure strategy implementation. Delaney and Huselid
86

formulated Human Resource Model in which organization culture was a

87

part of the model. Acosta et al.,

; and Truss

88

demonstrated the impacts of cultural

differences to be considered for implementation of sound and sustainable strategy. Thus, this finally proves the Research Hypothesis that organization culture and strategy implementation have a strong relationship.

279

Research Hypothesis 9: HR Strategy and Business Ethics are related.

Step a: Stating null hypothesis H0: There exist no relationship between Human Resource Strategy and Business ethics.

Step b: Decomposing the independent variable The null hypothesis states that there exists no relationship between Business ethics and Human Resource Strategy. The Human Resource Strategy is the dependent variable in this relationship as it is the outcome. Human Resource Strategy was measured by values that were captured as trustworthiness. Business ethics consist of various components, hence to better capture all perspectives it has been decomposed into the following seven independent variables: true information share; equality; respect of employees; consistency in saying and doing; privacy; employee volunteering; and social responsibility.

Step c: Hypothesis testing Cross-tab with Chi-square test was applied to find association between the two variables. The output (Table IV. 31) showed that there existed a significant association between trustworthiness (dependent variable) and business ethics (independent variables). The Chisquare test reads a significance level of less than < 0.1. This can be interpreted as that we are 90 percent confident that the interval contains the true population mean. We can also say that 90 percent of all confidence intervals formed in this manner (from different samples of the population) will include the true population mean. (Table IV. 32).

280

0.1 is the error or mistake that may happen by chance. Since the value of probability was less than 0.1 for six independent variables except privacy, we may conclude that there was an association between trustworthiness and business ethics. The variable named privacy with which on the basis of survey data the value of probability was greater than 0.1 .

Researchers like Armstrong 89; and Rao 90 had emphasized that privacy played a key role in Human Resource Strategy. Issues related to privacy like personal private questions related to individual, need to be avoided during interview. Information like, employee infected with AIDS need not be disclosed. Hence, we rejected the null hypothesis H0: There exist no relationships between Human Resource Strategy and business ethics. TABLE IV. 31 CROSSTAB BETWEEN BUSINESS ETHICS AND TRUSTWORTHINESS Trustworthiness Disagree Disagree True Information Shared Neutral Agree Strongly Agree Total Disagree Equality Neutral Agree Strongly Agree Total Disagree Respect of Employees Neutral Agree Strongly Agree Total 6 0 6 0 12 5 0 7 0 12 12 0 0 0 12 Neutral 0 2 2 0 4 0 2 2 0 4 0 4 0 0 4 Agree 0 0 79 12 91 2 1 86 2 91 8 0 74 9 91 Strongly Agree 0 0 21 58 79 2 0 27 50 79 0 0 54 25 79 Total 6 2 108 70 186 9 3 122 52 186 20 4 128 34 186

281

Trustworthiness Disagree Disagree Consistency in Saying and Doing Total Disagree Privacy Neutral Agree Strongly Agree Total Agree Strongly Agree 8 4 0 12 2 2 4 4 12 Neutral 4 0 0 4 1 0 2 1 4 Agree 0 66 25 91 23 6 41 21 91 Strongly Agree 0 4 75 79 22 8 40 9 79 Total 12 74 100 186 48 16 87 35 186

TABLE IV. 32 CHI-SQUARE VALUES FOR BUSINESS ETHICS Value True Information Shared Equality Respect of Employees Consistency in Saying and Doing Privacy Employees Volunteering Social Responsibility Pearson Chisquare 251.969 180.772 307.370 228.056 7.817 141.063 71.835 df 9 9 9 6 9 9 3 Asymp. Sig. (2-sided) 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.553 0.000 0.000

282

Step d: Correlation analysis Chi-square cannot determine causality. Hence, correlation analysis was employed to determine cause and effect relationship. For one-to-one correlation all values in the correlation table were standardized ranging from -1 to +1, all variables were highly correlated (Table IV. 33). There existed positive significant correlation with true information shared (0.713), equality (0.594), respect of employees (0.680), consistency in saying and doing (0.805), and social responsibility (0.600) whereas independent variables employees volunteering had positive correlation (0.389) and privacy had a negative correlation (-0.107). However their causality in presence of other variables was not substantial, but they have a correlation, so we retain them.

This means that the chosen seven variables were fairly independent of each other and six variables were correlated with trustworthiness. This supports our Research Hypothesis that Human Resource Strategy and business ethics are correlated. Therefore, from the overall results we could conclude that true information shared, equality, respect of employees, consistency in saying and doing, employee volunteering, and social responsibility influenced Human Resource Strategy.

283

TABLE IV. 33 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BUSINESS ETHICS AND TRUSTWORTHINESS Trustworthiness Pearson Correlation Trustworthiness Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation True Information Shared Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Equality Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Respectful Workplace Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Consistency In Saying and Doing Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Privacy Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Employees Volunteering Sig. (2-tailed) N Pearson Correlation Social Responsibility Sig. (2-tailed) N 186 0.713(**) 0.000 186 0.594(**) 0.000 186 0.680(**) 0.000 186 0.805(**) 0.000 186 -0.107 0.144 186 0.389(**) 0.000 186 0.600(**) 0.000 186 1

** Correlation significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). * Correlation significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

284

Step e: Developing a model To determine the quantum by which the independent variables, optimally predicted for Human Resource Strategy measured as trustworthiness, multiple regression analysis was used. R-square value for the model was 0.784, this was the amount of variance in predicted variable that was explained by the independent variables true information shared, equality, respect of employees and consistency in saying and doing.

Following model derived (Table IV. 34). Human Resource Strategy = -0.212 + 0.347(true information shared) + 0.210 (equality) + 0.159 (respect of employees) +0.454 (consistency in saying and doing)

Hence, Human Resource Strategy is predicted to: increase 0.347 when true information shared goes up by one; increase by 0.210 when equality goes up by one; increase by 0.159 when respect of employees goes up by one; increase by 0.454 when consistency in saying and doing goes up by one ;and be -0.212 when all four independent variables are zero.

As is evident from the model that consistency in saying and doing has the most effect on the dependent variable trustworthiness, followed by true information shared, equality and respect of employees.

285

TABLE IV. 34 BACKWARD REGRESSION ANALYSIS FOR TRUSTWORTHINESS Model Unstandardized Coefficients B (Constant) True Information Shared Equality Respect of Employees Consistency in Saying and Doing -0.212 0.347 0.210 0.159 0.454 Std. Error 0.068 0.055 0.048 0.048 0.050 0.285 0.180 0.159 0.454 Standardized Coefficients Beta -3.126 6.344 4.359 3.344 9.012 0.002 0.000 0.000 0.001 0.000

Sig.

The above Model through regression analysis has helped in explicating the Research Hypothesis. We now have a quantitative model for the relationship between Human Resource Strategy and business ethics. This model could be used to optimize this relationship. Thus, this confirms that Human Resource Strategies are correlated with business ethics. These empirical findings were further supported by earlier findings of following Researchers: Thite
91

mentioned that successful people management depend,

92

how fairly they were treated in the organization. Pickard

emphasized following key

aspects: fairness, equal treatment, and confidentiality to be adopted by Human Resource practitioners to enhance ethical standards. Smith and Kelly
93

highlighted that to recruit

and retain best talent organizations require to have high character and credibility. Finally, Woodall and Winstanley
94

mentioned that Human Resource professionals should act as

guardian of ethics in an organization.

286

Some of the practises supporting ethical behaviour have been emphasized by Human Resource executives such as: avoiding abusive behaviour at work, respect for seniors, adherence to working hours, punctuality, avoiding internet abuse, emphasizing safety, nondiscrimination behaviour, confidentiality of information and non-corrupt behaviour etc. Thus, this finally proves Research Hypothesis that Human Resource Strategy and business ethics are related.

This part of the Chapter dealt with the empirical testing in the backdrop of the previous research findings and, thus, laying the basis for conclusive reporting and evolving needful recommendations in the subsequent Chapter V.

287

REFERENCES

1. Brown, S.L. and Eisenhardt, K.M. (1997) The Art of Continuous Change: Linking Complexity Theory and Time-paced Evolution in Relentlessly Shifting Organizations. Administrative Science Quarterly, 42: 134. 2. Rangarajan, C. (2007) Financial and Banking Sector Reforms in India, R.K. Talwar Memorial Lecture at Mumbai. 3. Prabhakar , A.B. (2009) Speech Delivered at Thirteenth Annual General Meeting of the Shareholders of Bank of India on 11 July 2009, Mumbai. 4. Raju, S. (2010) Financial Inclusion: Enabling Inclusive Growth. The India Economy Review, 7:42-49. 5. Mark, A. T. (1996) What is a Human Resources Strategy? Health Manpower Management, 22(2): 411, <http://www.davidmanurung.com/blog/wp-content/ uploads /2009/01/2what-is-hr-strategy.pdf> retrieved on 3 March 2010. 6. SBI Launches Fresh HR Initiative, Business Standard, September 2, 2009. 7. Chanda, K. (2009) Weve Learnt How Rapidly and Completely Operating Environment can Change, Economic Times, Corporate Dossier, 24 December 2009. 8. Ashton, D. and Sung, J. (2002) Supporting Workplace Learning for High Performance Working. Geneva: International Labour Office. 9. Vijayraghavan, K. and Ghosh, L. (2010) HSBC Officers Flexible Working Hours to Staff, Economic Times, 28 June 2010. 10. Bank Employees get 17.5% Wage Hike, Pension Benefit, Business Standard, Banking and Finance, 28 November 2009, Mumbai.

288

11. Naga, S.G. (2010) State Bank of India Gears up to Train Employees, Business Line, Money and Banking, 11 June 2010. 12. Nadaf, D.G. (2009) Maintenance of Annual Performance Appraisal Reports Sharing of the Report with the Officer Concerned, Circular no. 87. 13. Bridget L.S. (2010) Indian Bank May Hike Rates on Corporate Borrowings, Business Line, Money and Banking, 9 April 2010. 14. Bank of India, Right to Information Act (Act No.22/2005) < http://www.Bankofindia. com/rtiorg.aspx> retrieved on 27 August 2010. 15. RBI Brings Bank CEOs Salaries under Scrutiny, Plans Guidelines, Mint, Economy and Politics, 28 October 2009. 16. Shrivastava, A. and Purang, P. (2009) Employee Perceptions of Job Satisfaction: Comparative Study on Indian Banks. Asian Academy of Management Journal, 14(2):65-78. 17. Union Bank Puts Promotion on Fast Track, Business Standard, Banking and Finance, 28 September 2007, Mumbai. 18. Karunakaran, N.Y. (2009) Opening Old Doors, Outlook Business Magazine- Diversity Cover Story, 2 May 2009. 19. Ray, A. (2009) Banking on Women Workforce, Times of India, Economy and Corporate. 20. Jackson, T. (2002) The Management of People Across Cultures: Valuing People Differently. Human Resource Management, 41: 455475. 21. Ouchi, W.G. (1981) Theory Z: How American Business can meet the Japanese Challenge. Reading, Addison-Wesley.

289

22. Palus, C.J. and Horth, D. M. (2004) Exploration for development. In C. D. McCauley and E. V. Velsor (eds.) The Center for Creative Leadership - Handbook of Leadership Development, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, p.440. 23. Kanter, R.M. (1993) Men and Women of the Corporation, 2nd ed. New York: Basic Books. 24. Bala, V. (2009) Corporate Women, Business India, 29 November 2009, p.130. 25. Sachitanand, R. (2007) Get Privacy Shield, Business Today, August. 26. Shanmugam, R.K. and Das, A. (2004) Efficiency of Indian Commercial Banks During the Reform Period. Applied Financial Economics, 14:681686. 27. Prasad, A. and Ghosh, S. (2007) Competition in Indian Banking: An Empirical Evaluation. South Asia Economic Journal, 8(2):265-284. 28. Avermaete, T., Viaene, J., Morgan, E.J. and Crawford, N. (2003) Determinants of Innovation in Small Food Firms. European Journal of Innovation Management, 6(1): 8-17. 29. Leeladhar, V. (2005) Contemporary and Future Issues in Indian Banking, <http://www.bis.org/review/r050321g.pdf> retrieved on 21 March 2009. 30. Singh, S. and Kumar, S. (2006) Indian Nationalized Banks- An Empirical Study of Factors Influencing Competitiveness. Indian Journal of Industrial Relations, 42(1):7390. 31. Verma, S. and Chaudhuri, R. (2008) Meta Analysis of Banking Services in India: A Customer Centric Approach. International Journal of Financial Services Management, 3(3/4):216 - 222. 32. Tyson, S. (1997) Human Resource Strategy: A Process for Managing the Contribution of HRM to Organisational Performance. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 8(3):277-290.
290

33. Quinn, J. B. (1980) Managing Strategic Change. Sloan Management Review, 11(4/5):330. 34. Truss, C. and Gratton, L. (1994) Strategic Human Resource Management: A Conceptual Approach. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 5(3) : 4. 35. Nadler, D. A. (1981) Managing Organizational Change: An Integrative Perspective. Journal of Applied Behavioural Science, 17(2): 191-211. 36. Nath, P., Mukherjee, A. and Pal, M. (2001) Identification of Linkage Between Strategic Group and Performance of Indian Commercial Banks: A Combined Approach using DEA and Co-Plot. The International Journal of Digital Accounting Research, 1(2):125-152. 37. Pettigrew, A. and Whipp, R. (1991) Managing Change for Competitive Success, Blackwell, Oxford. 38. Hamel, G. and Prahalad, C.K. (1989) Strategic Intent, Harvard Business Review, May-June: 63-76. 39. Hart, S.L. (1992) An Integrative Framework for Strategy Making Processes. Academy of Management Review, 17: 327-351. 40. Hamel, G. and Prahalad, C.K. (1994) Competing For the Future, Boston, MA: Harvard University Press. 41. Lovas, B. and Ghoshal, S. (2000) Strategy as Guided Evolution. Strategic Management Journal, 21: 875-896. 42. Quinn, J.B. (1995) Strategies for Change. In H. Mintzberg, J.B., Quinn, J.B. and Ghoshal, S. (eds.) The Strategy Process, London: Prentice Hall, p. 512. 43. Burgelman, R.A., and Grove, A.S. (1996) Strategic Dissonance. California Management Review, 38 (2): 828.
291

44. Dertouzos, M. (1998) Working with New Technology. Harvard Management Update, January, 3-6. 45. Tyson, S. (1997) Human Resource Strategy: A Process for Managing the Contribution of HRM to Organisational Performance. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 8(3):277-290. 46. Armstrong, M. Baron, A. (2002) Strategic HRM the Key to Improved Business Performance, Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. 47. Palthe, J. and Kossek, E.E. (2003) Subcultures and Employment Modes: Translating HR Strategy into Practice. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 16(3): 287308. 48. Bhattacharjee S. (2008) HR Best Practices in Financial Institutions in Thailand and Malaysia. CAB Calling, Jan-March, pp 46-50. 49. Wright, P.M., McMahan, C.G. and McWilliams (1994) Human Resources and Sustained Competitive Advantage: A Resource-based Perspective, The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 5(2): 301-326. 50. Testa, M. R., and Ehrhart, M. G. (2005) Service Leader Interaction Behaviours: Comparing Employee and Manager Perspectives. Management, 30(5): 456-486. 51. Singh, D. (2009) Strategic Environment and Intellectual Capital of Indian Banks. Journal of Intellectual Capital, 10(1):109 120. 52. Dabholkar, P. A., Thorpe, D. I., and Rentz, J. O. (1996) A Measure of Service Quality for Retail Stores: Scale Development and Validation. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 24(1): 3-16. 53. Ehrich, L. C. and Hansford, B. (1999) Mentoring: Pros and Cons for HRM. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 37(3).
292

Group and Organization

54. Youndt, M. and Snell, S. (2004) Human Resource Configurations, Intellectual Capital and Organizational Performance. Journal of Management Issues, 26: 337360. 55. Drew, E. and Murtagh, E. (2005) Work-life Balance: Senior Management Champions or Laggards? Women in Management, 20: 262-278. 56. Guest, D. E. and Conway, N. (1997) Employee Motivation and the Psychological Contract, London: Institute of Personnel and Development. 57. Schuler, R. and Jackson, S. (1989) Determinants of Human Resource Priorities and Implications for Industrial Relations. Journal of Management, 15 (1): 89-99. 58. Holt, A. and Andrews, H. (1993) Principles of Health and Safety at Work, London: IOSH Publishing. 59. Likierman, A. (2005) How to Measure the Performance of HRM. People Management, 11 August 2005: 4445. 60. Fombrun, C. J., Tichy N.M., and Devanna, M.A. (1984), Strategic Human Resource Management, New York: Johan Wiley. 61. Schuler, R. and Jackson, S. (1987) Linking Competitive Strategies with Human Resource Practice. Academy of Management Executive, 1(3):207-219. 62. Schuler, R. and Jackson, S. (1989), ibid (56). 63. Pfeffers, J. (1994) Competitive Advantage through People, Boston: Harvard Business School Press. 64. Richardson, R. and Thompson, M. (1999) The Impact of People Management Practices on Business Performance: A Literature Review, London: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. 65. Kandola, P. and Fullerton, J. (1994) Managing the Mosaic. In Avolio, B.J. (1999) Full Leadership Development, Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA.

293

66. Guest, D. E., Michie, J., Sheehan, M. and Metochi, M. (2000) Effective People Management: Initial Findings of the Future of Work Survey, London: Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. 67. Becker, B. E., Huselid, M. A. and Ulrich, D. (2001) The HR Scorecard: Linking People, Strategy, and Performance, Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press. 68. Jackson, S. E. and Schuler, R. S. (2003) Managing Human Resources through Strategic Partnerships, 8th ed. Cincinnati, OH: South-Western. 69. Bowen, D. E. and Ostroff, C. (2004) Understanding HRM-Firm Performance Linkages: The Role of the Strength of the HRM System. Academy of Management Review, 29(2). 70. Rousseau, D. and Schalk, R. (2000) Psychological Contracts in Employment: CrossNational Perspectives, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. 71. Sparrow, P. R., Schuler, R. S. and Jackson, S. E. (1994) Convergence or Divergence: Human Resource Practices and Policies for Competitive Advantage Worldwide. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 5: 267299. 72. Tung, R. L. (1990) International Human Resource Management Policies and Practices: A Comparative Analysis. Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management, 2: 171-186. 73. VonGlinow, M. A., Drost, E. A. and Teagarden, M. B. (2002) Converging on IHRM Best Practices: Lessons Learned from a Globally Distributed Consortium on Theory and Practice. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources, 40 (1): 146-166. 74. Hall, E.T. (1983) The Dance of Life: The Other Dimension of Time. New York: Anchor Press. 75. Hall, E.T. (1989) Beyond Culture, New York: Anchor Press.

294

76. Phatak, A. V., Bhagat, S.R. and Kashlak, J.R. (2005) International Management: Managing in a Diverse and Dynamic Global Environment, New York: McGraw-Hill. 77. Cotte, J. and Ratneshwar, S. (1999) Juggling and Hopping: What does it Mean to Work Polychronically? Journal of Managerial Psychology, 14(3-4), 184-204. 78. Van de Ven, A. H., and Angle, H. L. (1989) An Introduction to the Minnesota Innovation Research Program. In A. H. Van de Ven, H. L. Angle, and M. S. Poole (1989). Research on the Management of Innovation, New York, pp. 3-30. 79. McLean, D.L, (2005) Organizational Cultures Influence on Creativity and Innovation: A review of the Literature and Implications for Human Resource development. Advances in Developing Human Resource, 7(2): 226-246. 80. Dasanayaka, B.S.W.S. (2010) Implications of Organizational Culture on Innovation: an Exploratory Micro Study of Sri Lankan Gift and Decorative-ware Sector Firms. At fourth conference on Micro evidence on innovation in Developing Economies, University of Tartu, < http://www.merit.unu.edu/MEIDE/papers/ 2009/ 1234932 173 SD.pdf> retrieved on 11 September 2010. 81. Martin, J. (2002) Organizational Culture: Mapping the Terrain. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. 82. Frink, D.D. and Klimoski, R.J. (1998) Towards a Theory of Accountability. Research in Personnel and Human Resource Management, 16: 1-51. 83. Baird, L. and Meshoulam, I. (1998) Managing Two Fits of Strategic Human Resource Management. The Academy of Management Review, 13(1): 116- 129. 84. Palthe, J. and Kossek E.E. (2003),ibid(47). 85. Amabile, T. M., Conti, R., Coon, H., Lazenby, J. and Herron, M. (1996) Assessing the Work Environment for Creativity. Academy of Management Journal, 39(5):1154-1185.

295

86. Delaney, J. T. and Huselid, M. A. (1996) The Impact of Human Resource Management Practices on Perceptions of Organizational Performance, Academy of Management Journal, 39:949-969. 87. Acosta, C., V.J., Leon, C., Conrad, R., Gonzalez and Malave, O.C. (2004) A Case Study on Culture and the Implementation of Manufacturing Strategy in Mexico. Journal of Manufacturing Systems, 23(3): 204-214. 88. Truss, C. (2001) Complexities and Controversies in Linking HRM with Organisational Outcomes. Journal of Management Studies, 38(8). 89. Armstrong, M. (2006) A Handbook of Personnel Management Practice, London: Kogan Page Limited, p155. 90. Rao, V.S.P. (2006) Human Resource Management Text and Cases, 2nd ed. 91. Thite, M. (2004) Strategic Positioning of HRM in the Knowledge Economy. The Learning Organisation, 11(1): 28-44. 92. Pickard, J. (1995) Prepare to Make a Moral Judgement. People Management: 2227. 93. Smith, A. F. and Kelly, T. (1997) Human Capital in the Digital Economy,Jossey- Bass. 94. Woodall, J. and Winstanley, D. (2001) The Place of Ethics in HRM. In: Storey, J. (eds) Human Resource Management: A Critical Text, London: Thomson.

296