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MS-02

Management Programme

ASSIGNMENT
SECOND SEMESTER
2013

MS-02: Management of Human Resources

School of Management Studies

INDIRA GANDHI NATIONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY
MAIDAN GARHI, NEW DELHI 110 068

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ASSIGNMENT

Course Code

MS-02

Course Title

Management of Human Resources

Assignment Code

MS - 02/TMA/SEM-II/2013

Coverage

All Blocks

Note: Attempt all the questions and submit this assignment on or before 31st October, 2013 to
the coordinator of your study centre.

1)

What are the primary objectives, focus, and purpose of Selection Tests and
Interview in the whole process of Hiring in organisational set up? Critically
examine their usefulness, and importance in the short term and long term
functioning and culture of the organisation. Draw from the experiences you
are familiar with. Describe the organisation and the situation you are referring
to.

Solution : The Hire In order to comply with Federal regulations and to monitor progress toward
affirmative action goals, each department is required to document all recruitment activities.
Recruitment Closure Once the job offer has been extended and accepted by the candidate, the hiring
supervisor must complete the Post Offer Form on line and submit it back to the CSR or Staffing &
Compensation Analyst in Human Resources. In addition, all Candidate Disposition forms need to be
submitted on line to reflect the entire candidate pool. It is the responsibility of the hiring supervisor to
notify other finalists of the outcome. Recruitment Files Departments are required to maintain all
recruitment files, which include all resumes of applicant's referred and appropriate forms. This
information must be maintained for a minimum of three years Background Checks Positions that have
been designated as "critical" require that the candidate be fingerprinted and a background check
conducted. For further information, please contact the campus Police Department. Immigration Reform
& Control Act (IRCA) Departments are responsible for ensuring that all applicants have the legal right to
work in the United States. Contact your Staffing & Compensation Analyst if you have questions. Fair
Labor Standards Act (FLSA) All applicants for non-exempt positions not covered by Collective Bargaining
Agreements must be informed of the FLSA policy that any overtime worked will be compensated either
by cash or compensatory time off at the University's option. Return to top
Personnel Files

The proper handling of personnel records or personnel files in departments often raises questions. The
campus keeps only personnel records that are relevant and necessary to the administration of personnel
programs. These records should be maintained with accuracy, relevance, timeliness, and completeness,
and appropriate and reasonable safeguards should be established to ensure security and confidentiality.
Properly keeping personnel records matters because if you don't, the result can be a loss of privacy for
the employee and a grievance or lawsuit for the University.

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2)

What are the problems usually encountered in the Performance Appraisal in

organisations? How are and whether these problems taken care of at the
ground level reality in organisational set up? Critically examine and
substantiate your answers with examples you are familiar with. Briefly explain
the situation, you are referring to.

Solution : Problems usually encountered in the Performance Appraisal in organisations are:

Problems With Performance Appraisals: Where Do Managers Go Wrong?
Managers go wrong with performance appraisals in so many ways, its difficult to identify all of them.
Here are four big problems managers and employees experience with performance appraisals.
Performance Appraisals Are Annual
Start with the fact that performance appraisals are usually annual. Employees need feedback and goal
planning much more frequently than annually. Employees need weekly, even daily, performance
feedback to keep them focused on their most important goals, to provide them developmental coaching
to help them increase their ability to contribute, and to recognize them for their contributions.
Managers, who don't know any better, make performance appraisals into a one-way lecture about how
the employee did well this year and how the employee can improve. Once a manager tells an employee
about problems with their work or a failure in their performance, employees tend to not hear
anything else the manager has to say that is positive about their performance. So, its a combination
problem. The best performance appraisals are a two-way discussion and focus on the employee
assessing his or her own performance and setting his or her own goals for improvement.
Performance appraisals rarely focus on developing the employees skills and abilities with commitments
from the organization about how they will be encouraged to develop their skills in areas of interest to
the employee.
Performance appraisals are usually connected with the amount of pay raise an employee will receive.
Dont ever expect an honest discussion about improving performance if the outcome is the employees
income. Let your employees know that raises will be based on a wide range of factors and tell them
what the factors are.
The problem with subjective measure is the rating which is not verifiable by others and has the
opportunity for bias. The rate biases include: (a) halo effect (b) the error of central tendency, (c) the
leniency and strictness biases (d) personal prejudice, and (e) the recent performance effect
(a) Halo Effect: It is the tendency of the raters to depend excessively on the rating of one trait or
behavioral consideration in rating all others traits or behavioral considerations. One way of minimizing
the halo effect is appraising all the employees by one trait before going to rate on the basis of another
trait.
(b) The error of Central Tendency: Some raters follow play safe policy in rating by rating all the
employees around the middle point of the rating scale and they avoid rating the people at both the
extremes of the scale. They follow play safe policy because of answerability to management or lack of
knowledge about the job and person he is rating or least interest in his job.

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(c) The Leniency and Strictness: The leniency bias crops when some raters have a tendency to be liberal
in their rating by assigning higher rates consistently. Such ratings do not serve any purpose. Equally
damaging one is assigning consistently low rates.
(d) Personal Prejudice: If the rater dislikes any employee or any group, he may rate them at the lower
end, which may distort the rating purpose and affect the career of these employees.
(e) The Recent performance Effect: The raters generally remember the recent actions, of the employee
at the time of rating and rate on the basis of these recent actions favorable or unfavorable than on the
whole activities.
Other factors that are considered as problems are
Failure of the superiors in conducting performance appraisal and post performance appraisal interview.
Most part of the appraisal is based on subjectivity.
Less reliability and validity of the performance appraisal techniques.
Negative ratings affect interpersonal relations and industrial relations system.
Influence of external environmental factors and uncontrollable internal factors.
Feedback and post appraisal interview may have a setback on production.
Management emphasizes on punishment rather than development of an employee in performance
appraisal.
Some ratings particularly about the potential appraisal are purely based on guess work.
The other problems of performance appraisal reported by various studies are:
Relationship between appraisal rates and performances after promotions was not significant.
Some superiors completed appraisal reports within a few minutes.
Absence of inter-rater reliability.
The situation was unpleasant in feedback interview.
Superiors lack that tact of offering the suggestions constructively to subordinates.
Supervisors were often confused due to too many objectives of performance appraisal.
Advantages of Performance Appraisal through Computers:
There will be an objective analysis of traits of both the superior and subordinate and a chance to
subordinate to express his views even after performance appraisal.
An employee shall express his emotional needs and his value system which may not be
possible direct face to face with superior. Communication through computer overcomes
the communication barrier between the superior and subordinate.
Computer based appraisal will remove the inherent weakness of the appraisal system that is
subjective assessment of vague and abstract performance targets, unclear guidelines for
appraisal etc.

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3)

Do you agree with the statement that Training is not fulfilling its proper role
in various organisations? Briefly describing the roles the Training is expected
to play, substantiate your answer with suitable examples. Critically examine
the expected contribution of training and its status at the ground level in the
corporate Sector, referring to credible information sources and findings in
Indian context.

Solution : As we know training is provided for improving the skills in the employee or new
comer. It helps to increase the working status as well as it helps to provide comfortable
enviornment to the new comer or fresher and helps to increase the satisfaction of the
employees in all organizations the entry level people need proper training to know their line
of work and the environment of friendly nature and work culture of the organizations. The
training for entry level people it posses well knowledge on work life and they get an idea
about their job profile how to work in the organizations it also posses and creates healthy
and friendly environment to learn the things and easy to understand by the employee and we
may expect quality assurance in his work. The training assures that what is the organizations
objective and what is his role of participation in that, and it makes them with out prolonging
the time consuming. This section has guidance on carrying out a Training Needs Analysis
of your organisation and promoting learning across the whole organisation.
Training will boost the morale of your staff, increase their productivity and give your
organisation the competitive advantage it needs in these tough economic conditions.

Improve Staff Morale

Training is a commitment towards developing the skills of your staff and cements their
importance to your organisation, which improves staff morale and loyalty.
Increase Productivity & Motivation
Training provides the structures, techniques and awareness to manage time and workload
efficiently, which increases productivity and motivates staff to achieve more.
Competitive Advantage
People buy from people. Training gives staff the skills to handle your customers
professionally and increase customer satisfaction. Training also improves internal
efficiency, which will keep you ahead of the competition.
Introduce Change
Some staff members may not welcome the opportunity to learn new skills and introduce
change for the benefit of the organisation. Hamilton Mercer Training offers expertise to

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guide and support staff in to new ways of improving their skills and attitude
towards professional communication and exceptional customer service.
Lower Recruitment and Training Costs
Effective training lowers staff turnover, which reduces recruitment and training costs.
Training provides the opportunity to gain or improve relevant skills or knowledge.
Health and safety training, for example, in the safe use of equipment and pesticides.
Regular refresher training is required under health and safety laws
Technical skills, such as how to handle and work safely with powerful machines
Other skills such as communication and leadership. These are required, for example, by
employees in both logging areas and tourism roles
Customer care skills necessary for working with the public, other organisations and
internal customers.
There are some things you can put in place that will make it easier to carry out a Training
Needs Analysis. Here are some questions you can ask to help you identify what those are.
Do we have a strategic and operational plan?
Do we have an appraisal system?
Do all staff have up to date job descriptions?
Do all staff have written objectives?
Do we have a competency framework or use National Occupational Standards?
Do we have a training strategy or statement of committment supporting training and
learning?
Do we have effective formal and informal consultation processes across the organisation?
The more questions you can answer yes to the easier it will be to carry out, implement and evaluate a
Training Needs Analysis.
We have developed a diagnostic tool to help you identify and meet organisational training
needs. This identifies the organisational processes that support training and learning and
signposts you to external resources that can help you plug any gaps.
Strategy and objectives
If you dont already have a strategy in place then your Training Needs Analysis needs to
start with defining your organisational strategy and objectives. NCVO has information on
how to define your organisational strategy and develop a strategic plan.
Once you have a clear picture of the organisations strategy you can review the knowledge
and skills needed for the organisation to acheive its objectives and address any weaknesses.
Use a SWOT analysis to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and
threats facing your organisation. Then ask the following questions about the skills,
knowledge and behaviours in your organisation. You can do this exercise with your senior
management team. You may also want to include other staff and volunteers and / or your
Board depending on the size of your organisation. When thinking about the knowledge
within your organisation, remember to include staff, volunteers and trustees.
Strengths
How can you capture the good practice and expertise that already exists?
How can you build on the strengths, skills and knowledge already in the organisation?

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Weaknesses
What skills, knowledge or behaviours could help address the identified weaknesses?
Opportunities
What skills, knowledge or behaviours that could help your organisation make the most of the
opportunities?
Threats
What skills, knowledge or behaviours that could help your organisation manage and overcome the
identified threats?
The answers you come up with in response to these questions will help you identify the
knowledge already in your organisation. You can then make plans to address any
knowledge and skills gaps.
Creating a learning culture
A learning culture is one in which learning is valued and is embedded across an
organisation. It takes time and commitment to establish a learning culture. However, there
are a number of practices and tools you can use to promote and encourage learning.
People learn a lot from teaching others. Most people have a range of skills and knowledge,
some of which may not be visible in their daily jobs but that is still useful to the
organisation. You can encourage people to share what they know with others in writing, at
team meetings, at staff conferences and events, either informally or more formally. You
may want to set up staff mentoring schemes whereby staff and volunteers are supported to
share particular skills across different teams or levels of seniority.
There are initiatives such as Learning at Work day which encourage people to participate in
taster sessions on topics which may be unrelated to their daily work .
Investors in People is a quality standard which encourages good practice in developing
peoples skills. As an externally assessed standard, Investors in People also means your
work in this area is recognised and they will help you to identify areas where you can
improve. There is more information on the Investors in People website or in Not for Profit,
Fully Professional.
Skilled managers
Line managers need to have the necessary skills to work with staff and volunteers to help
them identify their training needs and the knowledge about how to meet them.
Having managers with the core competencies to carry out a training needs analysis of their
team is partly about recruiting managers with those competencies and partly about
supporting your managers to develop these skills, including providing training for them.
The core competencies for a number of roles in third sector organisations, including leaders
and managers, are outlined in our National Occupational Standards guides. These set out
the competencies that people need to have to be able to do their jobs well and the additional
skills they can develop to progress their career.
The National Occupational Standards for managers and leaders have information about
the competencies that good managers should have. You can use these to write job
descriptions and guide annual appraisals for your managers. They can also guide your
managers about the things they can do to support learning within their teams, particularly
the unit on Providing learning opportunities for colleagues.

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If senior management and line managers can appreciate and become enthusiastic about the
value of learning and development for both themselves and others, this sets the tone for the
organisations. The Governance and Leadership team at NCVO can help with ideas and
opportunities for developing leadership.

4)

How is the function of Reward Management being applied/used/effectively

used/ by the organised sector and other organisations in Indian context?
Explain with suitable examples, and base your answer on the credible studies
and findings available in this regard. Give proper references and details
wherefrom you draw your answers.

Solution :

Introduction
The reward system emphasizes a core facet of the employment relationship: it
constitutes an economic exchange or relationship. Global forces impact on pay systems.
Changes in reward systems mirror changes in work design and organizations, and the
emphasis on individual performance.
The nature of reward management

There are two types of rewards: Extrinsic and Intrinsic

Pay or reward strategy is a plan and actions pertaining to the mix of direct & indirect pay.
Objectives of reward system are to attract and retain high performing employees, maximize employee
performance, and satisfy legal standards.
All reward systems contain two elements that are in contradiction with each other: cooperation and
tensions and conflict between employer and employee.

A model of reward management

Reward model contains five basic elements: strategic, reward objectives, reward options, reward
techniques, and reward competitiveness.
Strategic perspective focuses on reward choices which support strategic goals.
Reward objectives emphasize the linkage between a reward system and
human behaviour. The
psychological contract emphasizes the importance of reward management.

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Reward options for the organization include: base pay, performance pay, and indirect pay (benefits).

2. Reward techniques examined include job analysis, job evaluation and performance appraisal. These
techniques are used to achieve, internal equity, which refers to the pay relationships among jobs within
a single organization.

3. Reward competitiveness refers to comparisons between the organizations pay and that of its
strategic competitors. External competitiveness depends upon, in part, labour market and product
markets conditions and managements strategy.
Reward management is about the design, implementation, maintenance, communication and
evolution of reward processes which help organizations to improve performance and
achieve their objectives.
Reward processes are based on reward philosophies and strategies and contain
arrangements in the shape of policies and strategies and contain arrangements in the shape
of policies, guiding principles, practices, structures and procedures which are devised and
managed to provide and maintain appropriate types and levels of pay, benefits and other
forms of reward. This constitutes the financial reward aspect of the process which
incorporates processes and procedures for tracking market rates, measuring job values,
designing and maintaining pay structures, paying for performance, competence and skill,
and providing employee benefits. However, reward management is not just about money. It
is also concerned with those non-financial rewards which
provide intrinsic or extrinsic motivation.
The key issues facing reward management are:
How to ensure that reward management strategies support the achievement of the organizations
business strategies and satisfy the needs and aspirations of employees for security, stability and career
development?
How to achieve internal equity and external competitiveness?
How to respond to a fragmenting pay market and maintain a reasonably coherent pay structure?
How to concentrate on rewarding for output and maintain, indeed enhance quality standards?
How can we reward individual performance and contribution and promote teamwork?
How to introduce sophisticated performance management process and ensure that
managers are committed and have the skills required to get the best out of them?
How can we give high rewards to high achievers and motivate the core of the employees upon whom
we ultimately have to rely?
How to achieve consistency in managing reward processes and provide for the flexibility needed in everchanging circumstances?
How can we devolve power to the line managers to manage their own reward processes and retain
sufficient control to ensure that corporate policies are implemented?
How to continue to provide motivation for those who have reached the top of their pay range and
maintain the integrity of the grading system and contain costs?
How to introduce more powerful pay-for-performance schemes and ensure to get value of money from
them?

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How to deliver the message that improved performance brings increased reward and cap bonus
earnings to cater for windfall situations or a particularly loose incentive scheme?
How to operate enterprise-wide bonus scheme and ensure that they increase motivation and
commitment?
How to reward people for their outputs and their inputs?
How to operate job evaluation schemes as a means of allocating and controlling gradings in a formal
hierarchy and cater for the role flexibility which is increasingly required in the organization?
Key Reward Management Trends
Following are the key reward management trend in todays scenario.
Greater sensitivity to sector and functional market practice to enable more effective market positioning
to help with attracting and retaining high caliber employees.
The implementation of increasingly focused performance awards starting at the top and working down
through organizations as performance orientation increases.
Pay increases linked to market worth and individual or team performance-not service and/or cost of
living.
More attention given to achievement or success-oriented individual bonuses rather than payment
increases in base pay.
A move towards team pay as the importance of teamwork increases.
More flexible pay structures based on job families and using broader pay bands or pay curves.
More integrated pay structures covering all categories of employees.
A growing linkage between pay practice and training and development initiatives through the design
and implementation of skills and competency based pay processes which reward the acquisition and use
of new skills and behaviors.
The development of integrated performance management systems with the emphasis on coaching
development, motivation and recognition through the identification of opportunities to succeed.
A search for simpler and more flexible approaches to job evaluation which enable a move away from the
control of uniformity to the management of diversity. This will make use of techniques such as job
family modeling and computer assisted job evaluation.
Increased awareness of the need to treat job measurement as a process for managing relativities which,
as necessary, has to adapt to new organizational environments and much greater role flexibility and can
no longer be applied rigidly as a system for preserving existing hierarchies.
More emphasis on the choice of benefits and clean cash rather than a multiplicity of perquisites.
Greater creativity and sensitivity in benefit practice.
Purpose and Aim
The purpose of a pay structure is to provide a fair and consistent basis for motivating and
rewarding employees.
The aim is to further the objectives of the organization by having a logically designed
framework within which internally equitable and extremely competitive reward policies can
be implemented, although the difficulty of reconciling often conflicting requirements for
equity and competitiveness has to be recognized.
The structure should help in the management of relativities and enable the organization to
recognize and reward people appropriately according to their job role size, performance,
contribution, skill and competence. It should be possible to communicate with the aid of the
structure the pay opportunities available to all employees.
The pay structure should also help the organization to control the implementation of pay

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policies and budgets.
Criteria for Pay Structures
Pay structure should:
Be appropriate to the characteristic and needs of the organization: its culture, size and complexity, the
degree to which it is subjected to change and the type and level of the people employed.
Be flexible in response to internal and external pressures, especially those related to market rates and
skills shortages.
Facilitate operational and role flexibility so that employees can be moved around the organization
between jobs of slightly different sizes without the need to reflect that size variation by changing rates
of pay.
Give scope for rewarding high level performance and significant contributions while still providing
appropriate rewards and recognition for the effective and reliable core employees who form majority in
most organizations.
Facilitate rewards for performance and achievement.
Help to ensure that consistent decisions are made on pay in relation to job size, contribution, skill and
competence.
Clarify pay opportunities, development pathways and career ladders.
Be constructed logically and clearly so that the basis upon which they operate can readily be
communicated to employees.
Enable the organization to exercise control over the implementation of pay policies and budgets.
Reward management has an important part to play in the development of cultures in which
individuals and teams take responsibility for continuous improvement. It affects
organizational performance because of the impact it has on peoples expectations as to how
they will be rewarded
Organization must reward employees because in return, they are looking for certain kind of
behavior; they need competent individuals who agree to work with a high level of
performance and loyalty. Individual employees, in return for their commitment, expect
certain extrinsic rewards in the form of salary, promotion, fringe benefits, perquisites,
bonuses or stock options. Individuals also seek intrinsic rewards such as feelings of
competence, achievement, responsibility, significance, influence, personal growth, and
meaningful contribution. Employees judge the adequacy of their exchange with the
organization by assessing both set of rewards.

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