Tata Cummins Ltd.

Jamshedpur (HR Department)

Questionnaire
1. What is the operating scope of your department?
REPLY- TCL has a flat organizational structure. Hence the managers have more
responsibility and accountability. However, managers are not involved in day-today administrative work (which is delegated to teams) but to bring improvement
projects. The organization structure is relatively flat with 4 levels (no
supervisors), a trust-based culture and a team-based work system. Thus we have
adopted a Star Model of team structure. In this model, managers play the role of
facilitators and each team member clearly knows his responsibilities.
2. What is the type of ownership of your organization?
REPLY- 50:50 joint venture between Cummins Inc. USA, the worlds largest
independent designer and manufacturer of diesel engines and Tata Motors,
Indias largest automobile manufacturer.
3. Are there any expected changes in near future in ownership of your
organization?
REPLY-No.
4. What are your core areas of operations?
REPLY- Manufacturing (countrys leading manufacturer of diesel and natural gas
engines)
5. What is geographical orientation (Indian MNC, foreign MNC/ local Indian
company) of your company?
REPLY- 2 manufacturing
Maharashtra

plants.

One

at

Jamshedpur,

other

6. Who are various stakeholders in ownership of organization?

REPLY- Promoters and promoter group
Directors
Indian Government
TATA group
Corporate Bodies (ex- Kirloskar Industries)
Mutual Funds (ex-Reliance Capital Trustee Co. Ltd)
Foreign Investors (ex- Franklin Templeton Investment Funds)

at

Phaltan,

Individuals ( Office bearers, NRIs, foreign nationals)

Insurance Companies ( ex- Life Insurance Corporation Of India)

7. What are number of employees under your department?

REPLY- 1100. (850 Workers and 250 Managers)
8. What is the number of HR professionals in your department?
REPLY- 6
9. How many HR personnel are having professional HR degree/diploma?
REPLY- 4
10.How many HR personnel started their career from HR department?
REPLY- 6
11.How many of HR professionals are specialised?
REPLY- 4
12.How many HRs are members of professional bodies like NHRDN, SHRM
etc.?
REPLY- Nobody.
13.What is the hierarchy of HR department at your unit?

14.What are designations at different levels?

REPLY: Designation at three levels are:
1) Vice President of HR
2) HR/IR head.
3) Junior Officers one each for HR and IR respectively
15.What is the position of your department in organization HR hierarchy?
REPLY- Our Department is responsible for the entire HR functions at the
Jamshedpur Plant.
16.What is the purpose of job at each level in your department?
REPLY- Vice President of HR: Responsible for HR Strategy, Decision Making and
Succession Planning.
HR/IR Head: Responsible for Legal Decisions for complying with labour laws,
Decision Making and Delegation to Junior Officers
Junior Officer: Responsible for decisions at plant level and daily issues of workers.

17.What are different proficiency required at various levels in your

department?
REPLY- For Junior HR Officer, Graduate degree in Management, Business Studies
or a similar field is required. For HR/IR Head: A Post-Graduate degree in
HRM/PMIR Is required. For VP-HR: This is decided by the senior management on
the basis of a candidates prior educational qualifications and relevant work
experience in senior level positions.

18.How recruitment is done in HR department?

REPLY- Through Campus Recruitments for fresh hires and Online Application and
Interview for Lateral Hires.
19.What is the level of involvement of line managers in HR policies and
reasons for the same?
REPLY- Line Managers play an important role in designing HR Policies. They
provide support in providing performance management inputs, salary increase
recommendations and recruitment. There are regular meetings between HR and
Line Managers and they work closely in accordance with the business strategy.
20.What are various HR activities that are outsourced in your organization?
REPLY- Most transactional processes like Payroll Administration, Benefits and
Claims processing etc. have been automated and hence handled by an
independent software organisation.
21.How are activities that are to be outsourced identified?
REPLY- Transactional Processes which occur on a day to day basis and which can
be done with remote supervision and which could be done with aid of technology
are outsourced.
22.What are focus areas of your department at present?
REPLY- Using Technology to address Employee Grievances quickly. Making
Performance Appraisal Process more transparent.
23.How role of HR is changing in your department?
REPLY- HR is slowly but steadily being given more independence and say in the
decision making at the highest level of business management. Thus HR is now
slowly being responsible for the entire business rather than just areas of
employee management.
24.What is the role of your department in forming strategy of business unit?
REPLY- VP HR is a member of Strategic Leadership Team (that devises broad
strategic initiatives that assure returns to shareholders, winning partnerships to
customers and suppliers, providing caring environment to employees and
benefits to the communities)

25.Is there any formal interaction with employees via town hall meetings,
floor walk etc.?
REPLY- Regular Team Meetings and Employee Interaction Meetings are held.
26.What are various initiatives undertaken for training and development of
employees?

REPLY- Team Charters

Counselling Sessions
Team Building Exercises for the Teams
Training on Facilitation of Teams for Team Developers
Regular Refresher Courses taken by senior management
Work Outs

27.How employees are identified for training?

REPLY- There are mandatory training courses dealing with industrial safety which
every worker is expected to complete. Unskilled workers are trained on a regular
basis to handle heavy machinery. Refresher courses are held regularly for the
senior staff to keep them abreast with the new developments in the industry,
apart from this there are management development programs for the
managerial staff who wish to upgrade their skills.
28.What are various ways for employee to approach your department?
REPLY- Either directly through prior appointment either in writing, email or over
telephone or by raising a request through grievance redressal online portal.
29.How promotion takes place in your department?
REPLY- In accordance with performance ratings in the annual performance
review, the recommendation of line managers and vacant positions available.
30.Are there any feedback mechanism to improve upon existing HR
processes?

REPLY- Employees can provide their suggestions at Employee Interaction

Sessions. They can also write to us in case they feel processes can be improved.
Apart from this regular surveys are conducted to gather improvement feedback
while maintaining confidentiality of the employee.