Assignment Code: BPCS-187/Asst/TMA/July 2022-January 2023

Course Code: BPCS-187

Assignment Name: Managing Human Resources

Year: 2022-2023

Verification Status: Verified by Professor

Assignment One

Answer the following questions in about 500 words each. Each question carries 20 marks. 3x20=60

Q1) Describe the nature of human resource development.

Ans) Acquisition, motivation, development, and management of human resources are the main goals of human resource management. A job or post is created in an organisation at which moment the human resources department's role begins. It is possible to distinguish between people management and human resource management. Comparatively, the concept of personnel management is more constrained, and it is included in the category of human resource management together with human resource development. The focus of HRM is on treating people as valuable resources in the organisation, developing them, promoting teamwork, and other things. Its reach is much broader.

Human resource management (HRM) is the process of hiring people, training them, paying them, and creating plans and rules just for them. It may also be referred to as a formal structure with a primary focus on managing the people within the organisation. By efficiently managing the human resource, HRM aims to increase the organization's output and profitability.

To facilitate the alignment of the human resources in the organisation with the organisational objectives and to contribute to the production and profitability of the organisation in terms of achieving the organisational goals, the basic mission of HRM is to acquire, develop, and retain talent in the organisation. In order to increase organisational performance and accomplish organisational goals, human resource management primarily entails managerial actions focused on effective management of human resources.

Thus, important tasks linked to job analysis, recruiting, selection, training, and other employee welfare activities are included in human resource management. These efforts are crucial not simply to make sure that the best candidates for the job are chosen. Additionally, it's important to make sure that staff members are productive and can work in a secure setting in order to prevent high turnover. A strong human resources division can aid in boosting organisational productivity and profitability. The range of human resource management activities is broad and includes many different tasks like job analysis, hiring, selecting, placing, training and development, performance evaluation, and so forth. Planning and development of human resources are also included.

Depending on the type and scale of the organisation, the management style used, and if the organisation has a global presence, determines the status of a human resources department and the range of operations it can perform. In comparison to a human resource department in a smaller organisation, the activities of the human resource department will be significantly more complex. The size and makeup of the organisation will also affect the size of the human resources department. An organisation with a global footprint will have a larger human resources division that is engaged in complicated diversity management efforts and is also required to stay current with the rules and regulations of the region or nation where the organisation is situated. The senior management mindset and how they view the function of the human resource department in the organisation will also have an impact on how the department operates. Additionally, an organisation may choose to outsource its human resource functions.

Q2) Explain the meaning of performance appraisal and describe its methods.

Ans) Denisi et al. defined performance appraisal as an assessment of an employee's performance that is specific and formal in character and is carried out to determine whether the employee is successfully carrying out the task assigned to him or her.

Methods of Performance Appraisals

Traditional Methods

1. Straight Ranking Procedure: In this method, every employee is ranked after being compared to one another. An employee's performance isn't taken into account; rather, they are viewed overall and contrasted with other employees. Each employee has a number of ranks given to them.

2. The paired comparison technique compares each employee to another employee in pairs for each trait. The next step is to assign each employee a rank. Although this case's judgement is simpler than the one reached using the earlier procedure. When numerous employees are involved, the task becomes laborious.

3. Man-to-Man Comparison Method: In this method, each employee is compared with the scale of a man for numerous traits including leadership, communication, honesty, hard work, etc. As a result, the employees are compared to a key guy in terms of each component individually rather than to one another.

4. Grading: Using this system, grades are assigned to employees based on their performance in many categories that have been developed and specified beforehand, such as dependability, hard effort, and cooperation.

5. Forced Choice Description Method: Using a selection of phrases, the immediate supervisor must select the phase that most accurately represents the employee.

6. Check Lists: Using this technique, the appraiser must select whether to agree with a series of questions or statements by selecting one.

7. Free Form Essay Method: Since the immediate supervisor is free to write about the subordinate in an essay format or in a descriptive style, this might be referred to as an open ended appraisal. This strategy leans more toward the qualitative than the quantitative. However, this method may require a lot of subjectivity, and there is no set standard for evaluation.

Modern Methods

1. Assessment Centres: It could include a written exam, a group discussion, an interview, or scenario exercises. The upper level managers in the company could be the appraisers. Each employee is evaluated, after which a summary report is submitted. It is employed to carry out hiring and selecting, create training curricula, and schedule human resource tasks. However, it takes a lot of time, especially if organisation administrators and superiors are involved; as a result, their work may suffer.

2. The term "360 degree" refers to the way in which one person's performance is evaluated by peers, superiors, and subordinates as well as by the employee themselves. Following the gathering of information from all parties, the employee receives pertinent feedback. Personal animosity and competition must be avoided, nevertheless, during such an evaluation.

3. Management by Objectives: In this method, individual goals are created for each employee following a conversation between the employee and the superior. These goals are based on the organisational goal and are created for each department within the organisation. They are also based on the departmental goals and the potential of each individual employee in the department. Along with participants and feedback, goal formulation is the method's primary focus.

Q3) Explain the concept of employee engagement and describe the ways in which employee engagement can be promoted.

Ans) Employee involvement, as defined by Bohlander and Snell, is “a situation in which workers are enthusiastic and immersed in their work to the degree that it improves the performance of their companies”.

The ways in which employee engagement can be promoted are as follows:

1. Positivity and excellence organizational culture: Positive and encouraging organisational cultures support high performance. It encourages employees to be competitive and proactive. When an organisational culture has sound rules that are clearly stated and required to be followed, employees feel connected and engaged. To ensure employee retention and engagement, organisational culture needs to be periodically examined and validated.

2. Organizational communication, channel, and process: A low level of involvement has a negative impact on employee satisfaction and leads to difficulties in interpersonal relationships. Organizations that provide employees with developmental possibilities will have ambitious workers that are highly engaged.

3. Employee engagement can also be raised by empowering managers by granting them greater autonomy and employees by providing them with new skills training. Employee engagement strategies in practise are considerably superior to commitment theories of work, which largely emphasise compulsion and objectives.

4. Effective leadership: The immediate supervisors and superiors can have a big impact on how engaged their team members are. They are able to guide the workers and foster employee engagement in addition to mentoring and coaching the staff. They can also offer performance-related comments.

5. Fostering a sense of significance within the staff: Meaning is formed in relation to their work, how much they are able to do, and how much is expected of them. Employees that are ambitious, focused on relationships, and faced with challenges feel more involved in their work and a part of the team. Employees regain a feeling of purpose when there is respect for one another, a sense of belonging, and compassion for others.

6. Creating a feeling of psychological safety: Psychological safety requires group dynamics characterised by member collusion and unconscious bonding. An employee at an organisation is supposed to maintain a respectable, friendly environment by being conscious of their relationships, public image, and mannerism. Disclosure should not, however, put the employee's self-esteem, status, or career at risk.

7. Promoting availability among the workforce: In terms of employee engagement, availability refers to a person's emotional capacity to interact directly with the environment and goals of their organisation. In order to shield themselves from further exposure to emotional pain, emotionally overburdened workers may depersonalise themselves and isolate themselves from their surroundings.

8. Opportunities for professional growth: Offering employees opportunities for career development is crucial. This can also be accomplished by giving staff members appropriate opportunities for training and development that will enable them to advance their knowledge and abilities.

9. Effectively handling employee complaints: Employees may frequently be dissatisfied with particular parts of an organisation. It might be connected to the amenities offered or certain employees within the company. Whatever the problem, it's critical that any employee complaints are addressed and handled properly.

10. Promoting good physical and mental health among employees: This increases employee engagement since healthy individuals are better able to contribute to the organisation and do their jobs efficiently.

11. Family-focused welfare programmes could include get-togethers, picnics, and other family interaction activities. Once more, both the individual and his or her family will benefit from this.

Assignment Two

Answer the following questions in about 100 words each. Each question carries 5 marks. 8x5=40

Q4) Describe the functions of human resource management.

Ans) The functions of human resource management are as follows:

1. Planning is required for a number of HRM functions, all of which are coordinated with the organization's objectives and goals.

2. Job analysis can be defined as the procedure by which we gather data regarding a job. It is done in accordance with the work description and specification.

3. To choose personnel, HRM must conduct recruitment processes including campus recruitment and advertising.

4. Programs for induction and orientation aid employees in becoming familiar with the organisation and job duties while also impressing upon them the expectations of the organisation.

5. Training and development improves the human resource and raises motivation and morale.

6. Determining employee training needs, promotions, and demotions all depend on performance reviews.

7. labour relations to communicate and bargain with these unions on a range of problems.

8. to choose the salaries and rewards that should be given to the workers.

9. Maintaining records is helpful in preserving all the data pertaining to every employee in the company.

Q5) Elucidate globalisation.

Ans) Globalization is a process that results in the fusion of every country's political, social, economic, and religious systems. It offers the chance for the entire world to become a single market where goods, services, and capital are transferred between nations. It also enables a global exchange of research and information between nations.

Globalization can be characterised by WHO as “the increased interconnectedness and interdependence of people and countries, is generally understood to include two inter-related elements: the opening of international borders to increasingly fast flows of goods, services, finance, people and ideas; and the changes in institutions and policies at national and international levels that facilitate or promote such flows. Globalisation has the potential for both positive and negative effects on development and health.”

Q6) Describe the uses of job analysis.

Ans) The uses of job analysis are as follows:

1. To choose evaluations or create interview questions that will determine whether a certain candidate have the necessary knowledge and abilities to fulfil the job requirements.

2. Job analysis reports are used to support the participant selection process and skill development material.

3. It is the way of determining the responsibilities and job description in a written report.

4. For calculating pay, incentives, benefits, transfers, and promotions, it is helpful.

5. If someone performs their work successfully, they should be paid similarly, which aids human resource managers in setting salaries.

6. To discuss performance standards and job responsibilities.

7. It assists in identifying unassigned tasks and responsibilities.

8. It assists in making job analysts aware of ambiguous organisational issues.

9. The data can be utilised to determine the ideal method for carrying out a task.

10. It displays the character and abilities of an employee needed for a position.

11. It offers details on dangerous, risky, and unhealthy working conditions in a variety of occupations.

Q7) Explain various barriers to effective selection.

Ans) The barriers to effective selection are as follows:

1. The hallo effect, which happens when a dominant characteristic eclipses other evidence, must be avoided by the interviewer.

2. When an HR manager stereotypes a candidate, it may negatively impact the candidate's chances of getting hired. Alternately, the interviewer can maintain a stereotype of the ideal candidate and evaluate each applicant in light of it.

3. Candidates who share comparable traits, skills, or preferences with the other candidates receive higher rankings from the HR manager. The opposite is also accurate.

4. Interviewers frequently favour or choose candidates that they see as being on par with themselves. Interviewers will need to be even more aware of the similarity bias as the makeup of the workforce changes.

Q8) Elucidate the concepts of training and development.

Ans) Training is the process of quickly picking up a set of pre-programmed behaviours that relate to instructions for performing technical and mechanical tasks. A long-term process called development includes activities that enhance work performance, personality growth, advancement, and actualization of one's potential.

Organizations that receive training and development benefit from improved decision- and problem-solving-processes. It aids in the development of traits that successful employees and managers typically exhibit, such as leadership abilities, motivation, loyalty, and better attitudes. It shows a dedication to keeping staff members abreast on knowledge and best practises.

The ability to produce new knowledge and not just use the current is necessary for the organisation to be able to gain competitive advantage through employee training and development and the learning organisation. As a result, ongoing staff training and development is crucial for the improvement of both individual and organisational performance.

Q9) Describe various factors affecting employee retention.

Ans) The factors affecting employee retention are as follows:

1. Some organisations place a strong importance on loyalty, respect for one another, and teamwork. While some organisations place greater emphasis on individual initiative and job performance, these organisations keep their personnel for a long time. Such businesses experience high employee turnover rates.

2. Employers who practise open communication keep their staff informed about policy developments. By letting workers know that their opinions are respected, two-way communication improves employee retention.

3. Organizations that strategically position themselves high in the market are more successful at keeping people than are organisations without a strategic plan for expansion.

4. Employee retention in any firm is significantly influenced by competitive compensation and perks.

5. Flexible work hours lessen time and role conflict as well as unneeded stress at work. Because it lessens employee withdrawal syndrome and the impulse to explore for new job vacancies, it has a favourable effect on staff retention.

6. Regardless of their current position or status, the existing workforce anticipates career advancement.

Q10) Elucidate psychological contract.

Ans) Bohlander and Snell described psychological contract as “expectations of fair exchange of employment obligations between an employee and employer”. As a result, if the company wants the employee to work diligently and honestly, the employee expects the employer to offer the appropriate incentives and facilities.

The expectations that the employer and employee have of one another are referred to as the psychological contract. In the context of the employee, expectations relate to what the person will provide to the organisation, and on the side of the organisation, expectations relate to what the organisation expects to give the employee in return.

Q11) Describe the ways of promoting occupational safety

Ans) The ways of promoting occupational safety are as follows:

1. Employees must be made aware of the organization's policies, standards, and laws regarding behaviours connected to safety and health in a clear and specific manner, and any violations must be dealt with severely.

2. The intrinsic desire of the workforce to utilise the devices and exercise appropriate caution while at work must be the main emphasis of any awareness effort.

3. The causes of accidents and health-related difficulties that employees experience can be understood and prevented by keeping track of these incidents.

4. The organisation can help with this by setting up free consultations for the staff.

5. There might be frequent courses on behavioural skills and stress management, as well as employee counselling services.

6. Employees' mental wellness needs to be promoted, and regular yoga, meditation, and mindfulness workshops can help with this.

7. Threat assessment can be done in relation to the backup system, mail handling, evacuation, interior security, authorities' involvement, and access to the reception area.