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Through these tools, the
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AN INTRODUCTION TO DIFFERENTIATED LEARNING TOOLS
Participants in flexible learning programs have
limitations on the nature of the time they can spend on learning. Typically
they are employed fully or partially, pursuing higher studies or have other
social and familial responsibilities. Availability of time is a great
constraint to these students.
To aid
the participants, we have developed four unique learning tools as below:
·
Bullet Notes : Helps in
introducing the important concepts in
each unit
of curriculum, equip
the student during preparation of examinations and
·
Case Studies : Illustrate the concepts through real life experiences
·
Workbook : Helps absorption of learning through questions based on real life
nuggets
·
PEP Notes : Sharing notes of practices and experiences in the Industry
will help the student to rightly perceive
and get inspired to learn concepts at the cutting edge application level.placementinterviews
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Why are these needed? |
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Adults learn differently
from B. School
or college going |
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students who spend long hours at campus. |
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Enhancing analytical skills through application related learning |
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kits trigger experiential learning |
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Availability of time is a challenge. |
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Career success increasingly depends on continuous learning |
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and success |
What· makes it relevant?
·
How· is it useful?
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Where· does this lead to?
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Easier to move ahead in the learning process.
·
Will
facilitate the student to complete the program earlier than otherwise.Helpsstay
motivated and connected.
When· is it useful?
·
© The ICFAI Foundation for Higher Education (IFHE),
Hyderabad, April, 2015. All rights reserved
No part
of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, used in a
spread sheet, or transmitted in any form or by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise – without prior permission in writing
from The ICFAI Foundation for Higher Education (IFHE), Hyderabad.
Ref. No.
CS - HRM - IFHE – 042015
For any clarification regarding
this book, the students may please write to The ICFAI Foundation for Higher
Education (IFHE), Hyderabad giving the above reference number of this book
specifying chapter and page number.
While every possible care has
been taken in type-setting and printing this book, The ICFAI Foundation for
Higher Education (IFHE), Hyderabad welcomes suggestions from students for
improvement in future editions.
ii
CONTENTS
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1. |
Employee Relations @ Infosys |
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2. |
Holacracy –
Zappos Business Model for
Knowledge-based Economy |
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3. |
Hyper Attention – A Performance Hurdle |
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4. |
Outplacement Services for VRS Optees of Nokia |
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5. |
Job Analysis at Narayana Health |
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6. |
A Good Recruitment Policy – BGR‟s Case |
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7. |
Selection through Academic Tie-Ups |
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8. |
On Boarding –
Search Model for Employee Potential |
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9. |
Career Counselling at Accenture |
10.
KPMG‟s Performance Management Strategy: From Forced
Distribution to
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Immediate Feedback |
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11. |
Pratt
& Whitney‟s Training
Center at Hyderabad – A Growth
Path |
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12. |
Compensation Mechanism to Encourage Research and
Development |
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13. |
Lifestyle Management – The PepsiCo Way |
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14. |
Army Veterans Grievance Handling Portal (AVGH) – Initiative to |
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Resolve Grievances at a Click of Button |
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15. |
ARLI‟s
Zero-tolerance Policy to Address On-the-job Behavior |
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16. |
Unite‟s
Democratic Support for the Workers
Cause in UK |
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17. |
Role of Government in Maintaining Industrial Relations – A Case of Bosch |
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18. |
Google, Inc.: Providing Quality Work Life |
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19. |
Role of Education in Successful
Implementation of Quality Circles |
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20. |
Zions‟
Technique to Improve Employee Engagement |
iii
Introduction to the Case Study
Participants in ICFAI University
Programs are eager to apply theory into practice. They realize that application
orientation can enhance their learning and subsequent usage of management
precepts and practices. Picking out the principle behind real world events is
critical to this learning.
To fulfil this objective the
institution has introduced the Case Study methodology as a learning tool. A one
page case is developed for learning a concept/topic from an illustration of a
real world occurrence. The case illustrates a situation pertinent to an
individual/a company/an industry or an economy in relation to a concept or
issue covered in the curriculum. The illustration is specific to the point
being discussed.
The case depicts the knowledge
which can be applied as illustrated in the practice of the real world. These
experiences can be distilled to look at a core principle at play by the
participant. While there could be multiple principles at play, the illustration
of each case helps in its better understanding of the concept at a very
fundamental level.
The
learning outcomes expected are:
1.
Real
world is illustrated and connected back to one concept/topic for better
theoretical understanding.
2.
Application
based approach, which significantly enhances absorption and retention.
3.
Exposure
to specific business situations and developments improves perspective.
It may be used for Assessment.
iv
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1 |
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Employee Relations @ Infosys |
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Infosys, an India-based global
consulting and IT services firm was co-founded by Narayana Murthy, Nandan
Nilekani and 5 other engineers in 1981. The company was headquartered at
Bangalore, Karnataka. In 2014, Infosys clocked revenue of $ 500 billion. It
employed more than 160, 000 employees in the same year and had a market
capitalization of about $34 billion.
Vishal Sikka took over as the CEO
of Infosys in 2014. Sikka steered the
company‟s focus towards improving employee relations and employee
engagement (Refer Chart 1).
Chart 1:
Measures to Enhance Employee Relations
Revised Promotion s Policy to Accelerate
ü Comprised
of representatives from
ü
all the countries Infosys
operated in. Improved diversity based on nationality, differently- abled and genderCreatedaGlobal Diversity Council
Set-up a rapid reaction team – The SWAT
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team |
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Tracked
employee feedback |
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continuously |
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Took immediate action on the same |
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Comprised of 12 employees and was |
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ü |
headed by a business leader |
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Had representatives from diverse |
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functions including Finance,
HR, IT, |
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etc. |
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Had resolved 11 issues in
November |
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and 10 issues in October 2014. |
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Examples of Problems Resolved: |
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Extended the benefits of the |
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„InfyGold+‟ program to family members
allowing them to avail discounts across hotel bookings,
ü
retail, etc.
Hassle-free extension of maternity leave by one month on valid medical
grounds, etc.
“Sikka’s
Initiatives
to
Improve
Employee
Relations”
Prospectsü for Career Growth From
2014, employees were promoted on a quarterly basis instead
ü
of a bi-annual basis.
Between April-September 2014,
19,000
„Infoscions‟ (Infosys employees) were promoted
Leadershipü Program for Infoscions Partnered
with The Stanford
ü
Graduate School of Business
Planned to enroll 200 Infoscions into a one-year, part-time leadership
ü
program in March 2015 Infoscions
would participate in batches of 40 over a span of 3 years
Initiatives to Encourage Innovation
ü An
employee engagement program
ü called „Murmurations‟ was
introduced
Encouraged over 160,000 Infoscions to share innovative ideas directly
with the top management
Adapted
from: “Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka Okays 5000 Promotions to Improve Employee
Morale”, Varun
Sood, The Economic Times, August 8, 2014
The company had renewed its focus on employee
relations to:
·
Improve its „employee utilization‟.
·
Improve „employee productivity‟. This was predicted
to be the key factor for propelling Infosys back as an industry leader
according to Angel Broking, a reputed stock-broking and wealth-management
Indian company.
·
Reduce „employee attrition‟ and boost employee
morale.
5
Experts
had voiced the following concerns over the company‟s endeavors of improving employee relations:
1.
Keeping
the young employees engaged. The average age of Infoscions was 28 years.
Keeping these young employees emotionally connected with the company would not
be an easy task.
2.
The „professional‟ attitude of the contemporary workforce had made talent retention a challenge. In June 2014, the company
reported an attrition rate of 19.5%. Competitors, Cognizant and Wipro ITS
witnessed 14.5% and 16.3% attrition rates respectively in Q4 2013.
„Employee
Relations’ involves
developing relationships between employees, their managers and the
organization with the aim of improving the organizational performance. Under
Sikka‟s leadership Infosys renewed its focus on improving the company‟s
relationship with its employees. Infosys
introduced several initiatives in
order to enhance employee engagement and thereby boost employee morale and
lower employee attrition.
Discussion
Questions:
1.
Discuss
the measures taken by Infosys to improve its employee relations.
(Hints:
Global Diversity Council-The „SWAT‟ team-leadership
program for Infusions)
2.
What
reasons prompted the company to re-focus on its relationship with its
employees?
(Hints: employee attrition – productivity – improve
employee efficiency)
Course Reference: Concept-Employee Relations/ Unit-Introduction to HRM/ Subject-HRM Sources:
i. `Sangeetha
Chengappa, “Infosys to Connect More Deeply with Staff,” Business Line, December
5, 2014
ii. Varun
Sood, “Infosys CEO Vishal Sikka Okays 5000 Promotions to Improve Employee
Morale,” The
Economic Times, August 8, 2014
iii. “Indian
IT Sees High Attrition as Market Rebounds,”www.cxotoday.com, February 27,2014
Other Keywords: Organizational
Behavior
6
Zappos, an online retailer based
in Las Vegas was founded by Nick Swinmurn in 1999.Zapposproduct list included shoes,
handbags, eyewear, accessories and clothing. It was
acquired by Amazon in November 2009 for $1.2
billion.
In 2014, Zappos
planned to transform itself from traditional hierarchical structure to a more
flat structure, a structure that had no specific job titles as employees played
multiple roles, with transparency throughout the company and with increased
personal accountability. In simple terms what the CEO Tony
Hsieh
called it as “Holacracy”. Holacracy was derived from the word „holarchy‟, named
by Arthur Koestler.
According to him, holarchy was a hierarchy of self-regulating units/ holons.
In Holacracy, there were no leaders; leadership was
represented by organizing different circles and distributing the power
throughout, as under:
·
· Distributed
authority: Each person was a leader and follower of others
Processing tensions:
Set up clear processes for “governance” and “operations” to reduce
·
tensions
·
Governance Meetings: Gave clarity
on accountability, authority and limitations
Operations and tactical meetings: Planned the
next-actions and aimed for outcomes
Zappos planned to adopt Holacracy to empower its
employees and to create transparency and accountability by overcoming the
limitations (Refer Table 1).
Table 1: Benefits and limitations of Holacracy:
Benefits
·
Promoted
teamwork
·
Provided
flexible work structure with autonomy
·
Providedstress
free environment
·
Encouragedemployee
commitment with clarity of roles
·
Offeredfuturistic
orientation
·
Developed
psychological ownership
Limitations
When speedy and effective
decisions were needed and seniors could handle them, decision making would be
time-consuming and delayed, if
·
delegated
When the supervisor had valuable
local knowledge to make the decisions, delegation was not
·
necessary
When decision making involved
more resources and efforts to
coordinate them, senior
executives could make the decisions
Adapted by the author from the source: Nicolai J.
Foss and Peter G. Klein, “Why Managers
Still Matter”, MIT Sloan Management Review, September 16, 2014
Zappos adopted flatter operating structure in 2014.
It was trying to empower all its 1,500 employees by organizing them in to 400
different circles that were playing multiple roles.
Many consumer-centric „organizations’ have
replaced vertical functional departments that had tall hierarchies with flat
and horizontal cross-functional „structures’ to reduce
redundancy and enable
free flow of ideas and information. The employees
of such organizations feel empowered leading to employee development. The
exceptional performance of Zappos‟ employees led to a new business
model with flat structure – Holacracy.
7
Discussion
Questions:
1.
Define
Holacracy model of leadership.
(Hints: delegating authority – clarity on governance- focus on outcomes)
2.
Why did
Zappos plan to adopt Holacracy?
(Hints: autonomy-role clarity-effective decision making)
Course Reference: Concept- Organizational Structure and Human Resources /Unit-
Organizational Structure and HRM/
Subject- Human Resource Management.
Sources:
i. Nicolai
J. Foss and Peter G. Klein, “Why Managers Still Matter”,MITSloan Management
Review, September
16, 2014
ii. Lisa
Wirthman, “Is Flat Better? Zappos Ditches Hchy To Improve Company Performance”,
Forbes, January 7,
2014
iii. John
Bunch, “Leadership in Holacracy”, Zapposinsights, January 13, 2014
Other Keywords: Organizational
Behavior, Organization Development.
8
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3 |
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Hyper Attention – A
Performance Hurdle |
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In 2014, China was predicted to
emerge as a consumption superpower overtaking Japan, with private consumption
of 8% of the total world consumption. McKinsey reported that urbanization was
also adding to the increase in Chinese consumption. The growth was anticipated
to reach 27 trillion yuan by 2020. E-commerce market was also expected to reach
$540 billion.
While
China‟s consumer market was seen growing and firms were expected to flourish, managers and executives in Chinese subsidiaries felt that visits by the
executives from headquarters (Europe/US) hampered their performance rather than
adding value to business. 55 Interviews conducted on global branch managers of
various industries producing products and services revealed the truth. The
issues that
were believed· to have influenced the performance were:
Frequency
of visits: Each visit consumed the subsidiary manager and staff‟s time in making preparations for the meeting such as
planning schedules, preparation of agendas, business reviews. At times staff
was forced to spend their weekends to make the visit
·
successful.
Extra workload: Executives from Headquarter disturbed the business flow by demanding
·
more
information and reports to support their decisions, after the visit.
Failing
to understand the Chinese market: Headquarter
managers were perceived to
have understood the potential of Chinese market and
had unrealistic expectations.
To add value to the subsidiary business and to
build a constructive relationship between the managers of
Headquarters and subsidiaries, the study
recommended certain guidelines (Refer Chart 1):
Chart 1:
Guidelines recommended for Headquarters and Subsidiaries
Guidelines
Understand the local subsidiary business by
·
intHeadquartersractingwith customers and staff Act as entrepreneur
(subsidiary) and
·
consultants
(headquarter)
Spend qualitative time to understand the subsidiary manager‟s priorities
·
Postpone
or discourage the visits
·
Say “no” to unrealistic goalsSubsidiaries Convert headquarter executives to advocate by focusing on the priority
issues of subsidiary
Adapted by the author from the source: Cyril Bouquet
et al, “The Perils of Attention From
Headquarters”, MIT Sloan Management
Review, November 5, 2014
Chinese customers being more
aware of global outlook were expected to be the potential customers for
consumer markets. The guidelines recommended by the study might help the firms
that entered or planned to enter the Chinese market in understanding the
priorities of subsidiary firms.
Global firms should adopt „polycentric
approach’ to foster their growth in foreign market by allowing the
subsidiaries to focus on local systems .Polycentric approach views the world as
a differentiated marketplace where varying needs have to be catered to. They
adopt customized strategies, products, policies, and systems.
Discussion
Questions:
1.
Explain
the implications of polycentric approach in performance management. (Hints: customization-relationship-quality
time to prioritize)
2.
List out
the recommendations made by the study to build a constructive relationship
between managers of headquarters and subsidiaries.
(Hints: limit the number of visits -realistic goals –prioritization)
Course Reference: Concept- Approaches to IHRM –Polycentric approach/ Unit-
International Human Resource Management/
Subject- Human Resource Management.
Sources:
i) Cyril
Bouquet et al,”The Perils of Attention From Headquarters”, MIT Sloan Management
Review,
November 5, 2014
ii) Mianyang
and Shaghai, “Going it their way”, The Economist, January 25, 2014
Other Keywords: International
Human Resource Management.
9
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4 |
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Outplacement Services for VRS
Optees of Nokia |
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Nokia, a one of the leading
mobile phones manufacturer in India was forced to shut down its Chennai plant
from November 1, 2014. Nokia had a market share of 80 percent but could not
sustain in the market
with the emergence of smart phones from competitors
like Samsung, Apple, Sony and Panasonic. Consequently,
Nokia‟s global devices and services business were acquired by Microsoft
for$7.2 billion
on April 25, 2014.
As the Sri Perumbudur plant was
not taken over by Microsoft, Nokia suspended the operations at the plant from
November 1, 2014. This left 6,700 employees jobless at the Chennai Nokia plant.
Trade unions and political
parties tried their best to save the livelihood of workers but could not
succeed. Finally, in April 2014, Nokia announced layoffs by offering VRS
scheme. While 5,000 employees opted for it, the remaining employees were
expected to opt later. This was perhaps the largest VRS ever offered in India.
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Nokia offered the following benefits to the
employees who opted for VRS: |
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Compensating 15 month salary (three months for
each year of experience) for employees |
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with a service of five years or
more |
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Compensating Rs.100,000 and two times the daily
salary for the earned leaves surrendered, |
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for employees with a service less
than five years |
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In addition |
· |
to these benefits, it also planned to offer
bridge initiatives to the employees by providing |
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Banking consultancy services |
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Expert‟s
assistance in searching new employment avenues |
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Training sessions at 40 locations in Tamil Nadu
to develop the required skills for new areas |
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and to educate them on 30 skill
development modules |
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Certificates for the skills gained |
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Employment facilities by inviting potential
employers |
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Limited
grant to employees
with more than
six years to fulfil
their entrepreneurial or |
academic ambitions
The benefits and bridge
initiatives offered by Nokia helped the VRS optees in learning new skills
required to suit the needs of potential employers invited by the company.
The services provided by the organizations in
searching other employment opportunities for their
displaced employees and providing assistance to
them in getting new jobs are called „outplacement services’. The Nokia‟s bridge initiative plan stands as an example for
the outplacement services.
Discussion
Questions:
1.
How does
outplacement help displaced employees? (Hints:
compensation-consultancy)
2.
Explain
the initiatives taken by Nokia to outplace its VRS optees.
(Hints: job search-training-employment)
Course Reference: Concept- Outplacement /Unit- Human Resource Planning /Subject- Human
Resource Management.
Sources:
i)
BS Reporter, “Nokia staff urge Jaya to ensure job
security”, Business Standard News, May 4, 2014
ii) TE
Narasimhan&GireeshBabu,“5000 at Nokia Chennai unit opt for compensation
exit route”, Business
Standard News, May 5, 2014
iii) Anna
Isaac, “Nokia shuts down its India plant in Chennai, over 8000 workers lose
job”, CNN-IBN Live,
November
1, 2014
Other Keywords: Recruitment,
Training and Development.
10
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5 |
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Job Analysis at Narayana
Health |
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Narayana Health, one of the India‟s largest and World‟s most economical healthcare service
providers was ranked 36th among the „World‟s 50 Most Innovative
Companies‟ by Fast Company magazine in
2012. It emerged as a global
industry model for a one-stop destination for all healthcare requirements. It
had 26 hospitals across 16 cities in India with nearly 6,900 bed facility.
In knowledge economy, knowledge
and skilled workers were seldom available. A research by McKinsey Global
Institute also predicted that by 2020, the shortage of highly skilled workers
could reach to 13% of demand. To reduce the gap, companies were redesigning
their critical/skilled and proficient jobs by assigning some of the tasks to
lower-skill people, internally or to external sources. Narayana Hrudayalaya
identified the simple tasks involved in the process of surgery through job
analysis (Refer chart 2) and assigned the simple tasks (Refer chart 1) to its
junior surgeons and facilitated their surgeons to focus more on specialized
tasks.
Chart 1:
Narayana Hrudayalaya Cardiac Hospital’s Model
Adapted by the author from the
source: Martin Dewhurst et al,”
Redesigning Knowledge Work”, Harvard
Business Review, January 2013
Chart 2:
Process of redesigning high-end knowledge work:
Adapted by the author from the
source: Martin Dewhurst et al,”Redesigning
Knowledge Work”, Harvard Business
Review, January 2013
Process redesigning as a part of
job analysis at Narayana Hrudayalaya Cardiac Hospital saved the cost of
outsourcing and helped junior surgeons to learn through practical work and also
increased their job satisfaction.
11
‘Job analysis’ is the process of determining and recording all the
relevant information about a specific job, including the tasks
involved, the knowledge and skill set required to perform the job effectively.
Narayana Hrudayalaya model uses job analysis to select the simple and manageable
tasks in a high-end knowledge work of senior surgeons and assigns the tasks to
junior surgeons.
Discussion
Questions:
1.
Define the process of conducting
Job Analysis. (Hints: simplification-assignment-restructure)
2.
How did
job analysis benefit Narayana Health?
(Hints: cost effective-practicality-increased employee
morale)
Course Reference:
Concept- Job Analysis /Unit- Job Analysis and Design/ Subject- Human Resource
Management.
Sources:
i. Martin
Dewhurst et al, ”Redesigning Knowledge Work”, Harvard Business Review, January
2013
ii. Martin
Dewhurst et al, Redesigning Knowledge Work”, The Hindu, January 16, 2013
iii. Narayana
Health, Home Page, About us, NH OVERVIEW
Other Keywords: Organization
Development.
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6 |
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A Good Recruitment Policy –
BGR’s Case |
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BGR Energy Systems Limited was
initially named as GEA Energy System (India) limited when it was run as a joint
venture between German based GEA Energie technik GmbH and the Promoter B.G.
Raghupathy in 1985. In 1993, the business was taken over by the family
members of Raghupathy and in 2007 it was
renamed as BGR Energy Systems Limited. BGR‟s business included two segments
- supply
of Systems and Equipment and Turnkey Engineering
project contracting.
Edwin B. Flippo, referred
recruitment as “a process of searching for prospective employees and
stimulating them to apply for jobs in the organization”. The organizational
factors such as the reputation
of the organization, the culture of the
organization, the channels and methods used for advertising the
vacancy influence the success or failure of a recruitment program. A
good recruitment policy should be in accordance
with the organization‟s objectives and policies and should conform to the
government
policies on hiring and provide maximum employment
security.
In 2014, BGR Energy Systems Limited posted a
cautionary message in newspapers and its website
asking public to beware of the
fake advertisements about job openings in the company. This
initiative
was taken consequent upon some deceptive acts that
occurred such as:
·
· Agencies /persons claimed to be part of the
HR team of the company
· Deceived
through email ids similar to that of the company email id
· Fake
advertisements and calls
Collected money in the form of security deposit,
reference fees, etc. towards appointment
letters
The company disclosed its well-defined recruitment
policy as a precautionary message and to curb the
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fraud perpetrated by unscrupulous elements. Such
type of cautionary message helped aspiring candidates |
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in |
· Avoiding false mails and calls |
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· |
Saving time and money |
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· |
Providing a location for genuine recruitment
advertisements/notifications |
Helped the company to:
·
Get the right talent
·
A good „recruitment policy’ of an organization should be flexible and reflect the
company‟s people-policies. The preventive steps taken by the BGR in
posting its recruitment policy depicts the strong people-policies.
Discussion
Questions:
1.
How is a firm‟s recruitment policy framed?
(Hints: deceptive actions – maintain reputation)
2.
Why did
BGR take the initiative of disclosing its recruitment policy?
(Hints: caution candidate –genuineness–talent
acquisition)
Course Reference:
Concept-Recruitment policy/Unit-Recruitment/Subject- Human Resource Management.
Sources:
i. BGR
Energy Systems Limited, Home Page, About Us
ii. BGR
Energy Systems Limited, Home Page, Careers
iii. BGR
Cautionary Advertisement, The Hindu, page 18, October 18, 2014
Other Keywords: -
Recruitment, Training and Development.
13
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7 |
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Selection through Academic
Tie-Ups |
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ICICI Bank was founded in 1994 by
ICICI Limited (a wholly-owned subsidiary). It used to offer only project
finance up to 1990. From 1990 it started offering a range of products and
services to different
financial services group. Its
primary goal was to offer financial services to medium-term and long-term
projects throughout India. As on March 31, 2014, the bank‟s profit after tax was Rs. 98.10 billion ($
1,637 million). It had 3,845 branches with 12,012
ATM centers throughout India.
In 2000, When ICICI planned to
expand its retail business; it searched for the requisite talent. It could not
find the right talent and introduced some training programmes to the existing
employees. The program was found time consuming and affected the productivity
of employees. ICICI then decided to develop an ecosystem for itself for the
supply of professionals.
Further it approached Business
Schools to introduce vocational education by adopting their syllabus in to the
curriculum. As the approach failed, it planned to go for tie-ups with academic
and training institutions. It tied up with different institutions for supply of
different professionals. Its association with NIIT University met the staffing
needs for middle managers, National Institute of Securities Markets for
executives in treasury and investment functions, ITM group for sales officers
and Manipal Global Education for probationary officers. These institutions
offered different programs by designing their curriculum in tune with the
requirements of ICICI Bank.
Chart 1:
The selection process of candidates through such programs were:
Adapted by the author from the
source: M Saraswathy, Banking jobs up for grabs, Business Standard News, March
13, 2014.
These programs not only helped
ICICI Bank in reducing its attrition rate and training costs but also helped
candidates in becoming successful professionals at ICICI Bank. These officers
were also given opportunity to pursue further education. HDFC Bank, Syndicate
Bank and many other public and private banks followed suit.
The selection process’ in an organization depends on the strategy and
objectives of the organization, the tasks and responsibilities
associated with the job, the qualification required, and characteristics
required in an individual. ICICI Bank developed its own manpower supply system
associating itself with different institutions to fill up the talent gap with
the requisite qualification and skill sets.
14
Discussion
Questions:
1.
Why were
banks tying up with educational institutes to fill their talent gaps? (Hints: manpower planning – cover talent gaps)
2.
Explain
the selection process adopted by ICICI Bank?
(Hints: invitation –
selection – placement)
Course Reference: Concept- The Selection Process – Unit – Selection –
Subject - Human Resource Management
Sources:
i. “Syndicate
Bank Recruitment 2014 through Post Graduate Diploma in Banking”,I ndia Today,
November 6,
2014.
ii. “Banking
Sector May Create Up To 20 Lakh New Jobs”, The Hindu, Business Line, February
9, 2014.
iii. M
Saraswathy, “Banking jobs up for grabs”, Business Standard, March 13, 2014.
iv. BeenaParmar,
“5-7 lakh banking jobs in the offing”,Business
Line, June 30, 2014.
Other Keywords: Recruitment,
Training and Development
15
8
On
Boarding – Search Model for Employee Potential
Red Hat Corporation, a US based
public company founded in 1993, offered software solutions in 5 key technology
areas: cloud, middleware, operating platform, storage, and virtualization with
a subscription model. In 2014, it had about 6,100 employees working around the
globe at 80 offices in 35 countries, with headquarters located at Raleigh,
North Carolina.
Companies observed onboarding process as an
opportunity to create long term employee engagement and growth while employees observed it as a reflection of company‟s
workplace culture. In the initial days of
employment, if people were not
given special attention, they would feel disappointed. However, Red Hat
explored onboarding process as a new model for identifying employee potential.
|
Onboarding |
· |
process
of Red Hat: |
|
|
New hires were taken to the
Raleigh headquarters for exhaustive multiple-day program |
|
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|
· |
Employees were asked to go
through their culture practice - brand
book (called as „Bible‟) |
|
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· |
Introduced to the program inductors |
|
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· |
Provided Red Hat uniform and red cap as a symbol
of team building |
|
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· |
Engaged with employees and provided challenging
opportunities |
To retain the talented people
selected through vigorous pursuit and to strengthen and add value to the
recruitment policy, organizations should improvise their HR policies to make the
onboarding experience a cherished moment for the employee. The precautions that
needed to be taken to seek employee engagement as a part of successful
onboarding included the following steps.
i.
Emphasize team building: Organize the process through teamwork and reiterate
company's objectives
ii.
Gave a personal touch: Assign a mentor to each new hire to help and
suggest them in attaining the skills
required for smooth transition
iii.
Accentuate employer brand: Reflect the brand and factors of reputation in to
onboarding to confirm their
existence
iv.
Permit to use personal brand: Encourage them to use social media to strengthen
employer brand
v.
Ensure the process with check-ins: Ensure proper onboarding through feedback using personal interactions, surveys and
conversations with each mentor
Red Hat on boarding experience reflected the
organization culture and helped in adding value to the company through
long-term employee engagement and employee growth.
Organizational socializing, or ‘onboarding
’new employees in the right way at the time of their joining, yield
good results. Red Hat moved a step ahead perceiving onboarding as a model to
identify employee potential.
Discussion
Questions:
1.
Explain
the measures to be taken for successful onboarding.
(Hints: building teams- acquiring skills –collecting feedback through personal
interactions)
2.
Explain
the onboarding process of Red Hat.
(Hints: introducing to organizational culture-inclusion in
teams-allocating challenges)
Course Reference:
Concept- Onboarding /Unit- Socialization/ Subject- Human Resource Management.
Sources:
i.
“The Onboarding Experience
Matters To Your Future Employees”, www.forbes.com,Leadership, June 1, 2014
ii. Carly
Guthrie, “Employee Onboarding at Startups Is Broken – Here‟s How to Fix It”,
First Round.com
iii. REDHAT,
About us, Company details
Other Keywords: Recruitment,
Training and Development.
16
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9 |
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Career Counselling at
Accenture |
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Accenture, a leading
international provider of management consulting, outsourcing and technology
services was founded in 1989. Its revenue for the year ended August 31, 2014
was $30.0 billion. It had an employee strength of about 305,000 working in more
than 200 cities located across 56 countries with Its headquarters situated at
Dublin, Ireland.
Organizations were motivating
their employees by helping them in building their career path and by
identifying their competencies and providing them with the right opportunities.
In 2014, a study conducted by Tower Watson on what employees expected from the
companies and how companies perceived the employee needs, one of the HR expert
of Accenture expressed the following initiatives taken by them to reduce the
mismatch:
|
Initiatives taken by Accenture
to develop employee career paths: |
|
|
· |
Every employee was assigned with a career
counselor and mentor |
|
· |
Counselors
and employees met every quarter |
|
· |
Counselor was either a superior or manager |
|
· |
Employee‟s
future plans were discussed in the sessions |
|
· |
Counselors
set individual development plan in tune with the individual‟s goals |
|
· |
Employee was given an opportunity on acquiring
new skills, whenever a job opportunity |
|
· |
comes |
|
Career
counsellors played an
important role at
Accenture (Refer chart
1) to develop |
|
employee career paths.
Chart 1: Career counselor’s role at Accenture:
Career
Counselling
at
Accenture
Adapted by the author from the
source:
http://careers.accenture.com/in-en/your-future/training-counseling/Pages/index.aspx
In 2012, Accenture was working
hard to retain its talent through external tie ups. Several talent management
initiatives were taken such as collaborating with XLRI to build HR talent, and
with ISB to develop middle management and with IGNOU to develop the talent in
BPO sector. Its focus was continuously on being a learning organization and as
such it had focused on internal development.
In organizations, the supervisor counsels the employee through „career
counseling’ regarding the available opportunities, the
employee‟s aspirations, and their competencies and helps them in
building
career planning program. The initiatives taken by
Accenture management helped its employees in building their career plans by
getting continuous guidance from the counselors assigned.
17
Discussion
Questions:
1.
What do
you understand by career counselling?
(Hints: competency mapping – employee perception -career building)
2.
How is
career planning done at Accenture?
(Hints: clarity on job specifications-continuous
support-open feedback)
Course Reference: Concept- Career Counseling – Unit – Managing
Careers/Subject – Human Resource Management
Sources:
i. Chanpreet
Khurana, “The Clarity Principle”, LiveMint, November 30, 2014
ii. Goutam
Das, “Accenture Inida‟s HR head on its policies”, Business Today, February 14,
2012
iii. Accenture,
Home Page, Your Future, Training and Career Counselling
Other Keywords:
Recruitment, Training and Development
18
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KPMG’s
Performance Management Strategy: From |
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10 |
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Forced
Distribution to Immediate Feedback |
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KPMG was formed in 1987, as a
result of a merger between Peat Marwick International (PMI) and Klynveld Main
Goerdeler (KMG), with its headquarters situated at Amstelveen, Netherlands. It
started operating in India in 1993 and had its branches located in Ahmadabad,
Bangalore, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai and
Pune. It offered advisory services in the areas of risk management, financial
and business, tax and regulatory, internal audit and corporate governance
across nations. In 2014, its employee strength was 162,000 with a turnover of
$24.82 billion.
In 2014, there was a growing
competition for talent and plenty of opportunities were available for talented
people in the market. As such, to protect its talent and recruit the best
talent, KPMG had planned to revise its policies (Refer Chart 1) on employee
engagement, performance management and recruitment strategies. It planned to
launch the new policy from April 1, 2015 on a pilot basis. KPMG was following
the conventional forced distribution performance appraisal system. The
challenges that forced it to reframe its performance management policy were:
·
Categorizing
employees on ranking system
·
Understanding
and executing properly
·
Rating
people on a scale of 5
·
Building internal competition between employees
·
Focus on
individual performance rather than team work
·
Hampering
the performance culture
The revised policies were expected to benefit KPMG
(Refer Chart 1):
Chart 1:
KPMG’s modified Performance Management Strategy
·
Motivate
employees to share their experiences on business and communities
· Arrange inspirational and business leaders speech
·
Provide
regular feedback
·
Giving
high bonus for high performers
·
Clearly distinguishing theHigherPrupose
KPMG
·
Form
small groups across the organization
·
Encourage
team work
·
Eliminate
internal competition
·
Adopt job
rotation
· Grow high
performance culture
·
Promote value discussion on
performanceConnect
Adapted
by the author from the source: Rica Bhattacharyya “KPMG tweaks employee engagement programmes to retain,
recruit the best”, ET Bureau, November 4, 2014
KPMG was experimenting with the new system to ascertain
whether this would work well and to shield its talent and to fill the talent
gaps.
KPMG faced challenges with the conventional
performance appraisal system. The three commonly used methods of ranking
are alternation, paired comparison, and „forced distribution’. Forced
distribution is used where there is large number of
employees. In forced distribution method, employees are categorized as „Top‟,
„Standard‟, and „Bottom‟ and are placed under a forced-
distribution curve. KPMG is experimenting to
preserve and recruit the best talent by replacing forced distribution method of
performance management through reformed strategies.
Discussion
Questions:
1.
Why do
organizations conduct performance appraisals?
(Hints: motivate – increase
employee engagement- manage performance)
19
2. In what ways is the new policy of performance appraisal expected to
benefit KPMG?
(Hints: distinguishing high and low performers-eliminate
internal competition-value addition)
Course Reference: Concept- Forced distribution – Unit – Performance Appraisal –
Subject - Human Resource Management
Sources:
i. Rica
Bhattacharyya, “KPMG to move away from bell curve-based
performance appraisal”, ET Bureau,
Economic Times, December 19, 2014.
ii. Rica
Bhattacharyya, “KPMG tweaks employee engagement programmes to retain, recruit
the best”, ET Bureau,
Economic Times, November 4, 2014.
iii.
“How Cos like InMobi, KPMG,
Godrej & others are redesigning appraisals”, ET Bureau, Economic Times, April 11, 2014.
Other Keywords:
Business Environment and Law.
20
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Pratt
& Whitney’s Training Center at Hyderabad – |
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11 |
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A
Growth Path |
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Pratt & Whitney (P&W),
the aerospace manufacturing subsidiary of United Technologies (an innovative
company serving commercial aerospace, defense and airlines) was set up in 1925
by Frederick Brant Rentschler- a man who believed in integrity, product quality
and shared vision as core principles and practices. The company had 31,500
employees working for about 11,000 customers in 180 countries across the world.
Its total revenue in 2013 was $14.5 billion.
In 2014,
around 300 aircrafts in India used P&W and International Aero Engines (a
joint venture with major stake holding by P&W). Further GoAir and IndiGo ordered
72 and 150 A320 new planes and Air Costa ordered 150 E-2 jets that use P&W
engines. During the same period, in a press release, the Managing Director of
Pratt & Whitney said that India has largest growth potential in aviation
market after US and China. He believed that the growth of annual passenger
traffic from 50 million to 150-160 million in the last decade would reach 400
million and above in seven to eight years.
He also assumed that the expected
growth can be met only with continuous supply of talent. To achieve the
objective, Pratt & Whitney planned to set up a training center in Hyderabad
at GMR International airport, its third centre after the US and China. The
objective of setting the training center was to train the aircraft engineers
and technicians in current and new engine models as well as to adapt to the
technological changes. As part of training, aircraft engineers were offered
class-room and on-job training to match the skill set required to perform their
jobs and to improve effectiveness. They had to pass the examination to get the
endorsement on their licence from the DGCA (Director General of Civil
Aviation).
|
The benefits |
· |
of
locating centre at Hyderabad were: |
|
|
Growth of aviation sector in
the country |
|
|
|
· |
Training center for engineers,
technicians and instructors at home country |
|
|
· |
Saving training costs for airlines |
|
|
· |
Bridging the talent gap |
Setting up a training center at
Hyderabad could facilitate serving the clients at home country than sending
them to locations in far off geographies for training purpose. People from
Middle East and South Asia were also expected to participate in the training
programme.
„Skill-based training’ helps
employees to improve their job effectiveness and ability to adapt to the
technological changes. Launch of Pratt & Whitney‟s training center at
Hyderabad could help the
company enhance the skills of engineers,
technicians and instructors thereby fostering the growth of aviation industry.
Discussion
Questions:
1.
How does
providing skill based training to aircraft engineers help the aviation
industry? (Hints: development of
industry-development of skills - reducing talent gap)
2.
Why did
Pratt & Whitney plan to open the training center at Hyderabad?
(Hints: location benefits – saving costs - supplying trained manpower)
Course Reference: Concept-Skill-based training/Unit-Employee Training and Management
Development/Subject-Human Resource Management.
Sources:
i. BS
Reporter, “Pratt & Whitney setting up training centre in Hyderabad”, Business
Standard News, October 16,
2014
ii. Aneesh
Phadnis, “P & W to develop engine training centre at Hyderabad”, Business
Standard News, March 17,
2014
iii. United
Technologies, Our Company, Key Facts
Other Keywords: Recruitment, Training and Development, Organizational Development.
21
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12 |
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Compensation Mechanism to Encourage Research and |
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Development |
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Research and Development
(R&D) plays a vital role in the development of a country. It helps country
to prosper through innovations. The Government of India significantly invested
in Research and Development by establishing universities, technological
Institutions and research centers. However, the top spenders on Research and
Development (R&D) were from private sector companies such as Ranbaxy
Laboratories,
Dr Reddy‟s Laboratories, Tata Steel, Mahindra & Mahindra and Cadila. With
full support from the
government, the R&D sector was expected to grow at a CAGR (Compound Annual
Growth Rate) of 14 percent i.e. $42 billion by 2020 as against $ 14.7 billion
in 2012.
In 2014, India had about 100,000
research scholars. While encouraging young and talented boys and girls to
pursue research was the need of the hour, the existing scholars were protesting
for the revision of their
stipend amounts.· The reasons for the protest were:
· Lack of
mechanism for regular evaluation of stipend
· Absence
of online fellowship disbursement mechanism
· Leave
travel allowance was not given for research scholars to visit home
· Scholarship
was inadequate to support the rising prices
· Fellowship
was not matching with fee hikes
Payment of stipend was irregular
In October 2014, The Union
Minister of State for Science & Technology announced the hike in
honorariums and also recommended instituting a mechanism (Refer Table 1) for
regular evaluation of scholarships. But the hike had a mixed reaction from
scientific community. Some academicians and research scholars recommended more
reforms. The reforms needed were:
Table 1:
Reforms recommended
Reforms
·
Gradual
increase in stipend
·
Adequate shcolarship to support
rising prices
·
Sanction of Medical coverage to
research shcolars
·
Timely disbursement of stipend
·
Allocating funds for laboratory
requirement Sanction of annual contingency for books
Adapted
by the author from the source: Mehta
Nikita, “Research stipends hiked by over 50%”, Livemint,
October
22, 2014 & Gandhi Divya, “Not Everyone is happy with hike in research
fellowships”, The Hindu,
October 21, 2014
It was opined by academicians
that people need decent income to undertake research as a career. Hike in the
fellowships announced by the Government of India was expected to attract more
people with inclination for research.
‘Compensation
administration’ is a system of compensating employees in a fair
manner and matching the expectation of the employees. Honorarium hike
announced by the government matched some of the expectations of research
scholars in meeting the increasing cost of living and improving quality of work
life.
Discussion
Questions:
1.
Explain
the objectives of compensation administration.
(Hints: quality of life
–attracting to pursue research – respects
the profession)
2.
What were
the reforms required in the compensation offered by the government to research
scholars? (Hints: matching rising
prices-avoid delays in disbursement-sufficient funds for extra benefits)
22
Course Reference:
Concept- Compensation administration /Unit- Compensation Management/ Subject-
Human Resource Management.
Sources:
i. Shounak
Ghosal, “Stipend hike cheer for researchers”, The Times of India, October 23,
2014
ii. Nikita
Mehta, “Research stipends hiked by over 50%”, Live
mint, October 22, 2014
iii. Divya
Gandhi, “Not Everyone is happy with hike in research fellowships”, The Hindu,
October 21, 2014
Other Keywords:
Recruitment, Training and Development.
23
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13 |
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Lifestyle Management – The
PepsiCo Way |
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PepsiCo Inc., a New York based company engaged in
manufacturing, marketing and distribution of snack foods and beverages, was ranked second in “The World‟s Top 100
Food and Beverage Companies of 2013”
with a food sales of $65,492 million, in the world. It was established through
the merger of Pepsi-
Cola and Frito-Lay in 1965. In 2014, the company
had about 300,000 people working worldwide.
PepsiCo adopted a global wellness
strategy to keep its associates healthier. The company designed wellness
programs for its associates and promoted healthy behaviour so that the
associates could lead a quality life. It ensured the minimum employee benefits
such as medical, disability, life insurance and retirement benefits to its
employees across the globe.
A study conducted by RAND Corp. (a US based, not
for profit organization involved in research and
analysis) in 2013 proved that companies offering
such wellness programs were able to save disease management costs (Refer Chart 1). PepsiCo‟s wellness program for
employees‟ lifestyle management (Refer Chart 1) was referred to as PepsiCo‟s
Healthy Living wellness program. PepsiCo also gave
monetary rewards for undertaking
wellness programs. It gave incentives of $50 on completing the online wellness
program and $100 for phone-based program.
Chart 1:
The activities involved and benefits accrued from PepsiCo’s Wellness Program:
Adapted by the author from the
source :Japsen Bruce, “Healthy Lifestyle
Adoption Push May Not Save Employers
Money”, Forbes, January 6, 2014 &www.pepsico.com, Health and Safety, Benefits,
Workplace Wellness, Occupational Health &
Safety
The RAND study revealed that the
costs of motivating employees to adopt healthy living style were increasing and
while wellness programs contributed to reduction in hospital admission for
chronic illnesses, they could not significantly reduce healthcare costs and
improve savings.
‘Employee wellness programs’ should be conducted by organizations to guide the
employees in carrying out their work effectively. PepsiCo‟s wellness programs
illustrated their efforts towards
making their workplace, one of the best and great
places to work and achieve world-class health and safety performance.
24
Discussion
Questions:
1.
How do organizations take care of their employee‟s
health?
(Hints: designing health programs –providing benefits – conducting
wellness programs)
2.
How did
PepsiCo benefit from the employee wellness programs?
(Hints: top position-reduced healthcare costs-controlled fitness
costs)
Course Reference: Concept- Regular Employee Wellness Programs /Unit- Occupational Safety
and Health/ Subject-Human Resource Management.
Sources:
i. Bruce
Japsen, “Healthy Lifestyle Adoption Push May Not Save Employers Money”, Forbes,
January 6, 2014
ii. PepsiCo.com,
Health and Safety, Benefits, Workplace Wellness, Occupational Health &
Safety
iii. “Workplace
Wellness Programs Can Cut Chronic Illness Costs; Savings for Lifestyle Improvements
Are
Smaller”,
News for release, RAND Corporation, January 6, 2014
Other Keywords: Organization
Development.
25
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Army
Veterans Grievance Handling Portal (AVGH) – |
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14 |
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Initiative to Resolve Grievances at a Click of Button |
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In India, the Ministry of
Defence, formed under the charge of a Cabinet Minister was headed by its own
Commander-in-Chief, post-Independence. In 1955, the Commander-in-Chief was
renamed as the Chief of the Army Staff. The Department of Defence co-ordinated
the activities of: The Department of Defence Production, The Department of
Research and Development and The Department of Ex-Servicemen
Welfare. The policy directions on
defence and security issues were framed by the Ministry and its Departments and
these departments ensured their
effective implementation as per the Government‟s
directives.
In 2014, The Indian Army
established a new portal (Table 2) for the ex-servicemen and their dependants.
The internet based web portal was developed and designed by National
Informatics Centre (NIC) Ltd. It
was established as a part of
various initiatives taken by the Indian Army to quickly (Table 1) resolve the
grievances of ex-servicemen and „Veer
Naris‟ (the widows and mothers of martyrs who
had laid down
their lives in the service of the
Nation).
Table 1:
The benefits of the system were:
Benefits
Ease of contact with the concerned agencies
Taught about the latest policies, regulations,
entitlements and benefits
Facilitated easy interaction through web portal
Helped in tracking the grievance resolving progress
online
Informed about the status of the case
Subsequently, in Kolkata an
Eastern Command Army Veteran Cell was also launched. The cell was established
to serve the ex-servicemen by facilitating them in the grant of post-retirement
benefits, healthcare and canteen facilities. The ex-servicemen were given a
toll free number 1900-325-2477 to contact for resolving their issues. The cell
was headed by the widows and mothers of martyrs who
had laid down their lives in the service of
the Nation a Brigadier-ranked officer.
Table 2:
The grievance redressed process through AVGH was:
Steps in the process of AVGH
Veterans were given User ID and Password to login
to the web portal www.indianarmyveterans.gov.in
They had to refer the policy/regulations on the
latest entitlements and benefits on the web Post the complaints through web
login
Track the issues with the concerned offices online
The portal replied through automated response and
sent e-mail or message about the progress of the case
The AVGH portal helped the Indian
Army in meeting the expectations of the veterans and their dependants. The
development of the portal showed the commitment of Indian Army towards the
welfare of their ex-servicemen and their dependants by trying to solve their
issues faster through the launch of the web portal.
The Indian Army established AVGH,
a web portal for „grievance redressal’ to speedily and effectively resolve the issues
related to ex-servicemen. In order to have an effective grievance redressal
procedure, certain conditions have to be fulfilled. The grievance redressal
procedure should resolve employee grievance immediately, not violating any
organizational rules and policies, providing data and information to the
employees and resolving at the lowest possible level.
26
Discussion
Questions:
1.
How are
workplace grievances taken care of?
(Hints: establishing grievance redressal cell – grievance redressal portal)
2.
Discuss
the AVGH process developed to resolve
the veterans‟ grievances by the Army veterans.
(Hints: user id – web
login- messages about the status of the issue)
Course Reference: Concept- Grievance Handling – Unit – Effective Grievance
Redressal – Subject - Human Resource
Management
Sources:
i. “Army
establishes cell for ex-servicemen”, Press Trust of India, August
19, 2014.
ii. “Indian
Army launches the Army Veterans Grievance Handling (AVGH) Portal”, Desh
Gujarat, June 5, 2014.
III. Indian Army launches Army Veterans Grievance
Handling (AVGH) Portal , .i dia ar y etera s.go .i .
Other Keywords: Business
Environment and Law.
27
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ARLI’s Zero-tolerance Policy to |
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15 |
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Address On-the-job Behavior |
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AEGON Religare Life Insurance
(ARLI), a joint venture of AEGON (a global company that offered insurance,
asset management and pension plans) and Religare (a large financial service
group in India)
and Bennett, Coleman and Company
(a major media corporation in India) was formed in 2008. It offered a variety
of insurance plans for financial planning and life insurance. In 2014, it was awarded „E-
Business
Leader‟ by the Indian Insurance Awards under the Overall Insurance Industry
Awards group. Its employee
strength was about 11,000 with a turnover of more than one billion dollars.
In view of the increasing sexual
harassment cases reported in 2013, the Director, International Labor
Organization (ILO) worked with employers on changing the workplace attitudes of
employees and on the mechanism to address the workplace sexual harassment. In
2014, ARLI had taken some measures (Refer Table 1) to set a safe working
environment in the organization. It decided to take up any kind of sexual
harassment inside or outside the organization as a breach of human right and
business conduct and ethics.
The ·following were some of the reasons for framing the
policies:
· Difficulty
in describing an act as sexual harassment
· Lack of
clear principles on workplace sexual harassment
· Change in
communication style with the advent of IT and social media
· Lack
of awareness on workplace conduct
Absence of preventive measures
Table 1:
Initiatives taken by ARLI’s to prevent and address the workplace sexual
harassment:
|
|
Introduced Zero tolerance policy. All employees
including the new |
|
|
Zero Tolerance
Policy |
recruits had to read, understand and acknowledge the policy |
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through a digital signature |
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Accessibility |
Policy was made accessible on the intranet |
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Express
Yourself |
Standard procedure was set to reach the concerned person for |
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redressal by keeping it confidential |
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Fast
Action |
Complaints were dealt seriously, investigations
were done and |
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quick actions were taken |
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Intolerance
was not tolerated |
Proper utilization of intranet was ensured |
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Disciplinary
Action |
Any activity of sexual nature was treated as
inappropriate at |
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workplace
and appropriate disciplinary action was taken |
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Adapted by the author from the
source: AdilSaba, “Erase the grey
zones”, Business Line, January 16,
2014
ARLI took the measures to sustain
their belief in providing a healthy and safe working environment and to
maintain self-respect of its employees.
Under acts of indiscipline, „on-the-job’ behavior of the employee such as carelessness, abuse of alcohol
and drugs, sexual harassment, or fighting with co-workers, which hampers the
work of the individual or disturbs the performance of other employees, should
be subject to disciplinary action. ARLI‟s zero-tolerance policy to
address the workplace sexual harassment was designed to ensure healthy
and safe work environment.
Discussion
Questions:
1.
Explain
the need for disciplinary action for certain types of on-the-job behavior. (Hints: safe working environment-protect human rights- conduct and
ethics)
28
2. What did ARLI do to prevent and control workplace sexual
harassment?
(Hints: zero tolerance policy –accessibility- disciplinary action)
Course Reference: Concept- On-the-job behavior – Unit – Disciplinary
Action/Subject – Human Resource Management
Sources:
i. Saba
Adil, “Erase the grey zones”, Business Line, January 16, 2014
ii. Head-Talent,
“Saba‟s Article on Sexual Harassment in Hindu Business Line”, AEGON RELIGARE
LIFE
INSURANCE, Company, Media Center, Press coverage, January 21, 2014
iii. TineStaermose,
Director,“India must have zero tolerance for workplace sexual harassment”,
International
Labor Organization, Regions, Asia and Pacific, Information Resources,
Public information, September 2, 2013.
Other Keywords:
Business Environment and Law.
29
16 Unite’s Democratic Support for
the Workers Cause in UK
Unite,a trade union established
to meet the challenges of the 21st century was Britain‟s
biggest trade union with 1.42 million members from around the world. Unite
covered industries such as steel-making, foundries, aluminium, production of
castings and coils for steel, and precious metals. The organization stood up
for equality and fought for the rights of the workers.
Tata Steel‟s European operation that was started in 2007 in Britain could
earn operational profits for few years after its inception but it was unable to
meet the expected profits due to low demand. As a result, it
announced the sale of some of the units to Geneva
based Klesch Group. Though the Chief Executive of Tata Steel‟s European operations guaranteed that the company would
consult the staff, stakeholders, trade
union representatives and works
councils throughout the process, workers of the units earmarked for sale
approached Unite.
Unite intended to play a major
role in the deal of Tata Steel Europe and the likely buyer Klesch Group through
negotiations. Out of 30,500 employees, 6,500 people were from the units put up
for sale. Unite was assessing (Refer Chart 1) the situation based on concerns
and benefits of the deal.
Chart 1:
Unite’s concern and benefit analysis of the deal
|
Concerns |
Benefits |
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Future
of the workers |
Understanding
the business model of the likely buyer |
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Job
cuts |
Continuity
of steel production |
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Future
of the Tata Steel Europe division |
Assessment
of buyer requirement |
|
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Investment
plans of manufacturing steel in the UK |
Operational
plans of the buyer |
|
|
|
Adapted by the author from the
source: DivekarAditi, “Tata Steel trade
union Unite to meet Tata Steel Chairman Cyrus Mistry on November 15, 2014
Unite planned to reinforce
confidence among employees by initiating discussions with the Klesch Group on
matters like loss of jobs, job security, future investment plans and
understanding business models to influence the outcomes.
Modern ‘trade unions’ are more practical as they consider issues like
production problems in the industry and social issues like employment,
while putting forward their demands. Unite‟s concern
about the unprofitable units along with the
proposed units for sale shows the influence of socio-economic factors on the
trade unions.
Discussion
Questions:
1.
Explain
the role of Trade Unions in fighting for the rights of the workers. (Hints: job security –negotiations-equality)
2.
Why did
the employees of the units that were put up for sale approach Unite?
(Hints: trade union-workers future-job security)
Course Reference: Concept- Characteristics of Trade Unions /Unit- Trade Unions /Subject-
Human Resource Management.
Sources:
i. Ishita AyanDutt,
“Tata Steel faces tough choices in Europe”, Business Standard News, October 27,
2014
ii. Aditi Divekar, “Tata Steel trade union Unite to meet Tata Steel Chairman
Cyrus Mistry on November 15”, Business Standard News, October
27, 2014
iii. Unite,
Home Page, About Us
Other Keywords: Business
Environment and Law, Business Economics.
30
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17 |
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Role of
Government in Maintaining |
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Industrial
Relations – A Case of Bosch |
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Motor Industries Company Limited
(MICO), a Bosch Group company started operations in India in 1951. MICO
manufactured spark plugs, filters, nozzle-holders, and elements and delivery
valves under technology guidance from Bosch - the largest Indo-German company
that supplied technology and services to Automotive, Industrial, Consumer Goods
and Energy and Building Technology.
MICO had four manufacturing
plants in India – Bangalore,
Naganathapura, Nashik and Jaipur. MICO was under the scanner since September
2010 when workers at Bangalore plant went on strike for wage hikes, medical
facilities and hospitalization expense reimbursement. Though Bosch reassured
its stakeholders about its commitment to business policies and discipline,
labor unrest was frequent in the company·.
In March 2010, a tripartite meeting for negotiation
was called at Naganathapura plant for salary hikes. Later, in the same month an
agreement was made at the Naganathapura plant for the new
·
salary
hike.
In September 2011, the MICO
Employees Association (MEA) union at Bangalore plant again went on tool down
strike without a prior notice against outsourcing some non-core manufacturing
and support processes. The strike was called off after sixteen days when the
state
·
government
referred the matter to the Industrial Disputes Tribunal for adjudication.
In March 2013, MEA went on tool down strike
followed by a three months “go-slow” approach
protesting against the suspension of a workman. This was called off after the labor
·
commissioner
held conciliation and the management subsequently withdrew the suspension.
In September 2014, wage negotiations were on going
for three plants other than Nashik plant.
The union demanded an increase of Rs.20,000 /- in their monthly salaries against the
·
management
offer of Rs.17,000/-. Workers went on a strike by giving notice in advance.
The Karnataka government
prohibited the strike by issuing an official order under the Industrial
Disputes Act, 1947, after negotiations and conciliations between the company
management and
·
workmen
union and several senior government officials of the State failed.
Finally, on December 8, 2014,
Bosch put an end to the strike by entering in to a wage settlement for
2013-2016 with MEA.As per the settlement, the monthly cost-to-company of an average
workman rose from Rs.64,000/- to Rs.86,000/- against the condition that the
workers meet the industrial engineering standards of 7.5 hours of work in
eight-hour shift. It also announced employment confirmation to 100 temporary
workmen (out of 370 numbers) with the new
intermediate wage level.
The workers at the plant resumed the production
agreeing to stick to the assessment on productivity standards. It was expected
that about 2,600 workers would benefit from the wage settlement.
The case of Bosch indicates how the state
„government‟ and legal systems can enforce a peaceful industrial environment through negotiation,
mediation, conciliation, and adjudication.
Discussion
Questions:
1.
Does
government have any role to play in maintaining industrial harmony? (Hints: Industrial Disputes Tribunal – Labor commissioner)
2.
What was
the role played by the government in the negotiations to resolve labor unrest
at MICO?
(Hints: call off strike-negotiations- conciliations)
Course Reference: Concept-Government/Unit-Industrial Relations, Collective Bargaining,
and Workers‟ Participation in Management/Subject- Human Resource
Management.
Sources:
i.
BS Reporters, Karnataka Govt.
prohibits strike at Bosch, Business Standard, October 10, 2014;
ii. BS
Reporter, Bosh workers in Bangalore on Strike, Business Standard, September 17,
2014;
iii.
BS Reporter, Different articles,
Business Standard, November 16, 2013; October 14, 2011 &on March 13, 2010.
iv. Mahesh
Kulkarni, “Bosch concludes wage settlement in Bengaluru plant”, Business
Standard, December 9,
2014.
Other Keywords: Business
Environment and Law.
31
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18 |
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Google, Inc.: Providing
Quality Work Life |
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Google Inc., an
American multinational corporation, known for innovation and collaboration was founded by Larry Page and Sergey
Brin in 1998. Google specialized in Internet-related services and products such as online advertising technologies, search,
cloud computing, and software.
Google ranked first
in the list of “Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work - 2014”. The credibility lied in its philosophy of providing Quality
Work Life (QWL) (Refer Chart 1) by
“creating the happiest, most productive
workplace in the world”. It had proved that workplace design and office
interiors had an
immense effect on the productivity and creativity
of employees.
Chart 1:
Google’s exceptional QWL initiatives
Google’s motivate employees
Adapted by the author from the
source: Stewart James B., “Looking for a
Lesson in Google‟s Perks”, NYTimes.com, March 15, 2013
In 2014, noted companies such as
Zomato and Free Charge were trying to imitate the culture of Google to
encourage creativity and improve collaboration and openness among the
employees.
The primary objective of „Quality of Work Life
(QWL)’ should be
to provide a healthy
work
environment for employees. The study of Ergonomics
or Human Engineering stresses the provision of better plant layout and improved
equipment design. Google‟s success through innovation and
collaboration demonstrated exceptional quality of
work life.
Discussion
Questions:
1.
Explain
the need for QWL initiatives in modern organizations.
(Hints: keep employees happy – productive workforce – stress
free environment)
2.
What were
the initiatives taken by Google to make their employees happy and productive?
(Hints: connecting employees with brand –autonomy – health
consultation)
Course Reference: Concept- Quality of Work Life /Unit- Quality of Work Life/ Subject-
Human Resource Management.
Sources:
i. Shonali
Advani, “Offices like Myntra, InMobi and others get chic makeover”, Economic
Times, November 7, 2014
ii. Mithila
Mehta, “Interiors say a lot about your workplace”, The Times of India, April
10, 2013
iii. James
B.Stewart, “Looking for a Lesson in Google‟s Perks”, NYTimes.com, March 15,
2013
Other Keywords: Organizational
Behavior, Organization Development.
32
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19 |
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Role of
Education in Successful Implementation |
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of
Quality Circles |
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Government Medical College and
Hospital (GMCH), Nagpur, established in 1947, was inaugurated by the first
president of India Dr.Rajendra Prasad. Spread across 196 acres of land, the
hospital attached to this institute had 1,401 bed capacity. It had a Medical
college, Super speciality Hospital, Dental College, Physiotherapy, Occupational
therapy and Nursing schools in its premises.
In 2014, Government institutions
were given instructions to keep their premises clean as a part of Prime Minister‟s Swaccha Bharat Abhiyaan
program. Even before the official order came from the PMO, the
newly appointed Dean at GMCH,
Nagpur implemented standard procedures to improve and advance its services and
operations. To implement the same, he formed twelve quality circles and
launched them on a pilot basis.
The quality circles were related to cleanliness,
patient care, bedside environment, plumbing, laundry,
staff behavior etc. As a part of quality circle
meant for cleanliness, GMCH could see the following
changes within two months:
·
· Standard procedure was set for monitoring process
· System was developed for measuring outcomes
· Authorized
volunteers felt responsible
· Developed
employee commitment
Improved sanitation in the premises
After launching quality circles,
GMCH observed some pre-requisites to successfully implement the program. It
conducted a workshop (Refer Chart 1) to give the required inputs to its staff.
The workshop by the GMCH included the following activities:
Chart 1 :
Activities of GMCH workshop:
Adapted by the author from the source: GwalaniPayal,”Quality circles to bring
about better care at GMCH”, The
Times of India, November 6, 2014
GMCH‟s
efforts of educating the staff resulted in successful implementation of the quality program in a very short span of time. As a part of the cleanliness program, it
also took some measures to ensure that private hospital ambulances were not
parked in the premises of GMCH, as the staff of these private ambulances were
misguiding the patient relatives and damaging the image of government
hospitals. GMCH was expected to produce more results through other quality
circles.
GMCH planned to install protocol-based
systems in the Hospital to improve the services and operations. In the Indian
scenario, the lack of leadership skills and pr oper „education‟, acts as a bottleneck in the
successful operation of Quality Circles (QCs). Providing necessary training to
the leaders of QCs and educating them on the benefits of QCs can help in
solving the problem. GMCH conducted workshops to educate the staff, nurses and
Class IV workers in identifying the problems and searching for solutions.
33
Discussion
Questions:
1.
Why do
organizations encourage and empower quality circles?
(Hints: standard system developed –employee commitment – improved
sanitation)
2.
List out
the activities of GMCH‟s quality
circles.
(Hints: briefing objectives-training – reporting to co-ordination committee)
Course Reference: Concept- Education – Unit – Quality Circles –
Subject - Human Resource Management
Sources:
i. PayalGwalani,”Quality
circles to bring about better care at GMCH”, The Times of India, November 6,
2014.
ii. PayalGwalani,”Maintaining
the newly-achieved cleanliness in GMCH premises a huge responsibility”, The
Times of India, November 5, 2014.
iii. PayalGwalani,
“GMCH acts tough against private hospital ambulances”, The Times of India,
November 4,
2014.
Other Keywords: Project
Management
34
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20 |
Zions’ Technique to Improve
Employee Engagement |
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In 2013, Zions Bank received American Bankers‟ designation of Best Banks
to Work For. Zions Bank, a subsidiary of Zions Bank Corporation was
operating with more than 500 offices and 600 ATMs in 10 Western states of USA.
In Zions Bank, leaders and managers acted as catalysts in change management and
in attaining higher employee engagement.
In 2012, George Myers, Executive
VP and HR Director adopted a new review system to fully engage his employees by
wiping out the standard review process. The features of the new system were
·
Yearly
reviews were replaced by weekly mini-reviews and coaching sessions
·
The
process included peer accountability
· Individual contributions were connected to the
organization‟s strategy and business results
·
Compensation
was connected to the expected behaviors and performances
Efforts ·put by Myers resulted in:
· Development
of job skills and knowledge for 91% employees
· Career
growth for about 85% employees
Continuous support and recognition from their
supervisors for 92% of employees
In 2012, Gallup conducted
research studies on the work-unit-level relationship between the employee
engagement and the specific performance outcomes. The recommendations of the
research included interacting with employees on a daily basis through
one-on-one meetings and conducting weekly action-planning sessions to improve
their engagement levels. It could be inferred that the best practices in the
key areas of performance with special reference to employee engagement, as per
Gallup study were reflected in Zions Bank.
„Employee engagement’ is the emotional commitment of an employee with the
organization and its goals. Organizations can enhance its performance with high
employee
engagement. Zion‟s technique
to engage the disengaged employees resulted in
sustainable growth.
Discussion
Questions:
1.
How does
employee engagement lead to improved performance in organizations? (Hints: skill development-career growth – motivation)
2.
List out the features of Zions‟ new employee
engagement system.
(Hints: mini-reviews-matching
organization‟s strategy with business results-behavior change)
Course Reference: Concept-Employee Engagement/Unit-Emerging Challenges of HRM/Subject-
Human Resource Management.
Sources:
i. Robyn
Reilly, “Five Ways to Improve Employee Engagement Now”, Gallup Business Journal,
January 7, 2014
ii. Larry
Myler,
“Need Higher Employee Engagement? Zions Bank May Have The Answer”, Forbes,
November 17,
2014
iii. Zions
Bank, Home Page, About Zions Bank
Other Keywords:
Organization Development; Strategic Human Resource Management.
35
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