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1Dnyansagar Institute of Management & Research

Baner-Balewadi, Pune - 411045www.dimr.in

M.B.A. (Semester - IV) 2011-2012

Question bank for

(Subject 406) Strategic Human Resource Management

Chapter 1-:

1) Define Strategic Human Resource Management? What are the main points of difference

between SHRM and human resource strategies?

2) Should organization view human resources from an investment perspective? Discuss the

factors that determine the extent to which an organization is investment oriented in its

management of human resources.

3) Identify and discuss the different bases for classifying HR Strategies. How can HR Strategieshelp an organization to create competitive advantage?

4) Describe the Indian perspective on SHRM. How it is different from the western view of

SHRM?

5) Describe the factors that have led to changes in the nature of employment relationship in the

contemporary business environment. Identify the major differences between the traditional

employer-employee relationship and the new employer-employee relationship. What strategies

can be used by HR managers for generating employee commitment to the firm in the new

employment relationship? Give examples of organizations you know of that are using some of

these strategies.

Chapter 2-

1) Identify major trends in business environment and explain how these trends have influenced

HRM practices.

2) What are the most important demographic, societal, and workforce trends affecting HRM

today?

3) Why is it important for the HR manager to be strategic business partner? What other roles areHR managers expected to Pl ay in the knowledge economy.

4) Describe the impact of technology on the world of work. Has technology changed HRM? If it

has, in what way?

5) What is virtual HR? What are the benefits and pitfalls of HR outsourcing? What are the

criteria that firms can use for determining which HR activities should or should not be

outsourced?

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6) Assume you are the general manager (HR) of a reputed multinational heavy engineering firm

with operations in several countries. A no. of senior and experienced employees of that firm is

nearing retirement. Though there is a pool of young and talented employees, the firm is likely toexperience a shortage of employees ready to assume leadership roles after the retirement of

senior employees. The near retiree provides a lot of value addition to the firm. In addition, the

success of the firm is largely due to the respect and reputation that the senior employee of the

firm enjoys in the industry globally. As a general manager (HR),

Persuade the top management of the importance of age diversity in attaining competitive

advantage, and

Suggest age diversity initiative and activities that may be adopted by the firm.

Chapter 3-

1) Describe the methods that can be used by a firm for forecasting human resource supply. What

is the importance of succession planning in managing internal human resource supply?

2) Discuss how the in the internet has changed the way companies recruit? Enumrate the

advantages and disadvantages of e-recruitment.

3) Explain the competency based approach to selection. Why has this approach gained

importance in the current business environment?

4) Why is it important to link work-life initiatives with the overall HR and business strategy of

the firm? How do work life initiatives benefit the organization as well as the individual

employee? Give examples.

5) Discuss the main types of formal work life initiatives that organizations can provide to their

employess.Describe work-life initiatives of some organizations that you are familiar with.

Chapter 4-

1) Diagrammatically explain the four phases of the training process. Why is it important to align

training & development programmes with the goals and strategies of the organization?

2) Why has diversity training become an important component of corporate training

programmes? What are the benefits of diversity training?

3) Why is it important to evaluate training programmes? How can training & development

programmers be evaluated for results and effectiveness?

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4) Why is training a critical strategic issue for organizations? What purposes are served by

training & development programmes?

5) Why the competency based approach is being increasingly used any organizations for

management development, and what advantages this approach has over the traditional

management development methods.

6) What do you understand by the term diversity? Which groups of employees constitute a

diverse workforce? What initiatives can a firm adopt to attract and retain a diverse workforce?

Enumerate the reasons that firms adopt diversity initiative. Give examples of diversity initiative

of some firms you are familiar with. Do you think diversity is a double-edged sword? Why?

Chapter5-

1) Explain meaning of Key Result Area (KRA). Design KRA for HR manager.

2) What is high performance work system? Provide several specific examples of the elements in a high

performance work system.

3) What are the different sources of appraisal information? Discuss the pros and cons of each source.

4) Discuss advantages of competency based performance management over traditional appraisals.

Under what conditions are competency based performance management system most appropriate?

5) What are the characteristics of an effective performance management system? What major problems

are inherent in most performance management systems?

Chapter 6-

1) What are the basic components of a compensation and reward system? What innovations have

organizations introduced in each of these components because of an increasingly competitive

business environment?

2) What is incentive pay? Distinguish between individual incentives; team based incentives, and

organizational incentives?

3) Under what circumstances is it appropriate to link individual payment to team performance?

What are the advantages and disadvantages of team based rewards?

4)Recognition is the most reliable of all rewards critically examine the statement. Identify two

or three ways organizations commonly use to recognize and reward employees through non

financial means.

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5) Compare performance related pay, skill based pay, and competency based pay. What steps

should be followed in designing a competency based pay system? What steps should be followed

in designing a competency based pay system?

6) Do you think that compensation and reward strategy of a high technology firm will be

different from that of an emerging fast growth firm?Why?Enumerate your answer giving

examples from organizations you are familiar with

7) What is merit pay? How is it different from Variable-pay? What are the main advantages and

disadvantages of the following two forms of pay-for performance.1) one-off bonus payment and

2) salary increments linked to high performance? Which of the two, in your opinion has a higher

motivational value for an employee? Explain your answer with suitable examples.

Chapter 7-

1) Why is it important to manage the process of employee separation?

2) Under what conditions might layoffs be advantageous to an employer?

3) What costs are associated with turnover? What benefits can be derived from turnover?

4) Discuss the ways an organization might attempt to retain its most valued employees

5) Suggest a strategy for the design and implementation of career management system by an

6) Do you agree with the statement Training is a solution to all performance problems? Whatfactors other than skill or knowledge deficiency may lead to a gap between expected

performance and actual performance of an employee? Within this context discuss the

significance of training needs assessment. Explain the three types of analyses involved in

conducting training needs assessment and give examples.

Chapter 8-

1) Define IHRM.Analyse the reasons for the rise in the importance of IHRM.

2) Identify the major environmental factors that an organization must consider when setting up

business operations in a foreign country.

3) Who is expatriate? What are the advantages and disadvantages of using expatriate managers

instead of host country nationals?

4)Why is it important to provide a comprehensive pre-departure training to an employee who is

going abroad on a foreign posting and to his/her family? Identify the major components of a pre-

departure training programme.

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5) What are the major componants of expatriate compensation? What factors have to be

considered in designing an international compensation package?

6) Visit two or three organizations. Conduct interview with HR manager and some other

employees of the firm to obtain the following information

Firms work life programmes The reason for adoption of the work life programmes How well these programmes are being utilized in each of these firms. Did you notice Gap between the design of work life programs and implementation ,and

utilization

Are the employees satisfied with organizational support for their personal needs?Prepare a report for class presentation.

A) CASE STUDY:

PARITY IS IT FAIR OR UNFAIR?

Mr. C.S. Sharma joined in 1970 in Indian Institute of Technology - a premier educationalinstitution in the country imparting higher-level education in technology. His job demands higherlevel and latest knowledge, higher-level teaching skill, and other skills in introducing andpracticing different teaching methods and bringing coordination between the institute andindustry. The institute implemented the pay scales in 1976 recommended by the UniversityGrants Commission, which were at par with the pay scales of teachers in Universities andColleges. The demands of the jobs in Universities and Colleges are quite low compared to those

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of the Institute.

The pay of Mr. Sharma has been fixed at that level of Mr. Singh, who joined the Institute in 1974

as the University Grants Commission did not recommend any weightages for the teachers whoput up less than five years experience. Mr. Shastry was quite unhappy over the parity of salaryof the teachers of the institute with those of University teachers and college teachers on the onehand and equalizing his pay with his junior Mr. Singh on the other hand.

The institute again revised the pay scales of the teachers in 1987 based on the pay scalesrecommended by the University Grants Commission in 1986. University Grants Commissionagain maintained parity in pay scales of Institute teachers, University teachers and Collegeteachers. The pay scale of Mr. Sharma was revised and it was fixed at Rs. 3,700, which wasequal to the pay of Mr. Singh, Mr. Kulkarni who joined the institute in 1984 and Mr. Prasad whojoined the Institute in 1986.

Mr. Sharma rushed to the chambers of the Director of the Indian Institute of Technology on 20thJuly, 1988 and told him he was quitting the job in the institute and he was going to joinGovernment Degree College, Rajahmundry. He further said that he was going to get the samesalary in a small town. The Director was shocked after listening to Mr. Sharma.

QUESTIONS1. Do you justify the decision made by Mr. Sharma?2. Do you suggest any measures to stop Mr. Sharma from quitting the job?3. Do you think that there is something wrong with the Institute pay practices and the UniversityGrants Commission's recommendations? If yes, what are they? Had do you rectify them?

(B) CASE STUDY:

Beachside hotel human capital dilemma

This is a case of two competing hotels, Sunrise Hotel and Beachside Hotel that are both located

in a medium sized, tourism based town in the Northeast U.S. The hotels are both competing for

the same set of guests, as well as the same set of potential employees. They are budget hotels,

right next door to each other, with 60 guest rooms each and a view of the beach. The occupancy

during peak season for the Sunrise Hotel is 98%, but during the winter months goes down to

65%. The Beachside Hotel has peak season occupancy of 90% and off peak occupancy of 50%.

Joe is the General Manager of Sunrise Hotel and has been in his current position for 5 years. He

has been with Sunrise Hotel for a total of 10 years. He worked his way up at Sunrise Hotel from

front desk agent to front desk supervisor, and finally to Assistant General Manager before he

became the General Manager. He does a good job of screening potential employees for his front

desk area of the hotel because he realizes the importance of that area of the hotel, especially in

tourist areas. He also has incentives set up for excellent performance of the front desk agents and

training and development programs designed to give everyone information that will help them do

their job better. There is a sense of teamwork at Sunrise Hotel and that helps everyone want to do

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Communication skills, but at times is "rough" in dealing with people. His clerical andcomputational skills are excellent. He does not on his own mix with people or takes part inextracurricular activities. He joined a textile mill as a clerk in the Time Office and was

promoted to the post of Assistant Time Keeper within a period of 5 years. He is against theprinciple of sitting late in office. His sense of time keeping, punctuality is good and regular.He feels that attendance of employees must be posted in the regular register on the same dayand pay sheets must be kept ready on 1st of every month and sent to A/c Department, forchecking before 3rd inst. Similarly, he prepares PF/ESI statements and returns in time andsubmits the same to respective Government authorities in time. However, Mr. GirishMahajan is short tempered and at times he also had heated arguments with managerialexecutives. He limits his existence to his working table and if anybody unconnected with therime-office work comes near his table, he loses his temper.

Questions:

(a) In terms of overall capabilities and job requirements, whom will you recommend out ofthetwo candidates, in your capacity as a Personnel Manager?

(b) What are the criteria of your decision?

(c) In case the other two members of the interview Panel differ from your decision, how will youconvincethem?

(d) As a Manager HR, what will you do to improve the interpersonal relations in theorganization?

(C)Case StudyPearl Engineering Company was a large heavy-engineering unit. It attached great importancetothe recruitment and training of its senior supervisors. Apart from selecting them from withintheorganization, the company recruited, every. Alternate year, about ten youngengineeringgraduates and offered them training for a period of two years, before they wereappointed assenior supervisors. Such appointments were made to about 40 per cent of thevacancies of seniorsupervisors that occurred in the organization. This was considered necessaryby management as aplanned programme of imparting vitality to the organization. Besides, manyof the old-timers,who had risen from the ranks, did not possess the necessary academic

background with the resultthat they could not keep pace with the technological changes.Management also believed that inthe rapidly changing conditions of industry, a bank oftechnically competent supervisors played apivotal role, besides serving as a pool from which toselect future departmental managers.

Engineering Graduates were selected from amongst those who applied in response to an all-Indiaadvertisement. For the selection of one engineer, on an average, eight applicants were calledforinterview. A selection committee consisting of the General Manager, the Production Manager,thePersonnel Manager and the Training Officer interviewed and selected the candidates.

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Theselection interview was preceded by a written test and only those who secured 40 per centmarksqualified for interview.

The engineers thus selected had to undergo a two year intensive theoretical and practicalTraining. A well-staffed and equipped Training Institute was directly responsible for the trainingof the graduate engineers, besides training trade apprentices and operatives required by thecompany. Lectures on theoretical subjects were given at the Training Institute and practicaltraining was imparted in all the works departments under the guidance of qualified andexperienced instructors. A few lectures by senior officers of the company were also arranged toacquaint them with the company policies on different matters. During the last quarter of theirtwo-year training programme they were deputed to work fulltime to familiarize themselves withthe conditions in departments where they were to be absorbed eventually.On successful completion of training, the graduate engineers were offered appointments,Depending on their performance and aptitude as revealed during training. On placement in the

work departments, however, most of them faced some difficulty or the other.

According to management, some of the heads of departments, who were themselves not qualifiedengineers, did not have sufficient confidence in these younger men. They preferred thesubordinates who came up from the ranks to hold positions of responsibility. A few discreditedthem saying that it would take years before these youngsters could pick up the job. Besides,some of the employees, whose promotional opportunities were adversely affected by theplacement of graduate engineers, tried their best to run down the latter as a class, sometimesworking on the group feelings of the workers. Some of the supervisors who were not graduateengineers also spoke derisively of them as "the blue-eyed boys" of the organization.Management knew that many of the graduate engineers were not utilized according to their

capacity or training, nor was any attempt made to test or develop their potentialities. They alsoknew that many of the graduate engineers were, therefore, dissatisfied with their work life. Someof them, who did not get equal promotional opportunities as their colleagues placed in otherdepartments, were looking for better jobs elsewhere.

On the other hand, according to management, the young graduate engineers were themselvesPartly responsible for the hostile attitude of others in the organization. Some of them failed toappreciate that a newcomer invited hostility in the beginning and it took time before heWas accepted as a member of the work-group. They did not realize that they would be fullyProductive only after gaining about five to seven years experience in the organization. A fewThought that they belonged to a superior cadre and threw their weight around. They did not

bother to understand and appreciate the problems of the rank-and-file of employees who workedunder them.

In spite of these drawback, the General Manager of the company felt that these men were a set ofdisciplined supervisors. They had a sense of pride in their profession, and with the extensivetraining they had received, they would be able to take up any responsibleposition in theorganization in course of time.

The General Manager could not allow the situation to continue especially when it was a difficultand costly process to recruit and train young engineering graduates of the requisite type and

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calibre. He knew that the prosperity of the company, to a large extent, depended on these youngmen. In addition, a large number of lucrative employment opportunities were available to theseyoung engineers elsewhere and there was a systematic raid on them, He, therefore, called a

meeting of all heads of departments to review the situation.

Questions:(i)Identify the issues related to manpower planning as evident in the case.(ii) Discuss the strategies to tackle the percentage of internal promotion at the organizationalLevel.(iii)What type of additional training programmes should be imparted for direct entrants?

(iv) Suppose you are the head of the personnel division. What would be your suggestions inthe meeting?Which has been called by the General Manager?

(D)Case StudyRaghav Chemicals Ltd. has planned for computerization of nearly 50 per cent of the productionoperations and control. Ii has taken care of all resources in the computerization plan includinghuman resources- The present inventory of human resources and future requirements of theproduction department were specified as given hereunder.

Category of HumanResources

Presentinventory

Requirements afterComputerisation

Surplus

Chemical engineers(Operation)

15 8 7

Chemical engineers(Maintenance andcontrol)

10 6 4

Mechanical engineers(Maintenance)

2 2 0

Supervisors 10 2 8

Operators 30 10 20

Quality controllers 5 1 4

The human resource planners suggested the redeployment of chemical engineers in their newlystarted sister concern, i.e., Laxman Paper Mills Ltd., and retrench surplus of employ yees of allother categories. They also recommended to the management that there was no need for furtherrecruitment or for any other action plan.

The computerization was over by the end of 1998. When the management wanted to start theproduction on the newly computerized process, it was shocked to note that not many employeesin the production department were suitable to the new jobs and the information supplied by thehuman resource planners in this regard did not match with the reality.

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Questions:

a) Identify the problem in this case.

b) To what extent are the human resource planners responsible for the present state of?Affairs?

c) What should the management do now to deal with the problem taking into account boththeshort-term and long term perspective?

(E)Case StudyIn 2006, Infosys Technologies Limited was one of Indias biggest IT companies and provided IT

services, solutions, and consultation globally. In 2005 it had earned revenues of US$1.6 bn andhad over 49,000 employees worldwide. The dynamic nature of the software and IT industryrequired its workforce to upgrade frequently in technology and skills. Companies were focusingon continuous training and development of their employees, which also helped in the reductionof attrition rate.Providing extensive training to the new recruits or freshers as the Infoscions called them wastypical of Infosys. Every new recruit underwent approximately three mo nths of training beforethey were made billable to clients.

The American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) rated Infosys as the worlds bestin employee training and development and conferredExcellence in Practice

Awardcontinuouslyfo r three consecutive years 2002, 2003 and 2004. The award was conferredfor itsGlobal Business Foundation SchoolInfosys spent about out US$5,000 on training eachrecruit. After the new recruits joined Infosys, they were taken to Infosys U for a14.5 weektraining program. At Infosys U, the freshers were welcomed in Infosys by NR Narayana Murthythrough an audio visual presentation. The initial days of the training program, freshers filledforms and learned the values that drove Infosys. During the entire training program, new recruitswere trained to work on programs of different technical applications. The state training roomsequipped with the latest technologies offered the recruits a world class work atmosphere. Thelibrary had online database of Infosys case studies to help the recruits.

The trainers generally imparted training in hard skills through lectures on the

concepts and theory for a few hours and then allowed the recruits to work independently andbuild their own applications for the rest of the day. While the training program focused mainlyon technical skills, the freshers were also trained in soft skills. There were separaterooms and faculties for soft skill training. Training was imparted on global etiquette,comportment, importance of body language, public speaking, improving interpersonalcommunication and team-building. Some of the methods included, asking the freshers toperform skits, going through severalwhat-ifscenarios and to practice smiling in front of themirror.

The residential program was necessary as according to NR Narayana Murthy who is of the view

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that: If we want to train themvery efficiently, make them efficient and effective in their workas quickly as possible, we have to create an environment wherethere is tremendous focus on learning, where there is an opportunity to work in a collaborative

environment even beyond officehours, where there is opportunity to seek out to faculty memberson issues at all odd hours and make sure they learn whatever isneeded quickly and efficiently.

The campus provided best of food to offer at an affordable price. Among other options, thecampus had the retail outlet of the pizza chainDomino'sPizzawhere both western and Indianvarieties of pizzas were available.To facilitate all-round development the center hadanEmployee Care Center.

The employee care center offered recreationalfacilities such as a gymnasium, a swimming pool,

Jacuzzi, bowling alley and a meditation hall. It also had an internationalcricket ground and amultipurpose ground with a six -lane synthetic track, which housed basketball, volleyball,squash, and tenniscourts. The camp us also housed an auditorium, which had a seating capacityof 1,300 people and three multiplex theatres with acapacity of 150 seats each.

The freshers had to work for eight hours every day and at the end of the training program, thefreshershad to pass two comprehensive exams before proceeding further. About 1 % to 2%failed in the exams. On this NR NarayanMurthy says: my belief is that the first 14 weeks mustbe the toughest. By this we can ascertain who among our new trainees canactually scale up to our expectations and who can't. IIM Ahmedabad is the same. If you can passthe first semester, the rest is easy.Once we know that these people can go through a tough yet

rewarding experience, there is a lot of learning, a sense of fulfillmentfor the youngsters, and the job becomes easier for them. InfosysU also served as the opportunityto interact with Infoscionsworking in countries other than India.In 2006, Infosys U has the capacity to train over 4,000 freshers at a time and has expansionplans of increasing the capacity to10,00 0 by 20 07.

Questions:

1)In the context of the caselet, explain the steps taken by Infosys in training its new recruits.

2)What are the various training methods used by Infosys? Explain the common simulation

methods that are usually used in training.

3)The choice of training methods for a particular program depends, first of all, on a series of

various comparisons. Elaborate.

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