MU0009 - Change Management

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Q.1 ‘Change is inevitable‟. In the light of this statement, explain what is change and how to manage change. Give one example of change that organizations are facing these days.

ANS: 1

TO CHANGE IS A STRENGTH, EVEN IF IT MEANS PLUNGING PART OF THE COMPANY INTO TOTAL CONFUSION FOR A WHILE”. – JACK WELCH

INTRODUCTION TO CHANGE:
Change is something many of us are not ready to welcome in our lives, be it professional or personal. We tend to maintain status quo to a great extent. In the end, change wins. Even if you oppose it and do not give in, you have learnt something new in the process.

Every organization goes through tremendous change as it grows. In fact, change is what keeps it going. Adapting to change is a great asset to any organization. Take the case of Oracle which started as a database company. Today, it has grown into an one stop shop for enterprise applications. With the economic downturn that the US is facing today, it is one of the few organizations with the resilience to weather the recession.

DEFINITION OF CHANGE:
Change denotes the transition that occurs between one states to another.
“Change has a considerable psychological impact on the human mind. To the fearful it is threatening because it means that things may get worse. To the hopeful it is encouraging because things may get better. To the confident it is inspiring because the challenge exists to make things better”.

Master of Business Administration-MBA Semester IV
Subject Code – MU0009
Subject Name –Change Management

Q.1 “A team is formed by a set of people, who come together to perform specific tasks”; In the light of this statement, explain the various types of organizational teams and specify their nature.

r A team is a collection of individuals organized to accomplish a common purpose, who are interdependent, and who can be identified by themselves and observers as a team. Teams exist within a larger organization and interact with other teams and with the organization. Teams are one way for organizations to gather input from members, and to provide organization members with a sense of involvement in the pursuit organizational goals. Further, teams allow organizations flexibility in assigning members to projects and allow for cross-functional groups to be formed.
TYPES OF TEAMS
There are six major types of teams: informal, traditional, problem solving, leadership, self-directed, and virtual. Table 1 describes some of the characteristics of these six types of teams.
INFORMAL TEAMS.
Informal teams are generally formed for social purposes. They can help to facilitate employee pursuits of common concerns, such as improving work conditions. More frequently however, these teams form out of a set of common concerns and interests, which may or may not be the same as the organization’s. Leaders of these teams generally emerge from the membership and are not appointed by anyone in the organization.
TRADITIONAL TEAMS.
Traditional teams are the organizational groups commonly thought of as departments or functional areas. Leaders or managers of these teams are appointed by the organization and have legitimate power in the team. The team is expected to produce a product, deliver a service, or perform a function that the organization has assigned.
Six Types of Teams
Informal
• Social in nature
• Leaders may differ from those appointed by the organization

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Master of Business Administration-MBA Semester IV
Subject Code – MU0008
Subject Name – Talent Management and Employee Retention

Q.1) Explain the concept of Talent Management. Bring out the differences between talent, knowledge and skill. Is talent management a business problem? If yes, then why?

Answer 1:

Introduction
Talent management is a professional term that gained popularity in the late 1990s. It refers to the process of developing and fostering new workers through on boarding, developing and keeping current workers and attracting highly skilled workers at other companies to come work for your company. Talent management in this context does not refer to the management of entertainers. Companies that are engaged in talent management (human capital management) are strategic and deliberate in how they source, attract, select, train, develop, promote, and move employees through the organization
What is talent management?
The term talent management means different things to different people. To some it is about the management of high-worth individuals or “the talented” whilst to others it is about how talent is managed generally – i.e. on the assumption that all people have talent which should be identified and liberated. This term is usually associated with competency-based human resource managementpractices. Talent management decisions are often driven by a set of organizational core competencies as well as position-specific competencies. The competency set may include knowledge, skills, experience, and personal traits. Talent management is the recruitment, development, promotion and retention of people, planned and executed in line with our organisation’s current and future business goals. Because it is aimed at building leadership strength in depth, it creates flexibility to meet rapidly changing market conditions. A structured talent management process will systematically close the gap between the human capital an organization currently has and the leadership talent it will eventually need to respond to tomorrow’s business challenges.
Talent Management as a Strategic Approach
We view talent management as a strategic approach to managing human capital throughout the career cycle: attracting, retaining, developing and transitioning your most important assets.
Attracting Talent: Creating Assessment and Selection Strategies and Processes
Attracting qualified talent is the critical first step in the talent management cycle. The improving economy, Baby Boomer retirement and other factors are creating keener competition for talent these days, making this critical step tougher than ever. So how do you get a leg up on the competition?
Matching the Right Candidate to the Boss
Matching the right person to the right job is an acknowledged need in organizations. But one of the toughest challenges in selection often overlooked is matching the right candidate to his immediate boss. What makes that goal particularly tough is when the boss does not have a clue what kind of candidate would work well with him. Working with various tools, we can design and customize assessment exercises and materials. We also identify critical competencies your

Master of Business Administration-MBA Semester IV
Subject Code – MU0008
Subject Name – Talent Management and Employee Retention

Q.1 Think of a situation in which you as a team leader have to explain why HRIS (Human Resource Information System) or IT is important in talent management and how it helps an organization. Supplement your answer with suitable examples.

Ans : In today’s corporate world human resources has come to play a very critical role in a business. Whether it concerns the hiring and firing of employees or whether it concerns employee motivation, the Human Resources department of any organization now enjoys a very central role in not only formulating company policies, but also in streamlining the business process.
To make a human resource department more effective and efficient new technologies are now being introduced on a regular basis so make things much simpler and more modernized. One of the latest human resource technologies is the introduction of a Human Resources Information System (HRIS); this integrated system is designed to help provide information used in HR decision making such as administration, payroll, recruiting, training, and performance analysis.

Human Resource Information System (HRIS) merges human resource management with information technology to not only simplify the decision making process, but also aid in complex negotiations that fall under the human resource umbrella. The basic advantage of a Human Resource Information System (HRIS) is to not only computerize employee records and databases but to maintain an up to date account of the decisions that have been made or that need to be made as part of a human resource management plan.

The four principal areas of HR that are affected by the Human Resource Information System (HRIS) include; payroll, time and labor management, employee benefits and HR management. These four basic HR functionalities are not only made less problematic, but they are ensured a smooth running, without any hitch. A Human Resources Information System (HRIS) thus permits a user to see online a chronological history of an employee from his /her position data, to personal details, payroll records, and benefits information.

The advantage of a Human Resource Information System (HRIS) in payroll is that it automates the entire payroll process by gathering and updating employee payroll data on a regular basis. It also gathers information such as employee attendance, calculating various deductions and taxes on salaries, generating automatic periodic paychecks and handling employee tax reports. With updated information this system makes the job of the human resource department very easy and simple as everything is available on a 24×7 basis, and all the information is just a click away.

In time and labor management a Human Resource Information System (HRIS) is advantageous because it lets human resource personnel apply new technologies to effectively gather and appraise employee time and work information. It lets an employee’s
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Q.2 Mr. Anil is a manager in a manufacturing company. He thinks that his subordinates are inherently lazy, avoid work and need supervision to perform tasks and therefore he shows authority over his subordinates’. Explain the theories of McGregor. According to McGregor’s theory, what are Mr. Anil’s assumptions regarding his subordinates?

Theory X and Theory Y are theories of human motivation cr
developed by Douglas McGregor. They describe two very dif
toward workforce motivation. McGregor felt that companies f
one or the other approach. He also thought that the key to co
self-actualization with work is determined by the managerial
subordinates.

Master of Business Administration-MBA Semester IV
Subject Code – MU0007
Subject Name – Performance Management and Appraisal

Q.1 There are several techniques of performance appraisal, each with some benefits and limitations .List out and explain 8 commonly used appraisal techniques.

Session guide: Performance appraisal

Start the session by asking participants for their understanding of performance appraisal in their organizations. Is it a traditional approach, characterized by
(i) mere evaluation, excluding the planning and development function,
(ii) being linked with financial rewards and sanctions, and
(iii) being impersonal, bureaucratic, top down, secretive and centralized, which excludes participation of the employee being assessed?
If the approach is traditional evaluation, then it can hardly be motivating to an employee. Instead, it must focus more on filling a form giving quantitative rather than qualitative information. What influence would such a system have on an employee’s future performance? Observe that a performance appraisal system is a management tool which can help motivate and effectively utilize human resources. It includes performance planning, appraisal and counselling.
Show EXHIBIT 1 and discuss desirable features of a performance appraisal system. Emphasize the linkage between (i) past performance and future planning, and (ii) individual and organizational goals.
Using EXHIBIT 2, discuss the process of appraisal and the various stages involved. To begin with, realistic standards and measures have to be established to differentiate between different levels of performance. Then employees have to be informed as to what is expected of them and how their performance will be measured against the set standards and targets. Next comes planning for realization of performance expectation through use of resources and monitoring. Monitoring is to help remove difficulties rather than to interfere. Performance is documented in various ways during the appraisal stage and thereafter feedback is given. Emphasize that feedback should involve planning for the future as well. On the basis of appraisal and feedback, evaluation decisions have to be made, which include rewards or punishments. The final stage is development of performance.

Q.1 ‘Performance appraisal is an objective assessment of an individual’s performance against well defined benchmarks’. In the light of this statement, explain the benefits of appraisal.

DEFINITION OF PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL
Performance appraisal is the process of reviewing employee ,documenting the review and delivering it to the employee in the form of feedback, against well defined benchmarks. Performance appraisal should evaluate, audit, motivate, identify training needs, develop the individual and plan for future performance
Performance appraisal is a management tool which is helpful in motivating and effectively utilizing human resources. Assessment of human potential is difficult, no matter how well designed and appropriates the performance planning and appraisal system is.
Performance appraisal is an objective assessment of an individual’s performance against well defined benchmarks. The performance being measured against such factor as job knowledge, quality and quantity of output, initiative leadership, supervision, co-operation etc.
Job analysis sets out requirements, which are translated into performance standards, which in turn form the basis for performance appraisal.

Performance Appraisal Performance Appraisal (PA) refers to all those procedures that are used to evaluate the personality performance potential of its group members
Performance appraisal serves the purpose of:
• providing information about human resources and their development;
• measuring the efficiency with which human resources are being used and improved;
• providing compensation packages to employees; and
• maintaining organizational control.
Objectives of Performance Appraisal : Objectives of Performance Appraisal Provide a basis for promotion/ transfer/ termination: Identify those employees who deserve promotion Or those who require lateral shift (transfer) or termination PA is used for career planning

Q.1 Remuneration plays an important role in job satisfaction. What are the essential steps involved in designing a remuneration plan?
Ans: Designing a remuneration plan involves the followings:


1. Job Analysis: The main purpose of conducting job analysis is to prepare job description and job specification which in turn helps to hire the right quality of workforce into the organization.
It helps to understand the qualities needed by employees,defined through behavioral descriptors, to provide optimum work performance.
It obtains answers to such questions such as: 1. Why does job exists? 2. What physical and mental activities does the worker undertake? 3. When is the job to be performed? 4. Where is the job to be performed? 5. How does the worker do the job? 6. What qualifications are needed to perform the job? 7. What are the working conditions (such as levels of temperature, noise, offensive fumes, light) 8. What machinery or equipment is used in the job? 9. What constitutes successful performance?
There are several ways to conduct a job analysis, including: interviews with incumbents and supervisors, questionnaires (structured, open-ended, or both), observation, critical incident investigations, and gathering background information such as duty statements or classification specifications. In job analysis conducted by HR professionals, it is common to use more than one of these methods.

2. Job Documentation: To evaluate job content, it provide objective criteria for making pay comparison, ensure that jobs are classified according to content as opposed to individual personalities, effectively communicate the job duties to both supervisor and employees and help the organization defend it self against charges and discrimination.

3. Development of a job worth hierarchy: It is a result of job evaluation. There are six major methods which are divided in two groups according to their nature.

a) Whole job evaluation and are non-quantitative in nature
i- Ranking
ii- Classification
iii- Slotting

b) Factor evaluation and are quantitative in nature
i- Point factor
ii- Factor comparison
iii- Scored questionnaires

4. Pay survey: Wages and salary surveys ensure external equity. A wage and salary survey provides information as to what other organizations that compete for employees are paying. The survey could cover all jobs within an organization or limited to benchmark jobs.
The benchmark jobs have the following basic characteristics
i- Many workers in other companies have these jobs.
ii- They will not be changing in the immediate future in terms of tasks, responsibilities etc.
iii- They represent the full range in term of salary such that some are among the lowest paid in the group of jobs, others are in the middle range and some are at the high end of the pay scale.

Formal and informal surveys could be undertaken to collect data on benefits like insurance, medical leave, vacation pay etc. and offer a basis on which to take decision regarding employee benefits. Published sources also provide valuable information.Published sources also provide valuable information regarding industry-wise trends in salary structures in and around the country.
The published sources in India include:

i. Reports published by the Ministry of Labour
ii. Pay Commission Reports
iii. Reports of wage Bonds appointed by Government
iv. Reports of employee and employer’s organization
v. Trade journals of specific Industry

5. Pricing the Job: Establishment of pay Ranges:

In order to actually establish a pay structure, an organization needs to set rates of pay for the jobs in the job hierarchy. This will depend on the number of different levels of relative job value that are recognized by the organization and the difference in pay between the highest and lowest paid jobs in the pay structure. The focal point pf the pay range is the midpoint, an organization can determine the range minimum and maximum.

6. Pay rates and Pay Increases: This means deciding how to pay new employees, how and when to give employee increases, including how to move existing employees from minimum to maximum of their assigned pay grades, how to determine the pay increase for an employee being promoted from one job to another and what influence, if any, cost of labour increases will have on the determination of pay increases for employees.

7. Starting pay for new Employees: In order to avoid paying new employees the same as more experienced employees, most employers choose to start new employees closer to the minimum of the pay range. In general, an employee with minimum qualifications should be paid the minimum of the range. This general rule is not true when a new hire has skills which are in great demand or has skills or other expertise substantially above the minimum.

8. Employee Increases: There are several different types of base pay increases: General (across the board) increases, cost of living/ labour increases, promotion increases, step increases (based on longevity) and merit increases.

9. Performance appraisal: A performance appraisal, employee appraisal, performance review, or (career) development discussion[1] is a method by which the job performance of an employee is evaluated (generally in terms of quality, quantity, cost, and time) typically by the corresponding manager or supervisor[2]. A performance appraisal is a part of guiding and managing career development. It is the process of obtaining, analyzing, and recording information about the relative worth of an employee to the organization. Performance appraisal is an analysis of an employee’s recent successes and failures, personal strengths and weaknesses, and suitability for promotion or further training. It is also the judgement of an employee’s performance in a job based on considerations other than productivity alone.

10. Maintaining and Auditing a Compensation plan: Changes in the external market or internally within the organization can cause one or more parts of a compensation plan to become outdated. Part of the challenge in creating a compensation plan is to build in mechanisms that facilitate change when necessary, yet maintain control on a regular basis. Some actions an organization can take to maintain an updated compensation plan include regular review of job descriptions, monitoring of compensation levels versus companies with which there is competition for employees, and regular review of the pay structure including pay ranges and pay increase budgets. An audit is an excellent means to ensure that a compensation plan is being properly administered and maintained.

When planning to audit a compensation plan, an organization needs to consider the following:
Process measures – Are procedures and practices in place to ensure the compensation plan is being administered smoothly and efficiently?

Policy compliance – Are there procedures or other mechanisms in place to ensure that the compensation plan is being administered in accordance with policy?

Documentation adequacy – Is there adequate documentation in place to ensure that the administration of the compensation plan and compliance issues can be audited?

Overall results – Are there measures that can assess how well the compensation plan is achieving its goals and objectives?

After reviewing audit results, management can make recommendations on any improvements that may be necessary, allocate the necessary resources and follow-up to make sure the work is completed.

Master of Business Administration-MBA Semester IV
Subject Code – MU0006
Subject Name – Compensation Benefits

Q.1 Fringe benefits are important components of remuneration, although most organizations face confusion when it comes to administering a fringe benefits program. Design the steps needed to administer Fringe Benefits, in order to avoid problems in administering an indirect remuneration plan.

Ans: A fringe benefit is a form of pay (including property, services, cash or cash equivalent) in addition to stated play for the performance of services. Some forms of additional compensation are specifically designated as “fringe benefits” in the Internal Revenue Code; others, such as moving expenses or awards, have statutory provisions providing for special tax treatment but are not so designated by the Code. This publication uses the term broadly to refer to all remuneration other than stated pay for which special tax treatment is available. The definition of fringe benefits applies to services of employees and independent contractors; however, unless otherwise indicated, this guide applies to fringe benefits provided by an employer to an employee. (For a discussion of whether a worker is an employee or independent contractor, see Publication 15-A.) Fringe benefits for employees are taxable wages unless specifically excluded by a section of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC).

Fringe benefits are one of the means to ensure, maintain and increase the material welfare of employees. The physical and mental strain of workers in an industry is considerably alleviated by tax benefits through creating an environment that insulates them from fatigue and monotony.

Administration of Fringe Benefits:

Administration of Fringe Benefits Tax identified that a number of processes relating to the administration of FBT in Australian Government entities could be improved. This Guide has been produced to assist entities to administer their FBT obligations.

These problem can be avoided if the following lines are taken while administering indirect remuneration. The steps are:

1.Benifit objectives:

In establishing objectives, the management must consider several factors like employee preference for benefits, attendance, length of service, performance etc. The benefits accomplish four objectives;

1. Fostering external competitiveness,
2. Increasing cost effectiveness,
3. Meeting Individual employee’s needs and preferences,
4. Complying with legal compulsions.

2. Assessing Environment:
A company remuneration program is influenced by both external and internal factor.

External Factor:
The external factors are aspects such as govt. policy and regulations, Unions, and economic factors. The major govt. policies, which influence employee benefits and services, are wage regulations, tax policies, and specific benefits laws.

Unions are a dominant force to improve benefits and services.
Economic factors influence benefits decisions in competitive way. Struggling to achieve competitive prices for their product and service, managers look to reduce, at least curtail, increases in labour cost.

Competition in the labour market to attract and retain production employees creates pressure to match the benefits offered by others.

Internal factors:
Internal factors involve organisational strategies and objectives, employee preferences and demographics.
The preferences and demographics of a particular employee in an organisation also affect indirect remuneration.

3. Competitiveness:
Generally organisations offer benefits to match or outstrip those offered by competitors. These are assessed through market surveys conducted by professional associations and consultants. These survey provide data on the various benefits offered, their coverage, eligibility and costs.

ComQ.1 What are the sources to collect data for marketing research?

Ans: Sources to collect data for marketing research: Data serves as the basis or raw material for analysis. The relevance, adequacy and reliability of data determine the quality of the findings of study. The sources of data may be classified into (a) primary sources (b) secondary sources. (a) Primary Data Sources: Primary data sources are original sources from which the researcher directly collects data that has not been previously collected, e.g., collection of data by the researcher on brand awareness, brand preference, brand loyalty etc. Primary data is first hand information collected through various methods such as surveys, experiments and observation. (b) Secondary Sources of Data: These are sources containing data which has been collected and compiled for another purpose . Secondary data sources may be internal sources, such as annual reports, financial statements, sales reports, inventory records, minutes of meetings and other information that is available within the firm, in the form of a marketing information system. They may also be external sources such as government agencies, publish sources, trade associations and commercial sources.

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