B. Tech

(SEM IV) THEORY EXAMINATION 2010-11

INDUSTRIAL PSYCHOLOGY

Q.1. Attempt any four parts of the following:

Q.(a) Define Industrial Psychology.

Ans. According to Harrell (1958). “Industrial Psychology is the study of people at work in industry and business.”

Explaination—The term study of people, means study of aptitudes, attitudes, training skills etc. of the worker.

Blum and Naylor (1968) defines it as, “the application or extension of psychological facts and principles to the problems concerning human beings operating within the context of business and industry.”

Explaination—Industrial psychology applies the techniques of psychology to the industrial scene and the problems confronting in industry and business.

According to McCormick and Iigen “Industrial Psychology is the study of human behaviour in the work related aspects of life and the application of knowledge of human behaviour to the minimization of human problems in industry.”

Explaination—Industrial psychology studies all aspects of human behaviour at work settings and applies basic knowledge about human behaviour to minimize the problems of workers.

Industrial psychology is an applied psychology, which studies the behaviour of human being who are working in industry, business, service and research organizations. It applies the psychological principles to minimize the worker problems and maintain the welfare of the workers.

Q.(b) Describe the major contribution of Taylor.

Ans. Taylor, An American Engineer and father of scientific management, observed that lot of fatigue was produced because workers were not working properly. He believed that management not labor, was the cause of and potential solution to problems in the industry. Taylor scientifically rearranged the work and found four times rise in production. It became a kind of scientific movement and was known as ‘Taylorism’ or ‘Scientific Management'.

Time Study was given by Frederick Winslow Taylor (1890). He applied the principles of scientific management to the handling of the pig iron in the Bethelhem steel company. By the application of his method, he showed that a group of men who were loading pig slabs (each weighing about 92 pounds), Could increase their average loading efficiency from 12 ½ tons to 48 tons per day. For achieving these spectacular results Taylor trained study group in

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systematic methods of picking the pig slabs and placing them in carriage with appropriate movements and rest intervals.

Q. (c) What are the different experiments conducted under Hawthorne Experiment.

Ans. Elton Mayo initiated Hawthorne study in 1927 at the Hawthorne (Chicago) plant of the Western Electric Company. Hawthorne study measured the impact of different working conditions (such as levels of lighting, payment systems and hours of work) on output. The Hawthorne study were comprised of following major parts :(i) Experiment on Illumination: Purpose. To study the effect of illumination on productivity.

Method. Two groups were selected from among the employees. One group was placed in the room where lighting or illumination remained constant. The other group was placed in other room where lighting or illumination varied periodically.

Findings. The productivity of both the groups increased steadily. There was no effect of illumination on productivity.(ii) Relay assembly test-room study: Purpose. To study the effect of fatigue on productivity.

Method. A group of women were selected for study who had been assembling relays so long that their production was no longer improving with practice. Various changes like change in the number of hours in a work week, number of hours in a work day, number of breaks, free social interaction among group members or freedom to form informal groups, friendly and informal supervision.

Findings. The findings took the researchers by surprise, since irrespective of the changes made, there was an overall increase in productivity. This became known as the “Hawthorne Effect”. They realized that since the subjects’ were given a great deal of freedom, they had formed an informal group. The researchers thus discovered the concept of informal organization. (iii) Bank wiring observation room study: Purpose. The purpose of this study was to make observational analysis of the informal work group.

Method. The method used in this study was similar to the relay room experiment. The bank wirers were placed in a separate test room. The workers in the Bank wiring Observation Room Study consisted of three groups: nine wiremen, three solder men and two inspectors. The bank wiring room study involved no experimental changes once the study had started.

Findings. In the bank wiring room there was continual increases in productivity that occurred in the relay assembly test room study.(iv) Mass Interviewing Program: A large number of workers were interviewed by the researchers to understand their attitudes and opinions on the factors influencing productivity. In other words, the researchers interviewed a large number of workers with regard to their opinions on work, working conditions and supervision. It was found that the opportunity to talk freely about things are important to workers, has a positive effect on their productivity. The findings confirmed the importance of social factors at work in the total work environment.(v) Personnel Counseling: The Counseling program had two objectives :

(i) To find out the problems of workers.(ii) To improve interpersonal relationship among workers.

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With these objectives, the decision was made that officials from the personal department would be assigned to various departments and would be free to talk with employees. The program led to improvement in three fields:

Personal adjustments Supervisor-Employee relations Employee-management relations

Q. (d) Describe the role of Elton Mayo in Hawthorne Experiment.Ans. Elton Mayo is known as the founder of the Human Relations Movement, and is known for his research including the Hawthorne Studies and his book The Human Problems of an Industrialized Civilization (1933). The research he conducted under the Hawthorne Studies of the 1930s showed the importance of groups in affecting the behavior of individuals at work. Mayo's employees, Roethlisberger and Dickson, conducted the practical experiments. This enabled him to make certain deductions about how managers should behave. He carried out a number of investigations to look at ways of improving productivity, for example changing lighting conditions in the workplace. What he found that work satisfaction depended to a large extent on the informal social pattern of the work group. Where norms of cooperation and higher output were established because of a feeling of importance, physical conditions or financial incentives had little motivational value. People will form work groups and this can be used by management to benefit the organization.Q. (e) What is the scope of Industrial Psychology in Engineering and Technology.

Ans. Industrial Psychology concerns the application of psychological concepts to the work environment. Industrial Psychology professionals often perform consulting work for companies. Scope of Industrial Psychology in Engineering and Technology are as listed:

-Increase worker productivity; -Design safe work environments -Train new employees; -Organize the company's management -Structure Job Analysis ; -Realization of potentiality of Employee -Individual Differences ; -Problem solver

Industrial Psychology and Worker Productivity: One of the main area of Industrial Psychology is to improve worker productivity. Industrial psychologists research workplaces to find ways to increase worker satisfaction and boost productivity. Industrial psychologists design and implement workplace procedures in order to improve employee efficiency.

Industrial Psychology and Workplace Safety: Another function of Industrial Psychology is to design safe workplaces. Industrial psychologists study the company's operating procedures, equipment used and types of work performed to determine ways to make employees safer. Professionals in Industrial Psychology can recommend new equipment such as ergonomic chairs or updated machinery if needed.

Industrial Psychology Principles for New Employee Training and Orientation Industrial psychologists are often in charge of creating orientation and training programs for new employees. They apply concepts of Industrial Psychology to create programs that teach new

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workers about a company's operating procedures and business philosophies in ways that make employees feel welcome and valued.

Industrial Psychology and Job Analysis: The problems of Fitting men to job requires that we know how to analyze abilities. To make the proper fit, the job must be analyzed if the abilities required for a particular job are too complex, the psychologist may cooperate with the engineer in reorganizing the work so that the job is redesigned.

Realization of Potentiality of Employee: The Psychology is interested in maximizing the realization of potential for accomplishment and personal satisfaction. Thus it was a responsibility to all employees. The application of Psychology to industry must concern itself with these problems.

Industrial Psychology and Individual Differences: The opportunities for using knowledge of Psychology to improve job satisfaction, labor relations, safety, leadership, social responsibility the subject matter of individual differences has been applied to industry.

Industrial Psychology and Problem Solving: In the age of globalization, importance of industrial psychology is to deal with frustration, conflict, stresses and strains of workers and employees. Psychologists help the worker as well as employees to uncover their repressed and suppressed feelings and solved their problems.

Q. (f) Discuss ‘THERBLIG’.

Ans. One of the most significant contributions of Gilbreth was the method of breaking down the task into basic elements of notions which has been now widely practiced as Therblig System (reversal of “Gilbreth” spelled backwards, with a slight variation), a classification scheme comprising 18 basic hand motions. Gilbreth showed the importance of the total working environment by reducing unnecessary motions.

The following table lists the Therbligs, along with their mnemonic symbols

Therblig Symbol/Icon Therblig Symbol/Icon

Search Use

Find Disassemble

Select Inspect

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Grasp Pre-Position

*Hold Release Load

Transport

Loaded

UnavoidableDelay

Transport

Empty

AvoidableDelay

Position Plan

AssembleRest for

overcomingfatigue

Q.2. Attempt any two parts of the following:Q.(a) How does ‘Motivation’ relate to’ Behaviour’.Motivation is necessary for work behavior because if people do not feel inclined to engage themselves in work behavior, they will not put in necessary efforts to perform well. Higher motivation leads to higher performance which in turn leads to higher satisfaction and motivation. According to Porter and Lawler, there is a complex relationship between motivation and performance. They studied the relationship between performance and satisfaction,

Valence of reward Abilities Intrinsic Reward

Satisfaction

Reward Probability

Role Perception

Extrinsic Reward

Effort Performance

(1)

(2)(3) (6)

(4)

(5)

(7)

(9)

(8) Fig.: The Porter & Lawler motivation model.

Effort leads to performance and performance may lead to two kinds of reward, i.e. intrinsic reward, such as self satisfaction and extrinsic reward such as pay, bonus and status. Both type of reward is necessary for satisfaction. This leads to further effort for performance, i.e. satisfaction will affect the effort. The satisfaction leads to more efforts for performance.

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Q.(b) What is stress? Explain various causes for the industrial stress.

Ans. Stress is a many-faceted process that occurs in reaction to events or situations in our environment termed stressors. An important feature of stress is the wide range of physical and psychological reactions that different people have to the same event; some may interpret an event as stressful, whereas other simply take it in stride.

(i) Stressor : The Activators of Stress. The stimuli that can potentially produce stress, it appears that many events which are stressful share several characteristics:

(a) They are so intense, in some respect, that they produce a state of overload—we can no longer adapt to them.

(b) They evoke incompatible tendencies in us, such as tendencies both to approach and to avoid some object or activity.

(c) They are uncontrollable—beyond our limits of control. Indeed, a great deal of evidence suggests that when people can predict, control, or terminate an aversive event or situation, they perceive it be less stressful than when they feel in control (Karasek and Theorell, 1990; Rodin and Salovery, 1989).

(ii) Physiological Responses to Stressors. When person are exposed to chronic sources of stress, however, this reaction is only the first in a longer sequence of responses activated by human efforts to adapt to a stressor. This sequence, termed by Hans Selye (1976) the general adaptation syndrome (GAS), consists of three stages:

alarm stage, in which the body prepares itself for immediate action; arousal of the sympathetic nervous system releases hormones that help prepare our body to meet threats or dangers (Selye, 1979)

resistance begins, in which arousal is lower than during the alarm stage, but our bodies continue to draw on resources at an above-normal rate in order to cope effectively with the stressor.

exhaustion. During this stage capacity to resist is deleted, and susceptibility to illness increases. In severe cases of prolonged physical stress, the result can be death.

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Normal level of resistance to stress

Resis

tanc

e to

Stre

ss

Time

Stage IAlarm

Stage 2Resistance

Stage 3Exhaustion

During the first stage, the body

mobilizes its resources

In the second stage, resistance levels off and eventually begins to decline In the third stage,

resistance is depleted, leading

to exhaustion

Fig.: Selye’s general adaptation syndrome.

A wide range of conditions and events are capable of generating stress. Such as stressful life events (e.g., death of love one or divorce), hazardous of daily life (too many things to do at once, traffic jam etc.), work related stress. Many factors contribute to stress at work. Several important sources of work related stress are summarized as follows :

Lack of Support from Coworkers

Work Related Stress

Role ambiguity (Uncertainty about

duties)

Lack of participation in decision making

Responsibility for

others

Conflict with other employees

Unpleasant Work Environment

Fig. : Sources of Work related stress.

Role Ambiguity : The sources of stress in organizational role include role ambiguity, which involves lack of clarity about the work objectives or uncertainty about duties. Role ambiguity results from inadequate information or knowledge to do a job. This ambiguity may be due to inadequate training, poor communication, or the deliberate distortion of information by a co-worker or supervisor.

Role Conflict : Role conflict arises where the individual is exposed to conflicting job

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demands or required to do things which he does not want to do.

Responsibility for Others : Responsibility for others act as a source of stress, or in other words it can be said that responsibility towards people is more stress generating.

Lack of Participation in decision making : Little participation or no participation of employees in decision making leads to stress.

Unpleasant Working condition : Unpleasant working condition also cause the stress. Such stressors include: crowded work area, noise, heat or cold, polluted air, strong odor, unsafe, dangerous conditions, poor lighting, etc.

Conflict with Employees: Conflict is associated with incompatible acts between intra-individual dimensions such as personal goals, between individuals within a group. Such type of conflict can lead to stress.

Lack of Support from Co-workers : Employees are affected by the support of members of group. By sharing their problems and joys with others, they are much better. If this type of social support is lacking for an individual, the situation can be stressful.

Q. (c) What do you mean by ‘Organization’? Explain various elements of Organization.

Ans. An organization is a social group which distributes tasks for a collective goal. The word itself is derived from the Greek word organon, itself derived from the better-known word ergon - as we know `organ` - and it means a compartment for a particular job. According to Schien “an organization is the rational coordination of the activities of a number of people for the achievement of some explicit purpose or goal, through the division of labour and function, and through a hierarchy of authority and responsibility”.

Basically, an organization in its simplest form (and not necessarily a legal entity, e.g.,

corporation or LLC) is a person or group of people intentionally organized to accomplish an

overall, common goal or set of goals. Business organizations can range in size from one person

to tens of thousands. In other words it can be said that organization is a systematic arrangement

of people to accomplish some specific purpose. Every organization is composed of three

elements i.e. people, goals and system. Each organization has a distinct purpose. This purpose is

expressed as goals generally. Each organization is composed of people. Every organization has a

systematic structure that defines the limit of each member. Some members are managers and

some are operatives.

Elements of Organization: The elements are: coordination, common goals, division of labor

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and integration.

Coordination: An individual alone is unable to fulfill all of his needs and wishes. Individuals

find that they are lacking either in ability, strength, time or endurance to fulfill their basic needs

for food shelter and safety. As several people coordinate their efforts, they can do more than any

of them could have singly. In organization, it is possible through coordination of the activities of

many individuals for all of its member to fulfill their needs.

Common Goals: A second element is the idea of achieving a common goal through coordination

of activities. The common goals keep organizational members together and make them work as

team.

Division of Labour: Division of labour refers to dividing work into operations that are narrow in

scope in order to increase efficiency with which each operation can be performed. Having

divided the work into operations, each operation is assigned to one individual who are more fit in

terms of education, skills and experience to do the job. This is the third element of organization.

The division of labour enables the organization to function more efficiently.

Integration: The fourth element is integration. If different people are discharging different

functions, integrative function is needed to ensure that all are working towards the common

goals. Integration is achieved through hierarchy of authority- some system for super-ordinate

subgroups or individuals to ensure that there is coordination among all through guiding, limiting,

controlling, informing and in other ways managing the activities of people.

Thus by combining the four elements, organization may be defined as the planned

coordination of the activities of a number of people for the achievement of some common goal,

through the division of labour and function, and through a hierarchy of authority and

responsibility.

Q.3. Attempt any two parts of the following:

Q.(a)Differentiate between ‘Fatigue’ and ‘Boredom’ in psychological framework.

Ans. Fatigue has a physiological and psychological components: Physiological components - Fatigue is associated with physiological changes in brain wave

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activity, eye movement, head movement, muscle tone and heart rate. With the onset of fatigue, body temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, respiration rate and adrenalin production are lowered. Psychological component :-Fatigue affects mood and motivation as well as psycho-motor and cognitive functions. Fatigue is partly a subjective experience, characterized by lack of motivation, feelings of exhaustion, boredom, discomfort, and a disinclination to continue the task at hand. The part of fatigue which is psychological in nature has also been called ‘mental fatigue’. Mental fatigue is a gradual and cumulative process and is associated with unwillingness to put in effort, reduced efficiency and alertness and impaired mental performance

Boredom is a mental state resulting from the continuous performance of a repetitive and uninteresting activity.

The difference between fatigue and monotony (boredom) are as follows:

Fatigue is tiredness and feeling like drained of energy physically while boredom is a mental condition where a person tends to think he has nothing to do and sit ideally, i.e. mental dullness.

Fatigue is a condition of decreased capacity for work, whereas boredom is a condition of decreased interest in work.

Fatigue can be measured while boredom is a subjective attitude and cannot be measured. Fatigue cannot be removed, it can be reduced, whereas boredom can be removed. Fatigue expresses in the form of gradual decrement in the work curve with a final and

spurt. Boredom expresses in the form of irregularities in the work curve with intermittent spurt of short duration and rapid rise toward the end.

Fatigue can be expressed in the desire of rest, whereas, boredom can be expressed in the desire for change of activity.

Q.(b) What is Job analysis? Explain its relevance in manpower acquisition process.

Ans. Jobs are the means by which people earn their daily bread and represent how they spend a major portion of their lives. Job analysis is the process of collecting job related performance.

According to McCormick “Job analysis is the process by which one obtains information about jobs.”

According to Robbins “Job analysis is a systematic exploration of activities within a job. It is a basic technical procedure, that is used to define the duties, responsibilities and accountabilities of a job.”

Process of Job Analysis :The process of job analysis results in two sets of data, which is clear by the figure :

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(How management expects the job to be performed or human qualifications to do the job)

Education Experience Training Judgement Communication skills

Job Specification

Job Description(How the job is really performed)A statement containing items such as

Job title Location Job Summary Task

Working Conditions

Job Analysis

Fig. Job description and Job specification in job analysis.

JOB DESCRIPTION

A job description is obtained from a job analysis. It is a short summary of a job and should be about two to five pages in length. This suggested length is not really typical of most job descriptions used in industry; they tend to be only one page. But for a job description to be of value, it must describe a job in enough detail that decisions about activities such as selection and training can be made. Such types of decision cannot possible if the description is in only one page. Job description should contain the following items :

(i) Job Title. A job title is important due to various reasons. An accurate title describes the nature of the job and also employee selection and recruitment. If the job title indicates the true nature of the job, potential applicants for a position will be better able to determine whether their skills and experience match those required for the job. Job title provide workers with some form of identity. Instead of just saying that she is a “worker at the foundry,” a woman can say that she is a “welder” or a “machinist.”

(ii) Location. It is concerned with the location of job. The name of department, to which the

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job is concerned. For example, in an engineering college, assistant professor in mechanical department of HCST, college.

(iii) Brief Summary. The summary should briefly describe the nature and purpose of the job. This summary can be used in help-wanted advertisements, internal job posting, and company brochures.

(iv) Tasks. It describes the task and activities, in which an employee is involved. These tasks and activities should be organized into meaningful categories to make the job description easy to read and understand.

(v) Working Condition. It is description of conditions of work which will help a worker to make a right choice for his job. It involves temperature, light, means of communication transport, toilets, refreshment rooms and parking facilities, etc. Certain studies have revealed that hours of work are more important for educated men and married ladies. An educated men may like to participate in some cultural functions and married ladies may have many domestic duties to perform before coming to the place of work,. It may be noted that certain investigations, have concluded that for highly educated and high ranking officials (workers), the hours of work are almost insignificant.

JOB SPECIFICATION A job specification is a document which states the minimum acceptable human qualities necessary to perform a job. Job specifications are developed with the cooperation of the personnel department and various supervisors throughout the organization. The personnel manager will give a great deal of weightage to the suggestions of a supervisor concerning needed qualifications, but the personnel manager will like to make certain that specifications are realistic, fair, and designed to assist the organization in attaining its goals.

Human qualities refer to the knowledge, skill, ability, personal characteristics, and

credentials needed for effective job performance. These terms are defined as:

Knowledge—the body of information one needs to perform the job.

Skill—the capability to perform a learned motor task, such as forklift operating skills and

word-processing skills.

Ability—the capability needed to perform a non-motor task, such as communication

abilities, mathematical abilities, and reasoning or problem-solving abilities.

Personal characteristics—an individual's traits (e.g., tact, assertiveness, concern for

others, objectivity, work ethic) or their willingness/ability to adapt to the circumstances in

the environment (e.g., ability to withstand boredom, willingness to work overtime,

willingness to treat others cordially).

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Credentials—proof or documentation that an individual possesses certain competencies,

such as diplomas, certifications, and licenses.

The sheer amount of information that can be uncovered during a job analysis may be

overwhelming, but it is unnecessary to gather all possible data. The purpose or intended use of

the job analysis dictates the particular information to be gathered. Therefore, the analyst must

decide how the job analysis will be used before deciding what information to seek. For instance,

if a job analysis were to be used to develop a technical training program for new employees, the

analyst should focus on information about subtasks (a step-by-step description of how the job is

carried out) and the specific knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) one would need to do well

on that job. If the purpose were to develop a written employment test to assess applicants'

knowledge of the job, the analyst should target information about the specific tasks of the job

and the knowledge required to perform each task (i.e., the facts, theories, principles, etc., one

must know to be able to perform tasks satisfactorily).

Relevance in Manpower Acquisition Process

Job analysis assists organization to manage their HR functions in a systematic and

structured way, for instance, it plays as an indispensable factor within organization’s

performance and reward system; it provides great helpful for evaluating and designing the

training program and refining the training content by creating realistic training objectives and

standards; particularly, it carries tremendous administrative benefits, by assisting organizational

general recruitment and selection process and keeping alert on the possible management

problems;

Job analysis is the cornerstone of the major HR activities, it provides valid and solid

foundation for the effective recruitment and selection practices. Recruitment is the ‘process of

seeking and attracting a pool of qualified applicants from which candidates for job vacancies can

be selected.’ With using the sufficient information developed by job analysis, the organization

could establish valid job requirements, and identify who, how and when to recruit during the

recruitment process. As Clifford (1994) indicates in his study, job analysis provides significant

assistance for developing job announcements, summary of job descriptions and job required

level of skills, provides facilities for the recruitment procedure and enables organization to have

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a clear audit trail back to the critical tasks included in the job analysis data. In other words,

Irrelevant or/and distorted job information has/ have been identified by job analysis, which

enables the HR department to proceeding accurate and efficient vacancy advertisement. With

using this finally produced information, both organization and individual job applicants could

have a thorough understanding about the nature and content of the job, and the job required

relevant knowledge, ability and skills (KASs). It is not only facilitate for HR managers to target

on and attract qualified potential talents, but also convenient for individual job applicants to

choose the most desired and appropriate job.

Compared with recruitment, selection is the process that choosing from a group of applicants the

best qualified candidates. In order to choose the most appropriate and qualified individual

candidates, various selection methods will be involved, such as group/ individual interviews,

achievement test and aptitude test. The validity and reliability of these selection methods become

essential. In order to ensure all the involved selection methods achieve these two features,

inevitably job analysis is necessary. As Hartley (2004) mentions in his study, the outcome of the

job analysis is critical deliverable, and could be considered as the foundation to create multiple

derivative products, for instance curriculum design, interview guides self-assessment tools and

even organizational assessments. (Hartley 2004, pp.20) Therefore, it is reasonable to believe that

the information produced by job analysis is efficient for developing selection methods. Since job

analysis does not contain irrelevant or/and distorted information, thus job analysis enables to

specifically develop the valid, fair and reliable selection methods that appropriate for the

particular selection process; additionally, it will also enable to explicitly show the clear

documented link between the content of the selection methods and the job. Gray (2003) provides

an example in his study that, the best interview follows structure or checklist format, where the

structure and the checklist are developed based on the sufficient job analysis, therefore they are

valid and reliable. Select the right person for the right position is specifically important for the

organization in nowadays. Inappropriate recruitment and selection not only waste organization’s

time and effort, but also diminish its profitability and impair it competitive advantage. Therefore,

job analysis is vital and critical, not only for particular general recruitment and selection process,

but also for the organization itself. As Jassim (n.d.) reiterates in his study that, job analysis is

specifically vital for organizational consistent competitive advantage. Sufficient job analysis

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enable organization to target on potential talents that with requisite knowledge, skills and

abilities; once those talents are employed by the organization will inevitably add value to the

organization, which is rare and inimitable. From organizational employers’ perspective, good

quality of job analysis assist targeting and attract potential recruits; whereas from the individual

applicants’ perspective, sufficient job analysis helps them to be more convenient to make up

their mind about whether to apply for the job or not.

Q.(c) What are the different sources of recruitment? Explain.

Ans. Recruitment means obtaining prospective employees with appropriate qualifications. In other words recruitment is the process of identifying and attracting a group of potential candidates from within and outside the organization to evaluate for employment. According to Robbins “Recruiting is the discovering of potential candidates for actual or anticipated organizational vacancies.” It is a linking activity—bringing together those with jobs to fill and those seeking jobs.

Recruitment is the process of searching for and obtaining applicants for jobs from whom right people can be selected. Recruitment involves attracting and obtaining as many applications as possible from eligible job seekers.

Sources of Recruitment

Sources of recruitment may be classified into two categories :

Recruitment

Internal Sources

External Sources

(i) Transfers(ii) Promotions

(i) Press Advertisements(ii) Educational Institutions(iii) Placement Agencies(iv) Employment Exchanges(v) Labour Contractors(vi) Walk-in Interview(vii) E-Recuiting

Internal Sources. Internal sources of recruitment lie inside company or organization. It seeks applicants for positions from those who are currently employed. Internal sources consists of :

(i) Transfers. Transfer implies shifting of an employer from one job to another without any major change in the status and responsibilities of the employee.

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(ii) Promotions. It refers to shifting of an employee to a higher position carrying higher status, responsibilities and pay. Posting jobs is an excellent method of offering promotion opportunities to all employees and minimizing employee complaints of unfair treatment and unlawful discrimination. Pomeroy (2005) found that in America more than 20% of their openings are with internal promotions.

The merits of internal sources are as follows :

(i) It is cheaper than external sources,

(ii) It is a great sources of motivation,

(iii) Appropriate or best use of internal candidate skills and abilities. (In case of transfer).

External Sources. External sources of recruitment lie outside the organization. These are as follows :

(i) Press advertisement. Advertisement in newspapers and journals is widely used source of recruitment. Gere, Scarborough and Collison, (2002) conducted a survey of 281 organizations and found that recruiters selected newspaper advertising as one the most effective avenues of applicant recruitment.

(ii) Educational Institutions. This source is known as campus interview. Many organizations send recruiters to college campuses to answer questions about themselves and interview students for available positions. The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and the Indian Instituted of Technology (IITs) are on the top of the list of avenues for recruiters. In fact, in some companies, recruiters are bound to recruit a given number of candidates from these institutes every year. The IIMs are an important source for recruiting management trainees. Campus recruitment is going global with companies like Hindustan Lever, Citibank, HCL-HP, L&T, Motorola and Reliance looking for recruitees in global markets.

(iii) Placement Agencies. Several private consultancy firms e.g., Ferguson Consultants, ABC Consultants etc. perform recruiting function on behalf of client companies by charging fee.

(iv)Employment Exchanges. Government of India has established public employment exchange throughout the country, which provides information about job vacancies. The major functions of employment exchanges are to increase the pool of possible applicants. It acts as a link between the employees and the prospective employees. In United States, the main function of employment exchange is closely tied to unemployment benefits, the benefits in some countries are given only to individuals who are registered with their state employment agencies.

(v) Labour Contractors. Manual workers can be recruited through contractors who maintain close links with the source of such workers.

(vi)Walk-in Interview. The most common and least expensive approach for candidates is direct applications, in which job seekers submit unsolicited application letters or resumes. In this type of interview people from different age groups through the premises.

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(vii) E-Recruiting. It involves screening candidates electronically, directing potential hires to a special website for online skill assessment conducting background checks over the internet, and managing the entire process with web-based software.

Internet recruiters continue to grow and have an impact on hiring: in 2000 there were more than 30,000 employment-related websites (Leonard, 2000), and 82% of organizations used an Internet recruiter either to list jobs or to search through resumes (Gere et al., 2002). An Internet recruiter is private company whose website lists job openings for hundreds of organizations and resumes for thousands of applicants. The largest internet recruiter, Monster. Com, had more than 11 million visitors per month in 2004. Although small organizations are as likely as larger ones to recruit employees through their Webpages, larger organizations are more likely to use Internet recruiters (Hausdorf & Duncan. 2004).

The Internet allow organizations to reach large numbers of candidates easily and efficiently. Thousands of candidates can visit a company web site and submit an application. Similarly, web-based recruiting companies work with organizations to advertise jobs and screen candidates. Although job and company web sites are becoming hot new tools, traditional recruiting methods such as employee referrals are not yet obsolete. Newspaper, job fairs, and professional organizations continue to be preferred methods and are used to be well over half the survey respondents.

The merits of external sources are as follows :

1. The organization will have the benefit of new skills, new talents and new experiences, if people are hired from external sources.

2. The management will be able to fulfill reservation requirements in favour of the disadvantaged sections of the society.

3. Scope for resentment, heartburn and jealousy can be avoided by recruiting from outside.

The demerits are :

1. Better motivation and increased morale associated with promoting own employees are lost to the organization.

2. It is costly.

3. If recruitment and selection processes are not properly carried out, chances of right candidates being rejected (false positive error) and wrong applicants being selected (false negative error) occur.

4. Adjustment or new employees to the organizational culture takes longer time.

Recruitment is the process of identifying and attracting a group of potential candidates for employment. Once these candidates are identified, the process of selecting appropriate employees for employment can begin.

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Q.4. Attempt any two parts of the following:

Q.(a) What are the different techniques of performance appraisal? Explain in brief.

Ans. The methods of performance mangement can be classified as comparative standards and absolute standards as shown in following figure :

Methods of Performance Management

Comparative standards Absolute standards

Ranking Method Assessment centres

Paired comparision Behaviourally Anchored

Graphic rating scale rating scale

Critical Incidents Management by objectives

360 Degree feedback

Comparative Standards. Comparative Standards or Multi-person Comparison. This relative, as opposed to absolute method, compares one employee’s performance with that of one or more others.

Ranking Method. In group rank ordering the supervisor places employees into a particular classification such as “top one-fifth” and “second one-fifth”. If a supervisor has ten employees, only two could be in the top fifth, and two must be assigned to the bottom fifth.

In individual ranking the supervisor lists employees from highest to lowest. The difference between the top two employees is assumed equivalent to the difference between the bottom two employees.

Paired comparison. In paired comparison the supervisor compares each employee with every other employee in the group and rates each as either superior or weaker of the pair. After all comparisons are made, each employee is assigned a summary or ranking based on the number of superior scores received.

Graphic Rating Scale. This method lists a set of performance factors such as job knowledge, work quality, cooperation that the supervisor uses to rate employee performance using an

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incremental scale.

Absaolute Standards. It is a modern methods of performance management.

Assessment centres. An assessment centre typically involves the use of methods like social/informal events, tests and exercises, assignments being given to a group of employees to assess their competencies to take higher responsibilities in the future. Generally, employees are given an assignment similar to the job they would be expected to perform if promoted. The trained evaluators observe and evaluate employees as they perform the assigned jobs and are evaluated on job related characteristics. The major competencies that are judged in assessment centres are interpersonal skills, intellectual capability, planning and organizing capabilities, motivation, career orientation etc. assessment centres are also an effective way to determine the training and development needs of the targeted employees.

Behaviorally anchored rating scales. Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales (BARS) is a relatively new technique which combines the graphic rating scale and critical incidents method. It consists of predetermined critical areas of job performance or sets of behavioral statements describing important job performance qualities as good or bad (for eg. the qualities like inter personal relationships, adaptability and reliability, job knowledge etc). These statements are developed from critical incidents.

In this method, an employee’s actual job behaviour is judged against the desired behaviour by recording and comparing the behaviour with BARS. Developing and practicing BARS requires expert knowledge.

Management by Objectives. MBO evaluates how well an employee has accomplished objectives determined to be critical in job performance. This method aligns objectives with quantitative performance measures such as sales, profits, zero-defect units produced. This method emphasize a participative but joint determination of objectives, followed by a participative but joint evaluation of success in periodic appraisal interview. The superior plays supportive, counselling and coaching role.

The emphasis of this method is on the value of the present and future rather than that of the past.The method is applicable to technical, professional, supervisory or executive personnel and not to the hourly paid workers because their jobs are too restricted.

MBO consists four steps as a way to attain desired performance.

(a) Objective setting—The objectives are set by joint determination of manager and employee for the next calender year, within the context of overall unit goals and resources.

(b) Action planning—It is a participative or independent planning by the employee asto how to reach those objectives.

(c) Periodic reviews—It is a joint assessment of progress toward objectives by manager and employee, performed informally.

(d) Annual evaluation—It is formal assessment of success in achieving the employee's annual

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objectives, coupled with a renewal of the planning cycle.

360 Degree Feedback. This multi-source feedback method provides a comprehensive perspective of employee performance by utilizing feedback from the full circle of people with whom the employee interacts: supervisors, subordinates and co-workers. It is the process of systematically gathering data on a person’s skills, abilities and behaviours from a variety of sources. It is effective for career coaching and identifying strengths and weaknesses. The product of this multidirectional method is rich feedback (both positive and negative) and useful in performance improvement. The results from 360-degree feedback are often used by the person receiving the feedback to plan their training and development. Results are also used by some organizations in making administrative decisions, such as pay or promotion. When this is the case, the 360 assessment is for evaluation purposes, and is sometimes called a “360-degree review.” However, there is a great deal of controversy as to whether 360-degree feedback should be used exclusively for development purposes, or should be used for appraisal purposes as well (Waldman et al., 1998). There is also controversy regarding whether 360-degree feedback improves employee performance, and it has even been suggested that it may decrease shareholder value (Pfau & Kay, 2002).

The data gathered from 360-degree feedback throughout the organization can be very useful in providing insight into organization-wide behaviors and competency (or the lack thereof), and what development and other interventions may be necessary to address weaknesses.

AppraiseeSelf

ExternalCustomers

InternalCustomers

LineManager’s

Peers

Subordinates

Q. (b) How does Training differ from development? Explain.

Ans. Training and development offer competitive advantage to a firm by removing performance difficiencies, making employees stay long, minimizing accidents, scrap and damage, and meeting future employee needs. Both terms are used for similar activity, i.e. for improving performance. Though training and development are differe to each other.

The difference between training and development can be explained on the basis of

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Meaning—Training means learning new things and refreshing old ones, but development means implementing the learned session and finding new ones.

Utility—Training a designed for non-managers as well as managers but development involves only managerial personnel.

Process—Training is a short term process and development is long term process.

Objective—The objective of training are specific and job related purpose but the objective of development is broad and consider general knowledge or total personality development.

Demand—The demand of training is for present or current situation, i.e., immediate improvement of the employee whereas is development, the demand is for future situation, i.e., to make the employee efficient enough to handle critical situations in the future.

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