Examination Paper : Semester
II
IIBM Institute of Business
Management
IIBM
Institute of Business Management
Examination
Paper MM.100
Business
Communication
Section
A: Objective Type (30 marks)
· This section consists of multiple choices
and Short Notes type questions.
· Answer all the questions.
· Part one questions carry 1 mark each &
Part Two questions carry 4 marks each.
Part
one:
Multiple
choices:
1. __________is an essential
function of Business Organizations:
a. Information
b. Communication
c. Power
d. None of the above
2. Physiological Barriers of
listening are:
a. Hearing impairment
b. Physical conditions
c. Prejudices
d. All of the above
3. Which presentation tend to
make you speak more quickly than usual:
a. Electronic
b. Oral
c. Both ‘a’ and ‘b’
d. None of the above
4. What is the main function
of Business Communication:
a. Sincerity
b. Positive language
c. Persuasion
d. Ethical standard
5. The responsibilities of
the office manager in a firm that produces electronics spares is:
a. Everything in the office
runs efficiently
b. Furniture and other
equipment in the office is adequate
c. Processing all the
incoming official mail and responding to some
d. All of the above
Examination Paper : Semester
II
IIBM Institute of Business
Management
6. Labov’s Storytelling Model
based on:
a. Communication through
speech
b. Language learning
c. Group Discussions
d. None of the above
7. Diagonal Communication is
basically the:
a. Communication across
boundaries
b. Communication between the
CEO and the managers
c. Communication through body
language
d. Communication within a
department
8. How to make Oral
Communication Effective?
a. By Clarity
b. By Brevity
c. By Right words
d. All of the above
9. Direct Eye contact of more
than 10 seconds can create:
a. Discomfort & Anxiety
b. Emotional relationship
between listeners and speakers
c. Excitement
d. None of the above
10. Encoding means:
a. Transmission
b. Perception
c. Ideation
d. None of the above
Part
Two:
1. Define Communication. How
can you classify Communication?
2. Explain ‘Space Language’.
3. Differentiate between good
listeners and bad listeners.
4. What are the different
types of Business Reports?
5. What is Synopsis?
END OF SECTION A
Examination Paper : Semester
II
IIBM Institute of Business
Management
Section
B: Case lets (40 marks)
· This section consists of Case lets.
· Answer all the questions.
· Each Case let carries 20 marks.
· Detailed information should form the part
of your answer (Word limit 150 to 200 words).
Case
let 1
Mr. and Mrs. Sharma went to
Woodlands Apparel to buy a shirt. Mr. Sharma did not read the price tag on
the piece selected by him. At
the counter, while making the payment he asked for the price. Rs. 950 was
the answer.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Sharma, who
was still shopping came back and joined her husband. She was glad that
he had selected a nice black
shirt for himself. She pointed out that there was a 25% discount on that item.
The counter person nodded in
agreement.
Mr. Sharma was thrilled to
hear that “It means the price of this shirt is just Rs. 712. That’s fantastic”,
said
Mr. Sharma.
He decided to buy one more
shirt in blue color.
In no time, he returned with
the second shirt and asked them to be packed. When he received the cash
memo for payment, he was
astonished to find that he had to pay Rs. 1,900 and Rs. 1,424.
Mr. Sharma could hardly
reconcile himself to the fact that the counter person had quoted the discounted
price which was Rs. 950. The
original price printed on the price tag was Rs. 1,266.
Questions
1. What should Mr. Sharma
have done to avoid the misunderstanding?
2. Discuss the main features
involved in this case.
Case
let 2
I don’t want to speak to you.
Connect me to your boss in the US,” hissed the American on the phone. The
young girl at a Bangalore
call centre tried to be as polite as she could. At another call centre, another
day,
another young girl had a
Londoner unleashing himself on her, “Young lady, do you know that because of
you Indians we are losing
jobs?”
The outsourcing backlash is
getting ugly. Handling irate callers is the new brief for the young men and
women taking calls at these
outsourced job centers. Supervisors tell them to be ‘cool’. Avinash Vashistha,
managing partner of NEOIT, a
leading US-based consultancy firm says, “Companies involved in
outsourcing both in the US
and India are already getting a lot of hate mail against outsourcing and it is
hardly surprising that some
people should behave like this on the telephone.” Vashistha says Indian call
centres should train their
operators how to handle such calls.
Examination Paper : Semester
II
IIBM Institute of Business
Management
Indeed, the furor raised by
the Western media over job losses because of outsourcing has made ordinary
citizens there sensitive to
the fact that their calls are being taken not from their midst, but in
countries
such as India and the
Philippines.
The angry outbursts the
operators face border on the racist and sexist, says the manager of a call
centre in
Hyderabad. But operators and
senior executives of call centres refuse to go on record for fear of kicking
up a controversy that might
result in their companies’ losing clients overseas.
“It’s happening often enough
and so let’s face it,” says a senior executive of a Gurgaon call centre,
adding, “This doesn’t have
any impact on business.”
Questions
1. Suppose you are working as
an operator in a call centre in India and receiving calls from
Americans and Londoners. How
would you handle such calls?
2. Do you agree with the view
such abusive happenings on the telephone do not have any impact
on business?
END OF SECTION B
Section
C: Applied Theory (30 marks)
· This section consists of Applied Theory
Questions.
· Answer all the questions.
· Each question carries 15 marks.
· Detailed information should form the part
of your answer (Word limit 200 to 250 words).
1. What is meant by Communication
Barriers? How and why do they occur? What can be done to
overcome the Barriers to
Communication?
2. Define and explain the
term Negotiation and also briefly explain the phases of Negotiation.
END OF SECTION C
S-1-280111
Examination Paper: Human Resource
Management
1
IIBM Institute of Business
Management
IIBM Institute
of Business Management
Examination
Paper MM.100
Human Resource
Development & Training
Section A:
Objective Type (30 marks)
· This section
consists of Multiple Choice and Short answer type questions.
· Answer all the
questions.
· Part one
questions carry 1 mark each & Part Two questions carry 5 marks each.
Part One:
Multiple
choices:
1) Who used the term ‘Intellectual
Capital’ for the first time?
a. Alvin Toffler
b. Tseng and Jiao
c. J K Galbraith
d. Rouibah and Ould-al
2) Organizational behavior is a:
a. Micro perspective
b. Macro perspective
c. Neo perspective
d. Latent perspective
3) Ethics in H R Development
means:
a. Accepted behavior
b. Rejected behavior
c. Unexpected behavior
d. There is no term like, in HRD
4) What does ‘s’ stands for in
COPS for conducting a detail HR analysis?
a. Shell
b. Swap
c. System
d. Site
5) In generic HRD model, training
and development lies:
a. At bottom level
b. In middle level
c. A top level
d. Not a part of this model
6) Under the development part,
the instructors use to focus on:
a.
Skills of the learner
b. Process of the learner
c. Concepts of the learner
Examination Paper: Human Resource
Management
2
IIBM Institute of Business
Management
d. No focus
7) Gap is:
a. The difference between
competency model and current state
b. The difference between ideal
state and current state
c. The difference between ideal
state and competency model
d. None of the above
8) According to Hamblin there are
…… levels at which evaluation can be made.
a. 3
b. 4
c. 5
d. 7
9) Norm reference tests are:
a. Tests designed to measure degree of learning
b. To
maximize the individual differences an for comparing them with externals.
c. To
test the learner has mastered the taught one or not.
d. None
of the above
10) David Kolb gave the idea that
learning is a:
a. Linear process
b. Slow process
c. Unlimited process
d. Circular process
Part Two:
1. Explain PCMM (People
Capability Maturity Model) approach for HRD.
2. Write a short note on ‘HRD
Strategy model’.
3. Explain the utility of ‘Training
Process Pyramid’.
4. What are ‘on-the-job’ and ‘off-the-job’
techniques of training and development?
END OF SECTION A
Examination Paper: Human Resource
Management
3
IIBM Institute of Business
Management
Section B:
Caselets (40 marks)
· This section
consists of Caselets.
· Answer all the
questions.
· Each Caselet
carries 20 marks.
· Detailed
information should form the part of your answer (Word limit 150 to 200 words).
Caselet 1
Introduction to
the organization:
XYZ Company was established 20
years ago, to manufacture gearbox components for diesel
engines. It employs around 250
people, having a head office, which employs a wide range of
personnel who are generally well
educated and enthusiastic about their work, and a factory, which
employs semi-skilled local people
who are generally disinterested in the products of the company
and who have an instrumental
attitude to work, seeing salary as the only reward.
Brief
Description of the Problem:
The performance of the Company
has not been good and the records revealed the following facts:
· Wastage within
the factory was costing the Company approximately Rs. 100,000 a month.
· There was wide
spread differences in individual work standards
· Processes were
non-standardized resulting in repeated problems
· Management made
all decisions and cascaded the result down to employees
· The top
management became concerned about the performance of the factory and they hired
Mr.
Tanmoy Deb, an OD consultant to
study the problem and suggest specific changes to
relationships and tasks with the
following objectives:
· To review and
improve communication systems.
· To restructure
the organization and to review teamwork and quality practices.
· To review
leadership issues across all levels.
Mr. Tanmoy Deb carried out
discussions, interviews and surveys and made the following
observations:
· There’ and ‘us’
attitude was widely prevalent between head office and factory personnel
· Production
personnel lacked technical skills
· Factory
employees felt alienated from sharing the Company’s success
· Production
systems were adhoc and defective because of frequent variations in standards
set
· Many times raw
material was found to be of inferior quality
· Rigidly defined
job descriptions
Questions:
1. What in your view are the
central human resources issues involved in this case?
2. What strategy should Mr.
Tanmoy Deb develop and implement for improving the present
system?
Examination Paper: Human Resource
Management
4
IIBM Institute of Business
Management
Caselet 2
Introduction to
the organization:
XYZ Company is an existing profit
making FMCG Company. The company has 600 personnel
and has branches all other the
country. It has a separate training department with a Training
Manager, Mr. A.P. Mohan as its
head who is supported by two qualified training officers. Mr.
Mohan has been in the company for
the last 8 years and is very efficient.
Brief
Description of the Problem:
Mr. Mohan wants to leave the
organization. He is fed up with organizational politics. He is
dissatisfied and infact
frustrated. There are several reasons attached to it. First and foremost is
that he is not paid adequately
despite the fact that he has brought 12% growth in revenue to the
company. Second reason is that he
is not consulted and constantly neglected while making
decisions on training aspects.
Lastly, he considers himself to be a victim of politics played in the
organization. Production Manager
is constantly hurting him and interferes with the work. Dr.
Ashok Sarao, boss of Mr. A.P.
Mohan does not want him to leave the organization, as he knows
that the effectively will come
down if he leaves. Dr. Ashok tries to convince Mohan that he
should adjust himself with the
environment and also talk of how Mohan is constantly neglected.
He talks of how politics is
played in the organization and strengths and weaknesses of Mohan but
does nothing to convince Mohan.
Rather he says that they have to adjust, as they are part of
family run business. In this
setting, personal equation rather than merit works. Mohan is not
convinced, and says he is
leaving.
Questions:
1. Why a high performer like Mr.
Mohan decided to leave the organization he has been long
part of?
2. Do you think Mr. A.P. Mohan
took the right decision to leave the organization? What would
you have done if you were in his
shoes?
END OF SECTION B
Section C:
Applied Theory (30 marks)
· This section
consists of Applied Theory Questions.
· Answer all the
questions.
· Each question
carries 15 marks.
· Detailed
information should form the part of your answer (Word limit 200 to 250 words).
1. Trace out the changing
paradigm of growth. Why has human resource development assume
greater importance in present
time?
2. Training effectiveness is
crucial for the success of the training department. How will you
ensure it?
END OF SECTION C
Examination Paper: Human Resource
Management
5
IIBM Institute of Business
Management
IIBM Institute
of Business Management
Examination
Paper MM.100
Industrial
Relations
Section A:
Objective Type (30 marks)
· This section
consists of True and False & Short Answer type questions.
· Answer all the
questions.
· Part One
questions carry 1 mark each & Part Two questions carry 5 marks each.
Part One:
True and False:
1. Central Board of Workers
Education (CBWE) was set up in 1986.
2. The joint Departmental
Councils are encouraged to hold annual meetings, a scheme which
was initiated in 1970.
3. The lockout of the pilots was
lifted from 3rd
November,
1974.
4. The Employers federation of
India formed in 1936.
5. Indian Jute Mills Association
(IJMA) was formed in 1887.
6. All India Trade federation was
established in 1921.
7. In India, the foundation of
modern industry was laid between 1850 and 1860.
8. HMS stands for Hind Maha
Sabha.
9. A feature of Indian trade
unionism is not the multiplicity of unions.
10. Standing Orders may provide
as to who should enquire.
Part two:
1. Who are ‘Blue Collor’ workers?
2. What are the basic causes of ‘Grievances’?
3. Write a note on ‘Payment of
Gratuity Act, 1972’.
4. Explain ‘Walker’s Model’ for
worker’s participation in management.
END OF SECTION A
Examination Paper: Human Resource
Management
6
IIBM Institute of Business
Management
Section B:
Caselets (40 marks)
· This section
consists of Caselets.
· Answer all the
questions.
· Each Caselet
carries 20 marks.
· Detailed information
should form the part of your answer (Word limit 150 to 200 words).
Caselet 1
(A)HISTORY OF
THE FIRM:
Bombay Electricals was started in
1940 by Mr. Desai, a refrigeration engineer, as a proprietary company.
In 1941 he ran short of money and
approached Mr. Khanna, Chairman of a large group of companies, for
help. Mr. Khanna decided to
invest capital in the company and thereby obtained 75% control. The
company was later registered in
1945 as a Public Limited company but management was left all this time
in the hands of Mr. Desai. Until
1947 the company showed substantial losses because Mr. Desai started a
number of new product lines but
did not stick to any long enough to establish either the production or the
markets. Nor did he make any
study of the existing markets or production in the country before
introducing any of the products.
This was a period in which the company launched and finally gave up a
number of products all of which
resulted in severe losses. In 1947 two senior offices from the group were
brought into Bombay Electricals
Company. Mr. Jain, an engineer by qualification, had served the Group
for twenty years and was
appointed Works Manager. Mr. Sharma who had also been with the Group for
18 years was made Finance and
Sales Manager. Within six months after Jain and Sharma joined the
company, Mr. Desai decided to
retire. Mr. Jain was made General Manager (Works) and Mr. Sharma,
General Manager (Finance and
Sales). At this stage management of the company rested with a part-time
Chairman, Mr. Khanna, who was
also the Chairman of the parent Group, and with the two General
Managers. There were six
superintendents for each of the manufacturing departments plus a sales
manager and an accountant. In
1949 the company took two decisions: (1) to suspend manufacturing all
products except those which could
be manufactured by mass production methods, and (2) not to compete
with the small scale or cottage
industry in any of its production lines. They agreed to concentrate only on
the manufacture of refrigerators
and air conditioners. In the decade between1950-60, the company made
impressive progress and sustained
a steady growth in production and in domestic and export sales. The
following figures show the
employment and net income.
Year ending March Employment Net
income in Lakhs
1947
1950
1960
500
750
3500
150.00
250.50
925.00
(B)FINANCIAL
STATUS:
The company’s financial and cost
position had deteriorated markedly between1958-1960. The rate of
equity divided declared was
calculated by the company as 20% in 1956, 1957 and 1958; to 0.5 lakh in
1960. In 1960 if it had not been
for 10 lakhs on profit on import entitlement and 18.50 lakhs on ‘other
income’, the balance available
for equity dividends would have been a negative figure. The short-term
financial position of the company
in March 1960 was tight and it faced a stringent cash position. The
costs on inventories too were
high, imposing strain on the financial position. The finished stock levels in
March 1960 were equipment to a
little over eight weeks production; in process stocks were equivalent to
about ten weeks production; and
raw materials stocks were sufficient for about 15 weeks production. The
table below gives the expenditure
on labour between 1958-1960:
Examination Paper: Human Resource
Management
7
IIBM Institute of Business
Management
Year ended
March
Salary and
wages per
employee
Profits bonus per
employee
Other
expenditure per
employee
Total per
employee
1958
1959
1960
5344
5131
5434
400
346
286
217
317
576
6021
5793
6296
Separating these figures for
workers from clerical staff, the cost per worker was Rs. 6,000 per year. The
comparable figures of earnings in
other industries averaged Rs. 1,400 in 1960. Thus workers’ earnings in
Bombay Electricals were nearly
four times the industry average. Furthermore, the earnings of the
employees in the company
increased at an average of 13% between 1958 and 1960.
During the same period the figure
below compares the physical output and average real earnings
(the figure of the real earnings
is reached by allowing for the shift in consumer price index for the period).
Year Index of physical output per
employee earnings
Index of average real earnings
per employee
1958
1959
1960
100
133
123
100
120
108
(C) TECHNOLOGICAL
STATUS:
When, in 1948, Bombay Electricals
Limited decided that the company would not compete with the small
scale or cottage industry and
would manufacture only those products which could be manufactured
economically by mass production
techniques, it suspended the manufacture of small tools, at that time a
profitable product. The exclusive
products on which the company concentrated were refrigerators and air
conditioners. Consequent upon the
technical decisions to manufacture on mass production lines, highspeed
and special purpose machinery was
gradually installed in the plant. The
decision resulted also in
the setting up of an industrial engineering (work study)
department and a vast development department.
The jobs were time-studied and
after negotiations with the union, standards were established and these
were used in developing a
comprehensive incentive scheme. In all cases workers achieved the targets and
often exceeded them. The
technology of manufacturing refrigerators and air conditioners had remained
reasonably stable. Between1950-60
three models were introduced and each had required a change of
approximately 10-30 per cent
parts. This implied that the basic processes had remained fairly constant and
the bulk of innovation had taken
place in the methods of production. It was during this period that high
speed machinery and mass
producing methods and equipment replaced slower and hand operated
machinery. As a result of the
technological changes the output per employee was comparable to similar
production units abroad. These
technological innovations have had direct bearing on the man-machine
relationships. Primarily these
are two: one, the operator became an attendant to the machine as against the
skilled craftsman who he was
before. His activities were governed by the speed of the machine and his
work was controlled by the
technology rather the skill he could have exercised to improve the production;
two, the fictionalization of jobs
on high speed, special purpose equipment used for manufacturing process
deprived him of his association
with the totality of operations. The task became “meaningless’ from the
point of view of the operator.
His concern therefore became one of earning a high incentive rate and for
job satisfaction he had to seek
involvement elsewhere. The incentive scheme covered both direct and
indirect employees. Incentive
earnings were often 100-200% of the basic earnings. The minimum take
home pay packet in the company
was about Rs. 250.00 per month. At the same time, as the earnings
increased, the need to earn
higher incentive became less imminent. The needs shifted from the economic
to the social levels. As would be
discussed later, the alternative for the satisfaction of social needs was
denied in the work situation. The
problem of social needs snowballed. As the earnings increased, the
Examination Paper: Human Resource
Management
8
IIBM Institute of Business
Management
management decided to recruit
workers from middle class families in preference to the traditional
working class population. The
purpose for doing this was to obtain an educated workforce which would
support the company’s programme
of rapid expansion and mechanization. To a large extent this policy
was successful in the context of
increased output.
(D)
ADMINISTRATIVE POLICY AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS:
As mentioned earlier the active
management of the company rested with the Chairman and the two
General Managers. The Chairman
visited Bombay almost every month. He believed in giving
considerable freedom of action to
the local management. He saw his role as a philosopher and guide to
the local management and chose to
take only broad policy decisions in matters of finance, sales, industrial
relations, employment etc. He
made it known that the General Managers must evaluate his comments in
the light of the local conditions
and should not regard his remarks as mandatory. He expressed his
management philosophy as “finding
the right man for the job and then leaving him free to do it”. He
advocated the same philosophy for
the General Managers. The Chairman during his visits spent a lot of
time individually with both the
General Managers, but interacted more with Mr. Jain, General Manager
(works). Most of the discussions were held outside the office while they had
lunch together or went for
morning walks or other simple,
social occasions of this kind. Neither believed in the formal procedure of
writing down their decisions and
preparing formal minutes. Very occasionally the Chairman and both the
General Managers discussed the
policy or other issues together. This was party because the two General
Managers had shown visible signs
of strained work relations between them although they were otherwise
friends. Both, the Chairman and
the General Manager (works), believed in establishing personal
relationships with everyone in
the company and both were highly regarded by employees. The General
Manager (works) knew at least
half the workers in the factory by their first names and often went to their
houses during festivals or
whenever an occasion demanded. Most employees felt free to approach him
with their personal problems.
Invariably helped them even with money, sometimes from his own pocket.
Employees knew him as a kind
person who had in mind their personal well-being as much as that of the
company. He had expressed his
views by saying that Bombay Electricals should be seen as a company
that belongs to all those who
contribute to its growth. He felt sure that the only problem was to produce
more and everyone would share its
gains, but none should ever stop production; whatever problems
existed would be resolved by
discussions among responsible people.
(E) INDUSTRIAL
RELATIONS:
Bombay Electricals Limited
Employees Trade Union was organized in 1946 by a well known trade union
leader who was also a member of
the AITUC executive Committee. The union was not recognized by the
management in spite of several
representations by the President. In 1951, as a protest against discharge of
four employees in the works
without proper enquiry, the workers left their departments and assembled to
listen to an address by the union
President. The General Manager (works) came out of his office and also
declared that he wished to
address the workers. And he did. This was the first time that the General
Manager (works) and the union
president met each other. The employees went back to work when the
management agreed to hold an
enquiry by a joint team of representatives of the management and the
union. Consequent upon the
enquiry two of the four employees were reinstated by the company. In the
meantime the union elected
another President for their union who was also an experienced trade union
leader as well as a Member of
Parliament on a communist party ticket. Although the union was not
officially recognized by the
management, the two met together regularly and in 1955 signed a
comprehensive agreement for five
years. This agreement covered the following:
· Recognizing the
union as the sole bargaining agent for the employees and allowing them
facilities
to collect union dues inside the
factory;
· Wage scales,
dearness allowance and other benefits;
· Incentive scheme
Examination Paper: Human Resource
Management
9
IIBM Institute of Business
Management
· A network of
consultative committees at departmental, works and top union management levels;
and
· Grievance
procedure
Events after the agreement showed
the following characteristics:
1. There were frequent meetings
between the management at the departmental and works levels
but invariably the settlement
took place only in the union’s meetings with the General Manager
(works).
2. Most departmental promotions
and transfers involved consultations with the union and the
departmental heads seldom took a
decision concerning an employee without formally or
informally consulting the union.
3. If the union disagreed with
certain issues they quickly resorted to demonstrations within the
factory or stoppage of work. The
Labour Welfare Officer was manhandled outside the factory.
The officer concerned left. On
all these occasions the General Manager (works) solved the
dispute.
4. Inspite of a bonus formula
traditionally used by the management, the employees agitated every
year when bonus was declared and
they invariably got more bonus or loans after negotiations
with the General Manager (works).
5. Some representative incidents
below would illustrate one aspect of the relationship:
(a) A
worker, found smoking near the paint shop, where smoking was not allowed,
complained that the
officer concerned manhandled him
and issued a charge sheet even when he was not smoking. He claimed
that the officer was prejudiced
and wanted him out of the department. Employees walked out of their
departments and demonstrated for
withdrawal of the charge sheet. The General Manager (works) and the
union Secretary resolved this
matter by everyone going back to the departments and the company
withdrawing the charge sheet.
(b) A
peon was found asleep on his job and was charge sheeted. Repeated agitation led
to withdrawal of
the charge sheet after top level
discussions.
(c) At
bonus time every year there were demonstrations. Workers left their
departments, surrounded the
senior officers and indulged in
drum beating until a settlement was reached.
(d) At the same time the company
carried out a programme of expansion with all the attendant changes in
the departments. No serious
difficulty was faced by the company in introducing technology change or in
increasing productivity per
worker.
(F) THE STRIKE
In 1960 when the bonus was
declared, the employees agitated in the same as they did in previous years.
The difference between the offer
made to workers and the quantum demanded by them was about Rs. 30/-
(thirty) per employee. Unlike
other years, the negotiations failed and the employees gave 15 days notice
to go on strike. The matter was
taken up for conciliation by the State Labour Commissioner but the
dispute could not be settled. On
the appointed day, the strike began and six anxious months went by
before a settlement was reached.
This case raises some highly
interesting and significant questions:
Examination Paper: Human Resource
Management
10
IIBM Institute of Business
Management
Questions:
1. Similar problems which caused
this strike in 1960 were satisfactorily resolved in the past in Bombay
Electricals. Why could not the
differences be settled in 1960?
2. Inspite of high earnings by
employees, why did they choose to go on strike for a relatively small
difference of Rs 30/- in their
demand preceding the strike?
Caselet 2
THE ORGANIZATION
Thomson and Richards, two
technocrats from Holland, both in the age group of late 30s came as
consultants to Calcutta with
French Company on a project assignment in 1940. They were quite
impressed with Indian culture and
decided to settle down in India. Upon completion of their project, they
started their own company under
the name Thomrich Pvt. Ltd. which manufactured agricultural
equipments. Encouraged by the
performance of the company, they ventured into the manufacturing of
fertilizer manufacturing
equipments in 1944 under the same banner. Their entrepreneurial skills and
success promoted them to
diversify their business into manufacturing of lubricants in 1951, and
subsequently to electrical
gadgets for industrial use in the year 1970. In the same year, they pioneered
the
manufacturing of hovers at
Chennai. In 1992, Thomrich Pvt. Ltd. entered the tractor segment and
established its plant at Gwalior,
M.P. It entered into the tractor segment when another company KCP had
already established its
reputation as a sole reliable brand. Unaffected by the competition, they
started their
brand of tractors and soon, after
three years they started manufacturing cultivators too. So far Thomrich
had a smooth sailing. With the
coming of liberalization and globalization in the 1990s, Thomrich did not
remain untouched by the
surmounting pressures of MNCs venturing into the Indian market. This made
them sell one of their
profit-making divisions, i.e., the fertilizer manufacturing to a leading Indian
business house, to concentrate on
their core competency areas. To add to the woes, the rumours of
Elegators, the world’s No. 1
tractor manufacturer foraying into Indian market gave sleepless nights. Being
protective, the company decided
to enter in a collaborative venture with Wooge of France, the world’s
No. 2 tracror manufacturer, and
rechristened itself to Thomrich-Wooge Pvt. Ltd. In the year 2002, they
improvised the then existing
model in terms of efficiency by reducing its cycle-time, thereby becoming
No. 1 in the country. The company
considered this product as flagship product, although it had not been
takes the place of KCP Tractors,
despite improvisation in its efficiency. The company was purely
technocrat in nature with an
annual turnover of Rs. 10,000 crores. With
Thomrich-Wooge Pvt. Ltd.
contributing Rs. 125 crores to it. The Gwalior unit had a total strength of 308
employees, which included 94
executives and supervisors and the rest 214 as workmen. All the
executives were engineering
graduates with 50% of them as locals. The workmen were ITI qualified with
60% of them as Weldors, 10% as
Mechanics and 30% as Fitters. 40% of the workmen were from
Maharashtra and the rest were
from Madhya Pradesh. K. Vaswani, a 54 year old technocrat who had
succeeded Ranjan Khare when he
retired after serving this unit for 3 years, headed the Gwalior unit as
Chief Executive (C.E.). Vaswani
had been with the company from 1972 to 1993 and had left to join
Conclave Ltd, an MNC, as Chief
Executive. He rejoined Thomrich-Wooge Pvt. Ltd., in June 2004.
Vaswani did not seem to be
different from the earlier CEs who had ingrained an employee-friendly
culture in the organization. He
regularly held meetings with employees irrespective of their levels and
also made frequent visits to the
shopfloor to have face-to-face interaction with the workmen.
HR PROCESSES
Thomrich-wooge had a policy of
recruitment in two phases. The corporate office at Calcutta, through
campus selection, recruited the
engineering graduates and the Certificate and Diploma holders were
Examination Paper: Human Resource
Management
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IIBM Institute of Business
Management
recruited independently at the
unit level. The company did not encourage inter-unit transfers, although
there were a few need-based
transfers to facilitate the employees’ and company’s operations. The
company had the policy of
recruiting the graduate engineers at entry level and nurturing and grooming
them for higher positions. As a
result, only the Thomrichians occupied all the top positions in all the units
of the organization. The company
had a firm belief that the workers would always put their best efforts if
facilitated with good quality of
work life and therefore, did not have the provision of monetary incentives.
They also believed that the
incentive schemes would hamper the quality of products by compelling the
employees to pay more attention
to quality rather than quality. Lured by the incentives they will somehow
try to sell the product without
due consideration to the customer’s need. They felt that monetary
incentives can motivate an
employee to a certain extent, and beyond that level it would fail to have any
impact on his efficiency. Rather,
it would raise his expectations and unfulfilled expectations would lower
the morale of the employee.
Nonetheless, the top management acknowledges and appreciated the
performance of workers from time
to time. The company had a fixed wage / salary structure across all the
units in India. However,
allowances varied from place to place. Thomrich-wooge had a performance
appraisal system based on
management by objectives (MBO). The top management would set the goals
and communicate it to the CEs who
in turn would pass down to the HODs. They were given sufficient
time to speculate on its
feasibility and once the feasibility was decided; the goals were frozen and
communicated to the employees. At
every quarter, the superiors would discuss the performance with the
employees and pass on the ratings
to HR departments. The expert committee consisting of 4-5 members
from various functional
departments evaluated these ratings. These members knew all the employees who
were being evaluated, and then
they re-rated them to reduce the inter-rater bias. The ratings of the
committee were final and were
communicated to the respective superiors, which was then discussed with
the concerned employees. The
superiors would also counsel the subordinates in order to redress their
grievances, if any. Decisions
regarding promotions and rewards were made annually and were based on
quarterly performance appraisals.
The company had a 2-tier system of training, one at the plant level and
other at the corporate level. It
had its own Management Development Centre at Darjeeling where most of
the training programs were
conducted for managers, incorporating prayers and yoga too. The company
did not have a separate budget
for training, it was need-based. Every employee was required to undergo at
least 15 days of training every
year. Since, multiskilling was practiced within assembly lines, the
employees were exposed to both
technical as well as behavioural training. Most of the trainers engaged
by the company were outsiders.
All the training programmes were thoroughly evaluated every quarter by
talking the feedback from the
immediate superior. The company would administer psychometric
measures once in three years to
appraise the potential of employees fro various functional areas. Once the
competence and aptitude was
identified in an employee, he was groomed in that particular area by a
mentor.
The company had a recognized
trade union, which was earlier affiliated to Bhartiya Mazdoor
Sangh (B.M.S) and was now
enjoying an independent status. The union would place a charter of demands
before the management once in
four years, which was followed by harmonious negotiations between the
two. As the management involved
the workmen even in the market survey of the products, the union also
discussed the quality issues with
the management. The company’s employment policies radiated a single
principle that they believed in
people and that they were the most valuable assets for them. Employees
had the freedom to see any
superior ant time without prior appointment. The company boasted of an open
communication system, total
transparency, no-status barrier, security and sense of professional among the
employees, which was reflected in
the unit not witnessing any strike or major indiscipline since its
inception. The company had also
introduced “Prayaas”, an HR-initiative as a proactive measure to have a
competitive edge in the dynamic
scenario. Prayaas involved OD interventions like cross functional team,
large-scale integration, kaizen,
etc. All the employees in the group of 3-5 were asked to suggest changes
for the betterment of the unit.
Subsequent solutions and action plans were also invited from the employees
and the consolidated suggestions
were implemented which resulted into introduction of suggestion
schemes, wastage utilization and
recycling of packaging material. Some of the brilliant ideas of the
Examination Paper: Human Resource
Management
12
IIBM Institute of Business
Management
employees were suitably
recognized and widely circulated through in-house journals in all the units of
Thomrich.
CHALLENGES
Since 2002, the unit had seen 12%
of executive turnover, which was earlier just 3%. This drew attention
of the top management who were
confident of the high degree of employee-loyalty and believed that the
employees were emotionally
attached to the unit. At this juncture, the HR Head, S. Abraham anticipated
trouble, as he feared that the
turnover rate might increase in the wake of globalization and liberalization
with more and more MNCs offering
lucrative packages and challenging assignments to the executives.
These firms were recruiting
people at all levels, which made the employees feel that growth prospectus at
their units were rather slow. Moreover,
employees had also become more risk talking and their varied
expertise encouraged them to
experiment in new segments namely IT, Banking and BPOs. Though the
MNCs had 15-18 hours of working,
but the changing orientation of employee made them feel that they
were handsomely compensated. S.
Abraham apprehended further deterioration due to the influence of
Dollar Packages, which was
unaffordable for Thomrich-Wooge Pvt. Ltd. The market conditions were
already tight with too many
competitors, prices being down, customers becoming more demanding and
choosy, making the inputs scarce
for the unit. Abhraham was considering the options of overcoming the
exodus of executives by
increasing the efficiency with lesser input for which the company would have to
minimize its task force. This
would tarnish its employee friendly image. The other was to increase the
profits by exploring new markets.
The Indian market by now was already flooded with many players,
leaving the international market
as the only option, which was equally a hard nut to crack. Abraham felt
trapped in a highly volatile
situation, where he fumbled for a speedy and pragmatic remedy.
Questions:
1. Was the company’s decision to
enter the tractor segment right, when KCP had already captured
the market?
2. Had you been Abraham, how
would you tackle the present situation?
END OF SECTION B
Section C:
Applied Theory (30 marks)
· This section
consists of Applied Theory Questions.
· Answer all the
questions.
· Each question
carries 15 marks.
· Detailed
information should form the part of your answer (Word limit 200 to 250 words).
1. What is inflation? Compare its
role with money and the real earning of the Industrial workers.
Use appropriate data to justify your
answer.
2. How can the bargaining affect
the workers as well as the firm? “It is a method of wage fixation.”
Evaluate.
END OF SECTION B
S-2-210311
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