Unit I

1.1 Introduction and Relationship between HRM and HRD

1.2 Objectives of HRM
1.3 Productivity Analysis in Healthcare
1.4 Recruitment
1.5 Selection
1.6 Review Questions

1.1 INTRODUCTION
Human Resource Management (HRM) is a relatively new approach to managing
people in any organisation. People are considered the key resource in this approach. it
is concerned with the people dimension in management of an organisation. Since an
organisation is a body of people, their acquisition, development of skills, motivation
for higher levels of attainments, as well as ensuring maintenance of their level of
commitment are all significant activities. These activities fall in the domain of HRM.
Human Resource Management is a process, which consists of four main activities,
namely, acquisition, development, motivation, as well as maintenance of human
resources.
Scott, Clothier and Spriegel have defined Human Resource Management as that
branch of management which is responsible on a staff basis for concentrating on
those aspects of operations which are primarily concerned with the relationship of
management to employees and employees to employees and with the development of
the individual and the group.
Human Resource Management is responsible for maintaining good human relations in
the organisation. It is also concerned with development of individuals and achieving
integration of goals of the organisation and those of the individuals.
Human Resource Management is a management function that helps managers recruit,
select, train and develop members for an organisation. Obviously, HRM is concerned
with the people’s dimension in organisations.

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DEFINITION OF HRM
According to Flippo, ‘Personnel Management, or say, human resources management
is the planning, organizing, directing and controlling of the procurement,
development, compensation, integration, maintenance, and separation of human
resources to the end that individual, organisational and social objectives are
accomplished”.
The National Institute of Personal Management (NIPM) of India has defined human
resources – personal management as “that part of management which is concerned
with people at work and with their relationship within an enterprise. Its aim is to bring
together and develop into an effective organization of the men and women who make
up enterprise and have regard for the well-being of the individuals and of working
groups, to enable them to make their best contribution to its success”.
According to Decenzo and Robbins, “HRM is concerned with the people dimension”
in management. Since every organization is made up of people, acquiring their
services, developing their skills, motivating them to higher levels of performance and
ensuring that they continue to maintain their commitment to the organization is
essential to achieve organisational objectives. This is true, regardless of the type of
organization – government, business, education, health or social action”.
• HRM can be defined as a process of procuring, developing and maintaining
competent resources in the organization so that goals of an organization are
achieved in an effective and efficient manner. In other words HRM is an art of
managing people at work in such a manner that they give best to the
organisation.

The core points which find their place in the above definitions.are:

1. Organisations are not mere bricks, mortar, machineries or inventories.

They are people. It is the people who staff and manage organisations.
2. HRM involves the application of management functions and principles.
The functions and principles are applied to acquisitioning, developing,
maintaining, and remunerating employees in organisations.

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 3. Decisions relating to employees must be integrated. Decisions on different
aspects of employees must be consistent with other human resource
decisions.
4. Decisions made must influence the effectiveness of an organisation.
Effectiveness of an organisation must result in betterment of services to
customers in the form of high-quality products supplied at reasonable
costs.
5. HRM functions are not confined to business establishments only. They
are applicable to non-business organisations, too, such as education, health
care, recreation, and the like.

Thus, HRM refers to a set of programmes, functions and activities designed

and carried out in order to maximise both employee as well as organisational
effectiveness.

SCOPE OF HRM

The scope of HRM is indeed vast. All major activities in the working life
of a worker-from the time of his or her entry into an organisation until her she leaves-
come under the purview of HRM. Specifically, the activities included are-HR
planning, job evaluation, employee and executive remuneration, motivation and
communication, welfare, safety and health, industrial relations (IR) and the like. For
the sake of convenience, we can categorise all these functions into seven sections_ (i)
introduction to HRM, (ii) employee hiring, (iii) employee and executive
remuneration, (iv) employee motivation, (v) employee maintenance, (vi) IR, and (vii)
prospects of HRM.

1.2 OBJECTIVES OF HRM

The primary objective of HRM is to ensure the availability of a

competent and willing workforce to an organisation. Beyond this, there are other
objectives, too. Specifically, HRM objectives are four fold-societal, organisational,
functional and personal.

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Societal Objectives: To be ethically and socially responsible to the needs and
challenges of the society while minimising he negative impact of such demands upon
the organisation. The failure of organisations to use their resources for the society’s
benefit in ethical ways may lead to restrictions. For example, the society may limit
HR decisions through laws that enforce reservation in hiring and laws that address
discrimination, safety or other such areas of societal concern.

Organisational Objectives: To recognise the role of HRM in bringing about

organisational effectiveness. HRM is not an end in itself. It is only a means to assist
the organisation with its primary objectives. Simply stated, the department exists to
serve the rest of the organisation.

Functional Objectives: To maintain the department’s contribution at a level

appropriate to the organisation’s needs. Resources are waste when HRM is either
more or less sophisticatedto suit the organisation’s demands. The department’s level
of service must be tailored to fit the organisation it serves.

Personal Objectives To assist employees in achieving their personal goals at least

insofar as these goals enhance the individual’s contribution to the organisation.
Personal objectives of employees must be met if workers are to be maintained,
retained and motivated, Otherwise, employee performance and satisfaction may
decline and employees may leave the organisation.

According to Scott, Clothier and Spriegal, ―The objectives of Human Resource

Management, in an organisation, is to obtain maximum individual development,
desirable working relationships between employers and employees and employees
and employees, and to affect the moulding of human resources as contrasted with
physical resources. The basic objective of human resource management is to
contribute to the realisation of the organisational goals. However, the specific
objectives of human resource management are as follows:
1. To ensure effective utilisation of human resources, all other organisational
resources will be efficiently utilised by the human resources.

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2. To establish and maintain an adequate organisational structure of
relationship among all the members of an organisation by dividing of
organisation tasks into functions, positions and jobs, and by defining
clearly the responsibility, accountability, authority for each job and its
relation with other jobs in the organisation.
3. To generate maximum development of human resources within the
organisation by offering opportunities for advancement to employees
through training and education.
4. To ensure respect for human beings by providing various services and
welfare facilities to the personnel.
5. To ensure reconciliation of individual/group goals with those of the
organisation in such a manner that the personnel feel a sense of
commitment and loyalty towards it.
6. To identify and satisfy the needs of individuals by offering various
monetary and non-monetary rewards.
In order to achieve the above objectives, human resource management undertakes
the following activities: (i) Human Resource Planning, i.e., determining the
number and kinds of personnel required to fill various positions in the
organisation. (ii) Recruitment, selection and placement of personnel, i.e.,
employment function. (iii) Training and development of employees for their
efficient performance and growth. (iv) Appraisal of performance of employees
and taking corrective steps such as transfer from one job to another. (v)
Motivation of workforce by providing financial incentives and avenues of
promotion. (vi) Remuneration of employees. The employees must be given
sufficient wages and fringe benefits to achieve higher standard of living and to
motivate them to show higher productivity. (vii) Social security and welfare of
employees.

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IMPORTANCE OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Human Resource Management has a place of great importance. According to Peter F.
Drucker, The proper or improper use of the different factors of production depend on
the wishes of the human resources. Hence, besides other resources human resources
need more development. Human resources can increase cooperation but it needs
proper and efficient management to guide it‖. Importance of personnel management
is in reality the importance of labour functions of personnel department which are
indispensable to the management activity itself. Because of the following reasons
human resource management holds a place of importance.
1. It helps management in the preparation adoption and continuing evolution of
personnel programmes and policies.
2. It supplies skilled workers through scientific selection process.

3. It ensures maximum benefit out of the expenditure on training and development

and appreciates the human assets.

4. It prepares workers according to the changing needs of industry and environment.

5. It motivates workers and upgrades them so as to enable them to accomplish the

organisation goals.

6. Through innovation and experimentation in the fields of personnel, it helps in

reducing casts and helps in increasing productivity.

7. It contributes a lot in restoring the industrial harmony and healthy employer-

employee relations.

8. It establishes mechanism for the administration of personnel services that are

delegated to the personnel department.

Thus, the role of human resource management is very important in an organization

and it should not be undermined especially in large scale enterprises. It is the key to
the whole organization and related to all other activities of the management i.e.,
marketing, production, finance etc. Human Resource Management is concerned with
managing people as an organizational resources rather than as factors of production.

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It involves a system to be followed in business firm to recruit, select, hire, train and
develop human assets. It is concerned with the people dimension of an organization.
The attainment of organizational objectives depends, to a great extent, on the way in
which people are recruited, developed and utilized by the management. Therefore,
proper co-ordination of human efforts and effective utilization of human and others
material resources is necessary.

An organisation cannot build a good team of working professionals without good

Human Resources. The key functions of the Human Resources Management (HRM)
team include recruiting people, training them, performance appraisals, motivating
employees as well as workplace communication, workplace safety, and much more.
The beneficial effects of these functions are discussed here:

Recruitment and Training

This is one of the major responsibilities of the human resource team. The HR
managers come up with plans and strategies for hiring the right kind of people. They
design the criteria which is best suited for a specific job description. Their other tasks
related to recruitment include formulating the obligations of an employee and the
scope of tasks assigned to him or her. Based on these two factors, the contract of an
employee with the company is prepared. When needed, they also provide training to
the employees according to the requirements of the organisation. Thus, the staff
members get the opportunity to sharpen their existing skills or develop specialised
skills which in turn, will help them to take up some new roles.

Improvement of compensation packages

One of the major functions of th HR department is to motivate employees.This can be

done through rewards especially for those who have done well. The HR department
needs to evaluate performance of employees and those who have exceeded
expectations should be compensated for their actions. Research has shown that
rewarding employees for good performance is the number one incentive for keeping
up this trend. These compensation packages can be in the following ways:

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 1. Holiday offers
2. End of year bonuses
3. Equities
4. Awards
5. Increments
6. Provision of flexible working hours
7. Promotion schemes and Career Developments

If the HR department includes these incentives, then it will ensure that employees are
satisfied with the company. It will also contribute towards good staff retention rates.
This is especially crucial in increasing stability within the organization. It also makes
employees identify with the firm and instills a sense of loyalty.

Planning in the Organisation

The Human Resource Department is placed with the responsibility of ensuring that it
plans adequately for all the organisation’s future engagements that will involve
people. One important aspect of this is planning for employees in the organization. It
is important that the organization ensures that all the employees under its wing are
just enough to increase value to the organization.

The department must ensure that staff members are not too many because if they
exceed this amount, then the organization stands too lose. It must plan adequately to
ensure that staff members are not too few either, otherwise they will be overworking
those who are already in place. It will result in poor motivation. It is also bestowed
with the responsibility of planning future organizational goals in relation to people.

Performance Appraisals
HRM encourages the people working in an organisation to work according to their
potential and gives them suggestions that can help them to bring about improvement
in it. The team communicates with the staff individually from time to time and
provides all the necessary information regarding their performances and also defines
their respective roles. This is beneficial as it enables them to form an outline of their

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anticipated goals in much clearer terms and thereby, helps them execute the goals
with best possible efforts. Performance appraisals, when taken on a regular basis,
motivate the employees.

Maintaining Work Atmosphere

This is a vital aspect of HRM because the performance of an individual in an
organisation is largely driven by the work atmosphere or work culture that prevails at
the workplace. A good working condition is one of the benefits that the employees
can expect from an efficient human resource team. A safe, clean and healthy
environment can bring out the best in an employee. A friendly atmosphere gives the
staff members job satisfaction as well.

Managing Disputes
In an organisation, there are several issues on which disputes may arise between the
employees and the employers. You can say conflicts are almost inevitable. In such a
scenario, it is the human resource department which acts as a consultant and mediator
to sort out those issues in an effective manner. They first hear the grievances of the
employees. Then they come up with suitable solutions to sort them out. In other
words, they take timely action and prevent things from going out of hands.

Developing Public Relations

The responsibility of establishing good public relations lies with the HRM to a great
extent. They organise business meetings, seminars and various official gatherings on
behalf of the company in order to build up relationships with other business sectors.
Sometimes, the HR department plays an active role in preparing the business and
marketing plans for the organisation too.

Any organisation, without a proper setup for HRM is bound to suffer from serious
problems while managing its regular activities. For this reason, today, companies
must put a lot of effort and energy into setting up a strong and effective HRM.

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ROLE OF HUMAN RESOURCES

Human Resources (HR) is concerned with the issues of managing people in the
organisation.

The Human Resources department is responsible for many people related issues in an
organisation.

The HR department performs the following roles:

1. The process of recruiting suitable candidates for the organisation

2. Identifying and meeting the training needs of existing staff
3. Ensuring employee welfare and employee relations are positive
4. Ensure the working environment is safe for employees
5. Raising awareness of current workplace legislation

The Human Resources Department also covers five key roles.

Executive role – in this role the HR department are viewed as the specialists in the
areas that encompass Human Resources or people management.

Audit role – in this capacity the HR department will check other departments and the
organisation as a whole to ensure all HR policies such as Health & Safety, Training,
Staff Appraisal etc are being carried out in accordance with the company’s HR
policy.

Facilitator role – in this role, the HR department help or facilitate other departments
to achieve the goals or standards as laid out in the HR policies of the organisation.
This will involve training being delivered for issues that arise in the areas relating to
people management.

Consultancy role – the HR department will advise managers on how to tackle

specific managing people issues professionally.

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Service role – in this capacity the HR department is an information provider to raise
awareness and inform departments and functional areas on changes in policy.

NATURE OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

The emergence of human resource management can be attributed to the writings of
the human relations who attached great significance to the human factor. Lawrence
Appley remarked, Management is personnel administration. This view is partially
true as management is concerned with the efficient and effective use of both human
as well as non-human resources. Thus human resource management is only a part of
the management process. At the same time, it must be recognised that human
resource management is inherent in the process of management. This function is
performed by all the managers. A manager to get the best of his people, must
undertake the basic responsibility of selecting people who will work under him and to
help develop, motivate and guide them. However, he can take the help of the
specialised services of the personnel department in discharging this responsibility.
The nature of the human resource management has been highlighted in its following
features:
1. Inherent Part of Management: Human resource management is inherent in the
process of management. This function is performed by all the managers throughout
the organisation rather that by the personnel department only. If a manager is to get
the best of his people, he must undertake the basic responsibility of selecting people
who will work under him.
2. Pervasive Function: Human Resource Management is a pervasive function of
management. It is performed by all managers at various levels in the organisation. It
is not a responsibility that a manager can leave completely to someone else. However,
he may secure advice and help in managing people from experts who have special
competence in personnel management and industrial relations.
3. Basic to all Functional Areas: Human Resource Management permeates all the
functional area of management such as production management, financial
management, and marketing management. That is every manager from top to bottom,
working in any department has to perform the personnel functions.

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4. People Centered: Human Resource Management is people centered and is
relevant in all types of organisations. It is concerned with all categories of personnel
from top to the bottom of the organisation. The broad classification of personnel in an
industrial enterprise may be as follows: (i) Blue-collar workers (i.e. those working on
machines and engaged in loading, unloading etc.) and white-collar workers (i.e.
clerical employees), (ii) Managerial and non-managerial personnel, (iii) Professionals
(such as Chartered Accountant, Company Secretary, Lawyer, etc.) and non-
professional personnel.
5. Personnel Activities or Functions: Human Resource Management involves
several functions concerned with the management of people at work. It includes
manpower planning, employment, placement, training, appraisal and compensation of
employees. For the performance of these activities efficiently, a separate department
known as Personnel Department is created in most of the organisations.
6. Continuous Process: Human Resource Management is not a one shot function. It
must be performed continuously if the organisational objectives are to be achieved
smoothly.
7. Based on Human Relations: Human Resource Management is concerned with the
motivation of human resources in the organisation. The human beings can‘t be dealt
with like physical factors of production. Every person has different needs, perceptions
and expectations. The managers should give due attention to these factors. They
require human relations skills to deal with the people at work. Human relations skills
are also required in training performance appraisal, transfer and promotion of
subordinates.

FUNCTIONS OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT.

The main functions of human resource management are classified into two categories:
(a) Managerial Functions and (b) Operative Functions
(a) Managerial Functions The Following are the managerial functions of Human
Resources Management.
1. Planning: The planning function of human resource department pertains to the
steps taken in determining in advance personnel requirements, personnel

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programmes, policies etc. After determining how many and what type of people are
required, a personnel manager has to devise ways and means to motivate them.
2. Organisation: Under organisation, the human resource manager has to organise
the operative functions by designing structure of relationship among jobs, personnel
and physical factors in such a way so as to have maximum contribution towards
organisational objectives. In this way a personnel manager performs following
functions: (a) preparation of task force; (b) allocation of work to individuals; (c)
integration of the efforts of the task force; (d) coordination of work of individual with
that of the department.
3. Directing: Directing is concerned with initiation of organised action and
stimulating the people to work. The personnel manager directs the activities of people
of the organisation to get its function performed properly. A personnel manager
guides and motivates the staff of the organisation to follow the path laid down in
advance.
4. Controlling: It provides basic data for establishing standards, makes job analysis
and performance appraisal, etc. All these techniques assist in effective control of the
qualities, time and efforts of workers.
(b) Operative Functions: The following are the Operative Functions of Human
Resource Management
1. Procurement of Personnel: It is concerned with the obtaining of the proper kind
and number of personnel necessary to accomplish organisation goals. It deals
specifically with such subjects as the determination of manpower requirements, their
recruitment, selecting, placement and orientation, etc.
2. Development of Personnel: Development has to do with the increase through
training, skill that is necessary for proper job performance. In this process various
techniques of training are used to develop the employees. Framing a sound promotion
policy, determination of the basis of promotion and making performance appraisal are
the elements of personnel development function.
3. Compensation to Personnel: Compensation means determination of adequate and
equitable remuneration of personnel for their contribution to organisation objectives.
To determine the monetary compensation for various jobs is one of the most difficult

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and important function of the personnel management. A number of decisions are
taken into the function, viz., job-evaluation, remuneration, policy, inventive and
premium plans, bonus policy and co-partnership, etc. It also assists the organisation
for adopting the suitable wages and salaries, policy and payment of wages and
salaries in right time.
4. Maintaining Good Industrial Relation: Human Resource Management covers a
wide field. It is intended to reduce strife, promote industrial peace, provide fair deal
to workers and establish industrial democracy. It the personnel manager is unable to
make harmonious relations between management and labour industrial unrest will
take place and millions of man-days will be lost. If labour management relations are
not good the moral and physical condition of the employee will suffer, and it will be a
loss to an organisation vis-a-visa nation. Hence, the personnel manager must create
harmonious relations with the help of sufficient communication system and co-
partnership.
5. Record Keeping: In record-keeping the personnel manager collects and maintains
information concerned with the staff of the organisation. It is essential for every
organisation because it assists the management in decision making such as in
promotions.
6. Personnel Planning and Evaluation : Under this system different type of
activities are evaluated such as evaluation of performance, personnel policy of an
organisation and its practices, personnel audit, morale, survey and performance
appraisal, etc.
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ORGANISATION OF HR DEPARTMENT

Organisation structure is a basic framework within which the managers’

decision making behaviour takes place. Structure basically deals with relationships.
Structure is the pattern in which various parts or components are interrelated or
interconnected. Organization structure is the pattern of relationships among various
components or parts of the organization. This prescribes the relationships among
various activities and positions. Since the positions are held by various persons, the
structure is the relationship among people in the organization. Design of basic

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structure involves such issues as how the work of organization will be divided and
assigned among various positions, groups, divisions, departments, etc., and how the
coordination necessary to accomplish total organizational objectives will be achieved.
Besides the formally established organization structure, people create relationships
independent of the formal relationships known as informal relationships or informal
organization. Thus organization structure should mean the totality of formal and
informal relationships. A good organizational structure is the pre-requisite for
efficient HRM.

Formal Organization Structure

A formal organization structure is required, since a large number of people are
associated in achieving organizational objectives. All of them perform various
functions which are interdependent and interrelated. There should be a plan for
systematic completion of the work of each specialized job so that the total activities
accomplish common objectives. Though an organization structure is required
primarily to overcome the limitations of individuals, it serves many other purposes
too. The advantages of a good organizational structure are as follows:
1. Facilitating Management
A properly designed organization facilitates both management and operation
of the enterprise. On the other hand inadequate and faulty structure would discourage
and hamper effective management. Management work takes place with certainty and
continuity only if appropriate functional groups are provided to help managers. The
grouping and arrangement of activities directly affect operating results. Successful
managers always try to develop good structure. In many enterprises, a separate unit
for organization analysis, is created which looks after authority and responsibility,
delegation, communication, control and coordination.
2. Facilitating growth
The organizational structure is the framework within which an enterprise
grows. This requires a flexible structure where changes may be incorporated. With
the increase in size, either the quantity of same work increases, or diversification
takes place: a sound structure facilitates growth by increasing the efficiency.

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3. Full utilization of technological improvement
Many new technological improvements are being made every day and the
organization cannot remain aloof to these improvements. The advantages can be best
realised by having a suitable organization structure which can quickly adjust to the
new technology.
4. Encouragement to personnel
Psychological satisfaction to individuals in the organization is needed. An individual
contributes his best when his satisfaction is the most. Psychological satisfaction is
largely derived from his work, his relationships, and his work environment.
Psychological satisfaction could be provided through good organization structure. A
good organization structure also develops provisions for training and promotional
avenues.
5. Creativity stimulation
A sound organization based on specialization, stimulates creative thinking and
initiatives by providing well defined area of work with provision of development of
new and improved ways of working. Two issues become relevant in a discussion on
organisation of an HR department. They are (i) place of the HR department in the
overall set-up, and (ii) composition of the HR department itself. Status of the HR
department in the total organisational structure depends on whether a unit is small or
large.

FUTURE TRENDS OF HRM

The Future of HR is a multi-year research initiative designed to examine the new

mission, mandate, skills, capabilities, roles, and organizational structures that may
emerge for the HR function in the future, given important new developments in
technology, changing employee expectations, continued market volatility, and
more. Through this initiative, Accenture explores how key business trends will
fundamentally reshape HR. It also provides actionable insights to HR and business

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executives to address these trends and help their people and organizations become
more effective.

At the 2013 HR tech conference, a number of spokespeople from the industry were
interviewed about future trends. From gathering the various sound bites, a list of the
key future trends is presented below.

1. Companies will start to adopt consumer programs, which are not HR focused, to
help solve HR problems.
2. Organizations will focus on internal mobility and referrals as the primary
methods to find employees in the future.
3. Organizations will have to change the type of work offered to accommodate new
hires more as partners than subordinates.
4. Social and mobile will continue to be important topics in the HR and recruitment
world.
5. There will be increased fluidity in the market place, as companies will rely more
and more on contingent workforces. Consequently, vendors in the recruitment space
will have to develop to the new needs that an increasingly dynamic environment will
create.
6. Companies will evaluate candidates according to their social profiles to determine
how they are going to fit culturally in the organization.
7. There will be more targeted messaging to people, done in a way that individuals
understand and feel passionate about.
8. There will be an effort to converge various departmental systems, best practices
and technologies to avoid different teams from working in silos.
9. Companies will increasingly focus on the candidate experience to help build a
favorable employer reputation.

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PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES OF A HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGER

Similar to other department managers, a human resource manager has two basic
functions: overseeing department functions and managing employees. For this reason,
a human resources manager must be well-versed in each of the human resources
disciplines – compensation and benefits, training and development, employee
relations, and recruitment and selection. Core competencies HR managers have are
solid communication skills and decision-making capabilities based on analytical skills
and critical thought processes.

Overall Responsibilities

Human resource managers have strategic and functional responsibilities for all of the
HR disciplines. A human resource manager has the expertise of an HR generalist
combined with general business and management skills. In large organizations, a
human resource manager reports to the human resource director or a C-level human
resource executive. In smaller companies, some HR managers perform all of the
department's functions or work with an HR assistant or generalist that handles
administrative matters. Regardless of the size of department or the company, a human
resource manager should have the skills to perform every HR function, if necessary.

Compensation and Benefits

Human resource managers provide guidance and direction to compensation and

benefits specialists. Within this discipline, human resources managers develop
strategic compensation plans, align performance management systems with
compensation structure and monitor negotiations for group health care benefits.
Examples of human resource manager responsibilities include monitoring Family and
Medical Leave Act compliance and adherence to confidentiality provisions for
employee medical files. Human resource managers for small companies might also

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conduct open enrollment for employees' annual elections pertaining to health care
coverage.

Training and Development

Employee training and development includes new hire orientation, leadership training
and professional development seminars and workshops. Human resource managers
oversee needs assessments to determine when training is necessary and the type of
training necessary to improve performance and productivity. Human resource
managers responsible for conducting needs assessment have a hands-on role in
evaluating overall employee performance to decide if the workforce would benefit
from additional training and orientation. They examine employee performance
records to identify areas where employees could improve through job skills training
or employee development, such as seminars or workshops on leadership techniques.
They also play an integral role in implementing employee development strategy and
succession planning based on training and professional development. Human resource
managers responsible for succession planning use their knowledge of employee
development, training and future business needs to devise career tracks for employees
who demonstrate the aptitude and desire for upward mobility.

Employee Relations

Although the employee relations specialist is responsible for investigating and

resolving workplace issues, the human resource manager has ultimate responsibility
for preserving the employer-employee relationship through designing an effective
employee relations strategy. An effective employee relations strategy contains
specific steps for ensuring the overall well-being of employees. It also ensures that
employees have a safe working environment, free from discrimination and
harassment. Human resource managers for small businesses conduct workplace
investigations and resolve employee complaints. Human resource managers may also
be the primary contact for legal counsel in risk mitigation activities and litigation
pertaining to employee relations matters. An example of risk mitigation handled by a

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human resource manager includes examining current workplace policies and
providing training to employees and managers on those policies to minimize the
frequency of employee complaints due to misinterpretation or misunderstanding of
company policies.

Recruitment and Selection

Human resource managers develop strategic solutions to meet workforce demands

and labor force trends. An employment manager actually oversees the recruitment
and selection processes; however, an HR manager is primarily responsible for
decisions related to corporate branding as it relates to recruiting and retaining talented
employees. For example, a human resource manager in a health care firm might use
her knowledge about nursing shortages to develop a strategy for employee retention,
or for maintaining the current staffing levels. The strategy might include developing
an incentive program for nurses or providing nurses with cross-training so they can
become certified in different specialties to become more valuable to the organization.
Corporate branding as it relates to recruitment and retention means promoting the
company as an employer of choice. Human resource managers responsible for this
usually look at the recruitment and selection process, as well as compensation and
benefits to find ways to appeal to highly qualified applicants.

FUTURE CHALLENGES BEFORE THE MANAGERS

Because of continuous changing socio-economic, technological and political
conditions, the human resource managers of the future shall have to face more
problems in the management of labour. The human resource managers of today may
find themselves obsolete in the future due to changes in environment if they do not
update themselves some of the important challenges which might be faced by the
managers in the management of people in business and industry are discussed below :
1. Increasing Size of Work force: The size of organisations is increasing. A large
number of multinational organisations have grown over the years. The number of
people working in the organisation has also increased. The management of increased

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workforce might create new problems and challenges as the workers are becoming
more conscious of their rights.

2. Increase in Education Level: The governments of various countries are taking

steps to eradicate illiteracy and increase the education level of their citizens. Educated
consumers and workers will create very tough task for the future managers.

3. Technological Advances: With the changes coming in the wake of advanced

technology, new jobs are created and many old jobs become redundant. There is a
general apprehension of immediate unemployment. In the competitive world of today,
industry cannot hope to survive for long with old technology. The problem, of
unemployment resulting from modernisation will be solved by properly assessing
manpower needs and training of redundant employees in alternate skills.

4. Changes in Political Environment: There may be greater Government‘s

interference in business to safeguard the interests of workers, consumers and the
public at large. Government‘s participation in trade, commerce and industry will also
pose many challenges before management. The Government may restrict the scope of
private sector in certain areas in public interest. It does not mean chances of co-
operation between the Government and private sector are ruled out. In fact, there will
be more and more joint sector enterprises.

5. Increasing Aspirations of Employees: Considerable changes have been noted in

the worker of today in comparison to his counterpart of 1950s. The workers are
becoming more aware of their higher level needs and this awareness would intensify
further in the future workers.

6. Changing Psychosocial System: In future, organisations will be required to make

use of advanced technology in accomplishing their goals while satisfying human
needs. In the traditional bureaucratic model, the organisations were designed to
achieve technical functions with a little consideration given to the psychosocial
system. But future management would be required to ensure effective participation of
lower levels in the management of the organisation system.

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7. Computerised Information System : In the past, the automation of
manufacturing processes had a major effect upon the systems of production, storage,
handling and packaging, etc. More recently, there has been and in the future there will
be the impact of revolutionary computerised information system on management.
This revolutionary development would cover two primary areas of personnel
management which are as follows : (a) The use of electronic computers for the
collection and processing of data, and (b) The direct application of computers in the
managerial decision making process.

8. Mobility of Professional Personnel: Organisations will expand the use of

boundary agents whose primary function will be achieving coordination with the
environment. One interesting fact will be an increase in the mobility of various
managerial and professional personnel between organisations. As individuals develop
greater technical and professional expertise, their services will be in greater demand
by other organisations in the environment.

9. Changes in Legal Environment: Many changes are taking place in the legal
framework within which the industrial relations systems in the country are now
functioning. It is the duty of the human resource or personnel executive to be aware
of these changes and to bring about necessary adjustments within the organisations so
that greater utilisation of human resources can be achieved. This, indeed, is and
would remain a major challenge for the personnel executive.

10. Management of Human Relations: On the ‗industrial relations front, things are
not showing much improvement even after so many efforts by the government in this
direction. Though a large number of factors are responsible for industrial unrest but a
very significant cause is the growth of multi unions in industrial complexes having
different political affiliations. Under the present conditions, it appears that inter-union
rivalries would grow more in the coming years and might create more problems in the
industry. Management of human relations in the future will be more complicated than
it is today. Many of the new generation of employees will be more difficult to
motivate than their predecessors. This will be in part the result of a change in value
systems coupled with rising educational levels. Greater skepticism concerning large

22
organisations and less reverence for authority figures will be more common.
Unquestioning acceptance of rules and regulations will be less likely.

Human resource development

Human Resources Development (HRD) as a theory is a framework for the expansion
of human capital within an organization through the development of both the
organization and the individual to achieve performance improvement. Adam Smith
states, “The capacities of individuals depended on their access to education” The
same statement applies to organizations themselves, but it requires a much broader
field to cover both areas.

Human Resource Development is the integrated use of training, organization, and

career development efforts to improve individual, group and organizational
effectiveness. HRD develops the key competencies that enable individuals in
organizations to perform current and future jobs through planned learning activities.
Groups within organizations use HRD to initiate and manage change. Also, HRD
ensures a match between individual and organizational needs.

Human Resource Planning

The basic purpose of having a human resource plan is to have an accurate estimate of
the number of employees required, with matching skill requirements to meet
organizational objectives. It provides information about the manner in which existing
personnel are employed, the kind of skills required for different categories of jobs and
human resource requirements over a period of time in relation to organizational
objectives. It would also give an indication of the lead time that is available to select
and train the required number of additional manpower.

More specifically, HR planning is required to meet the following objectives:

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i. Forecast personnel requirements: HR planning is essential to determine the future
manpower needs in an organization. In the absence of such a plan, it would be
difficult to have the services of right kind of people at the right time.

ii. Cope with changes: HR planning is required to cope with changes in market
conditions, technology, products and government regulations in an effective way.
These changes may often require the services of people with the requisite technical
knowledge and training. In the absence of an HR plan, we may not be in a position to
enlist their services in time.

iii. Use existing manpower productively: By keeping an inventory of existing

personnel in an enterprise by skill, level, training, educational qualifications, work
experience, it will be possible to utilize the existing resources more usefully in
relation to the job requirements. This also helps in decreasing wage and salary costs
in the long run.

iv. Promote employees in a systematic manner: HR planning provides useful

information on the basis of which management decides on the promotion of eligible
personnel in the organization. In the absence of an HR plan, it may be difficult to
ensure regular promotions to competent people on a justifiable basis.

Human resource planning is the process of anticipating and carrying out the
movement of people into, within, and out of the organization. Human resources
planning is done to achieve the optimum use of human resources and to have the
correct number and types of employees needed to meet organizational goals.

Thus, it is a double-edged weapon. If used properly, it leads not only to proper

utilization, but also reduces excessive labor turnover and high absenteeism, and
improves productivity.

It can also be defined as the task of assessing and anticipating the skill,
knowledge and labor time requirements of the organization, and initiating action
to fulfill or ‘source” those requirements.

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That is why; we need to plan in advance even for procuring human resources,
which in contrast to a general myth are not abundant!! Thus, in the same line, we
propose that organization can achieve its goals effective through effective
contingencies of all the HR functions; for example, the structure of an
organization and the design of the job within it affect an organization’s ability to
achieve only through the efforts of people. It is essential therefore, those jobs
within the organization be staffed with the personnel who are qualified to perform
them. Meeting these staffing needs requires effective planning for human
resources

• Forecasting future manpower requirements, where we use mathematical

projections you might have studied in ‘business economics’ and ‘quantitative
techniques’ paper, to project trends in the economic environment and
development of the industry.

• Making an inventory of present manpower resources and assessing the

extent to which these resources are employed optimally. Procuring competent
personnel requires positive recruitment efforts and the development of a variety of
recruitment sources. These sources must consider not only the nature and
conditions of the external labor market, but also the presence of qualified
personnel who are available to fill vacancies through internal promotions or
transfers.

• Anticipating manpower problems by projecting present resources into the

future and comparing them with the forecast of requirements to determine their
adequacy, both quantitatively and qualitatively; and

• Planning the necessary programmers of requirement, selection, training,

development, utilization, transfer, promotion, motivation and compensation to
ensure that future manpower requirements are properly met.

The salient features of HRP from the various definitions:

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1. It’s a systematic approach ‘cause it ensures a continuous and proper staffing. It
avoids or checks on occupational imbalances (shortage or surplus) occurring
in any of the department of the organization.

2. There is a visible continuity in the process.

3. There is a certain degree of flexibility. That is, it is subject to modifications

according to needs of the organization or the changing circumstances.
Manpower plans can be done at micro or the macro levels depending upon
various environmental factors.

Human Resources, planning is a must ‘cause

• Ensures optimum use of man power and capitalize on the strength of HR. The
organization can have a reservoir of talent at any point of time. People skills
are readily available to carry out the assigned tasks, if the information is
collected and arranged beforehand.

• Forecast future requirements (this is done by keeping track of the employee

turnover.) and provides control measures about availability of HR labor time.
If, for example the organization wants to expand its scale of operations, it can
go ahead easily. Advance planning ensures a continuous supply of people with
requisite skills who can handle challenging jobs easily.

• Help determine recruitment/induction levels. Let me explain this with an

example: you as a manager want to determine what kind of induction the
organization will require at such an such date. If you have a ready HR plan,
you will have fairly good idea what kind of people are being recruited and at
what position. Thus you can successfully plan your induction level.

• To anticipate redundancies/ surpluses/obsolescence.

• To determine training levels and works as a foundation for management

development programmes.

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 • Systems Concept: The spread of systems thinking, the advent of the PC’s
and the upsurge of people management concept which all emphasize the
planning and having common and transparent personnel records.

• Lead Time: The long lead-time is necessary in the selection process and for
training and development of the employee to handle new knowledge and
skills successfully.

Major reasons for the present emphasis on manpower planning include:

• Employment-Unemployment Situation: Though from the above excerpt

we can construe that in general the number of educated unemployed is on
the rise.

This emphasizes the need for more effective recruitment and retaining people.

• Technological Changes: The myriad changes in production technologies,

marketing methods and management techniques have been extensive and
rapid (e.g.. introduction of HRIS). Their effect has been profound on job
contents and job contexts. These changes cause problems relating to
redundancies, retraining and redeployment. All these suggest the need to
plan manpower needs intensively and systematically.
• Organizational Changes: In the turbulent environment marked by cyclical
fluctuations and discontinuities, the nature and pace of changes in
organizational environment, activities and structures affect manpower
requirements and require strategic considerations.
• Demographic Changes: The changing profile of the work force in terms of
age, gender participation, literacy, technical inputs and social background
has implications for manpower planning. The workforce is more diverse
than ever before.

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• Skill Shortages:
Unemployment does not mean that the labor market is a buyer’s market.
Organizations have in general become complex and thus, in turn require
more specialist skills that are rare and scarce. The result is more
dependency on the professionals. Thus, problems may arise when such
people if they are employees decide to leave or switch to more lucrative
employment or if they are freelancers decide to shift their business
somewhere else. Please note that these are example of implications of
what is most happening in the business world today.
• Governmental Influences: Government control and changes in legislation
with regard to affirmative action for disadvantaged groups, working
conditions and hours of work, restrictions on women and child
employment, casual and contract labor, etc. have stimulated the
organizations to become involved in systematic manpower planning.
• Legislative Controls: The days of 'hire and fire' policies are gone. Now
legislation makes it difficult to reduce the size of an organization quickly
and cheaply, especially in the presence of strong politicalised trade union
scenario in India. It is easy to increase but difficult to shed the fat in terms
of the numbers employed because of recent changes in labor law relating
to lay-offs and closures. Those responsible for managing manpower must
look far ahead and thus attempt to foresee manpower problems. .
• Impact of Pressure Groups: Pressure groups such as unions, politicians
and NGO’s displaced, from land by location of giant enterprises have been
raising contradictory pressures on enterprise management such as internal
recruitment. and promotions, preference to employees' children, displaced
persons, sons of the soil etc.
• Systems Concept: The spread of systems thinking, the advent of the PC’s
and the upsurge of people management concept which all emphasize the
planning and having common and transparent personnel records.

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 • Lead Time: The long lead-time is necessary in the selection process and for
training and development of the employee to handle new knowledge and
skills successfully.

'Manpower planning has maintained its imperatives for several reasons: (i) a
growing awareness of the need to look into the future, (ii) a desire to exercise
control over as many variables as possible which influence business success or
failure, (iii) the development of techniques which make such planning possible.'

1.3 PRODUCTIVITY ANALYSIS IN HEALTH CARE

Increasing the resources, or inputs, within health systems—including physical,

financial, and human resources—has improved access to health care. However,
increased investments have not always resulted in better health outcomes. How can
we know which resource investments in health systems will yield the greatest return?
What results will these increased resource investments have on people’s health?
These questions are even more important in resource-constrained environments.

Across sectors, productivity improvements may be among the most cost-effective

interventions available. They can provide the greatest value for the least investment.
The Health Worker Productivity Analysis and Improvement Toolkit is designed to
empower managers and supervisors to measure health workforce productivity,
identify productivity problems and their underlying causes, and determine appropriate
interventions to improve health worker productivity within their respective facilities.
The toolkit can also help to differentiate higher-productivity health facilities from
lower-productivity ones, allowing managers and supervisors to consider which
operational, financial, organizational, and/or HR management-related elements may
most affect health worker productivity. This toolkit focuses specifically on the
productivity of facility-based health workers and not that of the health system as a
whole.

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The toolkit is designed for use by a variety of national stakeholders, including:

• Health facility managers, supervisors, and directors

• Regional and district health management teams
• Central-level health program managers
• Human resources for health (HRH) managers.

The toolkit could also be useful to researchers from national or international

universities and by international partners providing technical assistance.

In addition, it is possible to integrate the toolkit’s methods in routine supervision to

support health workers in improving their productivity. Local supervisors can be
instrumental in helping to understand some of the underlying causes of productivity
challenges and in monitoring productivity measures and progress on implementation
of productivity improvement interventions.

Productivity Analysis for Hospitals and Health Systems

Healthcare experience important to analysis

That experience will be important because the success of the labor productivity
analysis will rely heavily on the consulting team’s ability to engage your department
managers. The consultants will interview your department managers and ask them to
collect data to be used in the labor analysis. The consultants will also rely on the
managers for help with questions throughout the process.

Looking at all of the cost centers

The healthcare consultants will look at all of your hospital’s cost centers, from nurse
administration to organizational development. They will associate hours worked with
work units developing profiles for each department.

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Benchmarking your labor productivity against national data

Healthcare consultants create labor productivity benchmarks that will benchmark

your labor use against a national database of hospitals with a similar bed size, case
mix indices, and regional location. They will also benchmark your labor costs against
your own five months of “best performances.”

The process can be completed in as little as eight weeks concluding with a report to
your management team with suggestions on how to utilize the results to improve
profitability at your hospital. Often we suggest hospitals try to meet the productivity
benchmarks of their own best performances and then push for a 1 or 2 percent
improvement.

Forecasting staffing needs

Our healthcare consulting team emphasizes that monitoring performance should be an

ongoing process — a process that is even more important as healthcare providers
struggle to match expenses with revenues.

1.4 MEANING OF RECRUITMENT

In simple words, recruitment is the process of acquiring the right number and
right types of people, necessary to ensure the continued operation of the organization.

According to Edwin Flippo, “Recruitment is a process of searching for

prospective employees and stimulating and encouraging them to apply for jibs in an
organization.”

According to Dale Yoder, “Recruitment is a process to discover the sources of

manpower to meet the requirements of the staffing schedule and to employ effective
measures for attracting that manpower in adequate numbers to facilitate effective
selection of an efficient work force.”

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 In the words of Bergmann and Taylor, “Recruitment is the process of locating,
identifying and attracting capable applicants.”

According to E. Mc Farlan, “Recruitment is a process of attracting the

potential employees to the company. The aim of recruitment policy should be to
attract good quality applicants and to understand reliable and cost effective selection
decision.”

According to H. Hawk, “The purposes of recruitment function are primary

straight forward – to seek out, to evaluate, to obtain commitment from, place and
orient the employees to fill positions, required for the successful conduct of the work
of an organization.”

In short, recruitment enables the management to select suitable employees for

different jobs and recruitment is a positive process of searching the prospective
employees and stimulating them to apply for jobs in large number in the organization.

IMPORTANCE OF RECRUITMENT

Recruitment has been regarded as the most important function of personnel

management. Because unless right type of people are recruited and selected, even the
best plans, organization charts and control systems would not do much good. Careful
recruitment of employees is particularly important for following reasons.

Locates sources of manpower: The need for searching new employees emerges
always due to retirement, discharge, incapability, expansion of business etc.
Recruitment locates sources of manpower. So for vacant posts, sources of manpower
can be discovered by recruitment process.

Satisfied work-force: Scientific recruitment policy ensures satisfied work-force,

which increases production and productivity and reduces cost of production.

Possibility of obtaining improper employees reduces: Due to scientific

recruitment, possibility of obtaining improper employees i.e. incapable to work thief,
etc. reduces and right man on right job can be obtained.

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Reduces absenteeism: By proper recruitment, right number and right type of
employees can be selected as well as can be placed on right job. So employees can
get work as per their performance, which reduces absenteeism.

Reduces labor turnover: Due to scientific recruitment policy, right type of person
can be placed on right place. So employees get work according to their qualification,
experience and skills. Hence employees feel satisfaction and their morale can be
increased, which ultimately reduces labor turnover.

Increases employees’ morale: If the work-force is satisfied, employees’ morale will

be definitely at higher level, which becomes possible due to scientific recruitment.

RECRUITMENT PROCESS

Recruitment is the process of locating, identifying and attracting job seekers

for the jobs available in an organization. So recruitment process comprises the
following steps.

Recruitment planning

To decide necessary qualification

To contact sources of recruitment

Selection process

Recruitment planning: The first step involved in the recruitment process is

planning. Here requirement of manpower in an organization is estimated. For
estimating requirement of manpower, manpower requirement tables are prepared. In
the table, for different work of a unit, how many employees will be required in a
specific time period is shown. So recruitment process starts with manpower
requisition. The department that requires employees fills up the requisition from and
sends to the personnel department. In the requisition form, number of vacant posts,
number of existing employees, job description for the vacant posts and the necessary
qualification are mentioned in the respective table. On receiving the filled up

33
requisition form, the personnel department estimates total requirement of manpower
and accordingly prepares recruitment planning.

To decide necessary qualification: The second step in the recruitment process is to

decide necessary qualification. Now the head of department also mentions necessary
qualifications and skills in the requisition form before sending to the personnel
department. Employees should have ability to complete the assigned task. For
different types of work, different degree of skills and qualification are required.
Hence according to type of work employees have to do, standard can be decided
about qualifications required in employees. In short, job specification is prepared, so
that right type of person can be appointed on right type of job.

To contact sources of recruitment: This step involves attracting job seekers to the
organization. Personnel manager keeps contact with sources of recruitment. Broadly
speaking, there are two sources of manpower i.e. internal sources and external
sources. The wider the personnel manager has contact with sources of manpower, the
wider will be the choice open to the manager for selection of employees.

Selection process: From different sources of recruitment, many candidates apply for
the vacant jobs in an organization. If these candidates possess right qualification, the
need arises for their selection. So now to select right person at right time and at right
place, selection procedure is carried out. In a fact. Recruitment process ends with
sources of recruitment and selection process is carried out.

SOURCES OF RECRUITMENT

Various sources of recruitment can be classified into two broad categories,

namely-

Internal sources

External sources

Now each of these sources are discussed one by one.

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Internal sources: Under internal sources, the management itself undertakes the work
of recruitment i.e. the enterprise does not take aid of any institution for recruitment of
employees. Important internal sources of recruitment are as under.

Promotion of the existing employees: Present employees can be a good source of

recruitment. For the vacant post, the most suitable employees from the existing
employees is promoted. By promotion am employee is placed on a higher position.
Such practice keeps employees’ morale higher and gets their loyalty to the
organization.

Transfer of the existing employees: For the vacant posts, employees can be
transferred from their existing posts to the vacant posts. The objective of transfer is
to utilize the ability of employees in balanced and optimum way. The need for
transfer is felt to provide employees, a broader and varied base, which is considered
necessary for promotion.

Friends and relatives of present employees: The existing employees may be

requested and encouraged to recommend their friends and relatives for some vacant
posts in an organization. Hence new employees, who are relatives of present
employees, can easily get adjusted to the environment of the company, which
automatically solves many problems. But the drawback is that recruiting own man in
an organization may lead to form a strong group and if the recommendation of
present employee is rejected, he may get offended.

Waiting list: While selecting employees, if employees are selected more than actual
need, the additional candidates are kept pending, which is called waiting list. Now in
future, when any vacancy arises, candidates from the waiting list as per rotation will
be selected.

Past employees: The employees, who have been laid off or have left the company for
personal reason, may be taken back. As such employees are familiar with the
company and their jobs, they require no initial training.

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Evaluation of internal sources: Evaluation of internal sources of recruitment has
been done in terms of its advantage and disadvantages, which are spelled out as
follow.

Advantages:

It promotes greater loyalty among the employees.

It encourages self-development among employees. They look forward to higher

posts.

It creates a sense of security, stability and continuity of employment.

It eliminates chances of hasty decisions.

It is a cheaper source of recruitment as compared to external sources of recruitment.

Internal source of recruitment, especially promotion of the existing employees, serve

as a source of motivation for employees to improve their career and income.

It helps to reduce labor turnover.

The policy of internal recruitment provides an opportunity to the organization to

make a better use of the talents internally available and to develop them further and
further.

Disadvantages:

When vacancies are filled through internal promotion or transfer, the scope for fresh
blood entering the organization is reduced.

The employees may become lethargic if they are sure of time bound promotion.

The spirit of competition among the employees may be hampered.

Frequent transfers of employees may reduce overall productivity of the organization.

36
Internal sources of recruitment limit its choice to the talent available within the
organization.

There are possibilities that internal sources may “dry up” and it may be difficult to
find the requisite personnel from within an organization.

External sources: Under external sources of recruitment, the management makes use
of an individual or institution as an intermediate for the purpose of recruitment.
Important external sources of recruitment are as under.

Employment exchange: Now a day, public as well as private employment exchange

centers are used to facilitate recruitment. The employment exchange agencies
register candidates for employment and furnish a list of suitable candidates from their
data bank as and when sought by the prospective employers. Thus employment
exchange agencies serve as a link between the candidates, searching for job and the
employers. So employment exchange agencies do not create any new employment,
but they are doing the best adjustment between demand for and supply of manpower.
In government and semi-government organization, public employment exchanges are
widely utilized, while in corporate sectors, private employment exchanges are widely
utilized.

Educational institutions: The system of searching suitable candidates from

educational institutions is very popular in Western countries. Though in India, since
some years, this source of recruitment has been started to use. Direct recruitment
from educational institutions for jobs which require either technical or professional
qualification, has become a common practice. A close link between company and
educational institutions help in getting candidates to man various posts.

Professional and trade associations: Professional and trade associations also help
the candidates, who are searching for job. But in corporate sector, this source of
recruitment is not a very common practice and those few that provide such kind of
services have not been able to generating a large number of application.

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Labour unions: In India, labour unions are new source of recruitment, but in the
countries like USA, this source is widely used for recruitment. The reason for not
widely use of this source is that generally management does not prefer to depend
upon trade unions especially for recruitment due to fear that power of trade unions
may get stronger and stronger.

Jobbers: The system of recruitment through jobber is a gift of British rule in India.
At the inception of industrialization, foreigners were the heads of the company and
they were stranger to language, habits and problems of Indian labour. Hence due to
this reason, the jobbers working in the factory took up of recruiting workers and gave
rise to the jobber method. Generally a jobber is supervisor of the factory, hence very
aware about labour matters. Therefore he was assigned the authority to recruit and
remove the labourers. In India, a badly worker is given priority in the appointment,
whenever any vacancies arise for labor work. Hence this system has not developed.

Contractors: This method of recruitment is used for recruiting unskilled and semi-
skilled workers. The contractors keep themselves in touch with the labour and bring
the workers at the places where they are required. They get commission for number
of persons supplied by them. This system is losing its popularity these days.

Recruitment through “Door”: “Wanted workers” such hoardings are observed at

many hotels and shops. A board with such word is hanged on the door of the factory.
Those who are is need of jobs, contact the employer, by reading such hoardings. This
source is more commonly used for unskilled workers, who are generally paid daily
wages.

Advertisement: Advertisement in local or national newspaper and trade and

professional journals is generally used when qualified or experienced personnel are
not available from other sources. Most of the senior positions in industry are filled by
this method. In the advertisement, more information about the organization, job
description and job specification can be given, which allows self-screening by the
candidates. Advertisement gives the management a wide range of candidates from,
which to choose. Candidates, by reading the advertisement, if find themselves

38
suitable for the vacant posts, apply for the vacant posts and send their applications to
the company.

Evaluation of external sources: Evaluation of external sources of recruitment has

been done in terms of its advantage and disadvantages, which are spelled out as
follow.

Advantages:

Being a more open process, it is likely to attract large number of applicants and hence
provides wide scope for selection.

It introduces new blood in the organization, as it becomes possible for the

organization to have talented candidates from outside the organization.

In the long run, this source proves economical because potential employees do not
need extra training for their jobs.

The spirit of competition among the employees is encouraged.

Best utilization of experience and trained personnel becomes possible.

Disadvantages:

This source of recruitment is both expensive and time consuming.

There is no guarantee that organization will get good and suitable candidates from
external sources.

As candidates come from outside the organization, they are not familiar with the task,
job nature and internal scenario of the organization.

Due to policy of utilizing external sources of recruitment, the existing employees are
not sure to get promotion. This may discourage them to work hard and in turn, may
boil down to decreasing productivity of the organization.

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METHODS OF RECRUITMENT

Methods of recruitment refer to the means by which an organization reaches

to the potential job seekers. Here point to be noted is that sources of recruitment and
methods of recruitment are some what different. Methods of recruitment are the
mean of establishing links with the prospective employees and sources of recruitment
is location where the prospective employees are available. Methods of recruitment
can be classified into two groups.

Direct methods: Under direct methods of recruitment, the management itself

undertakes the work of recruitment i.e. the enterprise does not take aid of any
institution for recruitment of employees. Important direct methods of recruitment are
as under.

Promotion of the existing employees

Transfer of the existing employees

Friends and relatives of present employees

Waiting list

Advertisement

Indirect methods: Under indirect methods of recruitment, the management makes

use of an individual or institution as an intermediate for the purpose of recruitment.
Important indirect methods of recruitment are as under.

Employment exchange

Educational institutions

Professional and trade associations

Labor unions

Jobbers

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Contractors

RECRUITMENT ON INTERNET

Internet recruiting is the act of scouring the Internet to locate both actively
searching job seekers and also individuals who are content in their current position
(these are called "passive candidates"). It is a field of dramatic growth and constant
change that has given birth to a dynamic multi billion dollar industry.

Traditionally, recruiters use large job boards, niche job boards, as well as social and
business networking to locate these individuals. The immediate goal of Internet
recruiting is to find individuals that a recruiter or company can present to hiring
managers for the purpose of employment. Quite often, Internet recruiters have very
short-term goals when it comes to recruiting online. The general catalyst that sparks
this process is when a new job requisite comes in (called a REQ). The recruiter scans
his or her database to see if anyone's resumes match the requirements. If not, they
proceed to search on the Internet.

E-Recruitment is the process of personnel recruitment using electronic resources, in

particular the internet. Companies and recruitment agents have moved much of their
recruitment process online so as to improve the speed by which candidates can be
matched with live vacancies. Using database technologies, and online job advertising
boards and search engines, employers can now fill posts in a fraction of the time
previously possible. Using an online e-Recruitment system may potentially save the
employer time as usually they can rate the e Candidate and several persons in HR
independently review e Candidates. The internet, which reaches a large number of
people and can get immediate feedback has become the major source of potential job
candidates and well known as online recruitment or E-recruitment. However, it may
generate many unqualified candidates and may not increase the diversity and mix of
employees.

In terms of HRM, the internet has radically changed the recruitment function from the
organisational and job seekers' perspective. Conventional methods of recruitment
processes are readily acknowledged as being time-consuming with high costs and

41
limited geographic reach. However, recruitment through World Wide Web (WWW)
provides global coverage and ease. Likewise, the speedy integration of the internet
into recruitment processes is primarily recognised due to the internet's unrivalled
communications capabilities, which enable recruiters for written communications
through e-mails, blogs and job portals.

1.5 SELECTION

Next to recruitment, the logical step in human resource planning is selection

of qualified and competent people. The second part of this chapter deals with detail
explanation of selection and its process. After applications of required number of
candidates are secured through different sources or methods of recruitment, selection
process begins.

The selection process is concerned with securing relevant information about

applicants. In simple terms, selection is hiring the best candidate from the pool of
applications. It refers to the process of offering jobs to one or more applicants from
the applications received through different sources of recruitment.

According to Dale Yoder, “Selection is the process by which candidates for

employment are divided into class – those who will be offered employment and those
who will not.”

According to Koontz, “Selection is the process of choosing from among the

candidates from within the organization or from the outside, the most suitable person
for the current position or for the future position.”

In the opinion of Stone, “Selection is the process of differentiating between

applicants in order to identify (and hire) those with a greater likelihood of success in a
job.”

The selection process is a long process, commencing from the preliminary

interview of the applicants and ending with the contract of employment. So selection
process leads to creation of a contractual relation between the employer and the
employee. The basic purpose of selection is to choose right type of candidates to man

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various positions in the organization. In short, it can be said that selection is a
negative process as it involves the taking of suitable people for the organization and
rejection or elimination of the unsuitable applicants.

RECRUITMENT V/S SELECTION

Recruitment aims at developing and maintaining adequate human resources

upon whom the organization can depend when it needs additional employees.
Recruitment is a positive process of searching the prospective employees and
stimulating them to apply for jobs in large number in the organization. In this way,
recruitment increases the selection ratio and enables the management to select
suitable employees. On the other hand, selection is a negative process as it involves
the taking of suitable people for the organization and rejection or elimination of the
unsuitable applicants. The difference between recruitment and selection is presented
in the below table.

Sr. No. Recruitment Selection

1. Recruitment proceeds selection Selection follows recruitment
2. Recruitment is a process of Selection involves choosing the best
searching for prospective out of those recruited.
employees and stimulating and
encouraging them to apply for jobs
in an organization.
3. Recruitment is a positive process, Selection is a negative process as it
as it aims at searching the involves the taking of suitable people
prospective employees and for the organization and rejection or
stimulating them to apply for jobs elimination or the unsuitable
in large number in the applicants.
organization.
4. Recruitment involves searching. Selection involves comparing those
who already searched.

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STEPS IN SELECTION PROCESS

There is no standard selection process to be followed by all the organizations. The

selection process is single stage, more stages or complicated depends upon nature of
vacant posts and type of employee needed for the vacant post. Richard Uhrbrock has
suggested a scientific order of different stages of selectees, as mentioned below.

Reception of applicant

The selection process starts with reception of an applicant. The receptionist provides
information about the company, vacant posts and other need information. A tactful
approach and a sound physical environment can go a long way in creating a good
impression of the company.

Preliminary interview

When a large number of applicants are available, the preliminary interview is

desirable. Preliminary interview consists of a short exchange of information with
respect to organization’s interest in hiring and candidate’s inquiry. This interview is a
sorting process in which, the necessary information from the candidates like their
education, experience, expected salary etc. is collected. If the candidate meets with
the requirements of the job, he is selected for further selection process.

At this stage, applicants who are found unsuitable during preliminary interview are
not preceded to the next stage.

Application blanks and screening

Application blank is the commonest device for getting information from a prospective
candidate. Almost all organization require job seekers to fill up an application.
Standard application forms may be drawn up for all jobs and supplied to the
candidates on request. The application blank must not be too lengthy and should be
conscious. It should provide two types of data-

Data about applicant’s personal identification like personal identification, education,

information about present occupation or job etc. and

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Other additional data useful to the company like interests, cultural and social
activities, membership of clubs and professional bodies, hobbies etc.

After receiving applications blanks, they are screened and those who do not
possess the required information or provide incomplete information, are not included
for next stage of selection process. While screening the application received, points
are assigned to each factor relevant to the job. The candidates who fail to secure
required points are considered unfit for the job and their applications are rejected.

Employment tests or written tests

In the recent time, employment tests are being used extensively in the selection of
candidates. Employment tests are used to get information about the candidate which
is not available from the application blank or interview. They help in matching the
characteristics of individuals with the vacant jobs so as to employ right type of
personnel. Employment tests are the best criterion of personnel selection, as they
reduce the error of human judgment to the minimum. Candidate’s liking, proficiency
in a particular trade, aptitude, analytical ability, psychology etc. are made known
through written test. There are several types of tests that are used in the selection
process like-

Intelligence tests

Trade tests

Aptitude tests

Interest tests

Analytical tests

Personality tests

Judgment tests

Achievement tests etc.

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In such written tests, minimum passing standards are fixed. So the applicants, who
score less then minimum points or standards i.e. show unfavorable score, are not
included in the next stage of selection process.

The above tests are broadly classified into two types of tests viz.,

Ability tests

Personality tests

Ability tests 1. Aptitude tests 2. Achievement tests 3. Intelligence tests 4. Judgment

tests Personality Tests 1. Interest tests 2. Personality inventory tests 3. Projective tests
4. Attitude tests

A) Ability Tests

1. Aptitude Test

Aptitude tests measure ability and skills of the candidate. These tests measure and
indicate how well a person would be able to perform after training. Thus aptitude
tests are used to predict the future ability. There are two objectives of the aptitude
tests. One is to advice youth or job seekers regarding the field where they are likely to
succeed. This is called ‘vocational guidance.’ The second is to select best persons for
jobs where they may succeed. This is called ‘vocational selection.’ There are specific
aptitude tests for mechanical aptitude test, clerical aptitude test, management aptitude
test etc.,

2. Achievement Test

Achievement test measures the person’s potential in a given area or job. In other
words, these tests measure what a person can do based on skill or knowledge already
acquired.

3. Intelligence Test

Intelligence tests measure general ability for intellectual performance. The core
concept underlying the intelligence test is mental age. It is presumed that with

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physical age, intelligence also grows. There may be exceptions to this rule. If a five
year old child does the test for six years or above, his or her mental age would be
determined accordingly. It means that IQ is a ratio of mental age to actual age
multiplied by 100. IQ levels may vary because of culture and exposure. Intelligence
testing in industry is based on the assumption that if organization can get bright, alert
employees quick at learning, it can train them faster than those who are less endowed.

4. Judgment Test

These tests are designed to know the ability to apply knowledge in solving a problem.

B) Personality Tests

1. Interest Tests

These tests discover a person’s area of interest and find the kind of work that would
satisfy him. The most widely used interest test is Kuder Reference Record. It consists
of three forms. The first form measures vocational interest such as mechanical,
computational, artistic, literary, music and clerical interest. The second form
measures vocational interest such as group activities, avoiding conflicts etc. The third
form of interest measures preference to particular occupations such as accountants,
salesman, managerial position etc.

2. Personality tests

These tests are also known as ‘personality inventories.’ These tests are designed to
measure the dimensions of personality ie., personality traits such as interpersonal
competence, dominance, submission, extroversions – introversions, self-confidence,
ability to lead and ambition.

3. Projective tests

These tests are based on pictures or incomplete items. The candidate is asked to
narrate or project his own interpretation on these. The way in which the candidate
responds, reflects his or her own values, motives, attitude, apprehensions, personality

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etc. These tests are called projective because they induce the candidate to put him or
herself into the situation to project the test situation.

4. Attitude Tests

These tests are designed to know the candidate’s tendencies towards favouring or
otherwise to people, situations, actions and a host of such other things. Test of social
responsibility, authoritarianism, study of values, employee morale are the well-known
examples of attitude tests.

Advantages of Testing

The merits of testing for selections are many. Such tests predict future performance of
personnel and for transfer, promotion etc. The merits are:

Cost effective - as test administered to a group saves time and cost.

Uncovers qualifications and talents, which cannot be detected from application blanks
and interviews.

Tests serve as unbiased tools of selection process.

Tests being quantifiable yield themselves to scientific and statistical analysis.

Developing Test Programme

The main steps are

1. Deciding the objectives – The objectives of the test programme may be hiring,
promoting and counseling of people.

2. Analyzing jobs – Jobs are duly analysed to identify as to which human traits and
skills are necessary for the job.

3. Choosing tests to measure characteristics – reliability, validity, ease of

administration, and the cost involved are important criteria in the choice.

4. Administration of tests.

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5. Test results and evaluation.

5. Interview

While selecting a candidate for any type of post, generally interview in always used
in the selection process. The candidates, who score favorable points in the
employment tests, are called for personal interview. Interview is face-to-face
interaction between interviewee and interviewer. Interview is an art and a successful
interview follows established principles, which the interviewer must bear in mind.
The interviewer must prepare for the interview, by making a list of questions based
on job specification. The interview must keep aside his personal prejudices and ask
questions in simple language by providing ample for the interview.

There are five types of interviews, being used in practices namely-

Planned interview

Non-directive interview

Depth interview

Stress interview

Group interview

The candidates, who show favorable impression during such interview, are included
in the next stage of selection process i.e. those who show unfavorable impression
during personal interview are rejected.

Types of Interview

Four types of interview for selection have been identified. They are:

1. Preliminary Interview

This process would be initiated to screen the applicants to decide whether a further
detailed interview will be required. The candidate is given freedom by giving job

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details during the interview to decide whether the job will suit him. This method
saves time and money for the company.

2. Patterned Interview

In this type of interview, the pattern of the interview is decided in advance. What kind
of information is to be sought or given, how the interview is to be conducted and how
much time is to be allotted, all these are worked in advance. In case the interviewer
drifts he or she is swiftly guided back to structural questions. Such interviews are also
called as standardized interviews.

3. Depth Interview

Under this method, the interviewer tries to portray the interviewee in depth and detail.
Accordingly the life history of the applicant along with his or her work experience,
academic qualifications, health, attitude, interest and hobbies are also analysed.

4. Stress Interview

Such interviews are conducted for the jobs which are to be performed under stressful
conditions. The objective of stress interview is to make deliberate attempts to create
stressful or strained conditions for the interviewee to observe how the applicant
behaves under stressful conditions. The common methods used to induce stress
include frequency interruptions, keeping silent for an extended period of time, asking
too many questions at a time, making derogatory remarks about the candidate,
accusing him that he is lying and so on. The purpose is to observe how the candidate
behaves under the successful conditions – whether he looses his temper, gets
confused or frightened.

SUMMARY
In this lesson you would have understood various aspects of and importance
of HRM. The importance of HRM that too in India was felt only in the last few
decades. The significance of HRM is wide and varied. It has significance in the
organization, society, besides the profession itself. The concept of HRM is managing
men and developing them.

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 The present stage of HRM is preceded by Trade Union movement, social
responsibility, scientific management era, human relations awareness, behavioural
science era, systems approach and contingency approach.
HRM helps in the change management, creation of core competence, instilling
commitment and in motivation. HRM is shrouded in the midst of internal and external
environment. There is a conspicuous change in people management in India.

1.6 REVIEW QUESTIONS

1. Define human resource management. Bring out its importance.

2. What are the various objectives of HRM?
3. What are the various role of human resources?
4. Discuss the strategic importance of human resource management.

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