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Human Resource Planning

Human Resource Managememt (Technical University of Mombasa)

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TOPIC ONE: HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING:

Definition, Importance, Objectives, Process & Prerequisites
Human Resource Planning – Introduction:
Human resources undoubtedly play the most important part in the functioning of an organization. The term
‘resource’ or ‘human resource’ signifies potentials, abilities, capacities, and skills, which can be developed through
continuous interaction in an organizational setting.
The interactions, interrelationships, and activities performed all contribute in some way or other to the development
of human potential. Organizational productivity, growth of companies, and economic development are to a large
extent contingent upon the effective utilization of human capacities.
Hence, it is essential for an organization to take steps for effective utilization of these resources. In the various
stages in the growth of an organization, effective planning of human resources plays a key role. Matching the
requirements of the job with the individual is important at all stages, including the recruitment procedures, in this
endeavour.
When organizations contemplate diversification or expansion, or when employees have to be promoted, human
resource planning plays an important role. Further, the organizational plans, goals, and strategies also require
effective human resource planning.

Human Resource Planning – Meaning:

E.W. Vetter viewed human resource planning as “a process by which an organisation should move from its current
manpower position to its desired manpower position. Through planning, management strives to have the right
number and right kind of people at the right places at the right time, doing things which result in both the
organisation and the individual receiving maximum long-run benefit.”
According to Leon C. Megginson human resource planning is “an integrated approach to performing the planning
aspects of the personnel function in order to have a sufficient supply of adequately developed and motivated people
to perform the duties and tasks required to meet organisational objectives and satisfy the individual needs and goals
of organisational members.”
Human resource planning may be viewed as foreseeing the human resource requirements of an organisation and the
future supply of human resources and- (i) making necessary adjustments between these two and organisational
plans; and (ii) foreseeing the possibility of developing the supply of human resources in order to match it with
requirements by introducing necessary changes in the functions of human resource management. In this definition,
human resource means skill, knowledge, values, ability, commitment, motivation, etc., in addition to the number/of
employees.
Human resource planning (HRP) is the first step in the HRM process. HRP is the process by which an organization
ensures that it has the right number and kind of people, at the right place, at the right time, capable of effectively and
efficiently completing those tasks that will help the organization achieve its overall objectives.
HRP translates the organization’s objectives and plans into the number of workers needed to meet those objectives.
The actual HRM process starts with the estimation of the number and kind of people required by the organization for
the coming period.
HRP is also known by other names such as ‘Manpower Planning’, ‘Employment Planning’, ‘Labour Planning’,
‘Personnel Planning’, etc. HRP is a sub-system in the total organizational planning. In other words, HRP is derived
from the organizational planning just like production planning, sales planning, material planning, etc.

Human Resource Planning – Definition:

The organisation’s objectives and strategies for the future determine future requirement of human resources. It only
means that the number and mix of human resources are reaction to the overall organisational strategy. If the intent is
to get closer to people possessing requisite qualifications, the organisation should act quickly.
Human Resource Planning or Manpower Planning (HRP) is the process of systematically reviewing HR
requirements to ensure that the required number of employees with the required skills is available when they are
needed. Getting the right number of qualified people into the right job is the crux of the problem here.
In actual practice, this is not easy. Due to constant changes in labour market conditions, qualified people possessing
relevant qualifications are not readily available. The organisation needs to go that extra mile, dig up every source of
information and exploit every opportunity that comes its way in order to identify talent.
HRP is simply not a process of matching the supply of people (existing employees and those to be hired or searched
for) with openings the organisation expects over a given timeframe. It goes a step further in order to reach out to
right kind of people at right time, spending time, resources and energies. Without careful planning, advance thinking
and prompt actions, it is next to impossible to get competent and talented people into the organisation.

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Human resource planning is the responsibility of both the line and the staff manager. The line manager is responsible
for estimating manpower requirements. For this purpose, he provides the necessary information on the basis of the
estimates of the operating levels. The staff manager provides the supplementary information in the form of records
and estimates.

Human Resource Planning – Need and Importance:

The following points highlight the need and importance of HRP in the organizations:
I. Assessing Future Personnel Needs:
Whether it is surplus labour or labour shortage, it gives a picture of defective planning or absence of planning in an
organization. A number of organizations, especially public sector units (PSUs) in India are facing the problem of
surplus labour.
It is the result of surplus labour that the companies later on offer schemes like Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS)
to eliminate surplus staff. Thus, it is better to plan well about employees in advance. Through HRP, one can ensure
the employment of proper number and type of personnel.
II. Foundation for Other HRM Functions:
HRP is the first step in all HRM functions. So, HRP provides the essential information needed for the other HRM
functions like recruitment, selection, training and development, promotion, etc.
III. Coping with Change:
Changes in the business environment like competition, technology, government guidelines, global market, etc. bring
changes in the nature of the job. This means changes in the demand of personnel, content of job, qualification and
experience needed. HRP helps the organization in adjusting to new changes.
IV. Investment Perspective:
As a result of change in the mindset of management, investment in human resources is viewed as a better concept in
the long run success of the enterprise. Human assets can increase in value as opposed to physical assets. Thus, HRP
is considered important for the proper planning of future employees.
V. Expansion and Diversification Plans:
During the expansion and diversification drives, more employees at various levels are needed. Through proper HRP,
an organization comes to know about the exact requirement of personnel in future plans.
VI. Employee Turnover:
Every organization suffers from the small turnover of labour, sometime or the other. This is high among young
graduates in the private sector. This necessitates again doing manpower planning for further recruiting and hiring.

VII. Conformity with Government Guidelines:

In order to protect the weaker sections of the society, the Indian Government has prescribed some norms for
organizations to follow. For example, reservations for SC/ST, BC, physically handicapped, ex-servicemen, etc. in
the jobs. While planning for fresh candidates, HR manager takes into consideration all the Government guidelines.
VIII. International Expansion Strategies:
International expansion strategies of an organization depend upon HRP. Under International Human Resource
Management (IHRM), HRP becomes more challenging. An organization may want to fill the foreign subsidiary’s
key positions from its home country employees or from host-country or from a third country. All this demands very
effective HRP.
IX. Having Highly Talented Manpower Inventory:
Due to changing business environment, jobs have become more challenging and there is an increasing need for
dynamic and ambitious employees to fill the positions. Efficient HRP is needed for attracting and retaining well
qualified, highly skilled and talented employees.

Human Resource Planning – Objectives:

The main objectives of HRP are:
(i) Proper assessment of human resources needs in future.
(ii) Anticipation of deficient or surplus manpower and taking the corrective action.
(iii) To create a highly talented workforce in the organization.
(iv) To protect the weaker sections of the society.
(v) To manage the challenges in the organization due to modernization, restructuring and re-engineering.
(vi) To facilitate the realization of the organization’s objectives by providing right number and types of personnel.
(vii) To reduce the costs associated with personnel by proper planning.
(viii) To determine the future skill requirements of the organization.

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(ix) To plan careers for individual employee.

(x) Providing a better view of HR dimensions to top management.
(xi) Determining the training and development needs of employees.

Human Resource Planning – Organisation:

Every line manager is responsible for planning manpower of the respective department and the top management is
responsible for the planning of resources for the entire organisation. The personnel department supplies relevant
information and data to all the line managers and helps those regarding interdepartmental transfers, promotions,
demotions etc. Personnel department also helps in using the techniques and forecasting the manpower.
Personnel department forecasts internal mobility surplus or deficit of human resources for the entire organisation,
prepares action plans regarding redeployment, redundancy, employment, development and internal mobility and
submits plans to the management at the top which either by its own or by appointing a committee reviews
departmental plans and overall plans, make necessary adjustments and finalises the plans. Personnel department in
its turn prepares modified plans for the departments based on finalised overall plan and communicates them to
respective heads of department.
Personnel department may co-ordinate the control activity of human resource plan and it has to send coordinated
reports to the management at the top for actual review, control and monitor the human resource system. The
management at the top may appoint a committee consisting of heads of department and external identification of
deviations, reasons thereof and steps to be taken to correct the deviations. The committee further helps the
management in executing the programmes of corrections.

Human Resource Plan – Factors:

Several factors affect HRP. These factors can be classified into external factors and internal factors.
External Factors:
i. Government Policies – Policies of the government like labour policy, industrial relations policy, policy towards
reserving certain jobs for different communities and sons-of the soil, etc. affect the HRP.
ii. Level of Economic Development – Level of economic development determines the level of HRD in the country
and thereby the supply of human resources in the future in the country.
iii. Business Environment – External business environmental factors influence the volume and mix of production
and thereby the future demand for human resources.
iv. Level of Technology – Level of technology determines the kind of human resources required.
v. International Factors – International factors like the demand for resources and supply of human resources in
various countries.
vi. Outsourcing – Availability of outsourcing facilities with required skills and knowledge of people reduces the
dependency on HRP and vice-versa.
Internal Factors:
i. Company policies and strategies – Company policies and strategies relating to expansion, diversification,
alliances, etc. determines the human resource demand in terms of quality and quantity.
ii. Human resource policies – Human resources policies of the company regarding quality of human resource,
compensation level, quality of work-life, etc., influences human resource plan.
iii. Job analysis – Fundamentally, human resource plan is based on job analysis. Job description and job
specification determines the kind of employees required.
iv. Time horizons – Companies with stable competitive environment can plan for the long run whereas the firms
with unstable competitive environment can plan for only short- term range.
v. Type and quality of information – Any planning process needs qualitative and accurate information. This is more
so with human resource plan; strategic, organisational and specific information.
vi. Company’s production operations policy – Company’s policy regarding how much to produce and how much to
buy from outside to prepare a final product influence the number and kind of people required.
vii. Trade unions – Influence of trade unions regarding number of working hours per week, recruitment sources, etc.,
affect the HRP.

Human Resource Planning at Different Levels:

Different institutions make HRP at different levels for their own purposes, of which national level, industry level,
unit level, departmental level and job level are important.
i. National level – Generally, government at the centre plan for human resources at the national level. It forecasts the
demand for and supply of human resource, for the entire nation.

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ii. Sector level – Manpower requirements for a particular sector like agricultural sector, industrial sector or tertiary
sector are projected based on the government policy, projected output/operations, etc.
iii. Industry level – Manpower needs of a particular industry like cement, textiles, chemical are predicted taking into
account the output/operational level of that particular industry.
iv. Unit level – This covers the estimation of human resource needs of an organisation or company based on its
corporate/business plan.
v. Departmental level – This covers the manpower needs of a particular department in a company.
vi. Job level – Manpower needs of a particular job family within department like Mechanical Engineer is forecast at
this level.
vii. Information technology – The impact of information technology on business activities, human resource
requirement and human resource plan is significant. It requires multi skilled experts, preferably less in number.

Human Resource Planning – Quantitative and Qualitative Dimensions:

Human resources have a dual role to play in the economic development of a country. On one hand they are the
consumers of the products and services produced by the organizations while on the other hand they are one of the
factors of production.
Along with capital and other factors of production, human resources can lead to increase in production and
economic development. The rate of growth of human resources is determined by two aspects quantitative and
qualitative.
Variables Determining the Quantity of Human Resources:
1. Population Policy:
Some population policies operate by influencing the factors responsible for growth such as fertility, marriage and
mortality. These are known as population influencing policies. Another category of policies known as responsive
policies are implemented to adjust to observed population trends with the help of programmes like health, nutrition,
education, housing, etc. The aim of population policies is to achieve an optimum population for enhancing the
country’s development.
2. Population Structure:
The structure or composition of the population is determined by two factors, sex composition and age composition.
(i) Sex Composition:
Sex ratio is the ratio of males to females in the population. It is the basic measure of the sex composition of the
population of any area. Higher the number of females, higher will be the population growth rate in future.
(ii) Age Composition:
It is the distribution of population by age groups. Age composition is the result of past trends in fertility and
mortality. The supply of labour depends on age composition as economically active population falls in range of 15-
65 age groups.
3. Migration:
Net migration is another factor which causes changes in the population. Age and sex composition determine the
natural growth in population, but for calculating the overall changes in population it is important to consider net
migration also.
Net migration = total immigrants – total emigrants
A positive net migration will lead to a rise in population growth rate while negative net migration will reduce the
growth rate of population. Migration can be both interregional and international.
4. Labour Force Participation:
The population of any country consists of workers and non-workers. The workers are the people, usually in age
group of 15-65, who participate in economically productive activities by their mental or physical presence.
These include:
i. Employers,
ii. Employees,
iii. Self-employed persons, and
iv. Those engaged in family enterprises without pay.
The others in the population are the non-workers such as students, infants, elderly, beggars, retired people, inmates
of jail or mental institutions, unemployed, etc. They do not contribute to any productive economic activity. It is the
changes in the working population which affect the growth of human resources. The number of people who are
unemployed but available for work also impacts the availability of labour.
Qualitative Aspects of Human Resource Planning:

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The quantitative dimensions help to ascertain human resources in numbers while the productive power of human
resources is assessed by the qualitative dimensions. For example, there may be hundreds of applicants for 20
vacancies, but out of these only a few may meet the quality standards required for the job.
Factors which determine the quality of human resources are:
1. Education and Training:
The quantity and quality of education and training received by human resources impacts their knowledge and skills.
Education and training are important for the upliftment of both individual and society. It can be of two types, formal
and informal.
Formal education is imparted through schools and colleges while informal education and training takes place
through on-the-job training methods. Formal education stresses the transfer of theoretical knowledge, while informal
education emphasizes on practical application of knowledge.
2. Health and Nutrition:
Health and nutrition along with education are vital for Human Resource Development. Health and nutrition impact
the quality of life, productivity of labour and the average life expectancy.
Health status is determined by:
(i) Purchasing power of people.
(ii) Public sanitation, climate and availability of medical facilities.
(iii) People’s understanding and knowledge of health, hygiene and nutrition.
3. Equality of Opportunity:
Not all segments of people comprising human resources get equal employment opportunities. There is bound to be
some discrimination.
The most common forms of discrimination are:
(i) Social discrimination – Discrimination on basis of gender, religion or social standing.
(ii) Economic discrimination – Discrimination based on financial positions or possession of wealth by the sections
of workforce.
(iii) Regional discrimination – These are in form of discrimination between rural and urban population or between
people belonging to different regions/ states.
Discrimination affects the quality and productivity of the human resources belonging to different sections of the
population. The privileged classes get access to best education, nutrition and health facilities while underprivileged
are deprived of their right share in the development process. For the overall, well rounded development of the
country’s human resources, effective policies need to be implemented to deal with the problem of discrimination.

Human Resource Planning – Prerequisites:

i. There should be a proper linkage between HR plan and organizational plan.
ii. Top management support is essential.
iii. Proper balance should be kept between the qualitative and quantitative approaches to HRP.
iv. Involvement of operating managers is necessary.
v. Proper alignment between short-term HR plans and long-term HR plans should be there.
vi. HR plan should have in-built flexibility in order to adopt environmental uncertainties.
vii. Time period of HR plan should be appropriate to needs and circumstances of the organization.

Human Resource Planning – Relationship with Other Personnel Processes:

From a systems view, human resource planning is interrelated with many of the organization’s other endeavors in
personnel management. The strongest relationship exists between human resource planning and selection. In fact, all
selection efforts really are an integral part of the whole human resource planning process.
Organizations that have either stable or increasing human resource needs must go into the external labour market
and hire employees even though they generally follow a promotion-from within policy.
In addition, human resource planning is related to both performance appraisal and training and development.
Performance appraisals can pinpoint the skills that will be required for employees to move into higher-level
positions via promotion, while training and development efforts may then be designed to provide these skills.
To meet organizational goals, human resource planning seeks to ensure that the organization’s demand for
individuals at any particular time will be just met by available human resources. This view assumes that
“stockpiling” employees at levels greater than needed and being understaffed are both undesirable.
This assumption represents a major difference between planning for human resources and planning for non-human
resources. Although it is generally unacceptable to stockpile or build inventories of human resources, organizations
may find it necessary or desirable to build up raw materials or finished-goods inventories.

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It is unacceptable to hold human resource inventories for three reasons. First, human resources are costly and it may
be difficult to justify the expense of excess personnel. There are sounder and more cost-effective options available to
personnel planners in business firms. Second, excess people are not engaged in productive work, and are likely to be
bored and frustrated by the lack of anything constructive to do.
Such boredom and frustration can create problems because excess people may make unnecessary work for
productive people and may even inhibit the firm’s total productive efforts.
Third, since human resources, particularly skilled and professional people, may be in short supply, taking productive
workers out of the economy’s labour pool may be considered socially unacceptable.
It is equally undesirable for an organization to operate with too few employees. As with “stockpiled” employees,
individuals may feel frustrated, but in this case because of overwork rather than a lack of productive activity. This
situation may also be dysfunctional to an organization’s goals.
Consider, for example, a department store during the holiday season with a shortage of sales personnel. In addition
to the frustrations experienced by employees, such understaffing may also result in loss of employee efficiency.
Customers may respond to long lines and excessive waiting by taking their business elsewhere, with resultant loss of
sales by the organization. Having too many or too few employees may create numerous problems for organizations-
problems that can be reduced or eliminated through effective human resource planning.

Human Resource Planning – Responsibility:

Human resource planning is the responsibility of the personnel department. In this task, it is aided by the industrial
engineering department, the top management and the team of directors of different departments. It is mostly a
staffing or personnel function.
The overall responsibility lies with the Board of Directors because, as the manpower planning scheme of Hindustan
Lever indicates, “these members are in a position to direct the future course of business, set appropriate goals for the
management concerned in the formulation of personnel policies.”
The personnel department’s responsibility is “to recommend relevant personnel policies in respect of manpower
planning, devise methods of procedure, and determine the quantitative aspects of manpower planning.”
The responsibilities of the personnel department in regard to manpower planning have been stated by Geisler
in the following words:
(i) To assist, counsel and pressurize the operating management to plan and establish objectives;
(ii) To collect and summarize data in total organization terms and to ensure consistency with long- range objectives
and other elements of the total business plan;
(iii) To monitor and measure performance against the plan and keep the top management informed about it; and
(iv) To provide the research necessary for effective manpower and organisational planning.

Human Resource Planning and Environmental Scanning:

Environment influences human resource management as well as business. Environmental scanning helps to know
the nature and degree of environmental influence on human resource plan as well as business plan.
Managers have to scan the following environmental factors in particular:
i. Social factors including cultural factors, religious factors, child-care, educational programmes and priorities.
ii. Technological developments including information technology, people soft, automation and robotics.
iii. Economic factors including international, national and regional factors.
iv. Political factors including legal issues, laws and administrative factors.
v. Demographic factors including gender, age and literacy.
vi. Industry growth trends, competitive trends, new products, new processes, services and innovations.
The environmental scanning will help the managers to foresee the possible changes and make the adjustments in
order to prevent the possible negative effects and get ready for the positive effects.
In addition to scanning the external environmental factors, organisations like Infosys, Satyam, Volvo and Southwest
Airlines scan internal environmental factors. Organisational cultures, employees’ cultures affect the human resource
plan as well as other areas of HRM. Organisations conduct cultural audits to know the impact of attitudes, values
and activities of employees. As observed by Sears, employee positive attitude has direct and positive impact on
customer satisfaction and revenue.
Most of the companies benchmark their standing and progress against each other as environmental scanning and HR
planning are aimed at competitive advantage. Benchmarking is identifying the best HR practices like training and
compensation in the industry, compare them with those of the firm and take steps to improve the practices to match
with those of the best practices in the industry.

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Target for benchmarking need not be a competitor, but the best in the industry, or companies in other industries.
‘Human Capital Benchmarking Report’ published by the Saratoga Institute provides information of 900 companies’
practices. Companies can use this source as well as the survey report of ‘Business Today’, published every year in
addition to various research reports on pay structure, return on investment per employee, turnover rates, cost per
hire, etc.

Human Resource Planning – Mapping an Organisation’s Human Capital Architecture:

The linkage between strategy and HR should focus on the development of core competencies. Some of the MNCs
like Sony, Starbucks, Domino’s Pizza and South-West Airlines revolutionised their companies by developing core
competencies.
These competencies helped these companies to have leverage by learning faster than others. Core competency is a
portfolio of employee skills. Different skills of employees can be grouped based on ‘Strategic value’ they create and
their distinctiveness to the organisation.
They are as follows:
i. Core Knowledge Workers:
This group of employees possesses firm-specific skills which are linked to the company’s strategy like R&D skills
for pharmaceutical company and teaching skills for university employees. Companies invest in training of these
employees, provide them with freedom and autonomy and offer higher salaries.
ii. Traditional Job-Based Employees:
This group of employees possesses skills that are important to the organisation, but are not critical/unique (like
accountants, finance, marketing personnel). Companies invest less in developing these employees, but provide short-
term financial benefits.
iii. Contract Labour:
This category of employees possesses skills, which are of less strategic value (like clerks, receptionists, drivers,
security, etc.). This category of employees is normally hired from external agencies on contact basis. Organisations
do not invest in training these employees and the employment relations are transactional.
iv. Alliance/Partners:
This group of employees has unique skills, but not directly related to organisation’s core function like lawyers,
auditors and consultants. Companies do not employ them on regular basis, given their tangible link to the strategy
but establish long- term alliances and partnerships with them.
HR managers make decisions with regard to whom to employ internally, whom to contract externally and the type of
the employment relationship to be maintained. HR manager also considers the cost-benefit approach of internal
employment vs. external contract in HRP.
v. Ensuring Fit and Flexibility:
Alignment between strategic planning and programmes, policies and practices of HR is vital and need to achieve
two types of fit viz., external fit and internal fit.
A. External Fit:
External fit brings alignment between the business objectives/goals and major HR initiatives/practices. Growth
strategy of the company is to be aligned with recruiting people with creative and innovative skills, providing
freedom to them and investing on training for developing such skills. Low cost strategy is to be aligned with
employing performance/productivity oriented employees.
B. Internal Fit:
Internal fit brings alignment among various HR policies and practices in order to establish configuration that is
mutually reinforcing. Efficiency and creativity come from integrated effort of job design, HR Plan, recruitment and
selection, training, performance management, compensation and motivation. Therefore, there should be integration
among all HR functions. In addition, management should follow either individual approach or team approach for all
HR functions.
Successful external and internal strategy and HRM alignment helps the organisation to increase organisational
capability and competitive advantage.
vi. Cohort Analysis:
It is an analysis of risk factors of groups in which a group having one or more similar characteristics is closely
monitored over time simultaneously with another group. It is one type of clinical study design and should be
compared with a cross-sectional study. Cohort studies are largely about the life histories of segments of populations,
and the individual people who constitute these segments. This method is used where case study approach is not
feasible, creates too many statistical problems, or generally produces unreliable results. This is also called follow up
study.

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Cohort analysis helps to separate growth metrics from engagement metrics and helps to measure growth and identify
growth problems.

Human Resource Planning – Benefits:

Human Resource Planning (HRP) anticipates not only the required kind and number of employees but also
determines the action plan for all the functions of personnel management.
The major benefits of human resource planning are:
i. It checks the corporate plan of the organisation.
ii. HRP offsets uncertainties and changes to the maximum extent possible and enables the organisation to have right
men at right time and in right place.
iii. It provides scope for advancement and development of employees through training, development, etc.
iv. It helps to anticipate the cost of salary enhancement, better benefits, etc.
v. It helps to anticipate the cost of salary, benefits and all the cost of human resources facilitating the formulation of
budgets in an organisation.
vi. To foresee the need for redundancy and plan to check it or to provide alternative employment in consultation with
trade unions, other organisations and government through remodeling organisational, industrial and economic plans.
vii. To foresee the changes in values, aptitude and attitude of human resources and to change the techniques of
interpersonal, management, etc.
viii. To plan for physical facilities, working conditions and the volume of fringe benefits like canteen, schools,
hospitals, conveyance, child care centres, quarters, company stores, etc.
ix. It gives an idea of type of tests to be used and interview techniques in selection based on the level of skills,
qualifications, intelligence, values, etc., of future human resource.
x. It causes the development of various sources of human resources to meet the organisational needs.
xi. It helps to take steps to improve human resource contributions in the form of increased productivity, sales,
turnover, etc.
xii. It facilitates the control of all the functions, operations, contribution and cost of human resources.

Human Resource Planning – Problems:

Though HRP is beneficial to the organisation, employees and trade unions, some problems crop up in the process of
HRP.
Important among them are:
1. Resistance by Employers and Employees:
Many employers resist HRP as they think that it increases the cost of manpower as trade unions demand for
employees based on the plan, more facilities and benefits including training and development. Further, employers
feel that HRP is not necessary as candidates are/will be available as and when required in India due to
unemployment situation. Employers’ version may be true about unskilled and clerical staff but it is not true in the
case of all other categories as there is shortage for certain categories of human resources.
Trade unions and employees also resist HRP as they view that it increases the workload of employees and prepares
programme for securing the human resources mostly from outside. The other reason for their resistance is that HRP
aims at controlling the employees through productivity maximisation, etc.
2. Uncertainties:
Uncertainties are quite prominent in human resource practices in India due to absenteeism, seasonal employment,
labour turnover, etc. Further, the uncertainties in industrial scene like technological change, marketing conditions
also cause uncertainties in human resource management. The uncertainties make the HRP less reliable.
3. Inadequacies of Information System:
Information system regarding human resources has not yet fully developed in Indian industries due to low status
given to personnel department and less importance attached to HRP. Further, reliable data and information about the
economy, other industries, labour market, trends in human resources, etc., are not available.

Human Resource Planning – Recent Implications:

Most of the organisations, employed human resources without proper HR plans before 1990s. This was more acute
in the public sector whose objective was creation of employment opportunities. The absence of human resources
planning before 1990s led to the following implications in Indian companies.
(i) Overstaffing – Most of the organisations are found to be overstaffed compared to their counterparts in other
countries.

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(ii) VRSI Golden-handshake – The absence of human resources planning led to overstaffing. Consequently, most of
the organisations announced VRS/Golden-handshake programmes in order to reduce the consequences of
overstaffing.
(iii) Delayering and Downsizings Most of the organisations de-layered their organisations and announced
downsizing programmes to rectify the consequences of overstaffing.

Human Resource Planning – Recent Trends:

Unfortunately, the human resource planning efforts of organizations have often been inadequate by failing to
emphasize the truly systematized approach geared toward meeting overall objectives.
As Lopez and others have observed:
Some organizations have perceived manpower planning primarily in terms of budgeting to control labour costs;
others have viewed it as a management development technique; still others see it as a table of back-ups and
replacements for current employees; and finally, others have viewed it as a means of establishing a human resource
information system and a personnel inventory.
Since each of these approaches is necessarily limited in scope, the state of the art in human resource planning has
limped along quite slowly.
Toward More Sophisticated Human Resource Planning:
In recent years, both personnel practitioners and researchers emphasized some of the basic facets of personnel
decision making (1) taking systems and contingency approaches, and (2) developing more sophisticated human
resource forecasting and planning models. For example, the growth of equal employment opportunity regulations in
recent years has increased the awareness of human resource planners of the effects of external changes on personnel
systems.
The observations are in order regarding these more sophisticated approaches. First, more complex planning systems
have generally been used in larger firms. Large organizations generally must undertake complex human resource
planning and can afford the higher costs of such approaches.
Second, although a wide range of human resource models have been developed, some of these models have ignored
so many “real life” personnel variables that they have had virtually no practical application. On the positive side,
there have been numerous quantitative models that have been very useful to organizations.
There are a number of reasons for the recent increase in the use of more sophisticated human resource planning
models. For example, organizations simply have been growing larger and more complex, requiring more
sophisticated approaches. This has been especially true in those organizations in which interdependencies have
increased.
The invention and development of the computer has made possible the analysis of complex human resource
problems that would previously have been so time-consuming as to be cost prohibitive or virtually impossible to
deal with by manual computations.
“The manpower mix in organizations had gradually come to focus around highly skilled managerial and technical
talent.” Such personnel have at times been in short supply, and more of a lead time has been required for their
training and development.
Once an integrated, well-thought-out human resource planning programme has been initiated, managers tend to
appreciate its benefits and work together with the firm’s human resource specialists in developing viable
programmes-“they are more willing to plan in this area, if only they are shown how to begin,”
Problems with Sophistication in Human Resource Planning:
Despite these reasons for the growth of more sophisticated human resource planning, such approaches face a
number of problems:
1. There is an inherent mathematical complexity associated with efforts to model human resource systems.
2. Always there is a lack of certainty surrounding human resource needs in the future, coupled with the existence of
an acquisition lead time for meeting those needs. Even if an organization’s human resource planning experts were
completely uncertain about the number of operation researchers that would be needed at a point in future, the
organization would face no problems if it could at that future time instantaneously obtain any number of such
personnel to meet its objectives.
However, lead times are needed to recruit and train new personnel and to train and promote existing employees for
new positions or assignments. Acquisition lead times have become more of a problem in recent years because of the
needs for highly skilled managerial and professional personnel.
Since this trend is expected to continue in future years, the problem of acquisition lead times creates forecasting
difficulties for most organizations.

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TOPIC TWO; JOB ANALYSIS:

Meaning, Concept, Purposes, Contents, Process and Methods
HR Guide to Job Analysis: Intro, Meaning, Process and Methods
Job Analysis – Introduction:
In a country like India, jobs are very important to individuals. They help to determine standards of living, places of
residence, status and even one’s sense of self-worth. They are important to organizations also because they are the
means of accomplishing organizational objectives. Traditionally, organizations used to define jobs in a rigid way.
A job was that what it requires does not change; it is designed to be immutable and unchanging, irrespective of the
various incumbents performing them. In real world, however, jobs are not static; they are subject to change.
Technological advancements and competition may compel an organization to put more stress on features of
successful performance rather than on standard job duties, tasks etc. The job is what the incumbent makes of it. To
properly understand the dynamic nature of jobs, managers gather information about jobs from time to time.

Job Analysis – Meaning:

Job analysis is a systematic and detailed examination of jobs. It is the process of collecting information about a job
— that is, the knowledge, skills, and the experience needed to carry out a job effectively. The jobholder is supposed
to possess job-related knowledge useful to carry out the job easily. He must possess relevant skills to put the
knowledge into practice quickly and effectively. He should have the ability to understand how the tools, equipment,
materials, resources, machines need to be deployed in order to produce results. Only after a careful examination of
the requirements of job, the job incumbent’s qualifications are generally determined.
In other words, job analysis refers to the anatomy of the job. It is a complete study of job, embodying every known
and determinable factor, including the duties and responsibilities involved in its performance, the conditions under
which the performance is carried on, the nature of the task, the qualities required in the worker, and such conditions
of employment as pay hour, opportunities and privileges. It also emphasises the relation of one job to others in the
organisation.

Job Analysis – Definitions:

(1) According to Edwin B. Flippo – “Job analysis is the process of studying and collecting information relating to
the operations and responsibilities of a specific job. The immediate products of this analysis are job descriptions and
job specifications.”
(2) Further, David A. De Cenzo and Stephen P. Robbins has defined “job analysis is a systematic exploration of the
activities within a job. It is a basic technical procedure, one that is used to define the duties, responsibilities and
accountabilities of a job.”
(3) Herbert G. Hereman III has said “A job analysis is a collection of tasks that can be performed by a single
employee to contribute to the production of some product or service provided by the organisation. Each job has
certain ability requirements (as well as certain rewards) associated with it. It is the process used to identify these
requirements.”
Therefore, it can be said safely that “job analysis can be described as a process of collecting information about a
job.”

Job Analysis – Concept:

Job analysis is essentially a process of collecting and analyzing data relating to a job in an organization. It refers to a
scientific and systematic analysis of a job in order to obtain all pertinent facts about the job. Job analysis has been
defined as “the process of determining by observing and study the tasks, which comprise the job; the methods and
equipments used, and the skills and attitudes required for successful performance of the job.”
Edwin B. Flippo has defined job analysis as “the process of studying and collecting information relating to the
operations and responsibilities of a specific job. The immediate products of this analysis are job descriptions and job
specifications”.

Job analysis provides the following information about a job:

i. Nature of jobs required in a concern;
ii. Nature of organizational structure;
iii. Type of people required to fit that structure;
iv. The relationship of a job with other jobs in a concern;
v. Kind of qualifications required for a particular job;
vi. Provision of physical condition to support the activities of a concern;

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vii. Materials, equipments and methods used in performing the job.

Job Analysis – Contents:

A job analysis provides the following information:
(i) Job identification- Its title, including its code number;
(ii) Significant characteristics of a job- Its location, physical setting, supervision, union jurisdiction, hazards and
discomforts;
(iii) What the typical worker does- Specific operation and tasks that make up an assignment, their relative timing
and importance, their simplicity, routine or complexity, the responsibility or safety of others for property, funds,
confidence and trust;
(iv) Which materials and equipment a worker uses- Metals, plastics, grains, yarns, milling machines, punch presses
and micrometers;
(v) How a job is performed- Nature of operation – lifting, handling, cleaning, washing, feeding, removing, drilling,
driving, setting up and many others;
(vi) Required personnel attributes- Experience, training, apprenticeship, physical strength, co-ordination or dexterity,
physical demands, mental capabilities, aptitudes, social skills;
(vii) Job relationship- Experience required, opportunities for advancement, patterns of promotions, essential co-
operation, direction, or leadership from and for a job.
It is obvious from the foregoing that a job analysis is usually a clear indication of a job description and job
specification.

Job Analysis – Objectives:

The main objectives of job analysis are as follows:
i. Work Simplification:
Job analysis provides the information related to job and this data can be used to make process or job simple. Work
simplification means dividing the job into small parts i.e. different operations in a product line or process which can
improve the production or job performance.
ii. Setting Up of Standards:
Standard means minimum acceptable qualities or results or performance or rewards regarding a particular job. Job
analysis provides the information about the job and standard of each can be established using this information.
iii. Support to Personnel Activities:
Job analysis provides support to various personnel activities like recruitment, selection, training and development,
wage administration, performance appraisal, etc.

Job Analysis – Purposes:

A comprehensive JA programme is an essential ingredient of sound personnel management. It is the major input to
forecasting future human resource requirements, job modifications, job evaluation, determination of proper
compensation, and the writing of job evaluation, determination of proper compensation, and the writing of job
descriptions.

It is of fundamental importance to manpower management programmes because of the wider applicability of its
results. The information provided by JA is useful, if not essential, in almost every phase of employee relations.
1. Organisation and Manpower Planning:
It is helpful in organisation planning, for it defines labour needs in concrete terms and co-ordinates the activities of
the workforce, and clearly divides duties and responsibilities.
2. Recruitment, Selection:
By indicating the specific requirements of each job (i. e., the skills and knowledge), it provides a realistic basis for
the hiring, training, placement, transfer and promotion of personnel. “Basically, the goal is to match the job
requirements with a worker’s aptitude, abilities and interests. It also helps in charting the channels of promotion and
in showing lateral lines of transfer.
3. Wage and Salary Administration:
By indicating the qualifications required for doing a specified job and the risks and hazards involved in its
performance, it helps in salary and wage administration. Job analysis is used as a foundation for job evaluation.
4. Job Reengineering:
Job analysis provides information which enables us to change jobs in order to permit their being manned by
personnel with specific characteristics and qualifications.

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This takes two forms:

(a) Industrial engineering activity, which is concerned with operational analysis, motion study, work simplification
methods and improvement in the place of work and its measurement, and aims at improving efficiency, reducing
unit labour costs, and establishing the production standard which the employee is expected to meet; and
(b) Human engineering activity, which takes into consideration human capabilities, both physical and psychological,
and prepares the ground for complex operations of industrial administration, increased efficiency and better
productivity.
5. Employee Training and Management Development:
Job analysis provides the necessary information to the management of training and development programmes. It
helps to determine the content and subject matter of in-training courses. It also helps in checking application
information, interviewing, weighing test results, and in checking references.
6. Performance Appraisal:
It helps in establishing clear-cut standards which may be compared with the actual contribution of each individual.
7. Health and Safety:
It provides an opportunity for identifying hazardous conditions and unhealthy environmental factors so that
corrective measures may be taken to minimise and avoid the possibility of accidents.
In sum, it may be noted that job analysis is a systematic procedure for securing and reporting the information which
defines a specific job. It has many uses in the management of personnel. It determines the qualifications required for
a job; provides guidance in recruitment and selection; evaluates current employees for transfer or promotion; and
establishes the requirements for training programmes.
It is used as a foundation for job evaluation and helps in employee development by means of appraisal and
counseling; for establishing improved methods of analysing problems of health, safety and fatigue; it functions as a
guide in connection with discipline and grievances and as a basis for transfers, lay-offs and as a basis of comparison
of the pay rates obtaining in other organisations; and it establishes workloads and job assignments.
It also helps in redesigning the jobs to improve operational performance or to enrich job content and employee
improvement. Managers may develop ways of giving their employees an increased sense of personnel
accomplishment and control over themselves and their work.

JA produces four kinds of documentation and procedures that are crucial to personnel activities:
(i) Job description;
(ii) Job specification;
(iii) Job evaluation, and
(iv) Personnel assessment.
In turn, the procedures and documentation are basic inputs for diverse personnel functions.

Job Analysis – Process (How to Conduct Job Analysis?):

How to conduct job analysis? We should perform eight steps as follows for conducting job analysis.

These are mentioned below:

Step 1- Identify Purpose of Job Analysis:
First of all we should identify the purpose of job analysis. Otherwise we will not be able to collect all the pertinent
information concerning job analysis and job analysis methods.
Step 2- Selection of Analyst:
We have to choose analyst to whom responsibilities will be assigned for job analysis. The analysts will be taken
from professional human resource, line managers, incumbents or consultants.
Step 3- Selection of Method:
We will select representative positions to analyze because it may not be necessary to analyze all jobs and there may
be too many similar jobs to analyze. After selecting representative jobs we must identify the appropriate method
which is the best one in order to analyze a particular job.
Step 4 -Train the Analyst:
If we use internal analyst then we have to give them appropriate training so that they can use the selected methods of
job analysis in an efficient and effective way.
Step 5- Preparation of Job Analysis:
It includes communicate the project in the organization and preparing the documentation.
Step 6- Collection of Data:

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Job analysts will collect data relating to job activities, employee behaviours, working conditions, human traits and
abilities to perform the job, etc.
Step 7- Review and Verify:
Analysts must verify the collected data to confirm that the information is factually correct and complete.
Step 8- Develop a Job Description and Job Specification:
Develop a job description and job specification from the job analysis information. A job description is a written
statement that describes the activities and responsibilities of the job, working conditions, safety and hazards. A job
specification summarizes the personal qualities, traits, skills, and background required for getting the job done.

Job Analysis – Methods:

Methods of collecting job analysis information include direct observation, work method analysis, critical incident
technique, interview and questionnaire method.
These are given below:
1. Direct Observation Method:
Direct Observation is a method of job analysis to observe and record behaviour / events / activities / tasks / duties
when the worker or group engaged in doing the job. Observation method can be effective only when the job analyst
is skilled enough to know what is to be observed, how to analyze, and what is being observed.
2. Work Method Analysis:
Work methods analysis is used to describe manual and repetitive production jobs, such as factory or assembly-line
jobs. Work methods analysis includes time and motion study and micro-motion analysis.
3. Critical Incident Technique:
Critical incident technique is a method of job analysis used to identify work behaviours that classify in good and
poor performance. Under this method, jobholders are asked to describe critical incidents concerning the job and the
incidents so collected are analyzed and classified according to the job areas they describe.
4. Interview Method:
Interview method is a useful tool of job analysis to ask questions to both incumbents and supervisors in either an
individual or a group setting. Interview includes structured interviews, unstructured interview, and open-ended
questions.
5. Questionnaire Method:
It includes 6 techniques, which are as follows:
a. Position Analysis Questionnaire (PAQ Model):
PAQ model is a questionnaire technique of job analysis. It developed by Mc Cormick, Jeanneret, and Mecham
(1972), is a structured instrument of job analysis to measure job characteristics and relate them to human
characteristics. It consists of 195 job elements that describe generic human work behaviours.
b. Functional Job Analysis (FJA Model):
FJA model is a technique of job analysis that was developed by the Employment and Training Administration of the
United States Department of Labour. It includes 7 scales (numbers) that measure- 3 worker-function scales- measure
percentage of time spent with: data, people, things; 1 worker-instruction scale; 3 scales that measure reasoning,
mathematics, and language.
c. Work Profiling System (WPS Model):
WPS model is a questionnaire technique of job analysis, is a computer-administered system for job analysis,
developed by Saville & Holds worth, Ltd.
d. MOSAIC Model:
MOSAIC model is a questionnaire technique of job analysis used to collect information from incumbents and
supervisors. It contains 151 job tasks rated in terms of importance for effective job performance and 22
competencies rated in terms of importance, and needed proficiency at entry.
e. Common Metric Questionnaire (CMQ Model):
CMQ model is a technique of job analysis that was developed by Harvey as a “worker-oriented” job analysis
instrument designed to have applicability to a broad range of exempt and nonexempt jobs. It includes 41 general
questions of background section, 62 questions of contacts with people, 80 items of decision making, 53 items of
physical and mechanical activities, 47 items of work setting.
f. Fleishman Job Analysis System (FJAS Model):
FJAS model is a technique of job analysis that describes jobs from the point of view of the necessary capacities. It
includes 52 cognitive, physical, psycho-motor, and sensory ability; each of the categories consists of two parts – an
operational and differential definition and a grading scale.

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Job Analysis – Functions:

The job analysis provides the following function:
(1) Job identification- Its title, including its code number.
(2) Significant characteristics of a job- Its location, physical setting, supervision, union jurisdiction, hazards and
discomforts.
(3) What the typical worker does? This part of information includes specific operations and tasks to be performed by
the typical worker including their relative timing and importance, their simplicity, routine or complexity, the
responsibility for others, etc.
(4) Job duties- A detailed list of duties along with the probable frequency of occurrence of each duty.
(5) What materials and equipment the worker uses? Metals, plastics, grains, yarn or lathes, milling machines testers,
punch presses and micrometers.
(6) How a job is performed? Emphasis here is on the nature of operations like lifting, handling, cleaning, washing,
feeding, removing, drilling, driving, setting up and the like.
(7) Required Personal Attributes – These include experience, training undertaken, apprenticeship, physical strength,
coordination or dexterity, physical demands, mental capabilities, aptitudes, social skills, etc.
(8) Job Relationship – This includes opportunities for advancement, patterns of promotions, essential co-operation,
etc.
Job analysis also provides the information relating to mental skills, working conditions, hazards, education,
vocational preparation, etc.
Sources of Job Analysis Information:
Information about job analysis may be obtained from three principal sources.
They are:
(a) From the employees who actually perform a job;
(b) From other employees such as supervisors and foremen who watch the workers while doing a job and thereby
acquire knowledge about it; and
(c) From outside observers specially appointed to watch employees performing a job. Such outside persons are
called the trade job analysts. Sometimes, special job reviewing committees are also established.

Job Analysis – Significance:

1. Facilitates Manpower Planning:
Job analysis is the qualitative aspect of manpower requirements. It determines the demands of the job in terms of
responsibilities and duties and then translates these demands into skills, qualities and other human attributes.
It determines the quantum of work which an average person can perform on the job in a day. It facilitates the
division of work into different jobs. Thus, it is an essential element of manpower planning as it matches jobs with
men.
2. Helps Recruitment, Selection and Placement:
In order to hire the right person on a job, it is essential to know the requirements of the job and the qualities of the
individual who will perform it. The information regarding these is procured from job description and job
specifications respectively. These help the management in matching the job requirements as closely as possible with
workers’ aptitudes, abilities, interests, etc. It facilitates the execution of employment programme.
3. Determines Training and Development Needs:
Job analysis determines the levels of standards of job performance. It helps in administering the training
development programmes. Job descriptions and job specifications are written documents. If the contents of these
two documents are known to the employees, they will try to acquire the skills and knowledge required to perform
the task assigned to them efficiently.
They may also prepare themselves for the higher post in the light of the job description and the job specifications.
The same information may be used by those who administer the training and development programmes for
determining the contents and subject matter needed in such programmes.
4. Determines Job Evaluation:
Job evaluation aims at determining the relative worth of the job which helps in determining the compensation of job.
These jobs are evaluated in terms of money. An accurate and comprehensive set of job descriptions and the job
specifications forms of factual basis for evaluating the worth of the job.
5. Provides Data for Performance Appraisal:

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Job analysis data provide a clear-cut standard of performance for every job. The performance of employee can be
appraised objectively with the standard of job performance so established. A supervisor may very easily compare the
contribution of each man with the set standards.
6. Helps Job Designing:
Industrial engineers may use the job analysis information in designing the job by making the comprehensive study
of the job elements. It helps in time and motion study, work-specifications, methods and workplace improvement
and work-measurement. Human engineering activities such as physical, mental and psychological actions are
studied with the help of job analysis information.
7. Ensures Safety and Health:
The job analysis process uncovers the hazardous and unhealthy environmental factors such as heat, noise, fumes,
dust, etc. related with the jobs. The management may take corrective measures to minimize the chances of risks to
ensure safety to workers and avoid unhealthy conditions.
8. Maintains Discipline:
Job analysis provides the information regarding characteristics of various jobs and the job-holders. It studies the
failure of the workman to meet the required standard of performance. Corrective measures may be taken in time to
avoid untoward situations. In this way it helps in maintaining the discipline in the industry.

Job Analysis – Areas:

Job analysis should collect information on the following areas:
i. Duties and Tasks- The basic unit of a job is the performance of specific tasks and duties. Information to be
collected about these items may include frequency, duration, effort, skill, complexity, equipment, standards, etc.
ii. Environment- This may have a significant impact on the physical requirements to be able to perform a job. The
work environment may include unpleasant conditions such as offensive odours and extreme temperatures. There
may also be definite risks to the incumbent such as noxious fumes, radioactive substances, hostile and aggressive
people, and dangerous explosives.
iii. Tools and equipment- Some duties and tasks are performed using specific equipment and tools. Equipment may
include protective clothing. These items need to be specified in job analysis.
iv. Relationships- Supervision given and received, relationships with internal or external people, etc. have to be
detailed in job analysis.
v. Requirements- The knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA) required to perform the job must be clearly defined.
While an incumbent may have higher KSA than those required for the job, a job analysis typically only states the
minimum requirements to perform the job.

Job Analysis – Advantages:

Job analysis is an important element of human resource management. Most information can be taken by human
resource manager with the help of job analysis.
The main advantages of job analysis are given below:
i. Job analysis helps the personnel manager at the time of recruitment and selection of right man on right job;
ii. It helps human resource manager to understand extent and scope of training required in that field;
iii. It helps in evaluating the relative worth of different jobs;
iv. It also helps to chalk out the compensation plans for the employees;
v. It also helps the personnel manager to undertake performance appraisal effectively in a concern;
vi. Job analysis reveals unhealthy and hazardous environmental and operational conditions in various jobs;
vii. Job analysis provides pertinent information to both management and trade unions for collective bargaining;
viii. Job analysis provides necessary information for effective human resource planning.

Job Analysis – Competency Approach:

Jobs have to be structured, keeping the unique requirements of the situation in mind. Jobs need not always be
structured in a rigid manner. In fact, as most writers are suggesting, they need to be designed keeping the jobholders’
demands in mind.
For instance, when you downsize, you may ask employee X to handle the job of Y who is shown the door. When
you need to cut costs you may have to merge jobs with more or less similar duties and responsibilities. The job of a
typist may be merged with that of an office assistant.
The pressures to go lean may compel a firm to work with fewer and fewer hands as years roll by. Instead of
concentrating on a single job, the same employee may be asked to handle different jobs with more or less similar job

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duties and responsibilities. It would be admirable if we pick up employees possessing transferable skills and
knowledge at the entry level itself so that when the need arises, you can roll them on different jobs comfortably.
In fact, in such a scenario, workers can exercise self-control and self-direction, instead of being forced to handle jobs
with watertight compartmentalisation. There is, therefore, growing demand for workers who are able to seamlessly
move job to job, exercising self-direction and self-control, utilising their competencies fully.
Competencies are nothing but observable and measurable behaviours of a person that help him carry out the job
effectively. Competency-based analysis means describing a job in terms of measurable, observable, behavioural
competencies that an employee doing the job must exhibit to do well (for example requiring a software engineer to
design complex software programme).

Why Competency Analysis?

Traditional job analysis is always job focused — that is, on the KSAs (knowledge, skills and abilities) required to
perform specific jobs — and examines the linkages among those jobs. It is oriented toward what needs to be done in
terms of duties and responsibilities. It may not produce results when the organisation actually demands high
performance from employees.
Employees not thinking beyond the box or unwilling to take up activities not pertaining to their own narrow
specialty may actually spoil the show. Employees who are not willing to learn and are plagued by “that’s not my
job” attitude may turn out mediocre performance in the end. Competency analysis, on the other hand, is worker-
focused that is, what an employee must possess in terms of core competencies and specific competencies to
complete the task.
Core competencies here refer to characteristics that every member of the organisation regardless of position,
function or level of responsibility within the organisation is expected to possess. Specific competencies are
characteristics shared by different positions within an organisation.
Competency models focus more on how the worker is able to meet the job’s objectives and actually accomplishes
the work. They talk about personality and value orientations (e.g., risk taking) into the mix of what is needed to ‘fit
in’ and succeed in the culture of a particular organisation (Sanchez).

Limitations:
There is, of course, widespread opposition to competency approaches. Schippmann et al. argued that they are as
broad and ill-defined as to be of little practical use in guiding performance of job duties. Another criticism is that
competency models focus on behaviours than results, and as such focus on how individuals are expected to perform
and not their demonstrated achievements.
Further, the word competency itself is often loosely interpreted to include many things. Research shows that
managers and workers have different perceptions about the competencies and skills associated with various jobs in
organisations. The main discrepancies between managers and workers exist in their different perceptions of
‘workplace autonomy’ and ‘level of required skills’.
What is required for successful performance in a job is also open to doubt and remains unexplained. HR
practitioners, academics and even trade unions do not expect the so-called ill-defined approaches to have a long life
in actual practice (F. Green; J. Sandberg).

Job Analysis and Total Quality Management (TQM):

The latest thinkers of management have given a new thought of TQM. i.e. Total Quality Management. After the
word MBO (Management by Objectives) this word TQM (Total Quality Management) is also gaining ground. TQM
implies total commitment to quality.
Principles or Essential Features of TQM:
Michael Armstrong – in his book has given the following essential features of TQM:
(1) Creation of a common company theme;
(2) Creation of customer’s mentality. In this opinion customer is a king and his mentality must be studied.
(3) Improvement in the job is becoming a part of the job.
(4) Each function of the job must be studied and re-assessed as its purpose.
(5) Improvement becoming a continuous process.
(6) There must be improvement in the various systems of communications.
(7) Bureaucracy activities must be reduced.
If a close and thorough study of the principles of TQM is made it can be said that TQM calls for a new orientation
and a broad perspective on the part of every employee. For example – a typist in an office can no longer be confined

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only to typing letters as stipulated in his / her job description. He / she must look beyond his / her job requirement
and consider the entire office as his / her area of operation.
This example can be extended and introduced to other jobs also. In the TQM dispensation, almost everybody will be
required to attend to every task, the ultimate goal being the offer of better quality of products or services.
It is argued that with the advent of TQM the job analysis is losing its relevance. But large numbers of eminent
authors are of this opinion that TQM or no TQM, job analysis is useful in as much as it stipulates the tasks to be
performed by the job holder. What needs to be done, to maintain job analysis under TQM is to make job description
which contains basic tasks of job leaving scope for additional duties.

Job Analysis – Techniques of Data Collection:

There are several techniques that can be used for the purpose of collection of data.
The important among them are-
(i) Interviews,
(ii) Direct observations,
(iii) Maintenance of long records,
(iv)Questionnaires,
(v) Critical incident technique, etc.
In practice, these techniques may be used individually, or in possible combinations.
(i) Interviews:
There are two types of interviews which can be used for collection of data for job analysis, viz., individual
interviews (with groups of employees who do the same job) and supervisory interviews (with one or more
supervisors who are thoroughly knowledgeable about the job being analyzed).
(ii) Direct Observation:
Direct observation is particularly useful in jobs that consist primarily of observable physical activity like draftsman,
mechanics, etc. One approach to this method is by observing the worker on the job during a complete work cycle. In
this process, notes should be taken regarding all the job activities observed. The next stage is interviewing the
worker and getting the additional information from him. The other approach is to observe and interview
simultaneously.
(iii) Maintenance of Long Records:
In this technique the workers are asked to maintain and keep daily records or list of activities they are doing on that
day. For every activity he engages in, the employee records the activity in the list given. This technique provides
comprehensive job information and it is much useful when it is supplemented with subsequent interviews.
(iv) Questionnaires:
Many companies use job analysis questionnaires to secure information on job requirement relating to typical duties
and tasks, tools and equipments used, etc.
(v) Critical Incident Technique:
The critical incident technique for job analysis is especially useful for scientific analysis, and selection research. In
this technique, incidents are short examples of successful or unsuccessful job behaviour. After many incidents are
collected they are classified into behavioural categories.
These categories describe specific desired job behaviours and can be useful in recruitment and selection
decisions. The job analysis information, thus collected is useful to the personnel department to prepare the forms
detailing as job descriptions, job specification and job standards.
There are three important sub-systems in job analysis. They are job description, job specification and employee
specification.

Job Analysis – Uses:

A comprehensive job analysis programme can be used as a foundation and as an essential ingredient for all the
functions and areas of personnel management and industrial relations.
A brief description of uses of job analysis is as follows:
(1) Employment:
Job analysis is useful as a guide in every phase of employment process like manpower planning, recruitment
selections, placement, orientation induction, and in performance appraisal as it gives the information about, duties,
tasks and responsibilities, etc.
(2) Organisation Audit:
Job information obtained by job analysis often reveals instances of poor organisation in terms of the factors affecting
job design. The analysis process, therefore, constitutes a kind of organisation audit.

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(3) Training and Development Programmes:

Description of duties and equipment used is of great help in developing the content of training and development
programmes. Needs of training and developing are identified with the help of job description. Further, the training
programmes are also evaluated with the standards of job analysis.
(4) Performance Appraisal:
Instead of rating an employee on characteristics such as dependability there is now a tendency toward establishing
job goals and appraising the work done toward those goals. In this type of appraisal, a job description is useful in
defining the areas in which job goals should be established.
(5) Promotion and Transfer:
Job information helps in charting the channel of promotion and in showing lateral lines of transfer.

(6) Preventing Dissatisfaction and Settling Complaints:

Job information can be used as a standard in preventing and settling complaints related to work load, nature of work,
work procedure, etc., alteration or revisions of job description, etc.
(7) Discipline:
Job information can be used as a standard when discipline is being considered for standard performance.
(8) Restriction of Employment Activity for Health Reasons and Early Retirement:
When employees are unable to maintain the standard of job performance due to old age or health hazards, they may
opt for early retirement or the organisation may retrench their services.
(9) Wage and Salary Administration:
Job analysis is the basis for job evaluation. Basically wage and salary levels are fixed on the basis of job evaluation
which takes into consideration the content of the job in terms of tasks, duties, responsibilities, risks, hazards, etc.
(10) Health and Safety:
Job description provides the information about hazardous and unhealthy conditions, accident prone areas etc.
(11) Induction:
Job description is a standard function as the employee is provided with the information about the job.
(12) Industrial Relations:
A job description is a standard function to solve industrial disputes and to maintain sound industrial relations. If an
employee attempts to add or to delete some duties from the ones listed in job description, the standard has been
violated. The labour union as well as management’s interest has been violated.
The labour union as well as management is interested in this matter. Controversies often result, and a written record
of the standard job description is valuable in resolving such disputes. Despite these uses, job analysis is also a target
of criticism.

TOPIC THREE: RECRUITMENT:

Meaning, Definition, Process and Factors influencing Recruitment
Meaning:
Recruitment is a positive process of searching for prospective employees and stimulating them to apply for the jobs
in the organisation. When more persons apply for jobs then there will be a scope for recruiting better persons.
The job-seekers too, on the other hand, are in search of organisations offering them employment. Recruitment is a
linkage activity bringing together those with jobs and those seeking jobs. In simple words, the term recruitment
refers to discovering the source from where potential employees may be selected. The scientific recruitment process
leads to higher productivity, better wages, high morale, reduction in labour turnover and enhanced reputation. It
stimulates people to apply for jobs; hence it is a positive process.
Recruitment is concerned with reaching out, attracting, and ensuring a supply of qualified personnel and making out
selection of requisite manpower both in their quantitative and qualitative aspect. It is the development and
maintenance of adequate man- power resources. This is the first stage of the process of selection and is completed
with placement.

Definition:
According to Edwin B. Flippo, “It is a process of searching for prospective employees and stimulating and
encouraging them to apply for jobs in an organisation.” He further elaborates it, terming it both negative and
positive.

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He says, “It is often termed positive in that it stimulates people to apply for jobs, to increase the hiring ratio, i.e. the
number of applicants for a job. Selection, on the other hand, tends to be negative because it rejects a good number of
those who apply, leaving only the best to be hired. ”
In the words of Dale Yoder, Recruitment is the 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 working force.”
Kempner writes, “Recruitment forms the first stage in the process which continues with selection and ceases with
the placement of the candidates.”
In personnel recruitment, management tries to do far more than merely fill job openings. As a routine the formula for
personnel recruitment would be simple i.e., just fill the job with any applicant who comes along.
Joseph J. Famularo has said, “However, the act of hiring a man carries with it the presumption that he will stay with
the company-that sooner or later his ability to perform his work, his capacity for job growth, and his ability to get
along in the group in which he works will become matters of first importance.” Because of this, a critical
examination of recruitment methods in use should be made, and that is the purpose of this chapter.

Process of Recruitment:
Recruitment Process Passes through the Following Stages:
(i) Searching out the sources from where required persons will be available for recruitment. If young managers are
to be recruited then institutions imparting instructions in business administration will be the best source.
(ii) Developing the techniques to attract the suitable candidates. The goodwill and reputation of an organisation in
the market may be one method. The publicity about the company being a professional employer may also assist in
stimulating candidates to apply.
(iii) Using of good techniques to attract prospective candidates. There may be offers of attractive salaries, proper
facilities for development, etc.
(iv) The next stage in this process is to stimulate as many candidates as possible to apply for jobs. In order to select a
best person, there is a need to attract more candidates.

Factors Influencing Recruitment:

All enterprises, big or small, have to engage themselves in recruitment of persons. A number of factors influence this
process.
Some Of The Main Factors Are Being Discussed Below:
1. Size of the Enterprise:
The number of persons to be recruited will depend upon the size of an enterprise. A big enterprise requires more
persons at regular intervals while a small undertaking employs only a few employees. A big business house will
always be in touch with sources of supply and shall try to attract more and more persons for making a proper
selection. It can afford to spend more amounts in locating prospective candidates. So the size of an enterprise will
affect the process of recruitment.
2. Employment Conditions:
The employment conditions in an economy greatly affect recruitment process. In under-developed economies,
employment opportunities are limited and there is no dearth of prospective candidates. At the same time suitable
candidates may not be available because of lack of educational and technical facilities. If the availability of persons
is more, then selection from large number becomes easy. On the other hand, if there is a shortage of qualified
technical persons, then it will be difficult to locate suitable persons.
3. Salary Structure and Working Conditions:
The wages offered and working conditions prevailing in an enterprise greatly influence the availability of personnel.
If higher wages are paid as compared to similar concerns, the enterprise will not face any difficulty in making
recruitments. An organisation offering low wages can face the problem of labour turnover.
The working conditions in an enterprise will determine job satisfaction of employees. An enterprise offering good
working conditions like proper sanitation, lighting, ventilation, etc. would give more job satisfaction to employees
and they may not leave their present job. On the other hand, if employees leave the jobs due to unsatisfactory
working conditions, it will lead to fresh recruitment of new persons.

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4. Rate of Growth:
The growth rate of an enterprise also affects recruitment process. An expanding concern will require regular
employment of new employees. There will also be promotions of existing employees necessitating the filling up of
those vacancies. A stagnant enterprise can recruit persons only when present incumbent vacates his position on
retirement, etc.

Definition of Selection

 According to Harold Koontz, “Selection is the process of choosing from the candidates, from within the
organization or from outside, the most suitable person for the current position or for the future positions.”

 Dale Yoder said, “Selection is the process by which candidates for employment are divided into classes
those who will be offered employment and those who will not.”

 David and Robbins said, “Selection process is a managerial decision-making process as to predict which
job applicants will be successful if hired.”

 According to R.M. Hodgetts, “Selection is the process in which an enterprise chooses the applicants who
best meet the criteria for the available positions.”

Selection is the process of choosing from a group of applicants those individuals best suited for a particular position.
Most managers recognize that employee selection is one of their most difficult, and most important, business
decisions.

This process involves making a judgment -not about the applicant, but about the fit between the applicant and the
job by considering knowledge, skills and abilities and other characteristics required to perform the job Selection
procedures are not carried out through standard pattern and steps in this. The process can vary from organization to
organization some steps performed and considered important by one organization can be skipped by other
organization.

Personnel Selection is the methodical placement of individuals into jobs. Its impact on the organization is realized
when employees achieve years or decades of service to the employer. The process of selection follows a
methodology to collect information about an individual in order to determine if that individual should be employed.
The methodology used should not violate any laws regarding personnel selection.

Steps in Selection Process

The selection process typically begins with the preliminary interview; next, candidates complete the application for
employment. They progress through a series of selection tests, the employment interview, and reference and
background checks. The successful applicant receives a company physical examination and is employed if the
results are satisfactory.

Several external and internal factors impact the selection process, and the manager must take them into account in
making selection decisions. Typically selection process consists of the following steps but it is not necessary that all
organization go through all these steps as per the requirement of the organization some steps can be skipped while
performing the selection process.

1. Initial Screening.
2. Completion of the Application Form.

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3. Employment Tests.
4. Job Interview.
5. Conditional Job Offer.
6. Background Investigation.
7. Medical Examination.
8. Permanent Job Offer.

1. Initial Screening

The selection process often begins with an initial screening of applicants to remove individuals who obviously do
not meet the position requirements. At this stage, a few straight forward questions are asked. An applicant may
obviously be unqualified to fill the advertised position, but be well qualified to work in other open positions. The
Purpose of Screening is to decrease the number of applicants being considered for selection.

Sources utilized in the screening effort

Personal Resume presented with the job application is considered a source of information that can be used for the
initial screening process. It mainly includes information in the following areas:

 Employment & education history.

 Evaluation of character.
 Evaluation of job performance.

Advantages of Successful Screening

If the screening effort is successful, those applicants that do not meet the minimum required qualifications will not
move to the next stage in the selection process. Companies utilizing expensive selection procedures put more effort
into screening to reduce costs.
2. Completion of the Application Form

Application Blank is a formal record of an individual’s application for employment. The next step in the selection
process may involve having the prospective employee complete an application for employment. This may be as brief
as requiring only an applicant’s name, address, and telephone number. In general terms, the application form gives a
job-performance-related synopsis of applicants’ life, skills and accomplishments. The specific type of information
may vary from firm to firm and even by job type within an organization. Application forms are a good way to
quickly collect verifiable and fairly accurate historical data from the candidate.
3. Employment Tests

Personnel testing is a valuable way to measure individual characteristics. Hundreds of tests have been developed to
measure various dimensions of behavior. The tests measure mental abilities, knowledge, physical abilities,
personality, interest, temperament, and other attitudes and behaviors.

Evidence suggests that the use of tests is becoming more prevalent for assessing an applicant’s qualifications and
potential for success. Tests are used more in the public sector than in the private sector and in medium-sized and
large companies than in small companies. Large organizations are likely to have trained specialists to run their
testing programs.

Advantages of using tests

Selection testing can be a reliable and accurate means of selecting qualified candidates from a pool of applicants. As
with all selection procedures, it is important to identify the essential functions of each job and determine the skills
needed to perform them.

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Potential Problems using Selection tests

Selection tests may accurately predict an applicant’s ability to perform the job, but they are less successful in
indicating the extent to which the individual will want to perform it. Another potential problem, related primarily to
personality tests and interest inventories, has to do with applicants honesty. Also, there is the problem of test anxiety.
Applicants often become quite anxious when confronting yet another hurdle that might eliminate them from
consideration.
4. Job Interview

An interview is a goal-oriented conversation in which the interviewer and applicant exchange information. The
employment interview is especially significant because the applicants who reach this stage are considered to be the
most promising candidates.

Interview Planning

Interview planning is essential to effective employment interviews. The physical location of the interview should be
both pleasant and private, providing for a minimum of interruptions. The interviewer should possess a pleasant
personality, empathy and the ability to listen and communicate effectively. He or she should become familiar with
the applicant’s qualifications by reviewing the data collected from other selection tools. In preparing for the
interview, a job profile should be developed based on the job description.

Content of the Interview

The specific content of employment interviews varies greatly by an organization and the level of the job concerned.

 Occupational experience: Exploring an individual’s occupational experience requires determining the

applicant’s skills, abilities, and willingness to handle responsibility.
 Academic achievement: In the absence of significant work experience, a person’s academic background
takes on greater importance.
 Interpersonal skills: If an individual cannot work well with other employees, chances for success are slim.
This is especially true in today’s world with increasing emphasis being placed on the use of teams.
 Personal qualities: Personal qualities normally observed during the interview include physical appearance,
speaking ability, vocabulary, poise, adaptability, and assertiveness.
 Organizational fit: A hiring criterion that is not prominently mentioned in the literature is organizational
fit. Organizational fit is ill-defined but refers to management’s perception of the degree to which the
prospective employee will fit in with, for example, the firm’s culture or value system.
5. Conditional Job Offer

Conditional job offer means a tentative job offer that becomes permanent after certain conditions are met. If a job
applicant has passed each step of the selection process so far, a conditional job offer is usually made. In essence, the
conditional job offer implies that if everything checks out – such as passing a certain medical, physical or substance
abuse test – the conditional nature of the job offer will be removed and the offer will be permanent.
6. Background Investigation

Background Investigation is intended to verify that information on the application form is correct and accurate. This
step is used to check the accuracy of application form through former employers and references. Verification of
education and legal status to work, credit history and criminal record are also made. Personal reference checks may
provide additional insight into the information furnished by the applicant and allow verification of its accuracy.

Past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior. It is important to gain as much information as possible about
past behavior to understand what kinds of behavior one can expect in the future. Knowledge about attendance
problems, insubordination issues, theft, or other behavioral problems can certainly help one avoid hiring someone
who is likely to repeat those behaviors. Background investigations primarily seek data from references supplied by

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the applicant including his or her previous employers. The intensity of background investigations depends on the
level of responsibility inherent in the position to be filled.

Common sources of background information include:

 References are provided by the applicant and are usually very positive.
 Former employers should be called to confirm the candidate’s work record and to obtain their performance
appraisal.
 Educational accomplishments can be verified by asking for transcripts.
 Legal status to work.
 Credit references, if job-related.
 Criminal records can be checked by third-party investigators.
 Background checks are conducted by third-party investigators.
 Online searches as simple as “Google” search of a candidate can turn up information on press releases or
news items about a candidate that was left off the application or resume.
7. Medical/Physical Examination

After the decision has been made to extend a job offer, the next phase of the selection process involves the
completion of a medical/physical examination. This is an examination to determine an applicant’s physical fitness
for essential job performance. Typically, a job offer is contingent on successfully passing this examination.

For example, firefighters must perform activities that require a certain physical condition. Whether it is climbing a
ladder, lugging a water-filled four-inch hose or carrying an injured victim, these individuals must demonstrate that
they are fit for the job.

8. Permanent Job Offer

Individuals who perform successfully in the preceding steps are now considered eligible to receive the employment
offer. The actual hiring decision should be made by the manager in the department where the vacancy exists.

Notification to Candidates

The selection process results should be made known to candidates—successful and unsuccessful—as soon as
possible. Any delay may result in the firm losing a prime candidate, as top prospects often have other employment
options. As a matter of courtesy and good public relations, the unsuccessful candidates should also be promptly
notified.

Ways of Making an Effective Employee Selection

All companies, irrespective of size, make hiring mistakes, but here are few tips experts /suggest to help avoid
making them.
Determine the criteria a candidate must meet

Before filling a position, the HR manager of a company must clearly define the skills, experience, character,
‘educational background, work experience, technical skills and competencies, they must possess.
Hiring without testing

Skill testing is a must. Every job has some form of measurable, objective performance standard. Identify it and test
for it. There are tests that can indicate if a job candidate meets the required criteria. With these pre-hire screening
tools, a recruiter can test the knowledge of potential hires before they are extended an offer.
Hiring after the first interview

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It is important to have several interviews with the same person — and not to hire from one interview. The person
may not present the same later, and HR manager may get fresh insights from different meetings. A person who does
not have a job at the moment may be the right fit for the position. They are plenty of good talent out there that are
not hired.
Poor or no reference checking

It is important to know how to conduct a detailed ‘reference check. A proper reference check verifies job skills and
the behavioral fit in which the person operates. It is essential to conduct an extensive background investigation and
reference checks.
Avoid hiring out of desperation

Too many hiring decisions are made out of operation. The following scenarios occur repeatedly; a key manager quits
and must be replaced now; rapid growth forces a company to fill positions without enough forethought;
programmers are so scarce that anyone will do. If we hire employees in haste, we may find out later that the new
recruits are not trustworthy or competent. If an HR manager is unable to conduct a thorough, timely hiring process,
hire a temporary or leased employee or borrow an employee from another company.

Watch out for fascination

A series of surveys have revealed that during the hiring process, most interviewers made their decision-up or down
within the first 10 minutes of the interview. They then spent the next 50 minutes internally justifying that decision.
We buy cars in the same way. First, we choose the car we want to buy from an emotional standpoint and then search
for objective data to justify that emotional decision. We all know that facts tell, but emotions sell. The recruiter can
guard against obsession by having coworkers’ interview prospects, having group interviews, and by conducting
follow-up interviews.
Carefully evaluate candidates recommended by employees and associates.

Just because someone recommends a person they think would be highly capable for a particular position doesn’t
mean that person is qualified. We have seen many occasions where someone was hired without going through the
usual evaluation process simply because they were recommended by another employee or colleague Follow the
usual channels and requirements when anyone-no matter how highly recommended-seeks to work for the
organization.
Do not blindly promote from within

It is widely believed that the HR manager should recruit employees from within the organization. The best
performers are not necessarily always the most qualified candidates for a specific job. This is especially true when
promoting to the management level. Simply because someone is particularly adept at handling a certain function
doesn’t mean they are capable of managing others. It is important to remember the Peter Principle. It is a concept in
management theory in which the selection of a candidate for a position is based on their performance in the current
role rather than on their abilities relevant to the intended role.

Peter suggests that people will tend to be promoted until they reach their “position of incompetence”. One’s career
may cripple after such a promotion. Promoting solely from within can create inbreeding and stagnate creativity. To
guard against these pitfalls, companies should consider filling at least one-third of all positions involving promotions
with people from outside the organization.

Common Mistakes in the Selection of Employees

 If workers are carefully selected, the problems of employee discipline will be negligible.

 Consequently, hiring employees is a major part of the success of every company. Colin, (2011) and Fraser
(2012) identified some common mistakes that might occur while hiring new employees.

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 Organizations today are experiencing high rates of employee turnover, wrongful hiring claims, gender
discrimination, political consideration, regionalism, workplace violence; and employee theft, etc.

 Hiring a wrong person may aggravate such risk.

 The wrong person is under-qualified, insubordinate, and detrimental to the entire firm. Indeed, the seeds of
many failed employee-employer relationships are planted during the hiring process.

 The wrong person may be an unavoidable liability for the organization. The wrong person can do a lot of
damage to the organization. Hiring mistakes can be more costly.

 These mistakes can include the cost of termination, replacement and productivity loss. They can impact the
organization’s bottom line as well as the morale and productivity of other employees.

 Selecting the right people is a key leverage point to support and drive an organization’s growth and
development.

 But selecting the right person is not an easy task. Many mistakes may occur while selecting employees. The
cost associated with the making such a mistake are tremendous.

 Both dismissal and turnover are costly.

 The best way to reduce turnover is to make the right selection decision in the beginning of the entire
process. Selecting the right people is crucial to an organization’s success.

 How can HR manager make sure that he or she is not making the top hiring mistakes?

 Colin (2011) says, “It’s important to get your hiring right the first time and encourages employers to take
steps to reduce the likelihood of costly hiring mistakes”.

However, the following mistakes are identified in the selection process of an employee:
Poor listening

Few recruiters do not pay full attention to the candidate. In fact /following the 80: 20 rule, the 80% needs to come
from the applicant. The interviewer should listen 80% of the time.
Recruiters listen to the candidate’s words

They should pay more attention to the body language, posture, eye contact: essentially all the non-verbal
communication cues. About 93% of all communication is nonverbal, so being attuned to the multitude of nonverbal
cues provides an interviewer with much richer information about the candidate (McMurray, R. N., 1990). They
should read and observe the personality of the applicants. For example, voice quality is important for a candidate to
become a teacher, in addition to his academic qualification. Recruiters should talk less and listen more.
Questions are not purposeful

This is due to a lack of preparation. If recruiters /have benchmarked the job and prepared a list of questions in
advance, then they cannot go wrong. Recruiters should get prepared both for the basic and follow-up questions. A
review of the job specification and employee specification may help the interviewer prepare specific questions. They
should build rapport with the interviewee. The burden to establish rapport falls on the interviewer.
Recruiters do not know what they are looking for

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The recruiters may lack in / preparation. So make a list of all the hard skills as well as soft skills (personality traits
and personal values) that employers need for the employee. Jot down any additional demands the job requires, such
as lots of overtime, travel and set hours. The recruiter must know exactly what they are looking for, they are more
likely to get it. Like most decision making, employee selection is fundamentally emotional. Therefore, it is
important to define and prioritize the Critical Success Factors for the job in advance. This enables clear thinking to
establish a specific position profile. Yes, it takes time, but it is an effective use of time versus “shooting in the dark.”.
Use the gut feels the approach

Experience and intuition are important no doubt but do /not ignore the selection process. Have procedures in place
which will assist a recruiter in making the right choice, such as testing, pre-interview questionnaires, psychometric
assessments, etc. It is important to verify and check all information provided in the resume to make sure that nothing
is given wrong. Be open to the possibility that some of them might not be totally honest and are bending the truth to
get the job. It is very common for applicants to paint a much brighter picture on their resumes so this makes testing
extra important.
Time and work under pressure

Recruiters spend too little time on hiring and make /take too long to look for a replacement. They should understand
that the costs of hiring are nothing as compared to turnover costs. Don’t meet the candidate only once. Create
opportunities for other managers to meet the applicant as well and hear what they have to say. It is very important to
get the whole picture and see whether the applicant will be an overall good fit for the company. Will they be able to
fit into the organizational culture and get along well with the rest of the team?
Go with the flow

Most interviewers do not take control of the interview. HR /managers must remember, it is his interview. He not
candidate-set the process, timing, roles, pace, and questioning.
Take candidates at their word

Do not settle for vague general responses just because you want to be polite. Let the candidate know at the
beginning of the interview that as an HR manager, your goal is to fully and- specifically understand his/her
capabilities.
Oblivious to the legal

This may not prevent HR managers from making the right /selection decision, but it will increase the company’s
liabilities to solve this problem, the HR manager must know the law, train employees and enforce the law in his
selection process. Ignorance is no excuse.

Where Recruitment Ends Selection Starts

Recruitment involves attracting and obtaining as many applications as possible from eligible job seekers.
Recruitment is the process of finding and attracting capable applicants for employment. The process begins when
new recruits are sought and ends when their applications are submitted. The result is a pool of applicants from which
new employees are selected.

Selection is the process of differentiating between applicants in order to identify and hire those with a greater
likelihood of success in a job. Though some selection methods can be used within the organization for promotion or
transfer, in this case, the statement of the question is not correct. But when the selection of applicants from outside
the organization has occurred then the given statement in the question is correct.

Recruitment and relation are the two crucial steps in the HR process and are often used interchangeably. There is
however a fine distinction between the two steps.

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While recruitment refers to the process of identifying and encouraging prospective employees to apply for jobs, the
selection is concerned with picking the right candidates from the pool of applicants which are obtained during the
recruitment process. So in this case selection is derived from after completing the recruitment process. Recruitment
is said to be positive in its approach as it seeks to attract as many candidates as possible.

Selection, on the other hand, is negative in its application in as much as it seeks to element as many unqualified
applicants as possible in order to identify the right candidates from the pool. So in the recruitment and selection
process; recruitment is the first step and selection is the second steps or final step. In conclusion, we can say
“When recruitment ends selection to start.

Selection, Recruitment and Job Analysis Relationship

Job analysis

Job analysis is the process of collecting job-related information. Such information helps in the preparation of job
description and job specification. A job is a collection of tasks that can be performed by a single employee to
contribute to the production of some product or service provided by the organization. Each job has certain ability
requirements as well as certain rewards associated with it. Job analysis is the process used to identify these
requirements.

Job analysis involves the following steps:

1. Collection and recording job information.

2. Checking the job information for accuracy.
3. Writing job descriptions based on the information
4. Using the information to determine the skills, abilities, and knowledge that are required on the job.
5. Upgrading the information from time to time.

Job analysis has an impact on all foundations of HRM. Job analysis, if properly has done will enhance the
effectiveness of all HR activities.

It benefits the organization in the following ways:

1. Laying the foundation for human resources planning.

2. Laying the foundation for employee hiring.
3. Laying the foundation for training and development.
4. Laying the foundation for performance appraisal.
5. Laying the foundation for salary and wage fixation.
6. Laying the foundation for safety and health.

Recruitment

Recruitment involves attracting and obtaining as many applications as possible from eligible job seekers. It is the
process of finding and attracting capable applicants for employment. The process begins when new recruits are
sought and ends when their applications are submitted. The result is a pool of applicants from which new employees
are selected.

Selection

Selection is the process of differentiating between applicants in order to identify and hire those with a greater
likelihood of success in a job. Recruitment and selection are the two crucial steps in the HR process and are often
used interchangeably.

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There is, however, a fine distinction between the two steps.

While recruitment refers to the process of identifying and encouraging prospective employees to apply for jobs then
the selection is concerned with picking the right candidates from a pool of applicants.

From the above discussion, we can find a relationship between the recruitment and selection i.e. recruitment is the
precondition for the selection of an employee for the organization. The relationship between “Job analysis” and
“Recruitment and Selection” is i.e. job analysis is the foundation of recruitment and selection for selecting a
qualified and capable employee as required for performing the job accurately.

Conclusion

The objectives of the selection process are to select the candidates whose success probability in the job is the highest
and motivate right candidates to opt for the vacancy by a proper presentation of the organization to the potential
candidates. In many HR departments, recruiting and selection are combined and called the employment function. In
large HR departments, the employment function is the responsibility of the HR Director.

In smaller departments, HR managers handle these duties. The selection process relies on three helpful inputs. Job
analysis information provides the description of the jobs, the human specifications and the performance standards
each job requires. Human resource plans tell HR managers what job openings are likely to occur. These plans allow
selection to proceed in a logical manner.

Finally, recruits are necessary so that the HR manager has a group of people from which to choose. These three
inputs largely determine the effectiveness of the selection process. The selection process is a series of steps through
which applicants pass. For example, a candidate who fails to qualify for a particular step is not eligible for appearing
for the subsequent step. The result of each step is crucial. Failure of any step disqualifies the candidate from
attempting the next step. Because of this characteristic, Yoder (1972) has termed this process as a succession of
hurdles. It is designed to determine the most likely candidates to be successful at fulfilling the job requirements by
eliminating those candidates least likely to succeed.

TOPIC FOUR: PLACEMENT AND INDUCTION

Everything you need to know about placement and induction of employees. The last step in the procurement of the
employees is placing the selected candidates on the right jobs and introducing them to the organisation. After
selection and placement the new employees will be send for induction programme. It is nothing but a programme of
welcoming the new comers and introducing him to the people at work, workplace, work environment, practices,
policies and purpose of the organization.
So that the new employee feels at home, secure and can understand how his job is important in the total
organization. According to Pigors and Myers, “Placement may be defined as the determination of the job to which a
selected candidate is to be assigned, and his assignment to the job.” It is matching of what the supervisor has
reason to think he can do, with the job requirements (job demands); it is matching of what he imposes (in strain,
working conditions) and what he offers in the form of payroll, with other promotional possibilities etc. According to
Edwin B.Flippo, “Induction is concerned with introducing or orienting a new employee to the organisation. It is the
welcoming process to make the new employee feel at home and generate in him a feeling of belongingness to the
organisation”.
Learn about the placement and induction process of employees in any organisation.

Placement and Induction of Employees – Significance, Consideration and Techniques

Placement of Employees:
The last step in the procurement of the employees is placing the selected candidates on the right jobs and introducing
them to the organisation.
According to Pigors and Myers, “Placement may be defined as the determination of the job to which a selected
candidate is to be assigned, and his assignment to the job.” It is matching of what the supervisor has reason to think

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he can do, with the job requirements (job demands); it is matching of what he imposes (in strain, working
conditions) and what he offers in the form of payroll, with other promotional possibilities etc.

Significance/Importance of Placement:
It is important for both the organisation as well as staff that each employee should be placed on a suitable job. While
doing so, the factor to be considered is not only the suitability of the job to the individual. But, initial placement is
always a problem because there is little knowledge about the new employee.
Therefore, placement should be done after due considerations of the demands of the job, as well as the social,
psychological needs of the individual. An enterprise which has spent a lot of time and money in making a very
careful selection may lose due to wrong placement.
Right placement of workers can have the following advantages:
1. Reduced labour turnover rate.
2. Reduced absenteeism rate.
3. Increased safety of workers and lower accidents.
4. Increased morale of workers.
5. Better human relations in the organisations.
Placement is not an easy process. It is very difficult to adjust for a new employee who is quite unknown to the job
and the environment. For this reason, the employee is generally put on a probation period ranging from one year to
two years.
At the end of this probation period, if the employee shows good performance, he is confirmed as a regular employee
of the organisation. Thus the probation period or trial period is the transition period at the end of which management
takes a decision whether to make the employee regular or discharge him from the job.

Placement of New Employees:

Placement decisions are generally taken by line executives. It is the supervisor who in consultation with higher
levels decides the placement of each employee. The personnel department’s role is to advise the line managers about
the human resource policies of the company and to provide counselling to the employees.

While taking the placement decision, the following consideration or principles must be kept in mind:
1. Job Requirements:
An employee should be placed on the job according to the requirements of the job such as physical and mental
ability, eyesight, hearing, stress etc. The job shouldn’t be adjusted according to the qualification and abilities of the
employees.
Job placement profile charts can be used to match the worker’s physical and mental abilities with the job
requirements. This profile chart displays an evaluation of both job requirements and worker abilities for key features
of the job so that the management can easily determine how well worker fits a job.
2. Suitable Qualifications:
The job should be offered to only that person who is suitably qualified. Over qualified and under qualified persons
might create problems for the organisation in the long run.
3. Adequate Information to the Job Incumbent:
The employee should be provided with the complete information and facts relating to the job, including the working
conditions prevailing in the firm. He should also be made known to the rewards associated with the performance
levels.
4. Commitment and Loyalty:
While placing the new employee, an effort should be made to develop a sense of commitment, loyalty and
cooperation in his mind so that he may realise his responsibilities better towards the job, the organisation and his
associates.
5. Flexibility:
The placement in the initial period may be temporary as changes are likely after the completion of training. The
employee may be later transferred to the job where he can do better justice.
Proper placement helps to improve employee morale. The capacity of the employee can be utilised fully if he is
placed on the job for which he is most suitable. Right placement also helps to reduce labour turnover, absenteeism
and accident rates. If a candidate adjusts himself to the job and continues to perform as per expectation, it might
mean that the candidate is properly placed.

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According to Edwin B.Flippo, “Induction is concerned with introducing or orienting a new employee to the
organisation. It is the welcoming process to make the new employee feel at home and generate in him a feeling of
belongingness to the organisation”. It is the first step in a proper communication policy which seeks to build a two-
way channel of information between the management and employees.
The new employee, on his joining the organisation, must be helped to get adjusted and acquainted with the fellow
employees and the work environment. Rather than leaving him to make his own way through the organisation. It is
much better to properly and systematically introduce him to the company, its philosophy, its place in the industry or
economy, its major policies etc.
This phase of induction is properly handled by the personnel department. Some large organisations show pictures
telling about their history and operation to give a better idea of the company to the new employees who have joined.
The new employee is also given the necessary information about canteen, lunch period; rest hours, convenience
facilities etc.
A complete induction programme also consists of a follow-up after few weeks to ascertain how well the new
employee has adjusted himself with his job and environment. This provides an opportunity to clarify or remove any
misunderstanding in him.
But then also, if an employee is not found adjusted after that, it may be the case of wrong selection or wrong
placement. It thus, gives an early warning of a later trouble. In any case, the follow-up interview enhances the
employee’s satisfaction by demonstrating to him the company’s interest in his welfare.

Contents of Induction Programme:

Topics to be covered in induction –
1. Company’s history, mission, vision and philosophy.
2. Products and services of the company.
3. Company’s organisation structure.
4. Location of departments and employee services.
5. Employees activities like clubs, credit society.
6. Personnel policies and procedures.
7. Standing orders.
8. Rules and Regulations.
9. Terms and conditions of services.
10. Grievance procedures.
11. Safety measures.
12. Benefits and services for employees.
13. Training, promotions and transfer facility.
14. Career advancement schemes.
15. Counselling facility.

Induction Procedure/Techniques:
Induction may be informal in case of small firms and formal may be of duration of two or three weeks in case of
large organisations. Induction training should not be too lengthy. It need not necessarily be given on the day when
the new employee joins the work, but if a formal course is to be attended after two or three weeks on the job, the
initial introduction and the immediately needed information may be given by the superior of the department.
Orientation procedure consists of the following steps:
1. The new employee should be given a definite time and place to report.
2. The immediate boss or the supervisor should meet and welcome the new employee to the organisation when the
latter reports for the duty.
3. Complete information about the vacations, probationary period, working hours, medical leave, suggestion styles
etc. should be conveyed to the employee.
4. Departmental orientation should be conducted which include introduction to the department, explanation of the
functions of the department, job instructions and to whom he should look for help and guidance when he has any
problem.
5. Verbal explanations may also include a wide variety of printed materials, employee handbook, employee manuals,
house journals pamplets etc.

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6. The induction programme should be handled by the persons who are through with the course contents. The
success of the induction course also depends upon the quality of the trainers and their ability to draw out the interest
of their listeners.

Placement and Induction of Employees – Principles, Objectives and Process

After the selection of the employees, they are placed on suitable jobs, and the procurement function can be
concluded. Placement can be defined as “The determination of the job to which an accepted candidate is to be
assigned, and his assignment to that job. It is a matching of what the supervisor has reason to think he can do with
the job demands. It is a matching of what he imposes and what he offers in the form of pay role, companionship
with others, promotional possibilities etc.”
After selection and placement of the employee he is generally put on probation period ranging from one to two
years. During this period his work would be observed. If his work is not satisfactory no confirmation order is given.
In special cases he/she may be asked to quit.
A proper placement of workers minimizes employee turnover, absenteeism rate of accidents, improves morale, gives
motivation and job satisfaction, improves performance etc.
The term placement means the assigning of specific job rank and responsibility to a newly selected and appointed
employee. Basically it is matching of the employee to the job requirement. A right man should be placed on the right
job is a real motto.
In fact it is not easy to match all these factors for a new employee who is not familiar to the job and working
environment. The first placement is to carry with the status of probation period which may be extended from 3
months to 2 years. It is a trial period. If the employees performance is good, will be confirmed, otherwise he will be
discharged. This decision will be taken up by the management.
Basic Principles of Placement:
The following basic principles should be kept in mind at the time of placement of a candidate:
(1) Man should be placed on the job according to the requirements of the demands of the job
(2) According to the qualification of the man a job should be offered to him.
(3) New comers should be made aware of the workers conditions prevailing in the industry.
(4) A sense of loyalty, honesty, belonging, co-operation should be developed in him at the time of placement.

Induction of Employees:
After selection and placement the new employees will be send for induction programme. It is nothing but a
programme of welcoming the new comers and introducing him to the people at work, workplace, work environment,
practices, policies and purpose of the organization. So that the new employee feels at home, secure and can
understand how his job is important in the total organization.
Simply induction process is a welcoming process. A new employee is generally a stranger to the people, work place
and to the work environment may feel insecure, shy and nervous. An anxiety may cause to him because of not
following the prevalent practices and procedures and lack of information, may put him into trouble. All these may
develop discouragement, defensive behaviour, and fear amongst the new comers. Induction leads to reduction of all
these anxieties.
The term ‘orientation’ is very often used to signify the induction. No difference is however proposed here between
induction and orientation, for practically both mean one and the same thing. Sociologists call the orientation a
process of socialization consisting of learning new attitudes, norms, and behaviour pattern.
Just as a person entering a new country must learn a new language, and a different set of ways of doing things, so a
new employee must learn how to behave, and how to get things done in a new organization. Orientation also is the
process of introducing new employees in an organization. It also marks the beginning of the process by which
employees are integrated into the organization.
The process communicates the basic organizational philosophy, policy, rules, and procedures. Irrespective of the
position which a new employee takes in his workplace, it should be recognized that he/she begins a new life and
needs to know the organization, its objectives, functioning, goods manufactured, or services rendered, and the like.
This is to make him/her successful on the job. In order to be an asset to the organization, the new employee needs to
know the organization, its policies, and procedure.
In the Indian context, this becomes indispensable, particularly where workers come to industry from rural or semi-
urban areas. To quote extracts from ILO’s resolution— ‘in order to facilitate and expedite the integration of the

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newly recruited employee in the enterprise and the group with which he is to work; management should adopt a well
thought out induction programme.
Induction procedure is intended to give the newcomer all information he needs about management, work, and
philosophy in the new enterprise. Furthermore, they should create an atmosphere which will help the newcomer to
become quickly familiar with his new surroundings and to feel at home’.
The information given to newly recruited employees should include such matters as conditions of work, rules of
conduct, health and safety regulations, opportunities for training and advancement, worker’s rights and obligations,
leisure facilities, welfare service and benefit schemes, the structure and the activities of the undertakings, its
products, and the role of the particular job that the newcomer is to occupy within the enterprise.

Definition and Objectives of Induction:

Proper placement and formal induction or orientation of the newly selected employee is the pre-requisite of their
successful performance on the given job. Therefore it is necessary to make the newly appointed employees familiar
with their jobs, the company, the supervisors and colleagues so they fell at home and perform well their assigned
duties.
Definition of Induction:
According to Edwin B Flippo “The induction is the welcoming process to make the new employee feel at home and
generate in him a feeling of belonginess to the organization.”
According to Biliimoria B.P. “an induction is a technique by which a new employee is rehabilitated into the changed
surrounding and introduced to the policies and practice of the organization. In simple word an induction is the
process of receiving and welcoming of an employee when he the first joins a company and giving him the basic
information he needs to settle down quickly and happily start the work.”
Induction Process:
The following are the steps in induction process:
(1) Welcoming the New Employees:
The first fundamental step in induction is welcoming the new employees as soon as he joins the organizations and is
duly placed on the job and gives basic instruction.
(2) Induction with Immediate Superior:
After welcome of the new employees, the next step is to introduce him with his immediate superior or with his
colleagues and briefly explains his duties, responsibilities authorities, work procedure and practices.
(3) To Impart Detail Instructions:
The third and last important step in induction is to give detail information about the company such as company
policies, plans, targets objectives, goals, products services, future prospects, working environment, future facilities,
salary structure promotional opportunities, transfer facilities etc. At this stage a new comer knows his job and forms
opinion about it, of course which is positive and starts integrating himself with the organization his job and the
environment.
Induction takes place sometimes within one week to six months from the time of the initial hiring and orientation. It
is generally conducted either by foreman or a specialist. Its main purpose is to find out whether the employee is
reasonably satisfied or not.
The new comer may ask whether his working hours and pay is satisfactory or not, how he feels about his fellow
workers, he has any suggestion towards the changes in the induction procedure or in other company practices. The
interviewer records all the answer and his own comments on the employee’s progress.
At the same time the line supervisor also completes an evaluation of the new employees, everything about their
strengths and weaknesses and observes whether they are doing well or not. There is no certain duration of induction
it depends on the nature and type of job and the employee. Shree B P Billimoria observed that induction has a
greater significance in a developing country like India, where the percentage of illiteracy is very high.
There is no model induction procedure, each organization develops its own procedure as per its needs. Induction
programme may be formal or informal. After the adequate training employees are prepared for higher position as
and when required. Adequate opportunities are provided to the employees for building up their career in the
organization itself. The personnel department plays a very vital role in this regard.

Placement and Induction of Employees – Significance, Considerations, Objectives, Benefits and Methods
Placement of Employees:
Placement is the assignment or reassignment of an employee to a new job. It includes the initial assignment of the
new entrants and the transfer and promotion of the existing employees. Placement is not an easy process. It is very

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difficult to adjust for a new employee who is quite unknown to the job and environment. For this reason, the
employee is generally put on a probation period ranging from one year to two years.

At the end of the probation period, if the employee shows a good performance, he is confirmed as a regular
employee of the organisation. Thus, the probation period or trial period is the transition period at the end of which
management has to take a decision whether the employee should be made regular or discharged from the job.

Significance of Placement:
It is important for both the organisation and the staff that each employee should be placed on a suitable job. While
doing so, the factor to be considered is not only the suitability of the individual to the job but also the suitability of
the job to the individual. Initial placement is always a problem because of lack of adequate knowledge about the
new employee.
Therefore, placement should be made after due consideration of the demands of the job and the social, psychological
needs of the individual. A company which has spent a lot of time and money in making a very careful selection may
lose due to wrong placement.

Right placement of workers can have the following advantages:

(i) Reduced labour turnover rate.
(ii) Reduced absenteeism rate.
(iii) Increased safety of workers and lower accidents.
(iv) Increased morale of workers.
(v) Better human relations in the organisation.

Considerations in Placement of New Employees:

While taking the placement decision, the following considerations or principles must be kept in mind:
1. Job Requirements:
An employee should be placed on the job according to the requirements of the job such as physical and mental
ability, eyesight, hearing, stress, etc. The job should not be adjusted according to the qualifications and abilities of
the employee. Job placement profile charts can be used to match the workers physical and mental abilities with the
job requirements.
This profile chart displays an evaluation of both job requirements and worker abilities for key features of the job so
that management can easily determine how well a worker fits a job.
2. Suitable Qualifications:
The job should be offered to a person who is suitably qualified. Over qualified and under qualified persons might
create problems for the organisation in the long-run.
3. Adequate Information to the Job Incumbent:
The employee should be provided with complete information and facts relating to the job, including the working
conditions prevailing in the firm. He should also be informed about the rewards associated with various performance
levels.
4. Commitment and Loyalty:
While placing the new employee, an effort should be made to develop a sense of commitment, loyalty and
cooperation in his mind so that he may realise his responsibilities better towards the job, the organisation and his
associates.
5. Flexibility:
The placement in the initial period may be temporary as changes are likely after the completion of training. The
employee may be later transferred to the job where he can do better justice.
Proper placement helps to improve employee morale. The capacity of the employee can be utilised fully if he is
placed on the job for which he is most suitable. Right placement also helps to reduce labour turnover, absenteeism
and accident rates. If a candidate adjusts himself to the job and performs as per expectations, it would mean that the
candidate is properly placed.

Induction of Employees:
Once the employee is selected and placed in the appropriate job, the next step is to make him familiar with the job
and the organization. Induction is a planned process through which the new recruit is introduced to the job and the
organization. In the induction process the new recruit is introduced to the physical and human working environment.

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Through the induction process the employee is acquainted with the organisational policy, work rules, employee
benefits, and daily work routine.
The new recruit is introduced to the fellow employees and his supervisor. It helps the employees to settle down to
work quickly. A new recruit may feel shy, insecure and nervous at new work place. A proper induction process
removes anxiety, shyness and nervousness and puts the new personnel at ease.

The objectives of systematic induction are:

(a) To build up the new employee’s confidence in the company and in himself, so that he can become an efficient
worker.
(b) To give the new employee information and knowledge of the company, its organisation structure and products.
(c) To give him information that he needs, such as the time to break, off for tiffin, where to find the canteen, the
wash room, etc., what leave he is entitled to and how to apply for it, and so on.
(d) To foster a close and cordial relationship between the newcomers and the old employees and their supervisors.
(e) To ensure that the newcomers do not form false impression and negative attitude towards the organisation or the
job because first impression is the last impression.
(f) To promote among employees a feeling of “belonging” and loyalty to the company.

Benefits of Induction:
The benefits of formal induction are as under:
(i) It reduces new employee’s anxieties and provides him an opportunity to know about the organisation and its
people.
(ii) It helps the new employees in knowing the expectations of the organisation and its executives.
(iii) It fosters a uniform understanding among the employees about the company’s objectives, policies, principles,
strategies, and what the company expects of its people. The new employees are also interested in learning about the
total organisation. Orientation tells them how they and their unit fit into the “big picture”.
(iv) It builds a positive attitude towards the company and its stakeholders. First day is crucial because new employee
remembers it for years. A well-managed orientation programme leaves a lasting impression on the mind of the new
employee.
(v) It builds and strengthens two-way communication in the company.
(vi) It helps speed up socialisation process by making the new employee understand the social, technical and cultural
aspects of the workplace. The new employee becomes a part of the social fabric of the organisation and develops a
sense of belongingness.

Contents of Induction Program:

Induction may be informal in case of small firms and formal of the duration of two to four weeks in case of big
organisations. Orientation training course should not be too lengthy. It need not necessarily be given on the day
when the new employee joins his duties.
But if a formal course is to be attended after two or three weeks on the job, the initial introduction and the
immediately needed information should be provided to the new employee by an HR executive and a departmental
executive.
An induction program should cover the following topics:
(i) Company’s history, vision, mission and philosophy.
(ii) Products and services of the company.
(iii) Company’s organisation structure.
(iv) Location of departments and employee services,
(v) Employees’ activities like clubs, credit society etc.
(vi) Personnel policies and procedures,
(vii) Standing orders.
(viii) Rules and regulations.
(ix) Terms and conditions of service.
(x) Grievance procedure.
(xi) Safety measures.
(xii) Benefits and services for employees.
(xiii) Training facilities.
(xiv) Transfer and promotion policies.
(xv) Career advancement schemes.

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(xvi) Counselling facility.

Induction Methods:
The following gives us an idea as to how new employees are inducted into the organization:
(1) New employees are shown where they have to work and left to themselves for getting acquainted with fellow
workers, company rules, etc.
(2) New employees are taken to the place of work and introduced to the supervisor/departmental heads, who in turn
introduce them to their task and fellow workers.
(3) The supervisor informs the new employees about the plant, company rules, nature of product/products, process
of production, etc. and
(4) An old experienced employee (sponsor) introduces the new employees to their work and fellow workers.
In many organizations, a booklet is issued, titled as ‘know your company’, or ‘this concerns you’, or aap ki company
ki parichay pustika, introducing new employees to the organization and giving relevant information to them.

The information given to various categories of employees at the time of induction is noted to be as follows:
(1) Information about the organization,
(2) Information about the company product/products,
(3) Information about the working rules and regulations,
(4) Information about the company’s benefit plans in operation,
(5) Information about the company’s recreational and educational activities,
(6) Information about the union (if the company is unionized).
It is also noted that in many companies no information about rules and regulations or working and service conditions
during inductions are given presumably because these are incorporated in the standing orders and employees are
supposed to go through such orders.
The Industrial Employment (standing orders) Act, 1946, applies to those establishments wherein 100 or more
workmen are employed or were employed on any day of the preceding 12 months. The objective of the Act is to
require employers and industrial establishments to define precisely the conditions of employment for employees and
to make the said conditions known to workmen through them. The Act applies to manual, skilled, supervisory,
technical, or clerical personnel covered by the definition of workmen in the Act.

Guidelines for Effective Induction Procedure:

For achieving intended results, care should be taken of the following points:
(i) Orientation should be thoroughly planned and those conducting the program should give due attention to specific
problems faced by the new employees.
(ii) Supervisors should be trained in the art of orientation of new workers. Thus, induction should be treated as a
special duty.
(iii) Human side is the most important part of orientation. Therefore, first of all the new employee should be
introduced to the people with whom he will work-his colleagues, superiors and subordinates. A tea party may also be
arranged for this purpose.
(iv) The new employee should be informed about the rules that apply to him as well as the specific work situation
and job requirements.
(v) Orientation should be a gradual process. The participants should not be overloaded with too much information.
(vi) The supervisions should answer the questions and clarify the doubts that the employee may have about the job
and the organisation.

HR Department’s Role and Induction:

Some human resource departments regard induction as a ‘staff’ function, while others place it in the ‘line’. Most
companies place the responsibility with the line manager receiving staff assistance. This is perhaps due to the fact
that the most important person involved in the orientation process is the supervisor of the new employee.
Supervisors generally require special training in this function.
The HR department should not overlook its own responsibility for training all those involved in the orientation
process. In a relatively large company, it is especially important that the line manager and personnel specialist
coordinate the information content needed by the new employee.
Often new employees receive information that they do not immediately need, and fail to get vital information
needed during the first few days of the new job. The contribution of the HR specialist in the orientation process is
mainly through the design of the induction programme/course, and conducting the same with the assistance of ‘line’.

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Keeping in view the sensitive awareness, anxiety, and the need which new employees reflect, such a task is quite
challenging. Further, HR professionals help systematize the process through developing an orientation checklist
providing feedback to the process and improving the same. Increasing effectiveness of induction programme
through developing suitable communication devices suited to specific type of employees could be another area of
their contribution in this regard.

The following activities may be undertaken by the HR departments in the context of induction:
i. Welcome the new recruit to the organization.
ii. Explain what the company does, its history, and his/her (employee) place in the organization.
iii. Give the new recruit a company employee’s handbook.
iv. Explain the new recruit the rules that need specific emphasis.
v. Describe the role of trade union in the organization.
vi. Familiarize the new recruit with the existing welfare and recruitment benefit schemes in the organization.
vii. Explain the importance of regular attendance.
viii. Introduce the new recruit to career/promotion prospects.
ix. Take the new recruits on a brief tour to the different departments in the organization explaining the relationship
of his/her department with other departments, and
x. Lastly, hand the new recruit over to the concerned supervisor/departmental head where he/she is supposed to
work.
TOPIC SIX: SUCCESSION MANAGEMENT

When created properly, succession management programs can enable companies to develop a secure and sustainable
plan for their future.

What is Succession Management?

Succession management is the practice of identifying and selecting talent to succeed existing employees in an
organization’s critical roles. While the world presents more challenging business conditions, the availability of
skilled leaders who are prepared to tackle them is declining. Now more than ever, leaders are facing challenges that
they do not have a frame of reference to tackle with, making the entire role of leadership into something daunting to
many employees, rather than something they are working towards. In response to this, succession planning is
receiving renewed focus in many organizations globally.
As the business world changes, so too do the demands placed on modern organizations. Shareholders are beginning
to lean much more into activism, seeking insight into how organizations will change direction when turnover occurs.
Institutional investors need to be able to assess the thoroughness of an organization’s succession management as a
criterion for their investment decisions. Similarly, internal stakeholders want to be assured that their leadership is
about more than just worst-case disaster planning. Even governmental entities are feeling the effects – they need
reassurance and secure knowledge that their investments in an organization are protected from leadership
vacuums. This reassurance and security are also being sought out by internal employees themselves, as many
organizations are feeling the effects of the global situation within their business strategy and objectives.
The responsibility for managing leadership succession planning in a company ultimately lies in the hands of the
board of directors and the CEO, with ongoing assistance provided by human resources. However, it is important to
remember that effective succession management is much more than simply having a succession pipeline filled with
candidates in line to replace the CEO.

Why is Succession Management Important?

Succession management and succession planning aim to ensure that an organization has a depth and breadth of
talent suitable to its critical, company-specific objectives. Commitment to succession management helps elevate
leadership growth into a competitive business priority, forecasting leadership scenarios of all kinds, gathering
precise data about an organization’s workforce and clientele, and propelling emerging leaders into new challenges
that build the necessary skills for success.
The increased scrutiny placed on succession management in today’s business world enables organizations to
transform their succession planning process into a practice that can create shareholder value. However, for it to
become a strategic advantage, many organizations’ succession management models need to see significant
enhancements.

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Creating a Successful Succession Management Model

The effects of a weak succession plan can be felt on an economic, operational, and cultural level. When a strong
succession management plan is absent, a candidate often emerges because of a perception that they are viewed
favorably by the hiring managers. They have not having undergone a rigorous analysis, leaving employees doubting
whether their strengths align with the demands of a larger role. Succession planning aims to eliminate this
perception, solidifying a process by which all employees, existing and future alike, can feel the right leaders are
stepping up to the plate.
Any succession management plan should be curated to meet the following objectives:

 Defining a Leadership Future: Succession planning should hardwire leadership capabilities and
requirements to the company’s future. Aligning a potential leader’s talent to the business is critical and can only
be achieved when there is a clear definition of the key business drivers for your company. Aim to develop a
holistic profile of your leaders, defining the required competencies for leadership, as well as the experience and
personal attributes you are looking for in leadership roles.
 Unleashing Existing Leadership Potential: Creating a successful future involves the recognition and
identification of potential in everyone, including those leaders with the greatest trajectory for leadership
growth. Aim to use various methods to uncover future leaders within your organizations. For example, you
could use online tools that measure current leadership performance and future leadership potential, or
simulation-based leadership assessments to identify leadership strengths and capability gaps in your existing
workforce.
 Diagnosing Readiness: A clear idea of what leadership looks like across all levels of your organization is
critical. When you have role-specific, targeted intelligence on your existing leaders’ capability gaps, you can
make much more effective promotion decisions and develop more specific talent and leadership development
initiatives. This can be achieved through leadership assessments at every level of an organization, or a 360-
degree feedback system that helps identify employee-specific strengths and development needs.
 Accelerating Development: A central component of any organization’s succession management model
should be to quickly prepare middle managers and senior leaders for the unique succession planning demands
that may arise. Engaging senior leaders with development solutions that help them succeed in today’s business
landscape, or executive coaching that enables them to address major challenges in their leadership roles, can be
very useful.
 Driving Impact: The need to evaluate leadership impact is essential, and in turn, the need to understand
the future disconnects between talent and strategy becomes a greater objective for any succession management
model. Evaluation of a program’s impact through individual, leader population, and organizational-level
metrics helps you to gain a clearer insight into what is working in your leadership development plan, and what
isn’t working.

Key Steps for Creating a Succession Management Model

Organizations can see a number of benefits that accompany a well-planned succession management program,
including an engaged and motivated workforce, a qualified talent pool, an organized view of talent and talent
management, sophisticated selection and development systems, greater confidence among stakeholders, and clear
career trajectories for all employees. But where do you begin when constructing a plan for succession management
for your organization?

The process includes seven critical steps.

1. Develop an Organizational Strategy

The organizational strategy is the foundation for your succession management plan. Leaders must ask themselves:
what will the company’s focus be in three years? Five years? Ten? Who will the competitors be then? Which, if any,
new markets will the organization enter?

2. Define the Key Positions

Once you have a clear understanding of the organization’s overarching strategy, you then need to determine which
positions will be fed by the succession management pool you are going to create. That is, you must identify the

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central positions that need to be filled by adequately trained, experienced, well-rounded employees who have made
their way through your curated succession pipeline. Not all leadership roles in an organization are an essential to the
plan – focusing on the top 5 or 10 positions is a good jumping off point.

3. Clarify the Applicable Performance Metrics

After determining the specific positions that will be fed by the succession pool, leadership should then define the
core competencies required for success in these positions, keeping in mind the future of the organization and
business itself. This step requires a thorough review of the position, an evaluation of future business and position-
specific needs, and the specification of an organizational performance model.
Drawing on the information gathered through these assessments, you can then define position-specific metrics or
KPIs that will act as the foundation for the succession plan.

4. Evaluate Bench Strength

Once competencies required for the position have been defined with the appropriate skills, knowledge
and behavioral anchors, and the performance metrics that support them have been established, organizations can
now begin to evaluate current employees. This step will provide a benchmark from which to compare candidates
over time. If a candidate shows little or no improvement, this may be an indication to revise your succession
management plan. In addition, clarifying the current bench strength enables organizations to get a clearer picture of
the areas that should be addressed for future improvement.

5. Build the Succession Management Pool

Constructing a succession management pool can be done in several ways. Information can be taken from several
different sources, including nominations or recommendations from supervisors, talent and leadership assessment
results, and overall performance data.
Talent assessments can also be a useful tool in determining the strengths and opportunity areas of candidates,
helping leadership determine whether they will, ultimately, succeed. Each candidate should also undergo a regular
performance review to ensure consistency in their growth.

6. Professional Development
Once the succession pool is built, prospective candidates should then work closely with their leaders, creating and
specifying a unique development plan. This plan should focus on three to five goals that align with the position-
specific competencies and can be accomplished within the next six to twelve months. Results from these talent
assessments can then be integrated into performance feedback. This helps candidates and their supervisors
identify core strengths, and any skill or leadership gaps that exist in their current performance.

7. Promotion
Candidates that qualify for succession should always be made aware that they are in the queue for a senior
leadership position and be provided with a timeframe in which this transition will occur. Aim to make them aware
that this hinges on them continuing to meet the pre-determined performance metrics, which should be regularly and
clearly communicated in advance (establishing expectations) and ongoing with consistently scheduled touch-point
meetings.
The Benefits of Succession Management
Strategic management and the deployment of succession management practices is one of the most important
responsibilities of any organization’s board and CEO, working to ensure both business continuity and stewardship of
an organization for the future. Now more than ever, all moving parts of any company need a clear, reliable
understanding of the future of leadership internally. When an organization prioritizes its own strategic future,
determines what is required of its future leaders, and prepares a plan that ensures a smooth transition from one
leader to the next, they can ultimately transform their company from ordinary to extraordinary.

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