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MS-23 : HUMAN RESOURCE PLANNING

June 2013

SECTION – A

1. Describe the various forecasting techniques. What are the issues that affect demand forecasting ? Give examples.

 2. Define Job Analysis and identify the steps involved in it. Briefly discuss the methods of collecting information for a job analysis.

 3. What is recruitment ? Briefly discuss the methods and techniques of recruitment. Compare the advantages of recruiting from internal sources and external sources.

 4. Explain HR audit, Identify its need and scope in the organisational context. Enumerate and briefly discuss the steps involved in HR audit .

 5. Write short notes on any three of the following :

(a) Career Planning

(b) Trends in labour demand

(c) Induction Training

(d) Potential Appraisal

(e) Competency Mapping

SECTION – B

6. Read the case given below and answer the questions given at the end of the case :

 When Adite Technologies Ltd. (ATL) moved one of their divisions to Bangalore, the branch manager in Mumbai decided to transfer those employees who did not wish to go to Bangalore to other local divisions. Ten of the thirty chose to stay and be transferred to another division. Madhuri was one of those. She was assigned to the computer moving - head division.

 When Madhuri reported to the new job, Narendar Kumar, her new supervisor, told her he did not know whether or not he would have a permanent position for her. For three days Madhuri sat and watched other employees at their work. On Friday, Narendar announced that their division had received another big contract and he would brief Madhuri on her new assignment on Monday.

 Madhuri arrived at 9.00 a.m. Monday morning and waited anxiously to learn about her new job. Narendar did not arrive until 10.30. He was being briefed on the new contract, he said, and would not be able to meet Madhuri before lunch. At 1.30 p.m. Narendar returned to show Madhuri the operation, "we are reworking model 10-D and it only requires changing two spot welds. With this jig, you can turn one out in about three to five minutes." Narendar added, "By the way, you will be the quality control supervisor on this job. Just double check these six spots on the blueprint." He did not write on the blue prints or mark areas in any way. Madhuri was given no idea how important the checks might be.

"Please - watch me," said Narendar to Madhuri, taking up the welding torch. "Any one can do it easily," He repeated the operation five or six times. Madhuri tried it and experienced no difficulty. Neither of them checked their reworked pieces with the blue print to see if they would pass the quality control check and as a result, Madhuri never checked any pieces after that demonstration. Narendar did not see Madhuri again until Friday.

 During the week several things happened. More than half the motors did not work correctly by the time they reached the final assembly. It could not be determined whether the faulty motors were the result of Madhuri's work or the result of a lack of quality checks. A box of 20 parts had been approved by Madhuri since her initials were on the inspection card, but she had not made the necessary alterations. That was when Narendar found time to talk to Madhuri again.

 Questions :

(a) Identify the issues inherent in this case.

(b) What incidents showed that Narendar was not performing a good job as a trainer ?

(c) If you were Narendar, what would you have done to improve Madhuri's performance ?

MS-22 : HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

June 2013

SECTION-A

1. Define HRD and discuss value-anchored processes of HRD. Explain how do these processes help an organisation in achieving excellence ? Explain with relevant examples.

 2. Describe how are reward systems designed in an organisation, and explain the ways in which employees are rewarded in an organisational set up.

 3. Define and describe the objectives and advantages of Multisource Feedback and Assessment Feedback System (MAFS). Discuss what are the indicators of an organisation's readiness to participate in MAFS.

 4. Explain the concept of knowledge Management. Briefly discuss various approaches to knowledge Management, with relevant examples.

 5. Write short on any three of the following :

(a) Systems Theory and Human Performance

(b) Vertical Re-skilling

(c) Career Transition and Choices

(d) HRD Audit

(e) Managing Technological changes in work organisation

SECTION-B

6. Please read the case and answer the questions given at the end.

Hara Food Products Company, which was founded in 1955 to manufacture grocery and other food products, had in the course of years grown into a vast enterprise having offices and branches in almost all the important cities of the country. Its annual sales amounted to about Rs. 50 to 60 lakhs a year.

 The Company's Head Office and factory were situated at Calcutta. Its products were distributed through five zonal sales offices which directed 25 district sales offices throughout the country.

The administrative responsibility of each zonal office was brone by a manager whose duty was to promote sales in his zone. He was advised and instructed by the Head Office from time to time.

Under the control of each Zonal Manager, there were four functional heads, viz., Personnel Manager, Accounts Manager, Sales Manager and Office Manager. These executives advised and assisted the Zonal Manager on various functions relating to the zonal administration. Each functional head enjoyed sufficient freedom and independence in respect of his work.

On matters relating to sales, the Zonal Manager received advice from Sales Manager. The latter often formulated policies, plans and schedules for sales operations and submitted his views on all the matters concerning sales to the Zonal Manager. Many a times, he also issued orders and instructions to the District Sales Managers but all these were routed through the Zonal Manager. Ordinarily all his views and advice were accepted and approved by the Zonal Manager.

The Sales Manager was assisted in his work by three product managers, who were considered to be experts in their respective fields. Their duty was to travel with the sales supervisors of various districts and study the market for the company's products; survey the competitive position of the company's products; study dealer and consumer reactions, trend in sales, etc., and advise the district sales supervisors from time to time regarding the steps to be taken for promoting sales in the districts. Every month each one of them

submitted a report on the sales activities of the company to the Sales Manager. The relationship between the Product Manager and the Sales Manager is the same as that between the Zonal Manager and the Sales Manager.

 Directly responsible to the Zonal Manager were five District Sales Manager besides the four functional heads. Each District Sales Manager was responsible for sales in his territory. In promoting the sales of the company, each District Manager was assisted by five sales supervisors besides several salesmen. The duties and functions of the District Sales Manager were to :

(1) Select, train and supervise his sales supervisors and salesmen in consulation with the Zonal Manager ;

(2) Make a study of the nature of consumer demand, changing markets existing stocks

and formulate sales campaigns and promotional methods ;

(3) Fix up targets of sales to be attained in his territory from time to time ;

(4) Formulate credit policies to be followed in consulation with the Zonal Manager ;

(5) Develop better team work among the sales supervisors and salesmen ;

(6) See that the customers are satisfied with the company's services ; and

(7) Do such other functions and duties as might be assigned to him from time to time by the Zonal Manager.

Every month each District Sales Manager submitted a detailed report on the sales activities of the company in his district, to the Zonal Manager. Ordinarily these reports were passed on to the Sales Manager for necessary action to be taken with respect to each district.

On the morning of June 6, 1981, the following conversation took place over phone between Mr. Raju the Sales Manager at the South Zonal Office and Mr. Hari one of the District Managers in the Zone.

Hari : "I wish to bring to your notice an important matter that needs your urgent

consideration The Product Managers are interfering too much with the sales activities of

my district. I receive frequent complaints from the supervisors that they are not able to carry out my instructions due to unnecessary interference from these people. If this state of affairs continues it would be very difficult to maintain our sales. The morale of the supervisors would be seriously affected. I will not be responsible if sales go down this year in our area on this account. You must take some steps to see that the relationship between the line and staff is maintained on good terms."

Raju : "Mr. Hari, you need not worry I shall call the Product Managers and see that they maintain proper relationship with you " Next day Mr. Raju called all the Product

Managers and after discussing routine matters, he said, "I was told by Mr. Hari that his sales supervisors are complaining that you are interfering with their activities. Definitely you are all expected to advise them on the steps to be taken for increasing sales. But at the same time please remember that you have to play only an advisory role. While advising these people you must also see that the line authority is respected ...."

 The product Managers did not say anything.

In the subsequent months Mr. Raju did not receive any complaint from the District Office. But in the first week of October, while scrutinising the sales progress reports of the various districts for the previous quarter, the Zonal Manager found an unusual decline in sales in the District which was under the supervision of Mr. Hari.

The Zonal Manager called Mr. Hari and asked him why there was so much decline in sales in his territory while all the other districts showed very good progress.

 Hari replied " during the past three months the Product Managers did not seem to have advised our men properly. In fact, they never cared to advise the supervisors on the recent changes and the latest trends in the market. They seem to be unwilling to co-operate with our men to maintain sales.

When asked about this by the Zonal Manager, one of the Product Managers said, "We used to give advice to this district office also as we usually do with other district offices. On a complaint, seems from Mr. Hari, we had been told by Mr. Raju that we were exceeding our authority and unnecessarily interfering with the activities in the district. We had been asked to restrain ourselves. The District Manager takes advice directly from the Zonal Sales Manager, We have got nothing to do in this matter ...."

 Questions :

(a) What is the core issue in the case ?

(b) Analyse the causes which led to the problem.

(c) As a member of the management team, what would you do to solve the problem immediately ?

(d) Suggest a suitable organisation structure and HRD system for this company so that

such problems do not occur in future.

MS-11 : STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT

June 2013

 SECTION - A

1. (a) Differentiate between objectives and goals and the need for setting the objectives.

(b) Describe the features and the process of setting objectives.

 2. What do you understand by the competitive environment of an industry ? Explain with the help of examples.

3. (a) Whit are the two variants of focus ? Discuss each giving examples.

(b) Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of a focus strategy.

 4. Explain the process and importance of Turnaround Strategy. Support your answer with the help of examples.

 5. Write short notes on:

(a) Critical Success Factors (CSFs)

(b) Balanced score card.

 SECTION - B

6. Read the following case and answer the questions given at the end of the case.

 Whirlpool's Dramatic Turnaround Through Internationalization Home appliance maker Whirlpool Corporation, headquartered in Benton Harbor, Michigan, generated over $19 billion in annual sales in 2006, an increase of 26 percent from the previous year. Key factors influencing this performance include the acquisition of the Maytag Corporation in 2006 and an increased global demand for its brands and innovative products. During the next several years, the company expects growth in Asia and Latin America to be significantly higher than in North America and Europe.

 Whirlpool employs more than 80,000 employees in over 60 manufacturing and technology centers world wide. The firm manufactures washers, dryers, refrigerators, dishwashers, freezers, ranges, compactors, and microwave ovens in 13 countries and sells them in 170 others under brand names such as Whirlpool, Maytag, Magic Chef, Jenn-Air, Amana, KitchenAid, Kenmore, Brastemp, and Bauknecht. Whirlpool generates almost 60 percent of its sales from North America, 25 percent from Europe, 15 percent from Latin America, and just 2 percent from Asia.

International Expansion

As the U.S. appliance market matured in the 1990s, Whirlpool faced intense domestic competition and more demanding buyers, resulting in lower profit margins. Meanwhile, international market trade barriers fell, consumer affluence grew, and capitalism flourished. Management realized that it could best deal with these threats and opportunities by undertaking a systematic program of internationalization. As a result, Whirlpool engaged in a series of moves over the next decade.

Whirlpool acquired the appliance business of Philips in Europe, 65 percent of Italian cooling compressor manufacturer Aspera, and purchased Poland's second largest appliance maker. In Eastern Europe, Whirlpool created subsidiaries to sell and service appliances in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic.

In China, Whirlpool formed a joint venture to produce air conditioners and established a corporate headquarters and product development/technology center in Shanghai. The company also opened regional offices in I-Iong Kong, New Delhi, and Singapore. In Mexico, Whirlpool acquired Vitromatic, a former joint venture partner in Mexico. It also developed low-cost versions of popular models to target customers in low-income markets in Latin America, China, and India.

 Three factors have driven this global expansion. First, Whirlpool sought to reduce its costs of R & D, manufacturing, and service by locating plants and other operations in lower-cost locations such as China, Mexico, and Poland. Second, flat to declining sales growth in the United States pressured management to target sales in new markets abroad. Third, Whirlpool realized the firm's manufacturing and assembly operations would benefit from a more global approach. Management redesigned products with more standardized parts and ramped up marketing to make Whirlpool a globally recognized brand. The company integrated the activities of regional subsidiaries so that Whirlpool's most advanced expertise in appliance technology, production, and distribution could be shared with the firm's divisions world-wide.

 Innovation

 Whirlpool conducted an internal critical assessment in the late 1990s. It became apparent

that a consumer walking into any appliance store anywhere in the world would witness a "sea of white" appliances with little differentiation, even between manufacturers. The industry became known as the "white goods business." Consumers perceived the products as commodities, which offered little differential advantage and commanded ever lower prices due to increasing competition.

 In 1999, Whirlpool management launched a major campaign to differentiate the firm's offerings by emphasizing innovative, value-added products. In early 2000, Whirlpool enlisted 75 employees from almost every job classification and assigned them in groups to Benton Harbor, Italy, and Brazil. Training lasted nearly a year and was conducted by an outside consulting group.

The next step was to get the rest of the global workforce involved. Whirlpool established an intranet site and created a do-it-yourself course in innovation. Throughout 2001 and 2002 Whirlpool's "knowledge management" intranet site recorded up to 300,000 hits per month. The company established a rating system to identify high potential, innovative ideas. Since 2003, revenue has quadrupled annually. Whirlpool estimates that the new appliances in development from this system, once marketed, could produce $ 3 billion in annual sales, up from projections of $ 1.3 billion in 2003. Whirlpool developed microwave ovens that can grill steaks, bake pizzas, or come in the form of a drawer that slides out for easy access to large dishes. The firm invented a washer with a built-in sensor that detects the size of the load and automatically picks the water level, spin speed, and type of wash cycle, essentially making all decisions for the user.

Local Preferences

Cross-regional R&D teams also collaborate on innovations to adapt offerings to meet local demands in diverse international environments. For example, due to very different climates, Italians often line-dried their clothing, while the Danes need to spin-dry then clothes. Capacity requirements vary greatly for refrigerators. The Spanish care about capacity for meats, the British want well-constructed units, and the French are more concerned about the capacity for keeping fruits and vegetables fresh. Germans are particularly concerned about environmental features, while child safety features are very important to the Italians. In India, Whirlpool developed a washing machine that delivers a higher level of cleanliness for consumers who believe whiteness of clothing expresses purity. The washer's gentle handscrub movement and unique "hot wash. technology" maximize the effectiveness of laundry detergent.

Whirlpool has benefited immensely from international business. The firm is a leading example of how internationalization can revive declining sales and optimize cost structures. It has developed international distribution that reduces expenses, leading to higher profits, and has positioned itself to challenge competitors on a global scale. The firm has thrived through sensitivity and commitment to consumers in diverse cultural and economic settings around the world.

Growing Competitive Threat from Abroad

Yet not all is bright and sparkling on Whirlpool's horizon. Haier, China's largest appliance maker, established a production base and a distribution center in South Carolina in the United States. The firm also bought a six-story landmark. structure in New York, dubbed the Haier Bulding, to house its U.S headquarters. The world', fifth- nearly 20 percent and 50 percent of the markets for window air conditioners and small refrigerators, respectively Now it is expanding into full-size refrigerators, Haier's moves are especially troubling given. that Whirlpool generates very little of its sales from Asia, the world's most populous region, where Haier already has a strong presence.

Ironically, Haier's South Carolina factory is creating new jobs in a state that witnessed a mass exodus of textile jobs to factories in China, South Carolina receives foreign direct investment from various countries and is home to four Japanese and 18 European facilities. These trends show that globalization both benefits and poses new threats to Whirlpool's international ambitions.

As it struggles to remain a world-class player in a key industry, Whirlpool faces

new challenges. Management wants to expand sales in emerging markets while defending the home market from global rivals from China and elsewhere. The firm seeks to continue to leverage and enjoy all the benefits of international business.

 Questions

(a) What is the nature of Whirlpool's domestic and international business environments? What types of risk does the firm face ?

(b) How can Whirlpool benefit from going international? What types of advantages can the firm obtain ? What advantages acquired abroad can help management improve Whirlpool's performance in its home market ?

(c) What actions has Whirlpool management taken to ensure that the firm succeeds in local markets throughout the world? To what extent is the appliance business local/regional rather than global ?

(d) How can Whirlpool effectively compete with new rivals originating from low-cost countries, such as Haier from China? Should Whirlpool's response differ in its home and foreign markets? If so, how ?

MS-10 : ORGANISATIONAL DESIGN, DEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE

June 2013

SECTION - A

1. What are the objectives of T-Group training and briefly discuss the benefits of T-Group Training at individual, group and organisational levels.

 2. Discuss the elements that need to be reviewed for organisational analysis and briefly describe the analysing organisations.

 3. Briefly describe the contemporary approaches to job design and their relevance.

 4. What is the purpose of organisation design ? Briefly describe the factors which affect

organisation design.

5. Write short notes an any three of the following :

(a) Task force

(b) Centralisation Vs Decentralisation

(c) Quality of work life

(d) Interview as a diagnostic tool

(e) Process of change

SECTION – B

6. Read the following case carefully and answer the questions given at the end :

 ABB: A HUGE GLOBLE MATRIX

 If lean and mean could be personified, Percy Barnevik would walk through the door. A thin, bearded Swede, Barnevik is Europe's leading hatchet man. He is also creator of what is fast becoming the most successful cross-border merger since Royal Dutch Petroleum linked up with Britain's Shell in 1907.

In four years, Barnevik, 51, has welded ASEA, a Swedish engineering group, to Brown Boveri, a Swiss competitor, bolted on seven more companies in Europe and the U.S.A. and created ABB, a global electrical equipment giant that is bigger than Westinghouse and head to head with GE. It is a world leader in high-speed trains, robotics and environmental control.

To make this monster dance, Barnevik cut more than one in five jobs, closed dozens of factories and decimated headquarters staffs around Europe and the U.S.A. Whole businesses were shifted from one country to another. He created a corps of just 25 global managers to lead 21,000 employees. IBM has talked with Barnevik and his team about how to pare down its own overstaffed bureaucracy. Du Pont recently put Barnevik on its board. Says a senior executive at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. "They're as aggressive as we are. I mean this as a compliment. They are sort of super Japanese."

 ABB is not Japanese, nor is it Swiss or Swedish. It is a multinational without a national identity, though its mailing address is in Zurich. The company's top 13 managers hold frequent meetings in different countries. Since they share no common first language, they speak only English, a foreign tongue to all but one. Like their boss, senior ABB managers are short on sentiment and long on commitment. An oil portrait of a 19th century founder of Brown Boveri hangs in ABB's headquarters, but few are sure what his name is. (It's Charles Brown). Ask for a fax number, though and you're likely to get two, office and home.

 To Barnevik, today's competitive market economy is a 'cruel world'. Not making it any kinder, he has launched a personal war on what he sees as excess capacity-2 percent to 3 percent in the electrical equipment industry in Europe alone. Educated in Sweden and the U.S.A (he studied business administration and computer science at Stanford in the mid-1960s), Barnevik thinks European industry must be restructured massively to become competitive in world markets. He foresees billions of dollars and mergers and acquisitions in the next three to five years. Europe's best strategy against the Americans and Japanese, he believes, is to break free of protected national markets.

 Before the merger, Brown Boveri had four people in Baden, Switzerland, and ASEA had as many as 2 in Vasteras, Sweden. The combined company now employs just 15 in a modest six-storey building across a train station in west Zurich. Where did everybody go? Many were fired. The rest were sent to subsidiaries or offered jobs in new companies set up or assume many headquarters functions. (ABB Marketing Services, for example, creates and runs campaigns for ABB, but also takes on a few other clients). And Barnevik expects to make money). It's not just cost cutting Barnevik is after, though that is obviously important. Says he. "Ideally you should have a minimum of staff to disturb the operating people and prevent them from doing their more important jobs."

 Barnevik's master matrix gives all employees a country manager and a business sector manager. The country managers run traditional, national companies with local boards of directors, including eminent outsiders. ABB has about two such managers, most of them citizens of the country in which they work. Of more exalted rank, are 65 global managers who are organised into eight segments: transportation, process automation and engineering environmental devices, financial services, electrical equipment (mainly motors and robots) and three electric power businesses: generation,transmission and distribution.

 Barnevik is well aware that the once popular management by matrix is in disfavour in the U.S.business schools and has been abandoned by most multinational companies. But he says he uses a loose, decentralised version of it-the two bosses are not always equal-that is particularly suited to an organisation composed of many nationalities.

 The matrix system makes it easier for managers like Gerhard Schulmeyer, a German who heads ABB's U.S. businesses as well as the automation segment, to make use of technology from other countries. Because of the matrix, Schulmeyer has a better idea of what is available where.

 He says that the techniques developed by ABB in Switzerland that he uses to service U.S. steam turbines are more reliable and efficient than those of General Electric and Westinghouse, his main American competitors. Schulmeyer also relied on European technology to convert a Midland, Michigan, nuclear reactor into a natural gas-fired plant.

 ABB executives say the value of the company's matrix system extends beyond the swapping of technology and products. For example, the power transformer business segment consists of 31 factories in 16 countries. Barnevik wants each of these business to be run locally with intense lobal coordination. So every month the business segment headquarters in Mannheim, Germany, tells all the factories how all the others are doing according to dozens ofmeasurements. If one factory is lagging, solutions to common problems can be discussed and worked out across borders.

 Questions :

(a) Which of the four basic departmentalisation formats do you detect in ABB's structure of eight segments ? Explain.

(b) Has Barnevik created an effective balance between centralisation and decentralisation ? How can you tell ?

(c) Relative to the advantages and disadvantages, is ABB's matrix structure appropriate to its situation ?

(d) How does ABB apparently avoid unity-of-command problems with its matrix structure ?