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MS-02 SOLVED ASSIGNMENT 2013

Course Code : MS-02 Course Title : Management of Human Resources Assignment Code : MS-02/TMA/SEM-I/2013 Coverage : All Blocks

Note: Attempt all the questions and submit this assignment on or before 31st March, 2013 to the coordinator

of your study center. Late Fee will be applicable for late submissions till 30th April, 2013 “Borderless world, Diversity Management, and Knowledge power, are some of the overarching factors being

encountered by the Human Resource Mangers of 21st century business world”. How do they affect the

dynamics of Human Resource Management in today’s organizations? Explain with examples from the

organization you are familiar with or have been working for. Briefly describe the organization, you are

referring to.

“Each employee in an organization performs various roles. Role perception of a manager and an employee

make a complex web as they interact”. Elaborate this statement in the light of socialisation factors in

organizational socialization process. Outline the importance of initial Job socialization on the employee and

the organization. Explain with the help of your personal experience and organizational experience with

respect to the above concepts. Explain the situation and describe the organization, you are referring to.

Consider Potential Appraisal, Assessment Centres, and Career and Succession Planning in an organizational

context. Describe the dynamics of these concepts, their interactional outcomes, and impact on overall

functioning and management of the organization. Put down your experience with respect to the dynamics of these factors in totality as seen by you in an

organizational situation or the situations which you are familiar with. Briefly describe the situation and the

organization, you are referring to.

How do you see the role, presence, necessity, and impact of ‘Mentoring and Performance Coaching’ in

organizational situations in Indian context in general? Critically describe the experience the organizations have with respect to these concepts, their applicability,

effectiveness and prospect. You may like to compare few organizations you have known or familiar with or

even you can come out with your own experience in organizational context. Describe the context, and the

organization you are referring to.

SOLUTIONS Q 1: “Borderless world, Diversity Management, and Knowledge power, are some of the

overarching factors being encountered by the Human Resource Mangers of 21st century

business world”. How do they affect the dynamics of Human Resource Management in

today’s organizations? Explain with examples from the organization you are familiar with

or have been working for. Briefly describe the organization, you are referring to.

Ans:

The 21st century would see the following inter-related phenomena emerging, posing

challenges to the corporate world and culminating in Olympian competition:

! Borderless world

! Diversity ! Knowledge Power

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The cross-cultural, cross-border mingling has resulted in the creation of a new class of

people—global citizens with global attitudes, tastes and networks. Since it unleashes

multiple variables, the borderless world precludes immense complexity—complexity in the

environment, in inter-organizational relationships, in modes of conducting business and in

socio-cultural diversity.

One of the important duties of the modern HR manager is to get things done through

people. He has to bring employees into contact with the organization in such a way that

the objectives of both groups are achieved. He must be interested in the people, the work

and the achievement of assigned objectives. To be effective, he must balance his

concerns for people and work. In other words, he must know how to utilize human as well

as non-human resources while translating goals into action. It is in managing human assets

that the manager’s capabilities are tested fully, because of the following reasons:

! Human resources are heterogeneous. They consist of many different individuals, each of

whom has a unique personality, a combination of different emotional responses to

different stimuli and different values, attitudes, motives and modes of thought.

! Human beings behave in widely different and complicated ways. Their reactions to

promises, praise or criticism, for example, can be quite different. It is very difficult to predict

their behaviour especially in an organization where they work in-groups. Their behaviour

is neither consistent nor readily predictable.

! Modern employees are better educated, possess greater skills, have more sophisticated

technology available for their use and enjoy higher standards of living than previous

generations.

! A human being himself determines what he contributes. If he is motivated, he

will work for an organization more efficiently and effectively.

So, it must be recognized by the manager that individuals, not organizations, create

excellence. Recognizing the importance of the human element in the production

process, PF Drucker had remarked that “man, of all the resources available to man, can

grow and develop”. The problem of establishing the right climate to maximize employee

motivation and commitment is still with us.

The most significant resource of any organization is often said to be its people. Such claims

appear in organizations’ annual reports and mission statements. Of course, an

organization is nothing but a group of people whose activities have been planned and

coordinated to meet organizational objectives. An organization that exists to produce

goods and services has a good chance to survive and prosper if it consists of the Right

People. This is true for all organizations. In a similar fashion, people need organizations. The

vast majority of people must work to support themselves and their families. But people

work for many reasons other than economic security. For example, many also work to

keep busy and feel useful, to create and achieve something. They want to gain

recognition and achieve status or to test and stretch their capabilities. To meet these

multifarious needs, people and organizations join forces. Unfortunately, this union seldom

approaches perfection. Organizations encounter several obstacles in meeting their goals

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and in a similar way all employees report some problems in their attempts to be

productive and efficient in their jobs and to feel satisfied in their work lives. The challenge

of human resource management is to minimize these obstacles and problems.

The central challenge facing society is the continued improvement of our organizations,

both private and public. Another important purpose of human resource management is

to improve the contribution made by people to organizations, (Davis) through effective

and efficient use of resources. Efficient means that it must use the minimum amount of

resources needed to produce results. Effective means producing right things through right

ways. The resultant productivity (ratio of output to input) gains obtained through HR efforts

enable managers to reduce costs, save scarce resources, enhance profits and offer

better pay, benefits and working conditions to employees.

! Pervasive force: HRM is pervasive in nature. It is present in all enterprises. It permeates all

levels of management in an organization.

! Action oriented: HRM focuses attention an action, rather than on record keeping, written

procedures or rules. The problems of employees at work are solved through rational

policies.

! Individually oriented: It tries to help employees develop their potential fully. It encourages

them to give out their best to the organization. It motivates employees through systematic

process of recruitment, selection, training and development coupled with fair wage

policies.

! People oriented: HRM is all about people at work, both as individuals and groups. It tries

to put people on assigned jobs in order to produce good results. The resultant gains are

used to reward people and motivate them toward further improvements in productivity.

! Development oriented: HRM intends to develop the full potential of employees. The

reward structure is tuned to the needs of employees. Training is offered to sharpen and

improve their skills. Employees are rotated on various jobs so that they gain experience

and exposure. Every attempt is made to use their talents fully in the service of

organizational goals.

! Integrating mechanism: HRM tries to build and maintain cordial relations between

people working at various levels in the organization. In short, it tries to integrate human

assets in the best possible manner in the service of an organization.

! Comprehensive function: HRM is, to some extent, concerned with any organizational

decision which has an impact on the, workforce or the potential workforce (Bernardin).

The term ‘workforce’ signifies people working at various levels, including workers,

supervisors, middle and top managers. It is concerned with managing people at work. It

covers all types of personnel. Personnel work may take different shapes and forms at each

level in the organizational hierarchy but the basic objective of achieving organizational

effectiveness through effective and efficient utilization of human resources, remains the

same. “It is basically a method of developing potentialities of employees so that they get

maximum satisfaction out of their work and give their best efforts to the organization”

(Pigors and Myers).

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! Auxiliary service: HR departments exist to assist and advise the line or operating managers

to do their personnel work more effectively. HR manager is a specialist advisor. It is a staff

function.

! Inter-disciplinary function: HRM is a multi-disciplinary activity, utilizing knowledge and

inputs drawn from psychology, sociology, anthropology, economics, etc. To unravel the

mystery surrounding the human brain, managers, need to understand the appreciate the

contributions of all such ‘soft ‘disciplines.

! Continuous function: According to Terry, HRM is not a one short deal. It cannot be

practiced only one hour each day or one day a week. It requires a constant alertness and

awareness of human relations and their importance in every day operations.

TheD ynamicso fP ersonnel/Human Resource Management (P/HRM)

P/HRM (both terms used interchangeably) is a dynamic discipline as it mostly deals with

ever-changing work settings, characterized by people having varied cultural, social and

religious backgrounds, diverse goals, multifarious expectations and attitudes. The

personnel scene itself has been changing quite dramatically over the years. Government

regulations, competitive pressures, unionization of employees, do exert a strong influence

on the way the personnel function is carried out in various organizations. Further, the

nature of the work goals, make-up of the workgroup, in the long run. Over the years,

employees have become more sophisticated in their demands for high quality work

environments, adequate pay and benefits, proper training and career growth

opportunities. All these factors compel human resource professionals to look for ways to

improve their interactions with employees, other managers and outside groups in order to

maximize worker productivity and satisfaction. However, as pointed out by

Rudrabasavaraj, personnel administration in India, as it is interpreted, discussed and

practiced is largely static, legalistic and ritualistic. There seems to be a lot of confused

thinking and a plain lack of awareness of what P / HRM is.

Organisational Example: METRO Cash & Carry

METRO Cash & Carry pioneered the self-service business-to-business wholesale concept.

Their dynamic business model adapts seamlessly to the most demanding markets.

Headquartered in Dusseldorf, Germany, METRO Cash & Carry is the largest sales division

of the € 67.3 Billion METRO Group, one of the world’s leading international trading and

retail companies.

METRO’s success story began over 4 decades ago in 1964, with the opening of its first

wholesale distribution centre in Germany. Today, the company is a leading player in

almost every market it operates in, with around 700 wholesale centres across 30 countries.

METRO Cash & Carry opened its first wholesale centre in the country in 2003 at Bangalore.

With this, METRO introduced the concept of Cash & Carry in India. Since then METRO has

opened one more centre in Bangalore, two in Hyderabad, two in Mumbai and one each

in Kolkata, Ludhiana, Delhi, Jaipur, Vijayawada, Amritsar, Zirakpur, Jalandhar & Indore .

These centres offer the benefit of quality products at the best wholesale prices.

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India is a key market in the company’s global expansion strategy. With modern trade on

the threshold of exponential growth in India, METRO is poised to extend its presence in

existing markets by further deepening its network of customers and suppliers. The

company will also expand its footprint into newer markets within the country bringing

these markets the benefit of its unique wholesale concept.

TheM ETROC oncept:

Wholesale exclusively for business customers

Customers are registered and need a customer card to enter the premises

The point of sale is a large warehouse

The customer picks merchandise, pays and transports the goods or uses our transportation

services

A high percentage of the goods are from local suppliers

Because of Dynamic Business model, METRO Cash and Carry has created a new class of

people, global citizens with global attitude, tastes and networks. Every leading

organization should look at developing employees in a dynamic manner as well as

developing the business in dynamic fashion. Greater level of innovations, involvement of

HR people in day to day life of employee is becoming the norm of the day for companies

which are looking for greater commitment towards customers and becoming leading

and dynamic in global market.

Q 2: “Each employee in an organization performs various roles. Role perception of a

manager and an employee make a complex web as they interact”. Elaborate this

statement in the light of socialisation factors in organizational socialization process. Outline

the importance of initial Job socialization on the employee and the organization. Explain

with the help of your personal experience and organizational experience with respect to

the above concepts. Explain the situation and describe the organization, you are referring

to.

Ans:

Introductiono f Socialisation:

“Socialisation refers to the process by which persons acquire the knowledge, skills, and

disposition that make them more or less able members of their society”. We have all

undergone this process many times. Certainly, significant socialisation occurs during

infancy and early childhood. We are born into this world with potential for a very wide

range of behaviour, but we learn from our parents and other close associates to behave

within a narrower range that is customary and acceptable. People face re-socialisation

on entering the first grade, joining and athletic team or the scouts, matriculating into

college, and learning their first job. With all of these early socialisation experience it might

be thought that the adult should easily adapt to new social situations.

DifferentR oles ofE mployee int he light of Socialisation Factors int he Organization

The idea of role comes form sociology and it is the pattern of actions expected of a person

in his activities involving others. It arises as a result of the position one occupied in the social

structure as he/she interacts with other people. In order to be able to coordinate his work

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with others in an organization, one needs some way to anticipate their behaviour as one

interacts with them. Role performs this functions in the social system.

A person functions in roles both on the job and away from it, as shown in given figure. One

person performs the occupational role of worker, the family role of father, the social role

of club president, and many others. In his various roles he is both buyer and seller, boss

and subordinate, a father and son, and an advisor and seeker of advice. Each role calls

for different types of behaviour. Within the work environment alone, a worker has more

than one role. He may be a worker in group A, a subordinate of foreman in B, and

machinist, a member of a union, and a representative on the safety committee.

Undoubtedly role is the most complexly organized response pattern of which a human

being is capable. Activities of manager and workers a like are guided by their role

perceptions, that is, how they think they are supposed to act in a given situation. Since

mangers perform many different roles, they must be highly adaptive in order to change

from one role to another quickly.

The factory foreman’s role particularly requires that he be adaptive in working with the

extremes of subordinate and superior, staff and line, technical and non-technical, and

education and uneducated.

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that of a hard boiled pusher, but his employees expect the opposite.

When role expectations of a job are materially different or opposite, the incumbent in the

job tends to be in role conflict because he cannot meet one expectation without

rejecting the other. A president in one company faced role conflict, for example, when

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he learned that both the controller and the personnel director expected him to allocate

the new organizational planning function to their departments.

Regarding the existence of role conflict research suggests that a manager bases his

decision primarily on legitimacy (which expectations he thinks is more “right” and

reasonably) and sanction (how he thinks he will be affected if he follows one expectation

in preference to the other).

In case role expectations are substantially unknown because of poor communication or

are inadequately defined, role ambiguity exists, and it is more difficult to predict how a

person in that role will act.

From a manager’s point of view, a fuller understanding of roles should help him know what

others expect of him and how he should act. Knowing this he should be more adaptable

to each unique role relationship. His decision making should improve because he will

understand why other people are acting the way they are. He will also recognize the

variety of roles each employee plays and will try to provide motivations and satisfactions

for those several job roles.

Importanceo f Initial Job Socialisation

Some people believe that the period of early organizational socialisation is not particularly

important. The newcomer is there to get acquired with the organization, to learn about

the task requirements, and to size up the situation without too much involvement. The

organization should look the newcomer over and really not expect much. The newcomer

should play it cool and not make too many commitments to the organization.

There is very strong evidence that this approach is inappropriate for the individual and the

organization. The first year is one of the most significant periods in the work career of the

individual. The development of values, attitudes, and behavior patterns during this period

strongly influences future career development.

Why is this so? There is a low of primacy which holds that the earlier an experience, the

more important its effect because it influences how later experiences will be interpreted.

The newcomer entering the organization is uniquely subject to new influences. When he

enters the organization he is uncertain about the role that he will play and his concept of

himself is thrown into question. Finding himself in a stressful and “unfrozen” situation, “he is

motivated to reduce this stress by becoming incorporated into the ‘interior’ of the

company. Being thus motivated to be accepted by this new social system and to make

sense of the ambiguity surrounding him, he is more receptive to cues from his environment

than he will ever be again, and what he learns at the beginning will becomes the core of

his organizational identity” (Berlew & hall, 1966). This is the very period when recruits can

best test their own self-concepts and expectations of organizational life. It is during this

time when the most important components of the psychological contract will be

negotiated, thus determining the new recruit’s organizational commitment. The

researches have shown that very early in his organizational career an individual will

develop enduring attitudes and aspirations which will have development opment of

performance standards and job attitudes.

From the moment he enters the organization, a new manager is given cues about the

quality of performance that this expected and rewarded A few studies have confirmed

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that managers given challenging initial jobs with high expectations jobs. They were

socialized to have higher aspirations and performance standards. The moral seems to be

that “success breeds success”; numerous other studies seem to confirm the findings

(Buchanan, 1974). Newcomers should thus be given challenging but obtainable goals

rather than “snap assignments.” They should be involved in the

Q 3: Consider Potential Appraisal, Assessment Centres, and Career and Succession

Planning in an organizational context. Describe the dynamics of these concepts, their

interactional outcomes, and impact on overall functioning and management of the

organization.

Put down your experience with respect to the dynamics of these factors in totality as seen

by you in an organizational situation or the situations which you are familiar with.

Briefly describe the situation and the organization, you are referring to.

Ans:

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Dynamic Nature of Potential Appraisal, Assessment Centres, and Career and Succession

Planning ina n organizational context:

Many companies, which carry out performance appraisal, also keep records on the

potential of their employees for future promotion opportunities. The task of identifying

potential for promotion cannot be easy for the appraising manager, since competence

of a member of staff to perform well in the current job is not an automatic indicator of

potential for promotion. Very often the first class salesman is promoted to become a

mediocre sales manager, the excellent chief engineer is promoted to become a very

poor engineering director, and the star football player struggles to be a football manager.

Potential can be defined as ‘a latent but unrealised ability’. There are many people who

have the desire and potential to advance through the job they are in, wanting the

opportunity to operate at a higher level of competence in the same type of work. The

potential is the one that the appraiser should be able to identity and develop because of

the knowledge of the job. This requires an in-depth study of the positions which may

become vacant, looking carefully at the specific skills that the new position may demand

and also taking into consideration the more subjective areas like ‘qualities’ required. These

may be areas where the employee has not had a real opportunity to demonstrate the

potential ability and there may be areas with which you, as the appraisers are not familiar.

There are few indicators of potential (Box 1) which may be considered.

Indicators of Potential

! A sense of reality: This is the extent to which a person thinks and acts objectively, resisting

purely emotional pressures but pursuing realistic projects with enthusiasm.

! Imagination: The ability to let the mind range over a wide variety of possible causes of

action, going beyond conventional approaches to situations and not being confined to

‘This is the way it is always being done!’

! Power of analysis: The capacity to break down, reformulate or transform a complicated

situation into manageable terms.

! Breadth of vision: The ability to examine a problem in the context of a much broader

framework of reference; being able to detect, within a specific situation, relationships with

those aspects which could be affecting the situation.

! Persuasiveness: The ability to sell ideas to other people and gain a continuing

commitment, particularly when the individual is using personal influence rather than

‘management authority’.

Assessment Centres

Employees are not contended by just having a job. They want growth and individual

development in the organization. An “assessment centre” is a multiple assessment of

several individuals performed simultaneously by a group of trained evaluators using a

variety of group and individual exercises.

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Assessment centers are a more elaborate set of performance simulation tests, specifically

designed to evaluate a candidate’s managerial potential. Line executives, supervisors,

and/or trained psychologists evaluate candidates as they go through one to several days

of exercises that simulate real problems that they would confront on the job. Based on a

list of descriptive dimensions that the actual job incumbent has to meet, activities might

include interviews, in-basket problem-solving exercises, leaderless group discussions, and

business decision games. For instance, a candidate might be required to play the role of

a manager who must decide how to respond to ten memos in his/her in-basket within a

two-hour period. Assessment centers have consistently demonstrated results that predict

later job performance in managerial positions.

This method is now regarded as one of the most accurate and valid assessment

procedures and is widely used for selection and development.

The following are the essential elements for a process to be considered an assessment

center:

a) Job Analysis

A job analysis of relevant behaviors must be conducted to determine the dimensions,

competencies, attributes, and job performance indices important to job success in order

to identify what should be evaluated by the assessment center. The type and extent of

the job analysis depend on the purpose of assessment, the complexity of the job, the

adequacy and appropriateness of prior information about the job, and the similarity of

the new job to jobs that have been studied previously. If past job analyses and research

are used to select dimensions and exercises for a new job, evidence of the comparability

or generalizability of the jobs must be provided. If job does not currently exist, analyses

can be done of actual or projected tasks or roles that will comprise the new job, position,

job level, or job family. Target dimensions can also be identified from an analysis of the

vision, values, strategies, or key objectives of the organization.

Competency-modeling procedures may be used to determine the

dimensions/competencies to be assessed by the assessment center, if such procedures

are conducted with the same rigor as traditional job analysis methods. Rigor in this regard

is defined as the involvement of subject matter experts who are knowledgeable about

job requirements, the collection and quantitative evaluation of essential job elements,

and the production of evidence of reliable results. Any job analysis or competency

modeling must result in clearly specified categories of behavior that can be observed in

assessment procedures.

A competency, as used in various contemporary sources, refers to an organizational

strength, an organizational goal, a valued objective, a construct, or a grouping of related

behaviors or attributes. A competency may be considered a behavioral dimension for the

purposes of assessment in an assessment center if

it can be defined precisely

expressed in terms of behaviors observable on the job or in a job family and in simulation

exercises.

a competency also must be shown to be related to success in the target job or position

or job family.

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Behavioural Classification

Assessment centre requires that Behaviors displayed by participants must be classified into

meaningful and relevant categories such as dimensions, attributes, characteristics,

aptitudes, qualities, skills, abilities, competencies, and knowledge.

Assessment Techniques

The techniques used in the assessment center must be designed to provide information

for evaluating the dimensions previously determined by the job analysis. Assessment

center developers should establish a link from behaviors to competencies to exercises/

assessment techniques. This linkage should be documented in a competency-by

exercise/ assessment technique matrix.

Multiple Assessments

Multiple assessment techniques must be used. These can include tests, interviews,

questionnaires, sociometric devices, and simulations. The assessment techniques are

developed or chosen to elicit a variety of behaviors and information relevant to the

selected competencies/ dimensions. Self-assessment and 360 degree assessment data

may be gathered as assessment information. The assessment techniques will be pretested

to ensure that the techniques provide reliable, objective and relevant behavioral

information. Pre-testing might entail trial administration with participants similar to

assessment center candidates, thorough review by subject matter experts as to the

accuracy and representativeness of behavioral sampling and/or evidence from the use

of these techniques for similar jobs in similar organizations.

Simulations

The assessment techniques must include a sufficient number of job related simulations to

allow opportunities to observe the candidate’s behavior related to each competency/

dimension being assessed. At least one—and usually several—job related simulations must

be included in each assessment center. A simulation is an exercise or technique designed

to elicit behaviors related to dimensions of performance on the job requiring the

participants to respond behaviorally to situational stimuli. Examples of simulations include,

but are not limited to, group exercises, in-basket exercises, interaction (interview)

simulations, presentations, and fact-finding exercises. Stimuli may also be presented

through video based or virtual simulations delivered via computer, video, the Internet, or

an intranet. Assessment center designers also should be careful to design exercises that

reliably elicit a large number of competency-related behaviors. In turn, this should provide

assessors with sufficient opportunities to observe competency-related behavior.

Assessors

Multiple assessors must be used to observe and evaluate each assessee. When selecting

a group of assessors, consider characteristics such as diversity of age, sex, organizational

level, and functional work area. Computer technology may be used to assess in those

situations in which it can be shown that a computer program evaluates behaviors at least

as well as a human assessor. The ratio of assessees to assessors is a function of several

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variables, including the type of exercises used, the dimensions to be evaluated, the roles

of the assessors, the type of integration carried out, the amount of assessor training, the

experience of the assessors, and the purpose of the assessment center. A typical ratio of

assessees to assessors is two to one. A participant’s current supervisor should not be

involved in the assessment of a direct subordinate when the resulting data will be used for

selection or promotional purposes.

Assessor Training

Assessors must receive thorough training and demonstrate performance that meets

requirements prior to participating in an assessment center. The training should focus on

processing of information, drawing conclusions, interview techniques and understanding

behaviour.

Recording Behaviour

A systematic procedure must be used by assessors to record specific behavioral

observations accurately at the time of observation. This procedure might include

techniques such as handwritten notes, behavioral observation scales, or behavioral

checklists. Audio and video recordings of behavior may be made and analyzed at a later

date.

Reports

Assessors must prepare a report of the observations made during each exercise before

the integration discussion. It is suggested that assessors must prepare the report

immediately after the assessment is over otherwise they are likely to forget the details. Not

only this, these reports must be independently made.

Data Integration

The integration of behaviors must be based on a pooling of information from assessors or

through a statistical integration process validated in accordance with professionally

accepted standards. During the integration discussion of each dimension, assessors

should report information derived from the assessment

techniques but should not report information irrelevant to the purpose of the assessment

process. The integration of information may be accomplished by consensus or by some

other method of arriving at a joint decision. Methods of combining assessors’ evaluations

of information must be supported by the reliability of the assessors’ discussions. Computer

technology may also be used to support the data integration process provided the

conditions of this section are met.

Career Planning

Career is viewed as a sequence of position occupied by a person during the course of his

lifetime. Career may also be viewed as amalgam of changes in value, attitude and

motivation that occur, as a person grows older. The implicit assumption is that an individual

can make a different in his destiny over time and can adjust in ways that would help him

to enhance and optimize the potential for his own career development. Career planning

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is important because it would help the individual to explore, choose and strive to derive

satisfaction with one’s career object.

The process by which individuals plan their life’s work is referred to as career planning.

Through career planning, a person evaluates his or her own abilities and interests,

considers alternative career opportunities, establishes career goals, and plans practical

developmental activities.

Career planning seeks to achieve the following objectives:

It attracts and retains the right persons in the organisation

It maps out careers of employees suitable to their ability, and their willingness to be trained

and developed for higher positions

It ensures better use of human resources through more satisfied and productive

employees

It ensures more stable workforce by reducing labour turnover and absenteeism

It utilizes the managerial talent available at all levels within the organisation

It improves employee morale and motivation by matching skills to job requirements and

by providing job opportunities for promotion

It ensures that promising persons get experience that will equip them to reach

responsibility for which they are capable

It provides guidance and encouragement to employees to fulfill their potential

It helps in achieving higher productivity and organizational development

Succession Planning

Succession planning is an ongoing process that identifies necessary competencies, then

works to assess, develop, and retain a talent pool of employees, in order to ensure a

continuity of leadership for all critical positions. Succession planning is a specific strategy,

which spells out the particular steps to be followed to achieve the mission, goals, and

initiatives identified in workforce planning. It is a plan that managers can follow,

implement, and customize to meet the needs of their organisation, division, and/or

department.

The continued existence of an organization over time require a succession of persons to

fill key position .The purpose of succession planning is to identify and develop people to

replace current incumbents in key position for a variety of reasons.

Some of these reasons are given below:

! Superannuation: Employees retiring because they reach a certain age.

! Resignation: Employees leaving their current job to join a new job ! Promotion: Employees

moving upward in the hierarchy of the organization.

! Diversification: Employees being redeployed to new activities.

! Creation of New Position: Employees getting placed in new positions at the same level.

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Succession can be from within or from outside the organization. Succession by people

from within gives a shared feeling among employee that they can grow as the

organization grows. Therefore organization needs to encourage the growth and

development with its employee. They should look inward to identify potential and make

effort to groom people to higher and varied responsibilities. In some professionally run

large organizations, managers and supervisor in every department are usually asked to

identify three or four best candidate to replace them in their jobs should the need arise.

However, the organization may find it necessary to search for talent from outside in certain

circumstance. For example, when qualified and competent people are not available

internally, when it is planning to launch a major expansion or diversification programmes

requiring new ideas etc..

Complete dependence on internal source may cause stagnation for the organization.

Similarly complete dependence on outside talent may cause stagnation in the career

prospects of the individual within the organization which may in turn generate a sense of

frustration.

Succession planning provides managers and supervisors a step-by-step methodology to

utilize after workforce planning initiatives have identified the critical required job needs in

their organization. Succession planning is pro-active and future focused, and enables

managers and supervisors to assess, evaluate, and develop a talent pool of individuals

who are willing and able to fill positions when needed. It is a tool to meet the necessary

staffing needs of an organization/department, taking not only quantity of available

candidates into consideration, but also focusing on the quality of the candidates, through

addressing competencies and skill gaps.

OrganizationalE xample: MarutiU dyogL imited (Now MarutiS uzuki)

Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL, formerly Maruti Udyog Limited) is a subsidiary of Suzuki

Motor Corporation of Japan. Maruti Suzuki is a leading manufacturer of passenger

vehicles in India. Lovingly referred to as the people's car maker; over the past three

decades Maruti Suzuki has changed the way people in India commute and travel.

The Company employs over 9000 people (as on 31st March, 2012). Maruti Suzuki's sales

and service network is the largest among car manufacturers in India. The Company has

been rated first in customer satisfaction in the JD Power survey for 12 consecutive years.

Besides serving the Indian market, Maruti Suzuki also exports cars to several countries in

Europe, Asia, Latin America, Africa and Oceania.

Continuous self and staff development are essential to continuous performance

improvement. One’s own self-development needs to be related to your personal strengths

and weaknesses and to the career aspirations. This requires planning of career progression

and setting career goals. This can be achieved by identifying potentialities of employees

with the help of potential appraisal and various methods involved in it viz. assessment centre.

Potential Appraisal at MarutiU dyogLt d

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The Performance Appraisal form of Maruti Udyog Ltd. solicits information to assess the

future potential and ability of its L8 and above categories of workers to assume a position

of higher responsibility (L13) in the following format.

Group effectiveness (Maintaining and improving morale of group and helping its

identification with organisational objectives; optimal utilisation of available manpower

resources; directing and co-ordinating efforts and effective follow up action to ensure

accomplishment of planned objectives).

Ability to develop subordinates (Sensitivity to develop subordinate’s mental skills; ability to

provide professional guidance to produce group results)

Potential Capability (Overall rating for managerial capability to head a department

based on your assessment related to the above two points).

Q 4: How do you see the role, presence, necessity, and impact of ‘Mentoring and

Performance Coaching’ in organizational situations in Indian context in general?

Critically describe the experience the organizations have with respect to these concepts,

their applicability, effectiveness and prospect. You may like to compare few organizations

you have known or familiar with or even you can come out with your own experience in

organizational context. Describe the context, and the organization you are referring to.

Ans:

Performance coaching is important as it helps the employees to realise their potentials,

knowing their weaknesses and to grow and develop. There are few conditions associated

with these developments and also for effective coaching. The process of coaching

involves communication, influencing and helping and there are also phases of coaching.

Mentoring is the process where a person (the mentor) provides support, training and

guidance to a less experienced person. It involves two phases i.e. dependence and

interdependence.

Ther ole, presence,n ecessity, and impact of‘ Mentoring and Performance Coaching’ in

organizational situations inI ndian contexti ng eneral is asun der:

Mentoring

Mentoring is the process where a person (the mentor) provides support, training, and

guidance to a less experienced, usually younger person (the mentee, mentoree, or

protege). Some benefits of mentoring are that it enhances productivity and teamwork, it

encourages continued learning, it improves the self-esteem of the protege, and it

improves the chances of success in the protege’s endeavours.

Levinson et al. (1978) have contributed the most to the understanding of the mentoring

process. Levinson’s concept of a mentor includes being a teacher, sponsor, counsellor,

developer of skills and intellect, host, guide, exemplar, and most importantly supporter

and facilitator in the realization of the vision the young person has about the kind of life

he wants as an adult. Mentoring integrates characteristics of the parent-child relationship

and peer support without being either. According to Levinson not having a mentor in

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formative years of a young person could be a great handicap to one’s psychological

and career development.

Although young person during their professional journey, unknowingly research and

discover appropriate mentors, organisations are increasingly paying attention to this

phenomenon. Generally, more promising young managers are given mentoring

experience. A young manager assigned to a mentor, who is senior in position and age

sometimes several levels senior to the protege; not necessarily from the protege’s

department. Mentors are selected on the basis of their interest, availability, and

“mentoring competence” (image of competence, empathy, and ability to provide

emotional support). One mentor may have not more than five protege. Tata Iron

successfully used this arrangement.

There are two main phases in mentoring process: dependence and inter- dependence,

although counter-dependence may in some cases be an intermediary phase between

the two. During dependence phase admiration for the mentor is followed by identification

with him, followed by approval (getting guidance and checking alternative action ideas).

The inter-dependence phase is characterised by trust-building and mutuality when the

mentor and the protege may begin to collaborate and provide emotional support to

each other, If the mentor is experienced as overwhelming and overpowering, counter-

dependence may develop before inter-dependence. The protégé may reject the

mentor and may develop his own independence. Search of one’s own identity may later

lead to appreciation of the mentor’s role and relationship, leading to inter-dependence.

Several well-known persons in the west having famous mentors passed through the

counter-dependence phase, and some could not make much progress to inter-

dependence.

Mentoring process is quite similar to the counselling process. The dynamics of the phases

discussed with counselling are also applicable to mentoring. The ultimate goal of both

counselling and mentoring is to help an employee attain psychological maturity and

effectiveness.

PerformanceC oaching

Coaching is helping the employee to grow and develop in the organisation. Every

manager is coaching his employee, knowingly or unknowingly, in his day-to-day work-life.

An effective manager coach is one who helps his employees to become more aware of

their strengths and weaknesses and helps them to improve further on the strong points

and overcome weaknesses. By the process of mutuality and support, he helps the

employee to develop, by providing the proper emotional climate. Mutuality involves

working together with the employee and developing future plans of action for the

employee’s growth and contribution to the organisation. Support involves acceptance of

the employee as a total person, with his strengths and weaknesses, and encouraging him

with warmth.

Coaching requires certain interpersonal skills which can be acquired easily if a manager

is genuinely interested in developing his subordinates. Coaching skills are important for a

manager, particularly at the time of performance review.

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Good managers, whenever the necessity arises, coach their employees in their jobs.

Annual performance reviews provide formal opportunities for formal coaching. Such a

formal coaching process passes through certain stages, which are important for the

managers to note. The coaching process has the following three phases: rapport building,

exploration, and action planning.

In the rapport-building phase, a good coach attempts to establish a climate of

acceptance, warmth, support, openness and mutuality. He does this by empathizing with

the employee and his orientations, by listening to his problems and feelings, by

communicating his understanding to the employee, and by expressing empathy with and

genuineness of interest in him.

Sequential Process of Performance Coaching

Rapport Building

Rapport building is essential for any effective coaching outcome. This phase involves

generating confidence in the employee to open up and frankly share his perceptions,

problems, concerns, feelings, etc. The coach-manager should level himself with his

employee and tune himself to his orientations. This can be done by adopting the

employee’s frame of reference.

Attending

The opening phase of coaching is very important in rapport building. General opening

rituals may communicate messages of attending to the employee and give importance

to the coaching transaction. Inviting rituals like offering the chair, closing the door to

indicate privacy, asking the secretary not to disturb or not to connect telephonic calls

during the conversation, may indicate that the coach is attending to the employee.

However, all such rituals should come out of the genuine concern for and full attention to

the employee during the coaching session.

Listening

It has already been discussed that listening is important for effective coaching. As already

stated it is important to listen to what the employee says, as well as to his feelings and

concerns. Physical posture (e.g., leaning forward) and keeping eye contact with the

employee are indicators of listening.

Acceptance

Establishing a climate of acceptance is a necessary part of establishing rapport. The

employee must feel that he is wanted and that his coach is interested in understanding

him as a person rather than as a role or a position in an organisation. The coach

communicates this to the employee by listening to all the problems of the employee and

communicating back to the employee that he is listening. The coach can communicate

back to the employee by paraphrasing or mirroring or reflecting what the employee says.

For example, when an employee says, “I am really mad. I have tried to do my best in the

past year. I have worked twice as hard as anyone else in the office. But I never get

promotion,” he is expressing his anger. The coach may reflect back and say, “You feel

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that your superiors have not shown proper recognition for your hard work.” Such a

reflection or mirroring would help the employee feel that he is being understood and that

his coach is interested in him. This builds a climate of acceptance and facilitates the

process.

Exploration

Besides accepting the employee, listening to him, and establishing a climate of openness,

the coach should attempt to understand as well as help the employee understand his

own situation, strengths, weaknesses, problems and needs. Nobody would like to be

directly told his weaknesses. Coaching skill lies in making the employee discover his own

weaknesses, and identify his problem. At the most, the coach may use open and

exploring questions. Exploring helps an employee to search various dimensions of the

problems, or discover unidentified problems and bring to the surface unnoticed issues.

Exploring can be done by using questions and suggesting to the employee to talk more

on a problem he mentions. As already discussed, a variety of questions may be used.

Problem Identification

After general exploring, questions may be asked to help the employee focus on the

problem. It is necessary for the coach to use questions, both to generate information on

some concerns and problems and to narrow down focus to identify a more probable

problem. For example, if an employee feels that his problem is that others do not

cooperate with him, the coach may ask questions to narrow down the problem to the

employee’s relationship with a few colleagues, and then questions may be asked to help

the employee see what he does that prevents possible cooperation. Eventually, the

problem may turn out as to how the employee may deal with competitive relationship,

and yet collaborate. Identification of a problem is the necessary step in planning for

improvement.

Diagnosis

Diagnosis of the problem is the next step in exploration. Explorations should lead to the

diagnosis. Without diagnosis there is little scope for solving any problem. Open questions

like “Why do you think people are put off when you talk with them?”, “Can you recall

occasions when you got full cooperation?”, “What do you attribute it to?”, “What

personal limitations mainly bother you?” may help the employee more towards a better

diagnosis. The main attempt should be to generate several alternative causes of a

problem.

Action Planning

Managers are expected to guide their employees and contribute to their development.

Coaching interviews should end with specific plans of action for the development of the

employee.

Identifying a training need, job rotation, sponsoring for further training, increased

responsibility, role clarity, etc., are some of the likely outcomes in such action plans. Three

sub-phases can be identified in action planning.

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Searching

The main contribution of the coach to action planning is the help he provides to the

employee in thinking of alternative ways of dealing with a problem. In addition to

encouraging the employee in brain-storming such alternatives, the coach at a later stage

can also add to this list of alternatives for further exploration. This should, however, be done

only after some time. The employee should primarily take the responsibility of generating

alternatives.

Decision Making

After the alternatives have been generated, the coach may help the employee assess

the advantages and disadvantages of each alternative, raise questions on the feasibility

of the various alternatives, and help finalise a plan to be implemented. This may, however,

be regarded as a contingency plan, to be altered in the light of further experience.

Supporting

The final and, crucial stage of coaching is to communicate support and plan for such

support in implementing the agreed action plan. Psychological contract of providing help

should emerge after considerable exploration and discussion. Support and help should

facilitate in further increasing the autonomy of the employee, and not his dependence

on the coach. A system for monitoring and follow up of the action plan may be prepared.

This closes the coaching interaction.

Organizational Example: The Largest Car Rental Company in North America

Creating a successful Mentoring Program for the Largest Car Rental Company in North

America challenged:

Improving Program Quality

Increasing Employee Satisfaction

Enterprise Holdings, the parent company of the well-known Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Alamo

Rent A Car, and National Car Rental brands, owns and operates the largest fleet of

passenger vehicles in the world today - more than 1 million cars and trucks. It employs

68,000 people, and Forbes ranks it #21 in the Top 500 Private Companies in America.

Enterprise prides itself on promoting from within, so it's no surprise that the company

embraced corporate mentoring early on since studies show corporate mentoring helps

attract, develop, , and retain top talent. But in 2002, the corporation faced a crossroads

in regards to its mentoring program.

Chris Tabourne, Assistant Vice President of Diversity & Inclusion, says, "In 2002, our

Employee Opinion Survey revealed that too many of our employees weren't satisfied with

the quality of mentoring they were getting."

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While Enterprise's continued research and employee feedback clearly pointed toward a

need to increase the effectiveness of its informal and formal mentoring programs across

many, if not all groups and regions, the question became how to accomplish this.

Solution: Fostering "True" Mentoring, Designing a Goal-Oriented Program, Getting the Most

Out of Technology

Enterprise brought in several corporate mentoring vendors to discuss program design and

implementation. Management Mentors eventually won the business.

”We selected Management Mentors because they did a nice job of identifying the

opportunities that existed in our mentoring programs at the time, and then providing a

fresh approach to improving their effectiveness. Management Mentors shifted our

paradigm towards true mentoring by helping us to understand the difference between

coaching, which is how most of our programs had always been run, and mentoring, which

is what we really needed,” Tabourne says.

Enterprise identified four key goals it wanted its mentoring program to achieve:

! Provide leadership development

! Increase the diversity of management

! Help improve retention

! Increase employee satisfaction in the area of mentoring.

Management Mentors President Rene Petrin worked with Enterprise in designing and

implementing a program that would meet these objectives. Petrin says, “Working with a

design team, we were able to transition into a true mentoring model and link mentoring

to the four strategic goals while avoiding making the program a performance-based

initiative, which had caused the previous programs to be unsuccessful.”

The initial pilot program involved two groups with a total of six programs and 68 pairs. After

Enterprise completed the 12 months of the pilot program, it started an annual roll out in

North America that ran for the next three years and averaged about 14 groups per year.

Tabourne notes, “To date, we've had 44 local groups or about 2700 employees that have

participated in the program over the last five years.”

As the company's corporate mentoring program grew, so did the opportunities in

integrating technology to help streamline the program managers' work. Petrin says,

“Multiple benefits exist for using an online mentoring system. First, it provides ease of

management because everything from forms, reports, and so forth are all in one central

place. It can be accessed 24/7. And it's a perfect solution for organizations that have

multiple branches or locations."

Tabourne remarks, "As we looked at and evaluated the time and effort it takes to manage

a mentoring program of our size, the online option made sense. Having

MentoringComplete manage the program has made a huge difference in the program's

effectiveness. As the person responsible for overseeing a companywide program, having

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all pairs' information at my fingertips via my computer saves me time and effort in following

the progress and success of the program. The time our program managers spend

managing the program has been reduced significantly since we added the online system,

too.”

Results: Mentoring Success, Happier Employees, Fulfilled Mentors

In Enterprise's current 12-month rolling report, it has 450 pairs at an over 89 percent pairs'

retention percentage. Its mentee retention percentage is over 92 percent, including over

94 percent for both women and minorities. In addition, the overall promotion percentage

for mentees participating in the program has continued to exceed expectations.

As for the "buzz" from employees?

Tabourne says, "Both the feedback from the mentees and mentors continues to be terrific.

The feedback on how much the program has benefitted our mentors has been a nice

surprise. We weren't expecting the great feedback from the mentors on the impact of the

program on their own development. In fact, we occasionally get mentors who say they

may have benefited more from the program than their mentees. Also, the high retention

rate of our mentee's exceeds our initial expectations."

Petrin adds, “It's always satisfying for me when a client has embraced a true mentoring

model and begins to create a mentoring culture. The fact that Enterprise's mentors and

mentees have commented they're significantly changed through mentoring supports the

research that indicates corporate mentoring, when done properly, is truly transformational

and makes a difference to the bottom line.”

In addition, the program has helped position Enterprise to compete more effectively for

top talent. Tabourne remarks, “Our formal mentor program is a great attribute to our

company's recognition of the needs of our many Gen Y employees we hire. We recognize

that today's generation places a high value on training and personal career

development. They prefer daily contact with managers to ask questions and ensure they

are meeting required expectations or goals. Having a mentor that they can speak with

regularly about personal and professional goals is a good way for employees to enhance

their access to career guidance. Because we promote from within our organization, our

mentors all have been (professionally) where their mentees have been, so they are

uniquely qualified to provide helpful advice, guidance, and tips.”

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