Master of Business Administration- MBA Semester 3MU0013 –HR Audit - 4 Credits

(Book ID:B1231)

Assignment Set -1 (60 marks)

Q1. What are the main objectives of human resource planning?

To determine the number of employees to be employed: If organization has more

number of employees than actually required, then the workforce will consist of

underutilized staff. In contrast, if the opposite management is made, staff may be

overstretched, making it hard or impossible to meet production or service deadlines at

the quality level expected. You should ask following questions for planning right number

of employees:

To retain highly skilled staff: In this competitive world it is very important for the

organization to retain its skilled staff. Thus organizations should do following:

(a) Monitor the extent of resignation

(b) Discover the reasons for it

(c) Establish what it is costing the organization

(d) Compare loss rates with other similar organizations.

To manage an effective downsizing programme: This is a very common issue for

managers but yet the most difficult one. A downsizing strategy reduces the workforce

for improving profitability or reducing costs. For this you need to answer following

question:

How is the workforce to be cut painlessly, while at the same time protecting the long-

term interests of the organization?

To find out the procedure for recruiting the upcoming managers: Many senior managers

are troubled by this issue. They have seen traditional career paths disappear. They

have had to bring in senior staff from elsewhere. But they recognise that while this may

have dealt with a short-term skills shortage, it has not solved the longer term question of

managerial supply: what sort, how many, and where will they come from? To address

these questions you need to understand:

Q2. Write a short note on focus groups.

A focus group is a form of qualitative research in which a group of employees are asked

about their perceptions, opinions, beliefs and attitudes towards the culture and policies

of the organization. Focus groups are interviews, but of 6-10 people at the same time in

the same group.

Questions are asked in an interactive group setting where participants are free to talk

with other group members. Focus groups are a powerful means to evaluate services or

test new ideas. One can get a great deal of information during a focus group session.

Preparing for the session

Identification of the major objective of the meeting.

Carefully developing five to six questions.

Planning the session.

Calling potential members to invite them to the meeting.

About 2-3 days before the session, call each member to remind them to attend.

Planning the session

Scheduling: Plan meetings to be one to 1-1.5 hours long. Over lunch tends to be a very

good time for others to find time to attend.

Ground Rules: It's critical that all members participate as much as possible, yet the

session move along while generating useful information. Because the session is often a

one-time occurrence, it's useful to have a few, short ground rules that sustain

participation, yet do so with focus. Consider the

Membership: Focus groups are usually conducted with 6-10 members who have some

similar nature, e.g., similar age group, status in a program, etc. Select members who

are likely to be participative and reflective. Attempt to select members who don't know

each other.

Employee newsletters

Employee newsletters are an effective tool to communicate with your employees. You

canProvide information about your customers: The more familiar your employees are

with your customers, the more successful your company will be. So it's very important

that you provide them with enough information about your prospects.

Explain how to sell your products: Share effective tips and techniques to sell your

products and services. The more your employees know about selling techniques, the

more sales you will make.

Explain your company goals: Every company has some important goals. You can

explain your goals, why they are so important, and how your employees can help the

company achieve them.

Welcome new employees: You might have new employees joining your company.

Extending a warm welcome message to them makes them work more passionately and

with more energy.

Q3. Explain the audit of human resource function.

Audit of Human Resource Function

Good starting point of audit process is to take some time and reflect on HR functions

which need to be audited. Simply listing them is a good first step. For achieving

organizational goals, it is very important to carry out various HR functions smoothly. In

this step of audit process, we define the various functions which need to be audited.

All human resource functions.

The main purpose is to study and analyze each one of the specific areas of HRM. The

analysis should focus on the planned measures, the method of implementation, and the

results obtained. In order to carry this out, the areas that need to be audited must be

identified. A list of the indicators corresponding to the different areas of the HR function

could contain some of the following:

Description of the staff of the company

The complete staff can be described by:

hierarchic levels

years of service

qualification

sex

nationality

the number of permanent and temporary employees, interns and physically or mentally

challenged employees

indexes of personnel rotation and absenteeism

Job analysis

The various indicators of Job analysis are as follows:

The number of described posts

Occupants per post

Degree to which the job description cards have been updated

The degree of detail in the job description cards

The methods used to analyze and describe the jobs.

HR planning

HR planning, as you have studied in unit 7, is an important area of preplanning includes

the methods employed to plan personnel needs, the measures adopted to cover future

personnel needs, and the temporary planning horizon.

Recruiting and personnel selection

Main indicators of this are as follows:

the number of days required to a vacant post

the number of applications received by work place categories

the average amount of days between the reception of the application

the average cost of recruitment

cost of selection per job post

the degree to which internal and external sources of recruitment are used

the average number of candidates that do not pass the selective tests

the study of the reliability and validity of the selection tests

Q4. What are the trends in HR audit seen in Indian scenario?

HR audit has been quite popular since 1970s. it first promulgated by BHEL

( Bharat Heavy Electrical Limited ), a leading Public Enterprise ,during the

financial year 1972-1973.later it was also adopted by other leading public and

private sector organizations in the subsequent years. Some of them are

Hindustan Machine Tools Ltd., Oil And Natural Gas Corporation Ltd., Associated

Cement Company Ltd., and Infosys Technologies Ltd.

Adaptability of various models, especially Lev and Schwartz model and

Flamholtz Model and Discount Rate fixation and disclosure pattern I.E. either

Age wise, skill wise etc. In BHEL, SAIL, MMTC (Minerals and Metal Trading

Corporation of India Ltd.) HMTL, NTP, etc., made HR auditing even more popular

in the country.

All said and done though, let us mark the fact here despite this all, there has

been no uniformity among Indian enterprises regarding HRA disclosure.

HRD Audits of Different Organisations have revealed different things. The case

study of two HRD audited organisations discussed in this unit is quite illustrative

to substantiate this.

Let us make it clear at this point only that the names of the organisations have

been change because the audit process reveals the strengths and weakness of

the organisations are brought to the fore and the organisations may not like it to

get their weaknesses published.

It is a point to mark that, in most of the organisations, great support was given to all

HRD activities by the top Management of the organisations.

Q5. Explain the process of conducting audit of training.

Human Resource Audit like audit of HR planning, audit of HR development, audit of

training and so on. In this unit, you will study the process to be followed for conducting

HR Audit. An audit procedure helps to assess whether the Human resource (HR)

function at business unit (BU) level is delivering its mandate and roles. The

methodology that drives the audit is based on four key principles advocated by a

leading HR consultant and teacher, Dave Ulrich and his associates in the USA.

Their cutting edge research and consulting work has shown that worthy HR

professionals should ensure the following:

1. There is availability of line manager friendly systems, and procedures to help

management execute their people management role (i.e. the technical-professional and

service role of HR);

2. The line management is working within the frameworks of various labour relations

laws and codes of conduct that govern the relationship between labour and

management in the workplace (the compliance role of HR);

3. In each business unit there is overall people management (HR) strategy in place that

increases the value of employees to the business (the strategic role of human

resources);

4. The various HR systems and procedures are run at optimal cost (financial

management role of human resources). Please do not read optimal as lowest cost, but

as the right price for the job on hand.

These assumptions can be translated into four major roles that HR professionals must

play to make a real contribution to a business‟ success. In this unit, you will go through

the details of various steps initiated for conducting HR audit. Look at Figure 8.1 for

understanding the various steps of audit process.

Q6. Elaborate on the different aspects work place policies and practices to be

considered by the employers

Workplace Policies and Practices

Many smaller companies do not like writing certain aspects of ways of conducting

business. For such companies, it is mere formality and they do not appreciate “people-

oriented culture.” Though it should be avoided because it is patently illegal because

laws require that companies should mention very clearly the policies about

guaranteeing specific protections to employees

Safeguarding employee information

Employees‟ personal information should be safeguarded. Separate files should be

maintained for personal information as contrasted with employment related information.

Employee performance management

An audit can review company‟s job descriptions for compliance (i.e., to determine

whether the descriptions list the essential functions of the job). Various legal issues can

arise due to performance related problems of employees. Audit will help in following

improvements and reviews:

A 90-day written standard performance evaluation form, An annual written standard performance evaluation form,

A performance management/performance improvement plan,

A description of the company‟s policy for both voluntary resignation and company-initiated termination,

Wage and salary administration program,

Bonus/stock option criteria. Safe work environment Audit practices may also help the companies to know about factors that contribute to a safe work environment. A company may choose to develop an audit sheet tailored to a particular issue, such as the company‟s zero-tolerance policy for harassment. For example, a company may wish to review and evaluate its practices of dealing with inappropriate harassing behaviour in its workplace.

Auditing workplace behaviors that support legal compliance A safe, dignified, and respectful work environment is not only mandated by the law, but also increases motivation and productivity of the employees. An example of review of business practices used to deal with allegations of harassment safe working environments should be considered especially for the females in the offices so as to make them feel confident and concentrate on work is shown as under: