Challenges In Modern Hrm

Challenges in Modern Human Resource Management

PROJECT REPORT ON CHALLENGES IN MODERN HUMAN RESOUCE MANAGEMENT

(Approved by AICTE, Govt. of India) (Equivalent to MBA) ACADEMIC SESSION 2008-2010

Vineet kumar Sarawagi

TABLE OF CONTENT CHAPTER 1

Challenges in Modern Human Resource Management

1. Executive Summary CHAPTER 2 2. Objective of the project CHAPTER 3 3. Challenges in Modern Human Resource Management 4. Challenges of HRM in Indian IT industry 5. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and their HRM problems 6. Birla Soft and their HRM problems CHAPTER 4 7. Challenges of HRM in Indian Tobacco industry 8. Indian Tobacco Company (ITC) and their HRM problems 9. Godfrey Phillips and their HRM problems CHAPTER 5 10.Research Methodology 6. REFERENCES 7. ANNEXURES

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Challenges in Modern Human Resource Management

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is a truly global company. It starts its human resource sourcing right at the college level. At these institutes, TCS funds many events conferences, seminars, gets involved in improving curricula, establishes fellowships and exchanges expertise through visiting faculty programme. To top all these there is the annual retreat with over a hundred top academics in Thrivananthapuram, the training hub of TCS. TCS extends its relationships to several universities abroad as well. All the spadework being done, TCS finds it easy to hire the best talent in campus recruitment. All major activities in the working life of a worker- from the time of his or her entry into n organization until he or she leaves- come under the purview of HRM. With the passage of time HR mangers have started speaking the language of business. HR job is highly coveted one and so are the Hr practices that are becoming highly visible in the organization. Its significance does lie not only in the observable practice of its functions, but contributing to ad drawing from the highest level of managerial policy. So, the challenges in the HRM practices are being visualized and are better explained considering two different sectors of the Indian industries. For better evaluation we had further taken two different companies from each sector. We had had telephonic conversation with different companies. Its just for a evaluation purpose and so no further comments on the policies and challenges had given till now.

OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT 1) To study the challenges in Human Resources Management that Indian industries are facing.

Challenges in Modern Human Resource Management

2) To study the challenges in HRM of some particular industries by visiting them.

Challenges in Modern Human Resource Management

It is a battle where we realize that the balance comes from a lot of sharing of common chore, of sharing responsibilities and of sharing understanding most of all. The time demand implementing rigid flexibility. Globalisation:- Many Indian firms are compelled to think globally, something which is Rigid, hierarchical and tall structure

Flexible, flat and team based

Challenges in Modern Human Resource Management

difficult for managers who were accustomed to operate in vast sheltered markets with minimal or no competition either from domestic or foreign firms. Indian firms need to move from one end of each continuum to the other end as shown below:

Family centric, closed minded & secretive

Dispersed ownership, open minded &

Caste ridden, superstitious, laid-track

Rational thinking & vibrant styles of

Changed Employee Expectations: Employees demand empowerment and expect equality with the mangement. Previous notions about managerial authority are giving way to employee influence & involvement along with mechanisms for upward communication and due process. If we look at the workers’ unions of Otis, Hindustan Lever, ICI, TOMCO, Blue Star, Webel Electro, and Central Bank. They rewrite their agenda to include quality and better customer service and are even accusing the management of malpractices. So everytime there is need to redram the profile of the worker and discover new methods of training, hiring, renumerating and motivating employees. Outsourcing HR Activities: The trends towards outsourcing has been caused by several strategic and operational motives. HR departments are divesting themselves from mundane activities to focus more on strategic role. Outsourcing has also been used to help reduce bureaucracy and to encourage a more responsive culture by introducing external market forces into the firm through the biding process. It is a big challenge before the HR manager to prove that his/her department is as important as any other functions in the organization. The relevance of HR is at stack. Changing Workforce Dynamics: Frequently, physical relocation is required. The increasing number of dual-career professionals limits individual flexibility in accepting such assignments and may hinder number of dual-career professionals limits individual flexibility in accepting such assignments and may hinder organizational flexibility in acquiring and developing talent. Some demographic changes in the workforce having their own implications to the HR managers are: (i) inceasing number of working mothers, (ii) a steady decline of blue-collar employees who are giving way to white-collar employees, and (iii) increasing awareness & education among workers. Balancing Work-life: Balancing work & life assumes relevance when both husband and

Challenges in Modern Human Resource Management

wife are employed. Travails of a working housewife are more than a working husband, thus balancing it is becoming a major challenge for HR manager. So a programme aiming balancing work-life is required and are supposed to include: Childcare at or near the workplace, Job Sharing, Care for sick children and employees, On-site summer camp, Training supervisors to respond to work and family needs of employees, Flexible work scheduling, Sick leave policies, Variety of errands from dry cleaning, dropping children at schools, making dinner reservations etc and many more like the same or other. Making HR activities ethical: Hiring ethical strong employees is only the beginning. The need to institute mechanisms to ensure ethical conduct of employees is increased a lot with the passage of time. The Hr manager needs to carefully screen applications for jobs, weed out those who are prone to indulge in misdemeanors and hire those who can build a value driven organization. Organizational Restructuring: Peter Drucker prophesis in his book(The New Realities) is showing its colour and many big companies has reduced their number of management grades, elimination of layers, & redrawing reporting lines within their organization. ITC, HLL, Godrej & Boyce, RPG Enterprises, Raymond Woollen Mills, Shaw Wallace, Ballarpur Industries, Compton & Greaves are some of the companies that are doing so. Changes are required particularly during the time of Acquisitions and Mergers also during the bad whether of the firm. This is of need to keep people with and working effectively and efficiently. These are done according to the changing character of competition, as major companies operate through complex web of strategic alliances of varying degrees of permanence. Managing Diversity: Its value is getting more important issue because of: Increase in the number of young workers in the work-force, increase in the number of women joining the work-force, increase in the proportion of ethnic minorities in the total work-force, increase in mobility of work-force, international careers & expatriates are becoming common, international experience as a pre-requisite for career progression to many top-level managerial positions. Organisations that can manage diversity better trend to be more flexible because they have broadened their policies, are more open-minded, have less standardized operating methods and have developed skills in dealing with resistance to change. Attitude towards Unions: Unionization is preferable because to remain unio-free costs the organization heavily. Pay raises, out of turn promotions, generous perks & other benefits need to be doled out frequently to appease workers. General perception of managers is to avoid unionization but it is very beneficial to the organization. It provide a mean for workers to express before the management conditions prevailing in the workplace. But at the same time because of voice mechanism or the instrumentality role, unionized firm have lower turnover rate and encourage organization to provide more rational and professional management. So the work of HR mangers gets tough here to decide whether is should be there in the organization or not and if yes then how to control it. Strings of the union are required to be checked time to time for better performance in the firm.

Challenges in Modern Human Resource Management

CHALLENGES OF HRM IN INDIAN IT INDUSTRY: The Indian IT industry poses a baffling challenge to HR professionals-from recruitment to retaintment, compensation to career planning and from technological obsolescence to

Challenges in Modern Human Resource Management

labour turnover. This problem can be tackled with the use of HR planning which in itself is a challenging task in IT industry. Determining the strength required for the near future is a very complex problem in an IT company. The deciding factor is the company’s perceived ability to bag projects both locally and internationally. The problem here is thatT until the company have sufficient right-mix of people, it cannot clinch a project. But unless there is a project, it cannot attract and retain people. With the advent of MNC’s it may be noted that job prospects are gearing up. The multinationals are offering fantastic pay packets and working environments to their employees TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES AND THEIR HRM PROBLEMS According to the telephonic conversation we had with Mr. Sumit Singhal (hyphothicated), the answers to some of our questions we had asked from him. Company Profile of TCS Tata Consultancy Services is an IT services, business solutions and outsourcing organization that delivers real results to global businesses, ensuring a level of certainty no other firm can match. With a vision of being in top 10 companies by the year 2010. TCS offers a consulting-led, integrated portfolio of IT and IT-enabled services delivered through its unique Global Network Delivery Mode, recognized as the benchmark of excellence in software development.TCS has over 120,000 of the world's best trained IT consultants in 42 countries, with an annual sales of $5.7 billion (fiscal year ending 31 March, 2008) TCS has also won many awards in different fields as • TCS tops the DataQuest DQTop20 list of IT Services providers in India for 2008 • TCS ranked among Top 25 in Business Week's 2007 Information Technology 100 • TCS awarded top position in 2007 "Global Services" 100 ‘Top 10 Best Performing IT Services TCS is the world’s first organization to achieve an enterprise-wide Maturity Level 5 on CMMI® and P-CMM® based on SCAMPISM, the most rigorous assessment methodology. TCS Integrated Quality Management System (iQMS™) integrates processes, people, and technology maturity through various established frameworks and practices, including IEEE, ISO 9001: 2000, CMMi, SW-CMM, P-CMM, and Six-Sigma. This shows that it is lays much emphasis on quality control.

CHALLENGES IN TCS 1) THE MAINTAIN WORKFORCE DIVERSITY The future success of any organizations relies on the ability to manage a diverse body of talent that can bring innovative ideas, perspectives and views to their work. The challenge and problems faced of workplace diversity can be turned into a strategic organizational

Challenges in Modern Human Resource Management

asset if an organization is able to capitalize on this melting pot of diverse talents. With the mixture of talents of diverse cultural backgrounds, genders, ages and lifestyles, an organization can respond to business opportunities more rapidly and creatively, especially in the global arena (Cox, 1993), which must be one of the important organizational goals to be attained. More importantly, if the organizational environment does not support diversity broadly, one risks losing talent to competitors Since TCS has offices in more than 40 countries, the challange for hrm is to maintain the proper ratio between foreign and indian origin employees. 2) THE MANAGEMENT OF WORKPLACE DIVERSITY In order to effectively manage workplace diversity, Cox (1993) suggests that a HR Manager needs to change from an ethnocentric view ("our way is the best way") to a culturally relative perspective ("let's take the best of a variety of ways"). This shift in philosophy has to be ingrained in the managerial framework of the HR Manager in his/her planning, organizing, leading and controlling of organizational resources. TCS deals with this challenge by conducting mentoring programs. 3) LARGE WORKFORCE There is a big challenge of maintaining large work force consisting of 1.3 Lac employees for TCS. 4) MANAGING EIS As information is the basis of decision-making in an organization, there lies a great need for effective managerial control. A good control system would ensure the communication of the right information at the right time and relayed to the right people to take prompt actions. When managing an Executive Information System, a HR manager must first find out exactly what information decision-makers would like to have available in the field of human resource management, and then to include it in the EIS. This is because having people simply use an EIS that lacks critical information is of no value-add to the organization. In addition, the manager must ensure that the use of information technology has to be brought into alignment with strategic business goals.

5) CONTROL AND MEASURE RESULTS A HR Manager must conduct regular organizational assessments on issues like pay, benefits, work environment, management and promotional opportunities to assess the progress over the long term. There is also a need to develop appropriate measuring tools to measure the impact of diversity initiatives at the organization through organization wide feedback surveys and other methods. Without proper control and evaluation, some of these diversity initiatives may just fizzle. 6) LEADING THE TALK A HR Manager needs to advocate a diverse workforce by making diversity evident at all organizational levels. Otherwise, some employees will quickly conclude that there is no future for them in the company. As the HR Manager, it is pertinent to show respect for diversity issues and promote clear and positive responses to them. He/She must also show a high level of commitment and be able to resolve issues of workplace diversity in an ethical and responsible manner.

Challenges in Modern Human Resource Management

7) HOW TO KEEP THE SAME LEVEL OF RECRUITEMENT EVEN IN RECESSION The biggest challenge for HR is to maintain the company reputation, which it gained over the period by recruiting a large number of new employees every year. 8) HOW TO ABSORB ALL RECRUITEES Though there are recruitments in large scale, they do not have enough projects to absorb all the new recruited employees. In order to tackle this situation, they are calling the new recruited employees in small batches rather than 2-3 large groups. 9) EMPLOYEES ELIGIBLE FOR PROMOTIONS TCS has just suspended the promotion cycle till further notice. As told by Mr. Susheel(name changed) , he is eligible for promotion since Nov -2007. 10) HOW TO MAKE MORE PROFIT WITH SAME REVENUE As per Economic times, TCS is planning to decrease the variable pay of executives by 1015% and keeping the gross same for middle management and developers. 11) HOW TO MOTIVATE EMPLOYEE The development of an appropriate organizational reward system is probably one of the strongest motivational factors. This can influence both job satisfaction and employee motivation. The reward system affects job satisfaction by making the employee more comfortable and contented Motivational factors in an organizational context include working environment, job as a result of the rewards received. The reward system influences motivation primarily through the perceived value of the rewards and their contingency on performance (Hickins, 1998).

The challenge which HR is facing is that how to motivate employee without any significant salary hike or promotion.

BIRLA SOFT AND THEIR HRM PROBLEMS Birlasoft is a leading provider of information technology services in both onshore and offshore models to Fortune 1000 as well as mid-sized organizatiaons in banking, financial services, insurance, retail, healthcare, manufacturing and independent software vendors sectors. Birlasoft services include application development, support & maintenance, enterprise application implementation, integration, infrastructure management and quality

Challenges in Modern Human Resource Management

assurance

&

testing.

Birlasoft’s robust delivery processes embrace digitized project management methodologies, embedded within proven practices of Six Sigma, SEI CMMi Level 5 on Continuous Representation and secure services framework with BS7799. The Noida centers of the company have been recently assessed at PCMM Level 3 for its HR practices. Headquartered at Noida, India, Birlasoft has 4,000+ employees across US, UK, Germany, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Malaysia, Australia, Singapore and India. Birlasoft is part of the global $1.4 billion CK Birla Group which traces its roots back to over 150 years and has diversified interests ranging from automobiles, cement, paper, software etc. to hospitals, schools and colleges as part of its philanthropic work. The company is a joint venture of CK Birla Group of India and Computer Horizons Corporation (CHC) of USA. It is leading Information Technology company with offices world-wide. It offers high class solutions and offshore services to its clients that includes companies like AT & T, P&O Containers, Merrill Lynch, ICL, Oracle Corporation, Ford, IBM, Network Managers, Shawn Ice, Saudi Aramco, DDA, NEI, BMBHRC, ET &T, CDAC. In the year 1999 it has rated as the third fastest growing software companies of India by Dataquest of India, Magazine. CHALLENGES IN BIRLASOFT 1. Communication

Focusing on establishing effective communication throughout the organization and to ensure that Birlasoftians have the skills and avenues to share information and coordinate activities effectively. 2. PerformanceManagement Driving the organization’s and its members’ progress by establishing objectives related to committed work against which performance can be measured, ascertain capability development assistance required to continuously enhance performance. 3. CompetencyDevelopment

This starts with identification of requisite competencies at the organization level which are ultimately dependent on competencies that are needed to be identified, built or enhanced in the individual Birlasoftian. Enhancing constantly the capability of Birlasoftians to perform assigned tasks and responsibility in turn uplinks to the organization capability building. 4. Training and Development To ensure that the identified competency requirements are built through a systematic and focused approach. 5. Compensation

To provide all individuals with remuneration and benefits based on their contribution and value to the organization in a fair and transparent manner. Competitiveness of the compensation offered in comparison with the prevailing

Challenges in Modern Human Resource Management

markets' reality is the driving force. 6. Career Development

To ensure that individuals are provided opportunities to develop their competencies that enable them to achieve professional and personal career objectives within the organization’s goals. 7. Participatory Culture

A myopic outlook of utilizing talents of people only in the delivery of assigned duties has two broad undesirable effects: It prevents people from developing as well rounded professionals; and it denies the organization the readily available multitalented internal resource pool that could potentially contribute to most of the challenges and opportunities facing the organization. Building a participatory culture enables availability of avenues to harness/give exposure to employees’ full capability by involvement in making decisions and solving problems that affect the performance of business activities

CHALLENGES OF HRM IN INDIAN TOBACCO INDUSTRY: Large companies can afford to keep surplus staff and keep them engaged in internal projects or training programmes. However, employees deeply resent transfers from one projects to another as it adversely affects their carrier planning and prospects. Unexpected employees turnover and overseas deputation may aid further strain on HR department. Notwithstanding with the complexity of the problem, it has to be tackled to enable the HR department to plan its recruitment campaign, at least 3 months in advance. The marketing department has to play a vital role here. It must forecast the technologies in demand in the

Challenges in Modern Human Resource Management

near future and indicate what slice of the cake the company can reasonably expect to get so that recruitment and training process can be greater geared accordingly. INDIAN TOBACCO COMPANY (ITC) AND THEIR HRM PROBLEMS

Company Profile ITC is one of India's foremost private sector companies with a market capitalisation of over US $ 13 billion and a turnover of US $ 3.5 billion. Rated among the World's Best Big Companies by Forbes magazine and among India's Most Respected Companies by BusinessWorld, ITC ranks third in pre-tax profit among India's private sector corporations. ITC has a diversified presence in Cigarettes, Hotels, Paperboards & Specialty Papers, Packaging, Agri-Business, Packaged Foods & Confectionery, Information Technology, Branded Apparel, Greeting Cards, Safety Matches and other FMCG products. History ITC was incorporated on August 24, 1910 under the name of 'Imperial Tobacco Company of India Limited. Though the first six decades of the Company's existence were primarily devoted to the growth and consolidation of the Cigarettes and Leaf Tobacco businesses ITC's Packaging & Printing Business Division, was set up in 1925 as a strategic backward integration for ITC's Cigarettes business In 1975 the Company launched its Hotels business with the acquisition of a hotel in Chennai which was rechristened 'ITC-Welcomgroup Hotel Chola'. Products •CIGARETTES Wills, Insignia, India Kings, Gold Flake, Navy Cut, Scissors, Capstan, Berkeley, Bristol, Flake. •FOODS Ready to eat foods, staples, confectionery and snacks. •LIFESTYLE RETAILING Wills Classic work wear, Wills Clublife evening wear, Wills sports wear. •GREETING, GIFTING AND STATIONARY Expressions greeting cards, autograph books, slam books, party invitations, pop up & mini books, Expressions Regalia(collection of premium greeting cards & social cause cards and desk calendars) Market Share ITC has captured a market share of 8%. In confectionery, ITC has built up a 17% share of mint candies and 24% of hard-boiled candies Ready-to-eat Sunfeast Pasta Treat has clocked 6% of the branded noodles

Challenges in Modern Human Resource Management Indian tobacco act’s amendement 2003. •Cigarettes Act is passed with first statutory health warning, 1975 •States like Delhi, Goa and a few more had created their own tobacco control laws •Kerala High Court and Supreme Court had given momentous decisions in favour of tobacco control policies •Prevention and Control of Pollution Act included smoking in the definition of air pollution, Motor Vehicles Act of 1988 made it illegal to smoke in a public vehicle and Cables Television Network Amendment Act of 2000 prohibited the transmission of tobacco commercials on cable TV across the country. •The Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003 (COTPA), a comprehensive tobacco control legislation, comes into force on 1st May 2004 •India ratified FCTC on 5th February 2004.

According to the telephonic conversation we had with Mr. Udit Gujarati (hyphothicated), the answers to some of our questions we had asked from him Ques 1. How long have you been associated to the company? Ans. I am associated with the company with last 7 years, and has seen many ups & down in my life period. The company has been very good in performance appraisal and I got many rewards in this tenure. There are some special certifications which only I have, and that’s because of my interest that the company has sent me for the training. I got many offers from many companies, which were better in monetary terms, but I had not gone with them. The policies of the company had made a type of family relationship that can’t be broken anyhow. Even if I may not be associated with the company my heart would remain here. Ques 2. How many employees are working under you? Ans. I am Sales Manager with 3 area sales manager under me with approximately a pool of 44 people under. Ques 3. What challenges you are facing due to stringency in govt. policies? Ans. There is decrease in sales of the company, when we compare the statistics of the company’s sales with the past years; there has been a tremendous decrease in the sales of the cigarettes and cigars. With decreasing profits, and increasing pressure due to govt policies, we had to pressurise our employees to increase the sales. This in turn is increasing the attrition rate of the employees. Hence, the company is trying to retain their old employees by motivating them and giving them appraisals. Ques 4.In what way attrition is affecting the company? Ans. With the strict policies and increased attrition, we have to recruit new employees, and hence provide them with training and knowledge of our products. With this, we have to spend a major part of our budget on their training and development, which is affecting the company’s profits. Ques 5.What is the basic criteria of recruiting new employees?

Challenges in Modern Human Resource Management

Ans. We don’t have any such particular policy for any recruitment and it is according to the post and the recruitment we had for the particular post. The decision is taken by experts at the time of need and normally we go to different consultancies. Ques 6. What methods have been adopted by your company to retain your old employees? Ans. We don’t have to do anything special to retain our old employees. They are very happy here and they don’t want to leave the company. Even though we have many Schemes and different activities running in our company that make the employees not to leave the company. Ques 7. What kind of motivation policies your company has adopted? Ans. The company is motivating the employees by providing them tangible and intangible benefits, in the form of appraisals, bonuses, best performers, gifts on festivals, pension policies for old employees, health benefits, rewards and incentives. Ques 8.In this LIQUIDITY CRUNCH we have seen the recruitment been frozen, how does your company manage recruitment and selection process? Ans. Currently we are not giving any such call for new recruitments. We have enough employees to work and will definitely announce for recruitment if we will require so. The crunch has not impacted us too much.

CHALLENGES FACED ITC BY THE HR MANAGER 1. ATTRITION Attrition is the gradual reduction of a workforce by employees' leaving and not being replaced rather than by their being laid. Reducing attrition rate has been a challenge for HR Managers since many years. Tobacco industry was not much not affected by the problem of attrition, but due to stringency in govt. policies this problem became a prominent challenge for HR Managers of this industry. The same is the case with HR Manager of ITC, due to stringency in govt. policies the sales went down and the profits declined. In order to maintain the profit levels employees were pressurized and thereby adding to the attrition rate. Now, HR Managers are working hard to reduce this increasing attrition rate.

Challenges in Modern Human Resource Management 2. RECRUITMENT AND TRAINING As the employees are leaving the organization due to increased work pressures, it has become mandatory for the HR Manager to recruit new employees. And in this liquidity crunch they are spending on the recruitment and training of the new recruits. 3. RETENTION Retention is a process of continued possession. Retaining an employee without giving any fringe benefits is although more difficult. In the current scenario when each and every organization is suffering from liquidity crunch it is very difficult for an organization to give tangible or intangible benefits. HR Manager of ITC also is moving in the same boat. He is also facing difficulties in retaining the old employees, as he is not able to motivate them and with the increased pressure the attrition is increasing.

GODFREY PHILLIPS AND THEIR HRM PROBLEMS

Company Profile

Challenges in Modern Human Resource Management Godfrey Phillips is today the second largest player in the Indian cigarette industry with an annual turnover of over US$ 265 million. The company was incorporated in India in 1936, the Company established its own manufacturing facilities in 1944. The Company today is the proud owner of some of the most popular cigarette brands in the country like Red and White, Four Square, Jaisalmer, Cavanders, Tipper and Prince.Its products are distributed through an extensive India wide network comprising 484 exclusive distributors and over 800,000 retail outlets History •1844 - Mr. Godfrey Phillips, founder of Godfrey Phillips & Sons commenced business in the Barbican (London), as a Cigar manufacturer •1944 - Company established its own manufacturing facilities 1946 - GODFREY PHILLIPS became a Public Ltd. Co. with its manufacturing operations in Mumbai •1967 - D. Macropolo & Co., which was the sole selling agent for GODFREY PHILLIPS, opened a subsidiary company called "International Tobacco Co.", 1967-68 - Philip Morris acquired substantial holding in Godfrey Phillips Ltd 1979 - Philip Morris. joined hands with the K.K. Modi Group and in the following year the Modi Enterprises took over the management of GODFREY PHILLIPS 2002 - The Company re-launch some of its brands, by giving them an entirely new look & positioning, while some new, innovative products like Tipper & Piper were also introduced 2003 - Jaisalmer & Prince re-launched Cigarette brands Four Square, Jaisalmer, Red & White, Cavanders, Tipper, North Pole, Prince. Cigars - Brands Don Diego, Hav-a-tampa, Phillies, Santa Damiana H-2000 Rothschild.

According to the telephonic conversation we had with Mr. Udit Gujarati (hyphothicated), the answers to some of our questions we had asked from him Ques 1. How long have you been associated to the company? Ans. I am working in GODFREY PHILIP since 6 years as one of the most loyal employees. The company stands second in the market share of the cigarette products. I have seen the progress of the company with the increase in sales over a period of time and the expansion of the company, with the production of candies and chocolate as the latest introductory offers and many other such projects that are in the pipeline. Ques 2. How many employees are working under you? Ans. I am the area sales manager of the company. I have a workforce of 23 employees who are reporting me on daily basis. Ques 3. What challenges you are facing due to stringency in govt. policies? Ans. The govt. has made some amendments in the INDIAN TOBACCO ACT 1975 with special reference to advertising, smoking in public places, selling to and by minors and 10

Challenges in Modern Human Resource Management

to 15% decrease in land allotted for cultivating tobacco. With this coming into effect, there has been a considerable downfall in sales of cigarettes and related products. The company has to switch to other alternative fields like consumer goods, and with these developments, the employee workforce has to be recruited and thoroughly trained in their specific departments. Also, the company has changed the working platforms of its employees who are working in production department; hence a major challenge is to plan the management of the workforce. Ques 4.What is the basic criteria of recruiting new employees? Ans. The employee are recruited for various posts and selected on the basis of their areas of expertise. Those employees having work experience in related job-work is given preference. The recruitment is done by a step wise with following steps. 1. Preliminary interview 2. Selection tests 3. Final interview 4. Reference checks. After going through these steps, if the employee fulfils all the criteria’s, then the employees are recruited. Ques 5. What methods have been adopted by your company to retain your old employees? Ans. Some of the employees have been shifted to other platforms by training them about the new production methods. Along with this the employees are motivated to outperform in their respective departments. The old employees are given the option of pension schemes on retirement. Ques 6. What other motivation policies your company has adopted? Ans. The company motivates the employees by providing with gifts and rewards, and bonuses on quarterly basis. Also the best performing employee is being rewarded a tour to MALAYSIA along with his family. Also the managers seek to provide specific attention to employees by meeting them once in every month. The company follows the process of self-appraisal in which the employee can fill in the form and send it to the department depending upon his/her own performance. Ques 7.In this LIQUIDITY CRUNCH we have seen the recruitment been frozen, how does your company manage recruitment and selection process? Ans. The way the liquidity crunch has banged the country’s backbone, same way it has also affected our company too. But our company has sustained various such disasters, and during these tough times, our country will emerge as the winner. Since the company is expanding into new ventures and launching new products, hence company has to recruit new employees. There is a lot of investment in the recruiting and training process, but it is a part of the strategy that has to be followed.

Challenges in Modern Human Resource Management CHALLENGES IN BIRLASOFT 1. Communication

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

Focusing on establishing effective communication throughout the organization and to ensure that Birlasoftians have the skills and avenues to share information and coordinate activities effectively. Performance Management Driving the organization’s and its members’ progress by establishing objectives related to committed work against which performance can be measured, ascertain capability development assistance required to continuously enhance performance. Competency Development This starts with identification of requisite competencies at the organization level which are ultimately dependent on competencies that are needed to be identified, built or enhanced in the individual Birlasoftian. Enhancing constantly the capability of Birlasoftians to perform assigned tasks and responsibility in turn uplinks to the organization capability building. Training and Development To ensure that the identified competency requirements are built through a systematic and focused approach. Compensation To provide all individuals with remuneration and benefits based on their contribution and value to the organization in a fair and transparent manner. Competitiveness of the compensation offered in comparison with the prevailing markets' reality is the driving force. Career Development To ensure that individuals are provided opportunities to develop their competencies that enable them to achieve professional and personal career objectives within the organization’s goals. Participatory Culture A myopic outlook of utilizing talents of people only in the delivery of assigned duties has two broad undesirable effects: It prevents people from developing as well rounded professionals; and it denies the organization the readily available multitalented internal resource pool that could potentially contribute to most of the challenges and opportunities facing the organization. Building a participatory culture enables availability of avenues to harness/give exposure to employees’ full capability by involvement in making decisions and solving problems that affect the performance of business activities

Challenges in Modern Human Resource Management

METHODOLOGY BLUE PRINT OF THE PROJECT COMPOSITION Opinions were collected by interviewing the experts.

CONFIGURATION CONSOLIDATION Research All the opinions questions were were consolidated formulatedinon terms the basis of commonality. of opinions

Challenges in Modern Human Resource Management

REFERENCES: Beer, M. (1997), “The transformation of the human resource function: resolving the tension between a traditional administrative and a new strategic role”, Human Resource Management, Vol. 36 No. 1, pp. 49-56.

Challenges in Modern Human Resource Management

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Challenges in Modern Human Resource Management

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ANNEXURE Ques 1. How long have you been associated to the company? Ques 2. How many employees are working under you? Ques 3. What challenges you are facing due to stringency in govt. policies? Ques 4. In what way attrition is affecting the company? Ques 5. What is the basic criteria of recruiting new employees? Ques 6. What methods have been adopted by your company to retain your old employees? Ques 7. What kind of motivation policies your company has adopted? Ques 8. In this LIQUIDITY CRUNCH we have seen the recruitment been frozen, how does your company manage recruitment and selection process?

Challenges in Modern Human Resource Management

People are not Difficult, they are Different