1. State six objectives of human resource planning in an organisation.

1. Key to managerial functions – managerial functions, i.e., planning, organizing, directing and controlling are based upon the manpower.
2. Efficient utilization – Efficient management of personnel can be effectively done through  staffing function
3. Shortages and surpluses can be identified so that quick action can be taken wherever required Motivation
4. motivational programmes, such as incentive plans.
5. Better human relations – helps:in the stability of a concern
6. Higher productivity – It helps in growth and diversification of business

2. Employee performance appraisal is one of the ways used in evaluating individuals in terms of their job performance. Suggest four issues that could be covered during employee performance appraisal.

1. To provide feedback to employees in terms of quality and quantity of job performance without which employees have less knowledge of how well they are doing on the job and how they might improve.
2. Appraisals are important for making important personnel decisions e.g. transfers, demotions, promotions, _discipline and separations. Because of their very sensitive consequences these decisions must be made on adequate information.
3. Appraisals form the basis of organizational reward systems particularly merits based compensation plans.
4. Appraisals suggest areas in which employees training and development are most needed. If employee appraisals consistently point to certain problem areas, programs can be developed to remedy the situation.
5. Performance appraisals can be a self-development indicator where individuals learn about their strengths and weaknesses as seen by other people.

3. Describe three techniques of employee performance appraisal.

1. Graphic rating—assessing performance by a graph or a line representing the range of a personal trait or dimension of the job.
2. Behavioral rating—assessing performance by specific description of work behavior.
3. Work standards approach—comparing actual performance with present standards.
4. Essay—writing a commentary, discussing an individual’s strengths and weaknesses.
5. Management by objectives – setting of future objectives and action plans jointly by subordinates and superiors and then measuring outcomes against goals.
6. Ranking method—involves ranking of employees in one department or work unit ranging from the best to the worst performer based on overall contribution to the
   organization.

4. Enumerate four errors that could be made by an appraiser during employee performance appraisal.

1. Central tendency error – Superiors have been found to rate most of their employees within a narrow range. The superiors fail to distinguish significant differences between group members and lumps everyone together in an average or above average category.
2. Strictness/Leniency error – Some superiors may be by nature overly strict or overly lenient and this form biases in the appraisal activity.
3. Recency error – In an annual evaluation a supervisor may give undue emphasis to performance during the past 2 or 3 months and ignore performance levels prior to this. This leads to uneven performance as well as contributing to the “playing the game” attitude where employees relax in the initial months and then work very hard just before the evaluation period.
4. Personal biases – Personal biases can exist in the form of racialism, sex, background etc. An evaluator may have preconceived ideas about people of a certain sex, age or race and thus evaluate them in the light of his preconceived opinions. Here also the effects of stereotypes come into play during evaluation.

5. Steps that could be taken by a manager in order to motivate employees.

1. Participation in Planning: It is when employees are given a choice to plan their own work and contribute to organizational planning; the plans are more acceptable to them since they have taken part in making them.
2. Challenging Work: It’s when work is not challenging boredom sets in and this is likely to cause sluggishness and dissatisfaction at the place of work.
3. Recognition and Status: Most people want approval by peers, friends and bosses. Benefits that show status e.g. company car, credit card, club membership may increase motivation. Recognition is shown by items distinction e.g. a key to the executive lift, or washroom, carpeted offices, reserved parking etc.
4. Authority, Responsibility and Power: Some people are motivated greatly by being responsible for the work of others. Many people stay in organizations with a hope of rising.
5. Independence of Action: It’s being allowed to work without close supervision.
6. Security: Financial security achieved mainly through secure and comprehensive labour contracts e.g. that involve’ medical covers and insurance.
7. Advancement: People could become demotivated if the organization has little room for upward mobility.
8. Personal growth: People want to grow wholesomely both in aspects related to the job like skills and those outside the job like potentials in such fields as sports.
9. Good working conditions: The environment in which people operate is very important to their importance. Excessively noisy, congested, dirty or poorly arranged places may demotivate employees.
10. Money: A good salary is a basic motivator. In fact for some people money could be the greatest motivational force. For example for people who are financially hard pressed money remains the biggest motivator. However, people also look for other things in a job other than money and they may even accept lower paying jobs that have those other things.

6. Four objectives of the selection interview.

1. To assess the candidates suitability for the position
2. To give information to’the candidate
3. To present the company in a good light to the applicant
4. The objective of the selection interview is to predict the candidate’s probable behaviour in a particular job situation

7. Analyse eight steps involved in a systematic approach to training in an organisation.

1. Identify the training needs: A training need is a gap between the knowledge and skills required for the performance of a specific job and the knowledge and skills already possessed by the employees. It is the gap between what is and what should be.
2. Defining the training required: This involves setting objectives that will be attained through training. The objectives will help define the requirements.
3. Planning the training program: This is a-concrete scheme of action designed to ensure that the training objectives are achieved. The programme must be developed to meet the needs and objectives by using the right trainer, (methods) facilities etc.
   Plans must be made for the following:-
   – Trainer / facilitator
   – Creation of training
   – Techniques / methods of training
   – Facilities that will be needed
   – Allocation of responsibilities.
4. Implementation of the programme: This is putting the programme into action
5. Evaluating and amending the training as necessary: Evaluation is a monitoring process that is meant to ensure that the training objectives are
   achieved. Evaluation is done during the training and after the training.

8. Importance of training employees to an organisation

1. There is increased productivity and efficiency
2. Leads to better customer service
3. There is increased creativity and innovation
4. It speeds the learning curve effects
5. It creates flexibility in the workers such that the workers are able to handle a variety of tasks
6. The organization is able to obtain trained personnel
7. It reduces chances of accidents
8. It reduces wastage and costs due to minimization of errors
9. Training can be used to introduce change, thereby minimizing resistance to change It improves the co-operate image of the organization

9. Four consequences of low motivation amongst employees in an organisation.

1. Greater grievances and conflicts in organization.
2. High rate of employee absenteeism and turnover.
3. Dissatisfaction with the superiors and employers.
4. Poor working conditions.
5. Employees frustration.
6. Decrease in productivity.

10. Merits and demerits of external Recruitment?

Merits of External Recruitment
i) Provides a large pool of qualified candidates to choose from.
ii) Expertise and experience from other organisation in.
iii) The source never dries up i.e. it is available to even new enterprise
iv) It is most suitable when candidates are not available from within when an organisation is expanding very fast.
Demerits of External Recruitment
i) It is an expensive way of recruitment i.e. advertisement cost to be incurred
ii) Time consuming i.e. a lot of time taken to fill a vacancy
iii) High cost of training to new employees
iv) Uncertain due to changes in demand and supply of labor.
v) May erode employee morale i.e. present employees may feel highly demoralized when they are not considered for vacant positions.

11. Ways in which an organization could evaluate the effectiveness of a training programme.
An objective of training evaluation is to determine the payoff from the training investment. It focuses on the improvement of the participant in the training programme to perform jobs for which they were trained, what was effective and what was not, whether the trainees required any additional on the job training, and the extent of training not needed for the participants to meet job requirements.
i) Reaction — Distribute an evaluation or feedback form. This is often called a “smile sheet” and can be administered in either paper format or online format. This type of evaluation is
usually inexpensive and used by most organizations. Be sure to distribute evaluations immediately after training ends. You can include questions to evaluate the instructor, material covered, training materials and audio visual equipment.
ii) Learning — To assess the amount of learning, consider using pre-tests and posttests. The tests attempts to determine how students have advanced with regards to skills, knowledge and attitude. Pre-tests should be administered before the class begins, and post-tests would be given at the completion of the training class. You can administer pre-tests and posttests  on paper or online. You can include multiple choice/fill-in the blank type questions, and/or may include work-related hands-on exercises for the learner to complete online.
iii) Behavior — To determine the extent of behavior and capability improvement, consider observing learners for an extended period of time after training is completed. This can be
measured via post training interviews, monitoring progress and meeting with managers of the learners to determine if the training has allowed the learner to excel in his/her job.
iv) Results — To determine the business impact of the training program, measure key performance indicators including return on investment, staff turnover, employee retention,
quality ratings and other types of quantifiable aspects of the performance of the organization.

12. Types of questions asked by interviewers.

1. Questions the ability of the interviewees: This is intellectual questions on the ability of the interviewee to solve various problems.
2. Questions about strength and weakness of the interviewee what interviewee can do best and what he/she cannot do, temperate controls.
3. Question about work history
4. Whether the interviewee has ever worked in any organisation, the positions held while in the organisation or whether if that was the first work.
5. Question about salary
6. If the interviewee has even been employed and the salary that he/she was earning and salary that he/she thinks can earn in that particular organisation accordingly to his technical skills and qualification.
7. Questions about leaving the job
8. If the interviewee was employed somewhere, why did he left that job and choose to come to that particular organisation.
9. Questions about myself (interviewee): Questions like my personal hobbies, about my talent and personal relationship with friends and family.

13. Guidelines that could be followed in order to implement effective incentive plans.

1. Identification of hazards/problems that might be involved in the process of implementing the plan.
2. Plan for the method that can be used in developing the plan.
3. Communication across all levels of the management about the incentive plan.
4. Clear lines of authority and formally delegate responsibilities and accountability to compliment management involvement.
5. Performance evaluation, to identify the ability of the workers and their reaction towards theplan.
6. Implement the incentive plan.

14. Benefits of systematic training

1. It improves the technical capacity of individual and prepares the employee to undertake his job effectively and efficiently.
2. It enables the employees to adopt to change in the work method or procedure
3. Systematic training prepares employees for future job challenges or promotion.
4. Systematic training helps employees to learn the method of operating a new machine or equipment installed by a company.
5. Systematic training enables employees to be versatile that is to be capable of undertaking several jobs.
6. Systematic training also improves the health and safety of employees that is to prevent industrial accidents.

15. Eight techniques utilized by firms in evaluating the effectiveness of an advertising campaign

1. Offer an incentive for customers to tell you they’re responding to an ad: “Mention this ad and get a 10 percent discount on your first order.”
2. A simple way to tell if your advertising is working is to track retail traffic by counting the people who enter your store. Don’t forget to monitor traffic before you start the ad campaign, so you’ll have a basis for comparison. And ask new customers how they heard about your business.
3. Compare sales before, during, and after an ad campaign. Keep in mind that advertising often has a cumulative or delayed effect, so ad-driven sales may not materialize immediately.
4. In print ads, include a coupon that customers can redeem for a discount or gift with their purchase. Code the coupons so you can determine which ad or publication generates the best results.
5. Use dedicated phone lines to track phone orders. For example, if you mention a toll-free number in your ad, assign different extensions to particular advertisements.
6. Compare pre- and post-advertising traffic on your website. Your Web host logs the hits on your site and should be able to provide you with daily, weekly, or monthly reports. If
   you maintain your own Web server, invest in software that generates easy-to-read traffic reports.
7. Count the number of orders received as a result of advertising
8. Customer calls received after the advertisement

16.  Purposes of a staff appraisal process to an organisation

1. Facilitation of communication: communication in organizations is considered an essential function of worker motivation It has been proposed that feedback from PAs aid
   in minimizing employees’ perceptions of uncertainty. Fundamentally, feedback and management-employee communication can serve as a guide in job performance.
2. Goal setting and desired performance reinforcement: organizations find it efficient to match individual worker’s goals and performance with organizational goals. As provide
   room for discussion in the collaboration of these individual and organizational goals. Collaboration can also be advantageous by resulting in employee acceptance and
   satisfaction of appraisal results.
3. Performance improvement: well-constructed PAs can be valuable tools for communication with employees as pertaining to how their job performance stands with organizational expectations. “At the organizational level, numerous studies have reported positive relationships between human resource management (HRM) practices “and performance improvement at both the individual and organizational levels.
4. Determination of training needs: “Employee training and development are crucial components in helping an organization achieve strategic initiatives”. It has been argued that for PAs to truly be effective, post-appraisal opportunities for training and development in problem areas, as determined by the appraisal, must be offered. PAs can especially be instrumental for identifying training needs of new employees. Finally, PAs can help in the establishment and supervision of employees’ career goals.
5. Justifiable bases for such actions as separations, transfers, promotions etc.

17. Four barriers to effective staff appraisal

1. Central tendency error—superiors have been found to rate most of their employees within a narrow range. The later fails to distinguish significant differences between group members and lumps everyone together in an average or above average category.
2. Strictness/Leniency error—some superiors may be by nature overly strict or overly lenient and this biases the appraisal activity.
3. Halo effect—this exists where the rater assigns the same rating to each factor being evaluated for an individual e.g. if he rates an employee above average on promptness he  may have the tendency to rate him above average on all other factors and thus fail to identify the weak/strong points.
4. Recency error – in an annual evaluation a supervisor may give undue emphasis to performance during the past 2 or 3 months and ignore performance levels prior to this. This leads to uneven performance as well as contributing to the “playing the game” attitude where employees relax in the initial months and then work very hard just before the evaluation period.
5. Personal biases—personal biases can exist in the form of racialism, sex, background etc. An evaluator may have preconceived ideas about people of a certain sex, age or race and thus evaluate them in the light of his preconceived opinions. Here also the effects of stereotypes come into play during evaluation.

18. Distinction between recruitment and selection
Both recruitment and selection are the two phases of the employment process. The differences between the two are:

1. Recruitment is the process of searching the candidates for employment and stimulating them to apply for jobs in the organisation whereas selection involves the series of steps
   by which the candidates are screened for choosing the most suitable persons for vacant posts.
2. The basic purpose of recruitments is to create a talent pool of candidates to enable the selection of best candidates for the organisation, by attracting more and more employees to apply in the organisation whereas the basic purpose of selection process is to choose the right candidate to fill the various positions in the organisation.
3. Recruitment is a positive process i.e. encouraging more and more employees to apply whereas selection is a negative process as it involves rejection of the unsuitable candidates.
4. Recruitment is concerned with tapping the sources of human resources whereas selection is concerned with selecting the most suitable candidate through various interviews and tests.
5. There is no contract of recruitment established in recruitment whereas selection results in a contract of service between the employer and the selected employee.

19. Role of human resources department in recruitment and selection
Recruitment
The human resources department carries out the following roles under recruitment

1. Manpower Planning: It involves the planning for the future and finding out how many employees will be needed in the future by the business and what types of skills should they possess. It depends on the following factors
   i) The number of people leaving the job
   ii) The projected growth in sales of the business
   iii) Technological changes
   iv) Productivity level of the workers
2. Job analysis and Job description: HR Department is also involved in designing the Job analysis and Job description for the prospective vacancies. A job analysis is the process used to collect information about the duties, responsibilities, necessary skills, outcomes, and work environment of a particular job. Job descriptions are-written statements that describe the:
   – duties,
   – responsibilities,
   – most important contributions and outcomes needed from a position,
   – required qualifications of candidates, and
   – reporting relationship and co-workers of a particular job.

Selection:

The human resources department carries out the following roles when selecting employees

1. Preliminary Interviews- It is used to eliminate those candidates who do not meet the minimum eligibility criteria laid down by the organization. The skills, academic and family background, competencies and interests of the candidate are examined during preliminary interview. Preliminary interviews are less formalized and planned than the final interviews. The candidates are given a brief up about the company and the job profile; and it is also examined how much the candidate knows about the company. Preliminary interviews are also called screening interviews.
2. Application blanks- The candidates who clear the preliminary interview are required to fill application blank. It contains data record of the candidates such as details about age, qualifications, reason for leaving previous job, experience, etc.
3. Written Tests- Various written tests conducted during selection procedure are aptitude test, intelligence test, reasoning test, personality test, etc. These tests are used to
4. Employment Interviews- It is a one to one interaction between the interviewer and the potential candidate. It is used to find whether the candidate is best suited for the required
   job or not. But such interviews consume time and money both. Moreover the competencies of the candidate cannot be judged. Such interviews may be biased at times.
   Such interviews should be conducted properly. No distractions should be there in room. There should be an honest communication between candidate and interviewer.
5. Medical. examination- Medical tests are conducted to ensure physical fitness of the potential employee. It will decrease chances of employee absenteeism.
6. Appointment Letter- A reference check is made about the candidate selected and then finally he is appointed by giving a formal appointment letter.

Matters that should be included in the recruitment policy of an organisation
 Manpower planning and budgeting
 Creation of posts
 Job description
 Person specification
 Sources and modes of recruitment
 Advertising

20. Four methods that could be used to collect information for training needs analysis in a company

1. Interviewing managers to learn what they want their staff to know.
2. Interviewing staff to discover where they think their skills gaps lie.
3. Interviewing other relevant parties, such as implementation consultants if the training is linked to a new system implementation.
4. Questionnaires for learners to self-assess their knowledge.
5. Studying documentation that defines the objectives of project or the function of a team.
6. Observing staff at work to see how they actually operate.
7. Having learners perform tests in order to benchmark knowledge prior to training
8. Benefits of training needs analysis to a company
9. You can identify specific performance gaps with greater accuracy
10. The analysis identifies key areas requiring improvement and training focus areas
11. Determines key performance and business needs to be addressed that will achieve results
12. Expert assistance with a fresh approach for innovation
13. During organizational or role change, training needs analysis plays a major role in identifying competency and behavioral requirements
14. In evaluation of your own recent training projects there may be a requirement for a change in initiatives which requires a fresh analysis to measure the extent to which employees have enhanced and the organization has benefited
15. Earn respect of senior management for implementing solutions that make a difference
16. Part of succession plan to identify competence, capability and potential
17. Identification and evaluation of current performance gaps between people, strategy, behavioral and processes

21. Advantages of evaluating the effectiveness of training in a company.  Helps you know:

1. How well the training program met the learner’s needs and objectives
2. What knowledge and skills it has imparted to learners
3. What desirable change it has brought in the learners’ performance
4. What organizational benefits it has yielded