IMT – 62: STRATEGIC HRD

PART – A

Q1. Describe environmental analysis. Enlist the steps involved in the process of environmental analysis.

Q2. How can OD intervention techniques be implemented in an organization.

Q3. List the constraints the organization may come across during strategic implementation

Q4. Elucidate how managers can facilitate cultural change in an organization. 

Q5. “An organizational design is intimately concerned with the way in which decision making is centralized, shared or delegated and with the way the enterprise is governed.” What are determinants of organizational design? 

PART – B 

Q1. Differentiate between Mintzberg’s and Mckinseys’s framework of strategy.

Q2. How can HR professionals contribute towards making human resources an organization’s competitive advantage?

Q3. Briefly explain the steps in organizational development.

Q4. Is there difference between value and culture? How can values be developed amongst employees?

Q5. Discuss the issues related to performance appraisal methods. How can they be addressed?

PART – C

Q1. Explain in brief the influence of economic and technological changes in HR management

Q2. Explain the role of economic and technological change in HR management?

Q3. Discuss the complexities associated with international HRM. 

Q4. Explain the relationship between strategic leadership and competitive advantage.

Q5. For successful implementation of a strategy the history of an organization and the dominant values of the culture that exists must be taken into account. Describe the critical elements of corporate culture in light of the above statement.

CASE STUDY – I

Vetements Ltee is a chain of men’s retail clothing stores located throughout the province of Quebec, Canada. Two years ago, the company introduced new incentive systems for both store managers and sales employees. Store managers receive a salary with annual merit increases based on sales above targeted goals, store appearance, store inventory management, customer complaints and several other performance measures. Some of this information (e.g., store appearance) is gathered during visits by senior management, while other information is based on company records (e.g., sales volume).

Sales employees are paid a fixed salary plus a commission based on the percentage of sales credited to that employee over the pay period. The commission represents about 30 percent of a typical pay cheque and is intended to encourage employees to actively serve customers and to increase sales volume. Since returned merchandise is discounted from commission, sales staff is discouraged from selling products that customers do not really want.

Soon after the new incentive systems were introduced, senior management began to receive complaints from store mangers regarding the performance of their sales staff. They observed that sales employees stood near the entrance waiting for customers and would occasionally argue over “ownership” of the customer. Managers were concerned that this aggressive behavior intimidated some customers. It also left some parts of the store unattended by staff.

Many managers are also concerned about inventory duties. Previously, sales staff would share responsibility for restocking inventory and completing inventory recorder forms. Under the new compensation system, however few employees were willing to do these essential tasks. On several occasions, stores experienced stock shortages because merchandise was not stocked or recorder forms were not completed in a timely manner. Potential sales suffered from empty shelves when plenty of merchandise was available in the back storeroom or at the warehouse. The company’s new automatic inventory system could reduce some of these problems, but employees must still stock shelves and assist in other aspects of inventory management.

Store managers tried to correct the inventory problem by assigning employees to inventory duty but this created resentment among the employees selected. Other managers threatened sales staff with dismissals if they did not do their share of inventory management. This strategy has been somewhat effective when the manager is in the store, but staff members sneak back onto the floor when the manager is away. It has also hurt staff morale, particularly relations with the store manager.

To reduce the tendency of sales staff to hoard customers at the store entrance, some managers assigned employees to specific areas of the store. This also created some resentment among employees stationed in areas with less traffic or lower priced merchandise. Some staff openly complained of lower pay cheques because they were assigned to a slow area of the store or were given more than their share of inventory duties.

Questions

1. What symptom(s) exist at Vetements Ltee which suggest that something has gone wrong? 

2. What are the causes that led to these symptoms?

3. Suggest actions the organization should take to correct these problems. 

CASE STUDY – II

Visit the website of two organizations representing different sectors (e.g. insurance, medical, software, manufacturing, automotive, telecom, information technology etc.). Examine these sites and identify their family friendly programmes. Visit/Contact these organizations and compare their work-life balance practices. Conduct interview with HR manager and some employees of the firms to obtain the following information and enlist:

Ø  The firms’ work-life programmes and the reason for their adoption these programmes

Ø  The reasons for adoption of the work-life programmes

Ø  How well these pragrammes are being utilized in each of these firms

Ø  Is there a gap between the design of work-life programmes in these organizations, their actual implementation and utilization?

Ø  Are the employees satisfied with organizational support for their personal needs?