MS-22 Dec, 2007
MS-22 : HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
1. Define and describe three Ss of organizational Development- Briefly discuss the process of formulating the Organisational Development Plan.
2. What is Compensation System ? What considerations are taken into account in designing a reward system ? Explain with example.
3. Define and describe Diversity and Power. Briefly discuis the cultural, structural and behavioural influences on Diversity and Power, with examples.
4. Enumerate and briefly describe the evaluation criteria against which 'HRD' is assessed for attaining the status of a 'Profession'. Explain with example.
5. Write short notes on any three of the following :
(a) Knowledge Management
(b) Developing Business Ethics
(c) Horizontal re-skilling
(d) Role of Trade Unions in HRD
(e) Basic processes of Coaching
6- Read the following case carefuily and answer the questions given at the end.
Microelectronics, a carifornia-based electronics defense contractor, has enjoyed a smooth growth curve over the past five years,' primarily because of favourable defense funding during the Reagan administration's build-up of u.s. military defenses. Microerectronics has had numerous contracts to design and develop guidance and radar systems for military weaponry. Although the favorable funding cycle has enabled. Microelectronics to grow at a steady rate, the company is finding it increasingly difficult to keep its really good engineers. Based on extensive turnover analyses conducted by Ned Jackson, the human resources planning manager, Microelectronics' problem seems to be its inability to keep engineers beyond the "critical,' five year point. Apparently, the probability of turnover drops dramatically after five years of service. Ned's conclusion is that Microelectronics has been essentially serving as an industry college. Their staffing strategy has always been to hire the best and brightest engineers from the best engineering schools in the United States.
Ned believes that these engineers often get lost in the shuffle at the time they join the firm. For example, most (if not all) of the new hires must work on non-classified projects until cleared by security to join a designated major project. Security clearance usually takes anywhere from six to ten months. In the meantime the major project has started, and these young engineers frequently miss out on its design phase, considered the most creative and challenging segment of the program. Because of the nature of project work, new engineers often have difficulty learning the organizational culture such as who to ask when you have a problem, what the general dos and don'ts are, and why the organization does things in a certain way.
After heading a task force of human resource professionals within Microelectronics, Ned has been designated to present to top management a proposal designed to reduce turnover among young engineering recruits. The essence of his plan is to create a mentor program, except that in this plan the mentors will not be the seasoned graybeards of Microelectronics, but rather those engineers in the critical three-to-five-year service window, the period of highest turnover. These engineers will be paired with new engineering recruits before the recruits actually report to Microelectronics for work.
According to the task force, the programme is twofold ' (1) it benefits the newcomer by easing the transition into the company, and (2\ it helps the three-to-five-year service engineers by enabling them to serve an important role for the company. By performing the mentor role, these .engineers will .become more committed and hence less likely to leave. As Ned prepared his fifteen-minute presentation for top management, he wondered if he had adequately anticipated the possible objections to the program in order to make an intelligent defense of it. Only time would tell.
Questions
(a) Identify the salient issues from HR point of view for this case.
(b) If you were to study this turnover problem, how would you conduct a needs analysis or evolve a counselling programme ?
(c) What are the causes of dissatisfaction and turn over in Microelectronics ?
(d) Do you find the mentoring programme suitable to reduce turnover ? Justify your answer.
