SVKM’S NMIMS School of Business Management Program: FULL TIME MBA Year: T Trimester: IM Subject: Human Resource Management Marks: 50 Date: 4" April 2012 Time: 2 hrs. (1.00pm to 3.00pm) FINAL EXAMINATION (2011 - 2012) Instructions: Candidates should read carefully the instructions printed on the question paper and on the cover of the Answer Book, which is provided for their use. NB: All Questions are compulsory In all 5 questions to be attempted, ‘Answer to each new question to be started on a fresh page. Figure in the brackets indicates full marks 1 Symbiosis Technologies is a premier IT consulting and software services Company headquartered in Bangalore, India, with offices in US, UK, Germany and Singapore. it approaches Information Technology asa strategic enabler of critical business processes. itis a SE! CMM Level 5 company and its strength lies in leveraging innovation and a global onsite-offshore delivery model to provide the best return on investments for their clients. Today, the company is USD 90 million, and growing. As a part of the expansion plan of the company, Symbiosis wants to increase its workforce by end of 2012, mainly at the technical cadre. While the company has massive recruitment plans, it also faces attrition issues at the lower levels. New employee orientation has been shown to have measurable and positive effects on ‘employee retention and satisfaction. Keeping this in mind, the company plans to have a formalized orientation process. Assuming you are the HR manager, convince the management about the advantages of implementing new employee orientation programmes. Also explain the components of the Needs Assessment Process by proposing a framework/model for the abovementioned case. (10) 2. Over 50% of all MBA graduates leave their first employer within two years. While the change may mean career growth for the individuals, it represents 2 loss to the employers. What are some of the reasons the employee would leave his or her first employer? In this context, explain the roles of the ‘employees and the organization in developing and managing an individual employee's career? (10) 3. You are the HR manager of a firm that is about to send its first employee overseas to staff a new subsidiary. Your boss, the President asks you why an international assignment generally fails, and what you plan to do avoid such failures. How would you respond and what would you do? (5) wee4.4s a manager, you will have employees come to you and tell you that they think they are underp: Assume that has just happened. The employee in this case, Shweta, is an accountant who works for you in Mumbai. The employee's current base salary after three years with the company Is RS. 42,000. The company tries to pay salaries at the market rate, a. Identify the information you would need to have to determine whether the employee's concerns are valid. (5) b, What would your concerns and challenges be in responding to Shweta, if you were a compensation manager in the human resources department? (5) ¢. How would you resolve the situation if you were the owner of a small but profitable and growing business ? (5) 5. SR Consulting is a growing firm with 70 employees. Its Partners, Sanjay and Rohan disagree over the importance of having formal performance appraisals. Sanjay says it’s quite clear whether any particular ‘employee is doing his or her job. It’s obvious, for instance, if the salespeople are selling, if the managers ‘are managing, and if the customers’ orders are getting fulfilled in a timely fashion. His position, like that ‘of many small ~ business managers, is that "we have 1,000 higher- priority things to attend to” such as boosting sales and building the business. And in any case, he says, the employees already get plenty of day-to- day feedback from him or Rohan regarding what they're doing right and what they're doing wrong. Rohan believes that a more formal appraisal approach is required. For one thing, they're approaching the end of the six month probation period for many of these employees, and the partners need to make decisions about whether they should go or stay. He also thinks that sitting down and providing formal, written feedback is more likely to reinforce what employees are doing right, and to get them to modify what they may be doing wrong. “May be this is one reason we're not getting enough sales, “he says. As their management consultant, 2. Advise them on the advantages of a formal appraisal process and specify what information and systems have to be in place for SR Consulting to build a robust Performance Management system.(5) b. Design a performance appraisal form for their Sales Managers.(5)