Challenges to HRM

 Challenges can be understood by studying the environment of HRM

 HR Manager should always be aware of the changes in his external &
internal environment.

 Some of the important challenges faced by HRM:

1) Technological Developments
 As a result of technological advances made in almost all fields, jobs
have become more intellectual.
 Modernization ends with problems like retrenchment, lay-offs,
unemployment, dislocation of workers, etc.
 Thus, HR Manager has to make proper assessment of manpower
needs, retraining, skills upgradation, etc.

2) Changes in the political & legal environment

 In order to meet the changes in political & legal environment,
awareness of legislation at state and central level becomes
necessary for proper utilization of human resources.

3) Globalisation
 As the industrial world is becoming globalised and informatonalised,
HR Managers are expected to play more competitive roles.
 They should be aware about employees’ and company’s needs in
foreign markets, designing suitable compensation packages,
planning about spouse’s job and children’s education in other
country, if needed making arrangements of training in foreign
country’s local language, etc.

4) Socio – cultural factors

 Organisations do not operate in isolation.
 Thus, organizations have to be alert always before taking any decision.
 The HR Manager should evaluate beforehand the impact of any
business action upon the society so that the people’s beliefs, morals,
customs, ethics, values, etc. are not hurt.

5) Changing mix of the workforce

 Another challenge to HR Manager is increasing workforce diversity.
 This includes : more young and highly educated people, more female
employees, increasing levels of married female workers, etc.
 Prohibition of discrimination and the need of positive actions for
redressing imbalances in workforce have made job for HR Managers
more challenging.

6) Trade Unions
 Trade Unions refer to any combination of workers for a common
cause.
 Trade Unions act as a challenging force for HR Manager in decisions
like signing of agreements, recruitment, selection, training and
development programs, retrenchment, etc.
7) Management of Human Resources
 The new workforce is educated, talented, well-qualified and
conscious than their predecessors.
 So, HR Manager has to be conscious and tough while leading and
motivating, winning employees’ commitment, etc.

Role of the HR Manager

o HR Manager plays a variety of roles.
o Earlier, the main role of the manager was to procure & maintain a
commited workforce.
 o But with the passage of time, increasingly critical nature of problems
and challenges in the effective utilization of human beings has
elevated the status of HR Manager.

 Different roles played by the HR Manager are:

1) The Counsellor
 HR Manager acts a counselor for the employees facing problems
related with health, work, colleagues, family, supervisors, financial,
mental, physical, children education, marriage, etc.
 Employees discuss their problems with the HR Manager and he
offers suitable solutions to solve their problems.

2) The Advisor
 HR Manager advises the management regarding Human Resources
Planning, recruitment, selection, training and development,
appraisal, compensation, integration, separation, etc.
 HR Manager advises management in case of industrial disputes, etc.
 On the other hand, he also provides assistance to the workers by
conveying their problems to the management.

3) The Mediator
 In case of some conflicts and disputes, HR Manager plays the role of
a peacemaker between the management and the employees.

4) The Conscience Role

 This role is that of a humanitarian who advises management of its
ethical obligations to its employees.

5) The Liaison Role

  Generally, HR Manager acts as a spokesperson for or representative
of the organization.

6) The Change Agent

 He acts as a catalyst in introducing new changes in the organization.

7) The Problem Solver

 Problems related with HR in any part of the organization are tackled
by the HR Managers.

8) The Welfare Role

 As per The Factories Act, 1948, where 500 or more workers are
employed, one welfare officer should be appointed. Otherwise, HR
Manager acts as a welfare officer. He is concerned about facilities
like crèche, canteen, shelter, lunch and restrooms, etc.

9) The Legal Role

 HR Manager plays a vital fire-fighting role during: grievance handling
procedure, settlement of industrial disputes, collective bargaining,
handling disciplinary action, joint consultation, etc.

Job Evaluation
Definition
Job evaluation is the process of analyzing and assessing the various jobs
systematically to ascertain their relative worth in an organization.

 Jobs are evaluated on the basis of their content and are placed in the
order of their importance.
  In this way, a job hierarchy is established in the organization, the
purpose being fixation of satisfactory wage differentials among various
jobs.
 It should be noted that in a job evaluation programme, the jobs are
ranked and not the job holders. Job holders are rated through
performance appraisal.

Job Evaluation Process

The Job Evaluation process starts with defining objectives of evaluation and
ends with establishing wage and salary differentials.

The main objective of job evaluation is to establish satisfactory wage and

salary differentials. Job analysis should precede the actual programme of
evaluation.

A job-evaluation programme involves answering several questions. The

major ones are:

i. Which jobs are to be evaluated?

ii. Who should evaluate the jobs?
iii. What training do the evaluators need?
iv. How much time is involved?
v. What should be the criteria for evaluation?
vi. What methods of evaluation are to be employed?
 Job – Evaluation Process

Methods of Job Evaluation

Job-evaluation methods are of two categories:

(1)Non-analytical and (2) Analytical.

1)Non-Analytical Methods
Ranking and Job-Grading Methods come under this category
because they make NO use of detailed job factors. Each job is treated as a
whole in determining its relative ranking.

a) Ranking Method
 This is the simplest, the most inexpensive and the most
expedient method of evaluation.
 The evaluation committee assesses the worth of each job on the
basis of its title or on its content, if the latter are available
 But the job is not broken down into elements or factors. Each job
is compared with others and its placed is determined.
 This method has several drawbacks. Job Evaluation may be
subjective as the jobs are not broken into factors. It is hard to
measure whole jobs.

b) Job-Grading method
 As in the ranking method, the Job-grading method (or job-
classification method) does not call for a detailed or quantitative
analysis of job factors. It is based on job as a whole.
 The difference between the two is that in the ranking method,
there is no yardstick for evaluation, while in job-grading method,
the number of grades is first decided upon, and the factors
corresponding to these grades are then determined.
 Facts about the job are collected and matched with the grades
which have been established.
 The essential requirement of the job-grading method is to frame
grade descriptions to cover discernible differences in degree of
skill, responsibility and other job characteristics.
 Job grade are arranged in the order of their importance in the
form of a schedule.
 The lowest grade may cover jobs requiring greater physical work
under close supervision, but carrying little responsibility. Each
 succeeding grade reflects a higher level of skill and responsibility,
with less and less supervision.
 The Advantages of the job-classification method include its
simplicity and inexpensiveness. Secondly, in organizations where
number of jobs is small, this method yields satisfactory results.
 The Disadvantages of this method are:
o Job grade descriptions are vague and not quantified;
o Difficulty of convincing employees about the inclusion of a
job in a particular grade because of vagueness of grade
descriptions; and
o More job classification schedules need to be prepared
because the same schedule cannot be used for all types of
jobs.

2)Analytical Methods
These include the point-ranking method and the factor comparison
method.
a) Point – Ranking Method
 The system starts with the selection of job factors,
construction of degrees of each factor, and assignment of
points to each degree.
 Different factors are selected for different for different jobs
with accompanying differences and degree and points.
 The Advantages of point system are:
o A job is split into a number of factors. The worth of each
job is determined on the basis of its factors and not by
considering the job as a whole.
o The procedure adopted is systematic and can easily be
explained to the employees.
o The method is simple to understand and easy to
administer.
  At least two defects are noticed in the point system.
o Employees may disagree with the points allotted and
the factors and their degrees identified.
o Serious doubts are expressed about the range of points
allotted and matching them with the job grades.

b) Factor Comparison Method

 Under this method, one begins with selection of factors,
usually five of them – mental requirements, skill
requirements, physical exertion, responsibility, and job
conditions. These factors are assumed to be constant for
all the jobs.
 Each factor is ranked individually with other jobs.
For example, all the jobs may be compared first by the
factor ‘mental requirement’. Then the skills factor,
physical requirements, responsibility, and working
conditions are ranked.
Thus, a job may rank near the top in skills but low in
physical requirements.
 Then total point values are then assigned to each
factor. The worth of a job is then obtained by adding
together all the point values.
 An advantage of the factor-comparison method is that
jobs of unlike nature – for example, manual, clerical and
supervisory – may be evaluated with the same set of
factors.
 But, the method is complicated and expensive.