HRM-333

An Assignment on
Human Resource
Management

Human Resource Management

TASFIHA ISLAM INNY
 PRIME UNIVERSITY
… a home for rendering prime knowledge

An Assignment On
Human Resource Management
(What do I learn from this course till now and what is the
practical implications of these learning in an organization?)
Submitted to
Md. Yeasir Arafat
Assistant Professor
Department of Business Administration
Prime University

Submitted by
Name: Tasfiha Islam Inny
ID: 183020101007
Batch: 49th
Department of Business Administration
Prime University
Course Title: Human Resource Management
Course Code: HRM-333

Date of Submission: August 5, 2021

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 Table of Contents
Introduction.........................................................................................................4
What do I learn from this course till now? What are the practical
implications of these learning in an organization?..........................................4
Interviewing and Hiring..................................................................................4
Training............................................................................................................5
What I Can Use?...........................................................................................6
Work Environment.........................................................................................6
What I Have Learned...................................................................................6
What I Can Use.............................................................................................7
Employee Protection........................................................................................7
What I Have Learned...................................................................................7
What I Can Use.............................................................................................7
Technologies.....................................................................................................8
What I Have Learned...................................................................................8
What I Can Use?...........................................................................................8
Overall and HR Management-planning and forecasting.............................8
What I Have Learned...................................................................................8
What I Can Use?...........................................................................................9
Human Resource Management Today and The Scope of HRM....................9
Recruiting and Hiring System......................................................................10
Private Bank and Financial Organization...............................................10
Other Non-banking and Multinational or Non-government Agency....11
Public Sector...............................................................................................11
Learning and Development Process.............................................................11
Private Sector..............................................................................................11
Public Sector...............................................................................................12
Managing Payroll..........................................................................................12

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 Private Sector..............................................................................................12
Public Sector...............................................................................................12
Performance Management and Appraisals.................................................12
Private Sector..............................................................................................12
Public Sector...............................................................................................13
Employee Benefits.........................................................................................13
Private Sector..............................................................................................13
Public Sector...............................................................................................13
RESEARCH ON HR PLANNING IN BANGLADESH............................13
RESEARCH ON RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION IN
BANGLADESH.............................................................................................13
RESEARCH ON TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT IN
BANGLADESH.............................................................................................14
RESEARCH ON INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS IN BANGLADESH.......14
PAY STRUCTURING AND JOB GRADING IN BANGLADESH.........15
EMERGING TRENDS OF HRM PRACTICES IN BANGLADESH.....15
FUTURE CHALLENGES OF HRM PRACTICES IN BANGLADESH 17
Human resource management during a pandemic........................................18
Six issues to be addressed..............................................................................19
A new labor law.............................................................................................20
Alternatives to lay-offs..................................................................................20
Conclusion.........................................................................................................21

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Introduction
Human Resource Management is the process of staffing, recruiting, selecting appropriate
human capital that are earmarked for the right responsibilities along with different
motivation, good working environment for generating high performance for meeting the
objectives and goals of the organization. Therefore, human resource management works on
the most valuable and complex element of any organization. Despite of tremendous
advancement in technologies organizational activities are dependent on the human. So,
human resource management is very much important for any organization. Well, planned and
formulated human resource strategy can bring the high productivity for the organization.
Therefore, good strategy regarding human resource can work as a bar of employee turnover
and enhance the employee satisfaction. Therefore, partnership among managers and
employees can be established for betterment of organization. Human resource management
includes activities like hiring man power, developing the man power, motivating them for
achieving the objectives of the organization. Hence to build an effective human resource
strategy the managers of different department and human resource department must work in
one line. Otherwise a effective strategy cannot be provided. A good human resource strategy
can make an entire organization successful. Many of the empirical evidence we can see in
current business in developed world despite of some lacking. Many scholarly papers are
being held on these topics. Therefore, effective strategy is a relative matter and is different
from organization to organization depending on the internal and external factors and
environment.

What do I learn from this course till now? What are the practical
implications of these learning in an organization?
What I Have Learned from Human Resource Course.
No matter which topic we discuss in our HRM class, they all somehow relate to one objective
that Dr. Robert W. Service emphasizes to us all the time: “the organization has the right
people in the right positions with the right training and motivation to do tasks effectively and
efficiently at the right time” (Service and Loudon, 2010). With this primary HR objective in
mind, I realize that HRM plays a very important role in human resource allocation for any
company in building the bridges of employee resources to the places where company needs
specific type of talent. As a result, companies will have the capability to meet their long-term
strategic plans and customers’ requirements by allocating the right staffs with the right skills
at the right place.

Interviewing and Hiring

In my opinion, the purpose of the interviewing to every company is to find the right people
who have appropriate skills and can help companies to achieve their values and missions.
According to the managers I have interviewed with during this semester, and the recruitment
ads I have read, all of their companies have a clear plan or No. 1 criteria regarding what kind
of employees they are going to hire. Also, the questions that interviewer asks interviewees
should be creative.

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By studying the P.A.R. (Problem- Actions- Results) Success Stories which Dr. Service
introduces and teaches to us and my interview with two HRM managers, I know that in order
to get a suitable job for myself to achieve my long-term career goal, I have to equip myself
with not only the basic skills and traits for the job, but also have creative and system thinking
at all times. I would never know what is going to happen next both during the interview and
at work, but with the creative thinking, I would be able to handle the unexpected issues
because the only certainty factor that I can expect is the uncertainty. Also, companies prefer
having people with creative thinking because the accelerating trend of globalization provides
the companies that are good at innovation and imagination more opportunities to grow and
develop globally in the long run.

Training
Training is the cornerstone of a company. It allows them to deliver their definition of mission
and values to their employees, who will be able to fulfil companies’ achievements in the long
run to their customers. Also, “Training educates workers about the effective use of
technology, ensures competitive edge in the market, promotes safety and health among
employees, creates opportunities for career development and personal growth, helps
employers comply with laws and regulations, and improves productivity and profitability”
(“Employee Training,” par. 3). I understand that different companies have different training
sections; however, the goal of training should be the same: to fulfil the HR objective as
“‘Alignment’ right people, right time, right knowledge, skills & abilities invented, motivated
& committed to desired organizational purpose: performance” (Service, 2013).
“Training is the process from which employees acquire the capabilities to perform their jobs
and is an essential part of any successful business” (Wilke 2006). I fully agree with this
statement that it would be very hard for companies to succeed if companies do not put
emphasis on employee training. From my perspective, I am a person who is going to look for
a job and will become a new employee for a company. As a new employee during the
training section, I should do my best to learn company’s culture, mission, and values to its
customers.
It is also a great opportunity for me to establish new personal networks and friendships with
other co-workers and managers. By communicating with each other and exchanging valuable
information, I would be able to fully participate in company’s culture and objects for its
business, to use my talent and knowledge, and to help my company along its way to success.
Employee Development, Succession Planning, and Appraisals
One of the most important things of employee development and succession planning for
companies is the regulations and policies regarding the internal employee assessment system,
ranking system, and employee development criteria. “One key factor in employee motivation
and retention is the opportunity employees want to continue to grow and develop job and
career enhancing skills” (Heathfield, 2013). Companies should provide their employees with
all the information about their personal promotion or demotion opportunities. For instance,
with the appropriate training and education sections from the company, employees are able to
know their current position in the company, what positions employees could be promoted to
or might be demoted to because of their work performance, and the requirements in regard to

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the personal promotion and demotion policies. Because of the open assessment and ranking
system and personal development criteria, employees have motivations to set their personal
development plan and work hard to achieve the goals they have set for themselves. In that
way, companies would be able to have high human resource morale and it would be easier for
companies to have a positive work environment and high quality of future employee pool.
What I Can Use?
Regarding the employee development, succession planning and appraisals, I should have a
clear career plan before I start looking for a job because different companies have different
employee development plans based on their size and business area. I have to choose the
company that has the development opportunities which match my long-term career goal to
fulfil my personal achievements. For example, I am a person who is excited to make others
happy, enjoys team work, has strong sense of responsibility and high self-discipline, and
would like to work for a company that pays more attention to safety and guest satisfaction.
According to my personal characteristics, I target Unilever Bangladesh Ltd. as my dream
company to work for in the future. Unilever Bangladesh Ltd. has goals which are very similar
to the achievements which I would like to accomplish. Working for a company that has the
same mission and values to its customers as I do, it would be a great work environment for
me to enjoy the work and develop myself through Unilever Bangladesh Ltd.’s employee
development and appraisal system, and stimulate my potential capabilities of creativity. Also,
starting as a front-line cast member, the positions Unilever sets for their employees to move
up such as cast member coordinator, general manager, and area manager also provide cast
members who love to achieve great opportunities to fulfil their achievements in a higher
level.

Work Environment
What I Have Learned
As I have discussed in the previous section, I would like to work for Unilever because it has
the same goals which I would like to achieve and the positive work environment I could
develop myself in the long run. A great work environment truly helps every individual to
make more contributions to his or her company and motivates employees’ productivity.
“Author and University of Virginia Professor Scott A. Snell, in the book, ‘Managing Human
Resources,’ defines a positive environment in the workplace as an atmosphere of employee
enthusiasm that improves organization performance” (Brunot, par. 1). The good work
environment also helps companies to maximize its profitability because employees’
motivations have been fully stimulated and aroused. “If people are happy with where they
work and the environment they walk into each day, they have been proven to be more
productive and make less mistakes.” (Phillips, 2013). However, companies should avoid
having a poor work environment, “Not only can a poor work environment slow down
productivity, but it can cause employees to consider resigning and moving on to a new job”
(Phillips, 2013). The poor work environment causes the high employee turnover rate and
makes a company hard to survive because there would be little or no employee loyalty and
sense of belonging. As a result, the company with poor work environment would not be able
to operate efficiently and lose its market share.

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What I Can Use
When I am trying to apply for a job, I should remember one point that I have to try my best to
look for a company that has a great work environment which helps its employees to achieve
their career development goals. Also, according to what I have learned in Dr. Robert W.
Service’s article, “The second most important factor encouraging ethical financial reporting
as viewed by both executives and MBA students was the ethical example provided by an
organization’s leaders” (Service, Smith, and Boockholdt, 2006). I should not only evaluate a
company’s work environment by looking at its atmosphere and culture, but this company’s
senior executives’ ethical practices as well because a company’s ethical business practices
reflect its responsibility, transparency and citizenship to the society. This is another important
factor which comprises a company’s healthy work environment because a good boss plays an
important role in employee’s career development by encouraging, understanding, and
communicating with its subordinates. With both of the positive company culture and an
insightful and ethical supervisor, I would be able to evoke my sense of creativity and help my
company accomplish its goals.

Employee Protection
What I Have Learned
Every employee prefers a workplace where he or she could have equal opportunity and
mutual respect. On the other hand, it is obvious that the health condition of employees and
the safety level of workplaces attribute a lot to whether or not companies could operate
efficiently. Governmental employee protection institutions such as the U.S. Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA) help all the employees get the things they deserve and inspect
employers whether they follow or violate the regulations or laws regarding the treatments to
their employees. As I wrote in my previous Employee Protection paper, I fully agree that
company should put employees’ safety and health as one of the highest priorities because
employees are the basic and key part for every company. It is impossible for any companies
to achieve their mission, to make profit, and to operate efficiently without implementing
safety and health rules successfully. That is why many companies provides necessary
protection equipment such as earplugs for high noise work environment, gas masks for
workers who work at high raise dust area to ensure their safety. Also, companies should make
their efforts to control the number of unfair employee treatments such as illegal
discrimination as little as possible and provide their employees a workplace with mutual
respect, equality, and mutual benefit.
What I Can Use
First of all, I have to check each company’s employee protection policies before I apply for a
job to see whether it has a fair workplace and a legal department regarding hiring, firing,
promotions, harassment, training, wages and benefits. Secondly, as stated in the Occupational
Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) official website “Under the OSH Act, employers
must comply with all applicable OSHA standards. Employers must also comply with the
General Duty Clause of the OSH Act, which requires employers to keep their workplace free
of serious recognized hazards.” (OSHA Law & Regulations. 2013. par. 2). When I try to
apply for a job, I shall also look for companies that provide and implement all the safety and

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health standards which are required by the OSHA to protect my right of working at a safety
work environment.
Whether in China or in the United States, although I might not be able to know whether the
company will follow and act as the rules and standards the governments set for employee
protection, at least I know that I have a place to speak up and get the things I deserve as an
applicant or employee in regard to the employee protection. Technologies

Technologies
What I Have Learned
Technologies in company such as information systems and Enterprise Resource Planning
(ERP) systems also play one of the most important roles in companies’ human resource
management in terms of internal information distribution, employee profile managing,
personal assessment information, and salary calculation. I still remember what I have learned
from Dr. Cythia Lohrke’s MIS Communication and Technologies class in Spring 2013
Semester, “It is important for every manager regardless of their position to have an
understanding of technology and its implications for their business” (Lokhre, 2013: p. 1).
There is no doubt that technology such as information systems is becoming more and more
important for companies to forecast demand, reach more customers, manage employees’
information and inventory turnover, maximize profit, and operate the whole company more
efficiently. That indicates the fact that “the role of information systems carried out in a
company expected to support effective strategy. It expected to make a profit and competitive
advantage” (“The Importance of Information Systems for Your Business,” 2012: p. 1).
Companies that put effort into developing technologies perform much better than those that
do not because they have the capability to have better strategic planning, forecasting, and
self-evaluation by collecting and analysing data in different department.
What I Can Use?
“Qualitative Research is foremost a text about techniques and procedures for developing
grounded theory through ‘listening to data’” (Service, 2009). According to my interview with
two HR managers, Campus Dining Inc. uses electronic clock-in and clock-out system to
calculate its hourly employees’ wages and employee on-time performance. For Shanghai
Welding Instrument Corporation, they use the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system to
build employees’ aging structure and calculate employees’ salary and benefits. Both of them
are not only collecting the information, they also “listen to data” and come up with methods
regarding how to transfer these data into better meanings to understand. In order to adapt to
this changeable business world, I have to realize the advantages that are brought by the
advance technologies and try to learn some of the softwares to interpret and understand the
data. In this way, I will be able to read the data and “can look at a situation without guiding
research questions from differing views and evolve to core conceptions” (Service, 2009).

Overall and HR Management-planning and forecasting

What I Have Learned
As one of the essential departments in every company, human resource department manages
each company’s employee resources in terms of recruitment and firing, training, employee

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relations, employee protection, performance appraisal, etc. “An efficiently run human
resources department can provide your organization with structure and the ability to meet
business needs through managing your company's most valuable resources--its employees”
(Mayhew, 2013). Having the capability to allocate and manage their employee resources
appropriately, companies will have efficient and functional work environments at all time.
Also, companies should pay attention to its HR management-planning and forecasting by
adjusting and coordinating employee structure, calculating welfare and benefits, updating and
implementing recruitment and training policies, and formulating appraisal system based on
available information and materials. “Happy employees mean a healthy organization”
(“Functions of a Human Resource Department.” par. 8). Employees who work for a company
that has a harmonious and happy work environment will have more willingness to contribute
themselves in terms of work performance, innovation, and selfmotivation.
What I Can Use?
Like the function of a company’s human resource department, which needs to allocate and
manage its resource, employees, I also have to manage myself regarding how to market
myself, to prove my personal value to employers by showing my strength and avoid making
“wrong” mistakes. As mentioned in his article, Dr. Robert W. Service said, “Become a
strategic thinker not just a strategic planner” (Service, 2006). Whether I am looking for a job
or working for a company, I shall always plan ahead, think ahead, and prepare for the
uncertainty by applying the innovative and strategic thinking.

The term human resource management (HRM) has relatively adopted in business
organizations in place of personnel management. HRM can be defined as” the management
of activities under taken to attract, develop, motivate, and maintain high performing
workforce within the organization” HRM involves following characteristics. First, it focuses
on horizontal authority and reduced hierarchy. The second characteristic is that the role of
human resource professionals is to support and facilitate line managers who have the direct
responsibility of managing personnel. Thirdly, HRM is proactive and fused with corporate
level planning. The fourth characteristic is that employees are seen as subjects who have
potential to develop and grow. The purpose of HRM is to specify employee’s potential and
develop it in line with the needs of the organization.

Human Resource Management Today and The Scope of HRM

Poole (1990) started that today’s HRM could be described as broad and strategic, involving
all managerial personnel, valuing employees as important assets of organizations, and being
proactive in its responsibilities. Moreover, today human resource functions refer to those
tasks and duties performed in both large and small organizations to coordinate human
resources (Byars & Rue, 1991). These functions of human resource management activities
can be listed as follows:

 To ensure that the organization apply equal employment opportunities and other
government obligations.

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  To conduct job analysis to specify different requirements of jobs in
an organization.
 To identify personnel requirements that led the organization to achieve
its objectives.
 To develop and implement a plan that meet personnel and job requirements.
 To recruit employees needed by the organization in order to achieve its objectives.
 To select personnel in order to fill vacant positions within an organization.
 To provide orientation and training to the employees.
 To design and implement management and organizational development programs.
 To design and implement performance appraisal systems to evaluate
employee performance.
 To assist employees in developing career plans.
 To design and implement compensation systems for employees.
 To mediate the relationship between organizations and its units.
 To design systems for discipline and grievance handling.
 To develop employee communication systems.
 To develop employee health and safety programs

Human Resource Management is the process of managing and monitoring the employees in
an organization with a proper system. The worldwide HR management system incorporates
several processes like recruitment, monitoring, storing data, payrolls, administration, and
attendance data and so on. This worldwide system is applicable to Bangladesh too, so the
practice of the HR Management System in Bangladesh is similar here.

After so many years of liberation war recently for several years, Bangladesh has seen an
upward and positive trend to human resource management. The reasons behind that are the
economic warm-up and better education. Most of the organization has established a separate
department for human resource management.
Before starting the main section let’s get some mixing highlights got from a report of Daily
Star in a very recent edition of 2020 upon current HR management system practice in
Bangladesh.
Two third of the organizations arrange in house and external training for the employees every
year.
Now the selection process depends on the technical evaluation too.
75% of companies avail of the mechanism of employee emotion management.
The worst point is that 95% of companies do not provide any long term incentives to the
employees.
45% of the organization preserves performance rewards for the best employees.
30% of the companies have some dispute solution mechanisms to avoid uneven
circumstances among the employees.

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Recruiting and Hiring System
Private Bank and Financial Organization
The recruitment and selection process depends on the category of organization. In terms of a
private organization, this process goes a little bit informal except for the banking and
financial organization. As the banks and financial organizations are regularized by the
Banking act, so the private ownership cannot influence the illegal or improper recruitment
process.

Other Non-banking and Multinational or Non-government Agency

These sectors are not bound to abide by any legal requirement to recruit people. So,
Management may tend to focus on any criteria that nobody can question. They can focus on
qualifications or relations & references. In Bangladesh, these organizations may depend on
the growth of the business on the political parties or influential groups. So, those companies
are bound to consider the requests of them during the recruitment process.

Public Sector
Bangladesh Public Service Commission (PSC) arrange all the activities of the recruitment
and selection process. These examinations are conducted for different ministries, department
and certain divisions. Every year thousands of cadres and non cadres come out of the
recruitment process and join different positions.
Public companies other than civil service also recruit every year according to individual
regulated processes. The recruitment process in the public sector is not left with legal
procedures and consistency all the time. Political intervention hampers the activities most of
the time.
In all sectors, there is an online recruitment system that is used to track records of all data of
the candidates or applicants. This would help to make a panel of the applicants for further
recruitment.

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Learning and Development Process

Private Sector
One of the important factors of human resource development in Bangladesh is the training process. In
recent several years, some private organizations keep an allowance and budget for investing in the
training of the employees. But as a middle-income country and with labor surplus, in Bangladesh, the
training cost may not turn into an investment for middle-sized companies. Moreover, the ignorance of
the training need put obstacles in the training programs. On the other hand, the existing training also
may not succeed all the time in the lack of proper instruction and trainers. However, there are many hr
recruitments firms in Bangladesh.

Public Sector
For civil service PATC -Public Administration Training Center is the authority that is vested training
responsibility for every fresher employee. There are other different training centers too besides PATC
that are liable to provide training on behalf of government organization. The respective ministry of
specific department authorizes all those training courses, syllabuses, and duration for overall
foundation training. In the course of non-civil government jobs, training would not be provided
effectively through courses that are available here too. The selection of the trainees may be based on
the relationship with the top officials. Corruption prevails everywhere.

Managing Payroll
Private Sector
Except for some private financial institutions and banks, there is not any specifically structured pay
scale in private organizations. There are not any legal obligations and regulations in terms of the pay
scale. Management fixes the salary to a different level of positions. Sometimes fixation may differ
within the same levels in terms of qualification and experience in an arbitrary way.

Public Sector
Whether it is civil service or non-civil service, NPC-National Pay Commission introduces and
manages the pay scale. For public sector employees, there is a 20 graded pay structure determined by
NPC. These job grades are evaluated by educational qualifications and expertise. Sometimes, the
Government restructures the pay scale according to the economic condition of Bangladesh. There
would be some regulation alterations to the advancement of employees of all grades too. Collective
bargaining is not allowed in the public sector.

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Performance Management and Appraisals

Private Sector
Performance appraisal is an important factor to access the performance of an employee according to
his or her achieved target level. The correct appraisal can help to manage the performance based on
the appraisal. In private commercial banks and other financial institutions, it is very strictly managed
by the management. Very few corruptions may occur because of negative or unsupportive behavior or
relation. Besides management does the appraisal productively. Other private companies also have the
appraisal system but it doesn’t work like financial institutions.

Public Sector
Unlike the private sector performance appraisal system in HR management of public companies is not
perfect. The system becomes manipulated and ineffective to provide proper appraisal reports.
Actually, the bottlenecks of providing proper appraisals are many- political intervention, discretion
between parameters and results, wrong purpose, improper criteria. These causes cannot let the
management to make the perfect appraisal process for the employees. A proper PA system is 100%
effective if it considers three functions like administrative, informative and motivational ones. But the
system is biased with so many things that perfect appraisal is far distant than these.

Employee Benefits
Private Sector
For the employee benefits scheme in the private sector, there was a drive to allow pension schemes
for this sector in 2015. From then employees in private companies would opt for gaining a pension
after retirement. But this is not exercised fully yet. The financial institutions and fully organized
private companies allow these benefits arbitrarily. This would create a push from both the employees
and employers to save a similar amount every year. Ultimately, there is no law at present for the
pension scheme in the private sectors.

Public Sector
For pension scheme, there is an organized law for the employees of the public sector. Every employee
can get a benefit according to the pay scale and grade after retirement. For several years this scheme
has been improved to a large extent with the increase of the pay scale. So, government employees can
have a better future and security in the public sector for this type of benefit.

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The HR management system in Bangladesh is now emerging differently. But there is more way to go.
Still, there is deprivation of the minority groups in terms of employment opportunity. There are also
some bad practices, red tape, corruption and lack of diversity management skills. Government
standards and regulations is also a crucial point to have an effective HR management practice in our
country. The digital technology also can help a lot with the management of labor surplus with
different software. Lots of companies are using distinct system applications like payroll software, HR
management software, benefits administration module, attendance module, etc. So, there is a huge
prospect to have a beneficial strategy for both the employees and employers.

RESEARCH ON HR PLANNING IN BANGLADESH

Suppose someone compared the HR planning practices of two banks - Dutch Bangla Bank
Ltd. and Agrani Bank. They watched that none of the banks had any composed HR planning.
They emphasized on appropriate recruitment, selection, and training to guarantee human
efforts within the service of organizational objectives. Hossain and Ahmed moreover
analysed the HR planning practices of CARE, a leading universal organization having
operations in Bangladesh.

RESEARCH ON RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION IN BANGLADESH

Suppose someone examined the recruitment and selection process of Bangladesh Open
University. They emphasized on appropriate recruitment and selection because it constitutes
the foremost critical features of HRM and the cost of improper recruitment and selection is
additionally exceptionally high. At last, they suggested that BOU ought to set a completely
fledged HR department with experienced and competent individuals, formulate HR plans,
and present computerized HR framework to progress the recruitment and selection process of
BOU. A comparative study evaluated the recruitment and selection practices of Square
Pharmaceuticals Ltd (SPL). SPL practiced both inner and outside sources of recruitment.
Approximately 60% positions of SPL were filled remotely through newspaper promotions.
The rest of the positions were filled internally by employee referrals, and references of
rumoured faculty and senior management. It did not utilize internet for this reason. SPL
utilized distinctive tests such as written test, communication ability test, interview,
alcohol/drug test, medical check-up, reference check, and skill test in selecting right people
for the proper posts.

RESEARCH ON TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT IN BANGLADESH

For the public segment employees, the government, through the Ministry of Establishment,
selects the learners and determines training programs singularly, without any discussion from
the particular ministries. The Ministry of Establishment decides the substance of the training
courses and vests the obligation within the Public Administration Training Centre (PATC),
which confers foundation training to all respectful service cadre officers. In expansion to the
PATC, there are training institutes in Bangladesh that prepare civil service officers and other
authorities of the government’s independent organizations. Most such training organizing as
it were engaged in orientation training, or foundation training, for distinctive categories of
employees beneath the respective departments.
The primary restriction of government training programs is that training or capabilities don't
benefit employees, as these exercises seem not to have any effect on their career way or

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promotion opportunities. In public segment organizations, promotion or career progression
isn't connected with further skill development and qualification procurement, but or maybe
depends on position and mediations from canvassers and peers. Employees have no scope to
maintain a strategic distance from the entry-level position list to get promotions and career
progression.
Training of human resources has however to rise from its dismissed position in private sector
organizations in Bangladesh, which still don't see the require for training and development
activities for both employees and supervisors. In an economy with a colossal work overflow,
training activities are considered a fetched instead of an investment for organizational
development, and in private sector organizations, there are few precise training practices for
employee development. In common, training is considered the duty of employees, in spite of
the fact that a few companies, most outstandingly, pharmaceutical companies, are starting to
understand its significance.

RESEARCH ON INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS IN BANGLADESH

Suppose someone examined industrial relations in Bangladesh with extraordinary
accentuation on exchange unionism. The time frame of his study was from 1971 to 1984 with
the impacts of two colonial periods -British and Pakistani periods. Rahman examined the
labor management relations within the Crescent Jute Mills, Khulna. He found the presence of
strain between workers and management, labor discontentment, threatening attitude of
workers towards management and vice versa within the mill. He too observed that job
dissatisfaction was exceptionally high among the workers of the mill. Generally, labor-
management connection was exceptionally poor. A comparative study too examined the labor
apportions of a few selected industries of Chittagong. Another study made by Rahman
evaluated the influence of labor management relations on progressing productivity within the
context of Bangladesh. He described different aspects of labor legislation, labor practices,
compensation, productivity, and labor relations of Bangladesh. Taher inspected the roles
played by the different governments of Bangladesh in context of industrial relations amid
1972-1992. He moreover described industrial relations in two colonial stages – British and
Pakistani periods. He found that government’s totally different periods played critical roles in
forming industrial relations of Bangladesh. Ahmed studied current features and trends of
industrial relations (IR) system in Bangladesh and laid out long term challenges confronting
the IR standards in context to globalization. He specified that the exceedingly confrontational
and unpleasant situation of IR in Bangladesh required to be changed to meet the necessities
of modern world in arrange to heighten industrial productivity and business era. Taher and
Hossain distinguished that the reasons for breaking down labor management relations in
Bangladesh were: clashing government decisions, peculiarities of labor laws, delay in settling
disputes and grievances, and states of mind of bosses. They suggested a few measures to be
taken for moving forward industrial relations such as democratic practices in society and
within the industry; positive roles of the government; mutual trust and regard among state,
laborers, and managers; non-interference of political parties; advancement of proficient and
fair-trade union authority; training and orientation for laborers; as it were one trade union in
each venture; sensible pay structure and benefits; and favorable labor laws and policies.

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PAY STRUCTURING AND JOB GRADING IN BANGLADESH
Pay structure of public sector is designed by National Pay Commission (NPC) and have 20
pay structure for public employees. NPC used backdated pay structured which were used by
British earlier. There are four categories of employees: officers and executives, junior
officers, clerical/secretarial, and custodial. For wages pay structured is designed by National
Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC). Each commission gives 4 main parameter
that is pay should serve basic needs, industrial wages is higher that rural or agricultural
wages, wages and productivity must be linked, and also ability of enterprise is also
considered. The latest pay commission is formed in 2014 which is (National Pay and Service
Commission). This suggest pay raise up to 112.5% compared to 94% of 2005. It focuses on
better recruitment pay grade reduced to 16. But in reality, expect few organizations none of
the private institution has developed any pay structure. But pay structure for managerial and
non-managerial employee’s pay structure is almost similar as like public organization.
Generally, the salary is declared by the head of the department. Moreover, non-managerial
pay structure is determined by burgeoning with (CBA), usually there is 8-12 pay scales. In
private organization employee with high qualification can go for higher position but
unfortunately, in Bangladesh 26% of workers are illiterate.

EMERGING TRENDS OF HRM PRACTICES IN BANGLADESH

In spite of the fact that HRM in Bangladesh still takes after traditional work force
management practices, in recent years, analysts have distinguished changes that demonstrate
progress in terms of strategic HRM practices. First, the role and significance of HRM is
expanding in organizations in Bangladesh. Numerous large organizations have as of now
built up separate HRM divisions and contracted professional HRM work force with relevant
education, knowledge and experience. Some organizations have indeed updated the status of
HRM managers and consolidated the head of the HRM department on the corporate board.
The development of professionalism and the foundation of professional associations and
organizations may have provoked this rise of HRM roles, since it has changed the attitude
and recognition of trade communities towards the significance of HRM practices. The
government, with offer assistance from the World Bank, built up the Bangladesh Institute of
Administration, which offers specialized degrees and diplomas in HRM and related zones.
Most public and private universities in Bangladesh presently also offer Bachelor of Business
Administration (BBA) and Master of Business Administration (MBA) degrees, with
specialization in HRM. In expansion to the educational institutions, two proficient
associations, to be specific, the Institute of Personnel Management (IPM) and the Bangladesh
Society for Human Resource Management (BSHRM), have been shaped by recognized HRM
pros to promote the HRM profession and advancement of HRM practices in Bangladesh. The
BSHRM is organizing yearly HR conferences on regular premise and working to develop
professionalism among the HRM managers of the nation. The commitment of BSHRM is
broadly recognized by the worldwide HR community, and it has allowed membership of Asia
Pacific Federation of Human Resources Management (APFHRM) and the World Federation
of People Management Association (WFPMA). Hence, further advancements in terms of
HRM practices and acknowledgment HRM professions are anticipated in close future.
Second, shifts in recruitment and selection practices are moreover obvious in Bangladesh.

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Private segment organizations are starting competency-based approaches in their recruitment
and selection practices. Organizations are moving absent from the traditional view of
instructive qualifications and experience to one centered more on individual accomplishments
and work-related competencies. Managers are changing their focus from “what” to “how” to
utilize qualifications and knowledge criteria. Within the context of tremendous levels of
unemployment, where in some cases more than 1000 candidates compete for a single
position, educational achievement is still utilized to decrease the number of applications to a
reasonable figure. In any case, since competencies are evaluated in a subjective manner, the
control of such criteria may still happen. As the HRM profession picks up momentum and
HRM managers become better prepared, the utilize of competency models shows up to be
more widespread. The dissemination of competency-based practices from multinational
enterprises and universal organizations is very apparent totally different segments.
Globalization has changed the scene of modern workplaces, and organizations are
confronting continuous computerization and technological challenges within the changing
nature of their trade. These innovative changes have set expanded pressure on organizations
to upgrade employees’ knowledge and abilities in arrange to compete within the global arena.
The pace of industrialization in Bangladesh too has heightens the competition for talented
employees among organizations. To manage with the competition, organizations are
presently realizing the significance of investing in worker training and development
activities, and are setting up partitioned human resource development (HRD) divisions,
including specialized professionals and specialists. In a few cases, the appointment of a
Human Capital Manager or Talent Development Manager shows the expanded presence of
HRD activities in Bangladesh. States of mind towards employees are changing. Instead of
considering employees as a cost or irrelevant resources, managers are realizing the potential
esteem of highly talented employees and are investing in employee training and development
activities. Certainly, this appears a bright future for HRD.

FUTURE CHALLENGES OF HRM PRACTICES IN BANGLADESH

In Bangladesh the equal employment opportunity is totally absent. Women participation in
labor market is far behind and it quite non-existence. It is been blamed that HRM practice in
Bangladesh is unethical and further have labor exploitations. Employers here do not find well
skilled workers for their organizations. They complained there are many highly graduates
how have lack of technical and vocational learning’s. These create a huge gap in the labor
market. Recently the organization with strong financial abilities is hiring talents with the help
of free market economy. Further it is restricted for employer to initiate are recruitment
without the approval of trade union. Labor law is quite complicated in Bangladesh. Many
public organizations have over staff employees, we are resulting operational loss in the
organization. Hiring a part time employee is bit complicated for organizations too. New
generation of employees are much more well concern about their work life balance and work
environment in Bangladesh. Along with man, women are also facing work life balance
difficulties and carrier expansion in the traditional society of Bangladesh.
In spite of the fact that Bangladesh could be a country with inexhaustible labour, managers
still complain about a deficiency of exceedingly talented employees in numerous professions,
as well as a lack of competent senior level employees. Within the nonappearance of an

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integrated national education and HRD policy, educational institutes are creating thousands
of non-technical and non-vocational graduates each year. This makes a tremendous
imbalance within the labour market. Numerous highly educated graduates stay unemployed,
on the one hand, whereas knowledge-intensive industries confront skill shortages on the
other. In expansion, in recent years, the free-market economy has heightened competition in
several industries, and companies presently face stiff competition in procuring and retaining
skilled employees. Already, with limited options in terms of employment opportunities, work
security and seniority-based pay and promotion were utilized to persuade employees.
However, the expectations of the unused generation are very different to those of prior
generations, and traditional strategies of propelling employees are not successful within the
new labour market. As a result, HR supervisors are battling to attract and retain the talent
required by organizations.
As Bangladesh is moving from being a developing economy to an emerging economy,
people’s desires and values are too changing. Within the last 20 years, since of globalization
and the IT transformation, individuals are way better informed about the world, work and
civic offices of modern life. Whereas previous generations stressed about savings and job
security, the modern generation of employees is more concerned about relationships, a work–
life adjust and meaning in their work. Women are joining the labour market in expanding
numbers, and the number of working couples is expanding as well. Whereas women experts
are moving towards higher-level employment positions, they face an overwhelming challenge
to maintain a work–life balance and career advancement within the traditional Bangladesh
society. In Bangladesh, legislative issues determine or influences most trade decisions. It is
troublesome to distinguish between a businessperson and a politician. Businesspeople ought
to keep up contact with political leaders to get loans from banks or to induce essential support
from the government or supporting agencies. As specified earlier, recruitment, promotion,
trainee selection, compensation adjustment, management–union relationships and so on, are
all affected by legislative issues and politicians. Political belief system got to be prominent in
employee recruitment and selection, training and promotion activities in public segment
organizations. Private segment trade owners also consider political links or the background of
employees to realize their long-cherished political thought processes. However, for long-term
industrial improvement, businesses ought to separate themselves from national politics in
expansion, national policies have to be remained steady across changes within the
government, and businesspeople ought to not be harassed for their political convictions. For
HRM managers, moving beyond this tradition of political links, without the consent of
owners, may well be a big challenge when executing the latest HRM practices. The HRM
managers in multinational enterprises to confront a dilemma in keeping up the balance
between worldwide HRM prescriptions and the requirements of nearby subsidiaries in
Bangladesh. As globalization bring the world closer, HRM practices in Bangladesh are also
impacted by multinationals and other dominant philosophies. Numerous multinationals have
been operating in Bangladesh for a long time, and their monetary performance is better than
that of the local competitors. MNCs are role models in developing precise HRM practices
and driving local companies are trying to imitate their practices. However, owing to social

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and institutional contrasts, the viability of these practices for local companies remains in
doubt.

Human resource management during a pandemic

The world is facing an unprecedented economic turmoil as the Covid-19 pandemic unfolds its
impact across the globe. This recession triggered by the coronavirus may cause damage that
could surpass the great depression in the 1930s and the turbulent economy after the Second
World War.
Some common issues that are most likely to arise all over the world include the food crisis,
unemployment, liquidity crisis, transportation problems, remittance shortage, fall in export,
shutdown of industries, and so on.
Our ability to recover from this predicament lies with our capability to face all these sudden
impediments head-on to gain sustainable competitive advantage and to ensure excellent
employment relationships through effective human resource management (HRM) practices.
To overcome this arduous trial, the directors and top executives in the upper echelon of the
hierarchy must come together with all the employees and apply some strategies that can
benefit all the parties.
HRM departments need to reschedule their working hours during this period of crisis. We are
well aware that factories and establishments are facing difficulties in their operations due to
the shortage of workers. Thus, to ensure smooth production of goods and services, employees
from all levels of the organogram must come together to make a consensus decision that can
benefit all the stakeholders within the organization.
Factories and establishments operating in Bangladesh must rearrange their procedure,
schedules, working hours, and job rotation so that they may have a fighting chance to survive
this ongoing financial crisis in Bangladesh.
Therefore, rather than laying-off the employees leading Bangladesh to face the repercussions
of massive unemployment, the factories and establishments may instead adopt a strategy to
reduce the working hours of their workforce, which can benefit all the parties of the
company. However, this would be difficult to impose on the workers/labour as their salary is
really low compared to mid-level managers or employees.
Factories and establishments all around the globe are facing a scarcity of demand for their
goods and services, resulting in the factories and establishments incurring astronomical
financial losses. Factories and establishments in Bangladesh are no stranger to such
predicaments and, thus, are in dire need of strategies that will help them to cut costs without
having to lay-off their workforce.
The employees working for these factories and establishments are crucial assets with a
specialized skill set that allows factories and establishments to retain their value while aiding
factories and establishments to provide superior value to their customers.

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The prime minister, with the guidance of Bangladesh Bank, has taken the initiative to give
subsidies to factories and establishments operating in different industries so that they may not
lay-off their workforce.
Therefore, factories and establishments that are planning to maintain their competitive edge
must reengineer their employees’ benefits to reduce their employees’ overhead costs.
Factories and establishments are still racking their brains out, trying to figure out how to
make the best use of their human capital when they do not have adequate demand for their
goods and services.
The subsidies provided by the government will not last long. Now the real question that all
factories and establishments must answer is whether the financial support provided to retain
the employees will outlast the low demand for the company's goods and services.
Thus, factories and establishments, keeping the benefit of the employees in mind, need to
come up with ways to reduce the financial and non-financial benefits without having to
reduce the size of the workforce. Therefore, they need to sit with the Trade Union or Workers
Welfare Association, where they can come to terms on how to reduce the cost of the
company without having to shrink the workforce.  

Six issues to be addressed 

1. Ensure a compensation policy that is adequate to satiate employees’ daily expenses. 
2. Ensure flexible working hours that will allow them to make full use of the
technologies within their disposal so that they may work from home. 
3. A return-to-work policy must be submitted, which includes methods to verify whether
the employees are infected with the Covid-19 virus. 
4. Identify the personnel who are most vulnerable to the Covid-19 virus, and thus, equip
them with the gears to protect themselves throughout the pandemic. 
5. Come up with policies to restrict the child daycare services to reduce the contagion
from the virus among the employees. 
6. Re-define the sick leave policy. This should include the employee’s right to care for
their family members who have been or is suspected of having coronavirus. 

A new labor law 

The government, in an urgent basis, needs to amend the Bangladesh Labour Act, 2006 as
amended in 2018, to incorporate new provisions for work from home policy that will ease the
transition of factories and establishments towards having flexible workstations.  
The law also needs to incorporate the technologies available, which may include different
avenues available for working from home. In such cases, factories and establishments must
consider the employees as full-time employees and, therefore, pay average salaries to the
employees. 

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Imposing of restrictions on any retrenchment of workers for a particular period may support
the workforce during these tough times. For white collar employees, there is, as such, no job
security clause in Bangladesh by labour law. The government may look into developing laws
for white collar employees to guide better industrial working environments.  

Alternatives to lay-offs 
1. The factories and establishments can ask their employees to go for unpaid leave, or
furlough employees. 
2. The furloughed employees can work for other employees as long as they do not work
within the working hours of the previously held position. 
3. Through consensus, factories and establishments can go for progressive pay cuts for a
short period. 
4. Factories and establishments can adopt a piece-rate system (payment which is
proportionate to the work done) since employees working from home do not need to
work consistently 8 hours per day. 
5. Factories and establishments which are cutting costs may only provide a basic salary
rather than offering other fringe benefits. 
Mutual respect, sympathy, and affection may protect us from the upcoming catastrophe of
industrial turmoil and uncertainty of the industrial atmosphere. We should bear in mind that
the coronavirus aftermath may be deadlier than that experienced during wartime. There is no
alternative to cooperation and wholehearted support in this distressing time.  
The government authorities and industrialists need to be more empathetic during the
upcoming recession. They need to be well-prepared ahead of time to secure salary, improve
productivity, and ensure more safety and hygiene in operations. 
They need to use flexible and transparent HRM practices with the aim of employee
performance development aligned with organizational sustainability. 

Conclusion
Based on the HRM topics I have discussed above; I realize that all the topics relate to
companies’ ability of innovation. Companies have to create right interview questions to test
the best candidate, valuable training methods to deliver company’s culture, comprehensive
appraisal and development system to promote outstanding employees, rigorous regulations to
protect employees’ rights and safety, and sophisticated technology and information system to
understand and interpret the data. There is no doubt that innovation plays a significant role in
helping companies along their way to success. As Dr. Robert W. Service suggests the right
way to teach MBA students in his article, “…are recognizing the need to shift emphasis from
management of stability and control to leadership directed toward speed, empowerment,
flexibility and continuous improvement all directed at product, service, administrative,
process and individual and organizational innovativeness” (Service and Cockerham, 2007).
Companies should also make innovation their first priority not only for HR management, but
also for their overall management as well to success.
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Since it is clearly understood from academic research that human resources are a source of
sustained competitive advantage, while, traditionally, the costs associated with the
development of HRM strategy have been regarded as an operating expense, these costs would
be better considered as an investment in capital assets.
Human Resource Management may be a modern phenomenon in cutting edge management. It
is considered as rising part of organization. Organizations have numerous operational
functions and HRM is one of them. In Bangladesh the ideas of HRM ares planning to be well
known to each sector. As a review paper, this study attempted to evaluate current scenarios
and future prospects of HRM practices in Bangladesh. Based on the findings of the study,
future analysts may investigate the following issues for advance development of HRM
research in Bangladesh. First, while developments in HRM are obvious, but developments
completely different functional regions of HRM are not even. For example, appropriation of
different selection tests and performance evaluation frameworks appeared to be broader at
that point employee development and strengthening practices [30]. HRM researchers
advocated adoption of bundle of HRM practices instead of promoting separated practices.
Future research might investigate adequacy of such particular HRM practices in Bangladeshi
contexts. Second, both high commitment HRM practices and high performance HRM
practices are presently emerging to a few extents in private segment organizations. Viability
of those practices usually changes based on industry, segment, markets and competitiveness
of the economy. Future research might find viability of those combinations of HRM practices
in numerous sectors or industries within the economy as well as for distinctive levels of
employees, and endorse more specific HRM practices for particular industries and segments
of the nation. Too, the socio-cultural contrasts in Bangladesh may require cautious adoption
of universal best HRM practices. Future researchers may examine the viability of so-called
best practices and discover different set of altered HRM practices compelling within the
socio-cultural context of Bangladesh.
………………………………………………………………………………………. The End

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