Friday, 30 September 2022

Question no. 1 - MMPC 03 - Business Environment - MBA and MBA (Banking & Finance)

Solutions to Assignments

                            MBA and MBA (Banking & Finance)

MMPC 03 - Business Environment

MMPC-003/TMA/JULY/2022

Question No. 1. Define inflation. What are the different methods of measuring inflation and what are the effects of inflation.   

One of the most daunting task before economists is to define Inflation as there are multitudes of problems in penning down one definition. Therefore there is no universal definition for this problem. Many economists have given different definition like according to Coulborn, Inflation can be understood as a situation whereby “too much money chases too few goods”. A situation in which the value of money falls and price rises is inflation according to Crowther. These and other definitions have one or another deficiency. Economists are unanimous that inflation refers to a ‘persistent’ and ‘appreciable’ rise in the general price level. However, the word persistent and appreciable are not clearly defined so there is space for ambiguity. For example, whether the rate of price rise by 1 %, 5 % or 30 % is considerable or there is some other rate which is deemed to be considerable. The issue of inflation is of utmost importance because it is both boon as well as bane. A rise in prices is necessary for producers to induce them to supply more in the market. But higher prices lead to more burden on the consumer pocket and it may also create many political and social problems. So, what an economy needs is a moderate rate of inflation. This takes us to another question, what is a moderate rate of inflation? The answer to this question varies from country to country depending on the level of development. For instance, in the case of India, a committee set up by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to review the monetary system which is popularly known as Chakravarty Committee (1985) recommended that 4 percent rate of Inflation is desirable for India’s economic growth.

Different Methods of Measuring Inflation 

There are two common methods of measuring inflation.


Effects of Inflation 

Inflation affects almost all the economic agents of the economy be it consumer, producer or government. The favourable or unfavourable effect depends upon the rate of inflation. In this section, you will understand how does it impact the distribution of income and wealth, producers, wage earners, borrowers and lenders and some other segments of the economy. 

Impact on Income Distribution 
How will inflation affect income and wealth distribution depends upon the prices of the output which the producer produces and the prices of the inputs like labour and land. If output prices rise more than input prices, then income will be distributed in the favour of the producer or the profit earner or the employer. The plausible explanation is when the price of output rises, it translates to higher revenue and profit of the producer. So the revenue-wage gap increases and the larger share of the national income goes to the employer. The overall impact is that firm/producer who was already rich they get even richer and the poor (especially labour) get poorer.
 
Deterioration in the Value of Money 
Inflation erodes the purchasing power of money. It implies that the real wages or real income decline with a rise in prices. For example, let us suppose that the price of good X was Rs 10 per piece and you have Rs 500 as your money income. So if you spend your entire income on good X, you could buy 50 units/pieces. Now keeping other things constant the price of good X rise to Rs 20 per piece. Now the same Rs 500 can fetch you only 25 units of X good. So the currency denomination remains the same but its purchasing power reduces. You can buy fewer goods with the same income. This type of effect is most harmful to daily wage earners, persons with fixed income and employees working in the unorganised sector, as they do not have any safeguard against this price rise.

Impact on Borrowers and Lenders 
It is the borrowers who tend to gain due to inflation and lenders lose. Now suppose you are a borrower and you borrow money at the prevailing rate of inflation. Now when you repay the same amount to your lender no doubt you are paying the same amount with the rate of interest but the real value of money has reduced. More specifically you pay less in terms of purchasing power or goods and services. So you(borrower) gain and your lender losses.
 
Methods of Taming Inflation 
Monetary policy is one of the policy option and direct method of controlling inflation. Reserve Bank of India makes use of monetary policy to regulate the supply of credit in the market.

MMPC 03 - Business Environment - MBA and MBA (Banking & Finance)

Solutions to Assignments

                            MBA and MBA (Banking & Finance)

MMPC 03 - Business Environment

MMPC-003/TMA/JULY/2022

Note: Attempt all the questions and submit this assignment to the coordinator of your study centre. Last date of submission for July 2022 session is 31st October, 2022 and for January 2023 session is 30th April, 2023. 

Question No. 1. Define inflation. What are the different methods of measuring inflation and what are the effects of inflation.                                 CLICK HERE

Question No. 2. What do you understand by business ethics? Discuss the importance of business ethics and the ethical issues involved in business.                               CLICK HERE

Question No. 3. Discuss the structure of capital market in detail.                               CLICK HERE

Question No. 4. Describe the key players in the agricultural sector and discuss the role and importance of agricultural marketing.                               CLICK HERE

Question No. 5. What are the main components of Balance of Payments (BoP)? Discuss the factors affecting the BoP.                               CLICK HERE

Question No. 6. Write notes on the following:                               CLICK HERE
a) Measures to reduce barriers to foreign trade. 
b) Impact of technological environment on international business.

Question No. 5 - MMPC 002 - Human Resources Management - MBA and MBA (Banking & Finance)

Solutions to Assignments

                            MBA and MBA (Banking & Finance)

MMPC 002 - Human Resources Management

MMPC-002/TMA/JULY/2022

Question No. 5. What is career development? Explain the process of career development citing examples.

Career is viewed as a sequence of position occupied by a person during the course of his lifetime. Career may also be viewed as amalgam of changes in value, attitude and motivation that occur, as a person grows older. The implicit assumption is that an invididual can make a different in his career over time and can adjust in ways that would help him to enhance and optimize the potential for his own career development. Career development is important because it would help the individual to explore, choose and strive to derive satisfaction with one‟s career object. Through career development, a person evaluates his or her own abilities and interests, considers alternative career opportunities, establishes career goals, and plans practical developmental activities.

On the part of employees, they should manage their own careers like entrepreneurs managing a small business. They should think of themselves as self-employed. They should freely participate in career planning activities and must try to get as much as possible out of the opportunities provided. The successful career will be built on maintaining flexibility and keeping skills and knowledge up to date. Career development essentially involves the functions of career planning and succession planning. Both these functions are carried out by HR department. Keeping in view the organisational goals and capabilities of individual employees subsequent sections would cover the functions of career planning and succession planning in detail.

CAREER DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

There are two components of career planning and development: 
A) Career Development Programme, and 
B) Career Planning Process and Activities



A) Career Development Programme This involves three activities: 

a) Assisting employees in assessing their own internal career needs. 
Internal Career Assessment: Since a person's career is extremely important element of life, each person is to make his or her decision in this regard. However, the HR manager may assist an employee's decision-making process by providing as much information as possible to the employee showing what type of work would suit him or her most, considering his or her other interest, skill, aptitude, and performance in the work that he or she is already doing. For rendering such help some big organisations provide formal assessment centre/workshops where small groups of employees are subjected to psychological testing, simulation exercises and depth interviewing. The objective of such programmes is not that of selecting future promotees, but rather to help indivuduals to do their own planning. 

b) Developing and publicising available career opportunities in the organisation. 
Career Opportunities: Knowing that employees have definite career needs, there naturally follows the obligation of specifically charting career paths through the organisation and informing the employees. For identifying the career paths the technique of job analysis may help in discovering multiple lines of advancement to several jobs in different areas. 

c) Aligning employee needs and abilities with career opportunities. 
Employee's Needs and Opportunities: When employees have assessed their needs and have become aware of organisational career opportunities the remaining problem is one of alignment. For aligning or matching the career needs of employees to opportunities offered by the organisation, special training and development techniques such as special assignment, planned position rotation, and supervisory coaching, are used. The HR department of some organisations have also some system of recording and tracking moves through the organisation, and maintain an organisation chart that highlights age, seniority and promotion status.

 B) Career Planning Process and Activities 

The process of career planning involves a number of activities or steps to be undertaken as mentioned below: 

a) Preparation of HR inventory of the organisation, 

Organisation's HR Inventory: Such an inventory is an essential prerequisite for any successful career planning within the organisation. This inventory should be so prepared as to provide the following information: 

  • Organisational set up and its different levels. 

  • The existing number of persons employed in the organisation. For this, manning tables are prepared showing the nature of positions at different levels of the organisation and the number of persons manning those jobs. Sometimes the age of persons holding the jobs are also mentioned in the table to show when they are likely to retire and when the vacancy thus caused may be required to be filled. 

  • Types of existing employees, their status, duties, qualifications, age, aptitude, ability to shoulder added responsibility and their acceptability to their colleagues. 

  • Whether the existing manpower is short or in surplus to requirements. If there is a shortage, how many more persons are required, and for what positions. 

Number of persons required in the near future, say in the next one to five years, to meet the needs arising from expansion or diversification of work or natural wastage of manpower. The latter includes death, permanent disability, superannuation and retirement, discharge, dismissal, voluntary resignation, or abandonment of the jobs. Collection of all the above information may amount to manpower planning, and involve preparation of manpower budget showing present and immediate future needs. 

b) Building career paths or ladders for various categories of employees, 

Employee's Potential for Career Planning: After determining the career path, the next logical step is to find out the suitable employees who may have the necessary ability and potential for climbing up the ladder and are willing to be promoted and to take up higher responsibilities. For this the management control technique of Performance Appraisal and Merit Rating is utilised. Periodical evaluation and merit rating of employees is also necessary for proper planning of manpower and career of employees in the organisation. This can be possible only by knowing how much and what types of human resources are available, and the potential of employees whose career is to be planned.

c) Locating or identifying employees with necessary potential for career planning, 

Formulation and Implementation of Training and Development Plans and Programmes: For making the career planning a success it is essential that the training and development programmes should be so planned and designed that they meet the needs of both the management and employees. The participants of these programmes should be the employees who are willing to be trained and developed further to make their career in the organisation. Methods of training and nature of skill and knowledge to be imparted may be different for different types of employees. The emphasis may be on improving technical skills of skilled workers and on acquiring and improving leadership qualities, human and conceptual skills for senior supervisors, executives and managers. 

d) Formulation and implementation of suitable plans for training and development of 

Age Balance and Career Paths: One widespread difficulty in career planning may arise from the need to accommodate people in the same level of supervisory and managerial hierarchy, some of whom are young direct recruits and others are promotees who are almost always considerably older. The latter, because of their limited education or formal professional qualification, cannot expect to move up very high; the former as they are better educated and trained have aspirations for rapid vertical mobility. Promotion and direct recruitment at every level must, therefore, be so planned as to ensure a fair share to either group. Intense jealousies, rivalries or groupism may develop if this aspect of personnel administration is neglected. Very quick promotions which create promotion blocks should also be avoided if the employees are not to feel stagnated or demotivated at early stages of their careers, and think of leaving the organisation for better prospects. Such a situation can be avoided if promotions are properly spaced. 

e) persons for different steps of the career ladder or paths, and 

Review of Career Development Plans in Action: Career planning is a continuous activity. In fact it is a process. For effective career planning, a periodical review process should be followed so that the employee may know in which direction the organisation is moving, what changes are likely to take place and what resources and skills he or she needs to adapt to the changing organisational requirements. Even for the organisation, annual evaluation is desirable to know an employee's performance, limitations, goals and aspirations, and to know whether the career plan in action is serving the corporate objective i.e. effective utilisation of human resources by matching employee abilities to the demands of the job and his or her needs to the rewards of the job. Some of the questions that could be asked while evaluating the career plan might be:

  • Was the classification of the existing employees correct? 

  • Are the job descriptions proper? 

  • Is there any employee unsuited to his or her job? 

  • Are the future manpower projections still valid? 

  • Is the team pulling on well as a whole? 

  • Are the training and development programmes adequately devised to enable the employee to climb up the career ladder and fit into higher positions?  

Answers to all these and other questions can be found either by holding brainstorming sessions or by undertaking a survey of career planning activities and their impact on the working of the organisation.

f) Maintaining age balance while taking employees up the career path and review of career development plan in action, etc.

Career Counselling: Career planning may also involve counselling individuals on their possible career paths, and what they must do to achieve promotions. The need for such counselling arises when employees plan their own careers, and develop or train themselves for career progression in the organisation. This does not mean revealing the number of determined steps in a long range plan of the organisation. Even if it were possible, it would be inappropriate to raise expectations which might not be fulfilled or induce complacency about the future. In counselling, the wisest approach is to provide a scenario of the opportunities that might become available. The main aim should be to help the individual concerned to develop oneself by giving him or her some idea of the direction in which he or she ought to be heading. Some other objectives of career counselling are as follows:

  • Enabling individuals to study the immediate and personal world in which they live. 

  • Providing a normal mature person with guidelines to help him or her understand oneself more clearly and develop his or her thinking and outlook. 

  • Achieving and enjoying greater personal satisfaction, pleasure and happiness. 

  • Understanding the forces and dynamics operating in a system. 


Question No. 4 - MMPC 002 - Human Resources Management - MBA and MBA (Banking & Finance)

Solutions to Assignments

                            MBA and MBA (Banking & Finance)

MMPC 002 - Human Resources Management

MMPC-002/TMA/JULY/2022

Question No. 4. Why training, mentoring, compensation and reward management of an organization ensures effective human resource development? Explain with the help of recent trends in the corporate world. 


TRAINING AS AN EFFECTIVE HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

Training is essential because technology is developing continuously and at a fast rate. Systems and practices get outdated soon due to new discoveries in technology, including technical, managerial and behavioural aspects. Organisations that do not develop mechanisms to catch up with and use the growing technology soon become stale. However, developing individuals in the organisation can contribute to its effectiveness of the organisation.

There are some other reasons also for which this training becomes necessary. Explained below are various factors, giving rise to the need for training. 

 Employment of inexperienced and new labour requires detailed instructions for effective performance on the job. 
 People have not to work, but work effectively with the minimum of supervision, minimum of cost, waste and spoilage, and to produce quality goods and services. 
 Increasing use of fast changing techniques in production and other operations requires training into newer methods for the operatives. 
 Old employees need refresher training to enable them to keep abreast of changing techniques and the use of sophisticated tools and equipment. 
 Training is necessary when a person has to move from one job to another be3cause of transfer, promotion or demotion. 

Such development, however, should be monitored so as to be purposeful. Without proper monitoring, development is likely to increase the frustration of employees if when, once their skills are developed, and expectations raised, they are not given opportunities for the application of such skills. A good training sub-system would help greatly in monitoring the directions in which employees should develop in the best interest of the organisation. A good training system also ensures that employees develop in directions congruent with their career plans.

Hence, a well-planned and well-executed training programme should result in: 
  • reduction in wastes and spoilage;
  • improvement in methods of work; 
  • reduction in learning time; 
  • reduction in supervisory burden; 
  • reduction in machine breakage and maintenance cost; 
  • reduction in accident rate; 
  • improvement in quality of products; 
  • improvement in production rate; 
  • improvement of morale and reduction in grievances; 
  • improvement of efficiency and productivity; 
  • reduction in manpower obsolescence; 
  • enabling the organization to provide increased financial incentives, opportunity for internal promotion and raising of pay rates; 
  • wider awareness among participants, enlarges skill; and 
  • personal growth. 
MENTORING IN EFFECTIVE HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

Mentoring can either be the result of a 3rd party program instituted by your company or organization, or it can develop organically. Both types are beneficial, but organic mentor/mentee relationships tend to be somewhat less formal. There's likely to be a level of informality in every mentor/mentee relationship, and that's completely fine.
A mentee should be able to let their guard down, confide in their mentor, and not have to worry about office politics. In fact, office politics could easily be a topic of conversation. That being said, mentor/mentee confidentiality can be a little tricky. There's no law saying a mentor has to keep everything their mentee says confidential, but it's extremely bad practice to betray trust within the relationship. A good mentee should be aware of what information is appropriate to share, and a good mentor should remain professional with the information they're given. 
Today's workforce is very focused on career growth and professional development. From interns to senior executives, the majority see networking and learning opportunities as a huge benefit - often more important than social events and traditional office perks. This is especially true as we move to a much more virtual workforce where building relationships in the office is getting a lot harder. By implementing a mentoring program you can attract more skilled talent, and stand out from the competition. Not only is it a benefit in itself, it shows your company cares about its people and is focused on improving and providing value as they grow in their career. On the flip side, mentoring your current employees helps to ensure they're happy, stay with you longer, and gain the skills/knowledge that will allow them to be transferred within the company in order to meet your organization's needs.
Mentoring is beneficial to practically any industry, and any level of employee. For recruiting new talent, it can even be a great selling feature - especially with a younger workforce who is eager to learn, grow, and build their network. Mentoring is a great tool that can strengthen your workforce, and your company.
COMPENSATION IN EFFECTIVE HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
The compensation function contributes to the organisational effectiveness in four basic ways: 
1) Compensation can serve to attract qualified applicants to the organisation. Other things being equal, an organisation offering a higher level of pay can attract a larger number of qualified applicants than its competing units. 
2) Compensation helps to retain competent employees in the organisation. Although retaining competent workers is contingent on many factors, compensation policies help by maintaining a fair internal pay structure and by providing attractive benefits. Turnover is thus reduced, along with costs associated with recruiting, selecting, and training replacements. 
3) Compensation serves as an incentive to motivate employees to put forth their best efforts. Manufacturing and sales organizations, for example, use monetary incentives to attain higher levels of production or sales without hiring additional employees. When employees put forth their best efforts, average productivity of labour increases. With increased productivity, fewer employees are needed to achieve the same level of output. Thus, labour costs are reduced and organisational profitability is increased. 
4) Minimising the costs of compensation can also contribute to organisational effectiveness since compensation is a significant cost for most employers. In brief, compensation is provided for two reasons, namely; as a reward for past service to the enterprise, and as stimulus to increased performance in the future.
In modern business, executives hold the most pivotal place in an organisation. They play a major part in looking after the economic health of the company. As they are important for the success, growth and profitability of an organisation, they have to be compensated properly. To make the executives happy to the extent possible, companies have been giving in recent years, bigger and more frequent rises in salaries. The cumulative effect is that executive compensation cost is today a sizeable cost and rising cost. Companies have started looking at executive compensation more systematically and more proactively so that they can expect better performance from the executives.
REWARD MANAGEMENT IN EFFECTIVE HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
One of the important attributes of work organisation is its ability to give rewards to their members. Pay, promotions, fringe benefits, and status symbols are perhaps the most important rewards. Because these rewards are important, the way they are distributed have a profound effect on the quality of work life as well as on the effectiveness of organisations.
There are several principles for setting up an effective reward system in an organisation: 
  • Give value to the reward system. Employees must have a preference for the types of rewards being offered. Many employees prefer cash awards and plaques. 
  • Some employees like to see their name in the company newsletter. Others like the public recognition surrounding award ceremonies. 
  • Make the reward system simple to understand. Elaborate procedures for evaluating performance, filling out forms, and review by several levels of management lead to confusion. The system must be easy to understand if it is to be used effectively. 
  • Lay down performance standards within the control of the team. 
  • Make the reward system fair and effective. 
  • Ensure participation in the reward system. 
  • Involve people in the reward process and empower them to do the needful. 
Most organisations use different types of rewards. Examples of recognition and rewards include money, plaques, trophies, certificates or citations, public recognition, official perquisites, special assignments, parties or celebrations or other meaningful considerations. The most common are wages or salary, incentive systems, benefits and perquisites, and awards. For majority of people, the most important reward for work is the pay they receive. For one thing, an effectively planned and administered pay system can improve motivation and performance.
Money may not actually motivate people. Surprisingly, there is no clear evidence that increased earnings will necessarily lead to higher performance. A great deal of research has been done on what determines whether an individual will be satisfied with the rewards he or she receives from a situation. The following five conclusions can be reached about what determines satisfaction with rewards:
1) Satisfaction with reward is a function of both how much is received and how much the individual feels should be received. When individuals receive less than they feel they should receive, they are dissatisfied. When they receive more than they feel they should, they tend to feel guilty and uncomfortable. 
2) People‟s feelings of satisfaction are influenced by comparisons with what happens to others. These comparisons are made both inside and outside the organisations they work in, and are usually made with similar people. Individuals tend to rate their inputs higher than others. 
3) In addition to obvious extrinsic rewards individuals receive (e.g., pay, promotion, status symbols), they also may experience internal feelings that are rewarding to them. These include feelings of competence, achievement, personal growth, and self-esteem. The overall job satisfaction of most people is determined both by how they feel about their intrinsic rewards and how they feel about their extrinsic rewards. 
4) People differ widely in the rewards they desire and how much important the different rewards are to them. One group feels money is the most important, while another group feels interesting work and job content is. Both groups, of course, are able to find examples to support their point of view. 
5) Many extrinsic rewards are important and satisfying only because they lead to other rewards, or because of their symbolic value. 
An effective reward system should link reward to performance. Workers who work hard and produce more or give better quality results should receive greater rewards than poor performers. Also, criteria for receiving rewards should be clear and employees should know whether they are going to receive rewards for quality performance, innovation, effort or attendance. Management must ensure that workers perceive distribution of rewards as equitable. Furthermore, for organisations to attract, motivate and retain qualified and competent employees, they must offer rewards comparable to their competitors. 

Friday, 16 September 2022

Question No. 3 - MMPC 002 - Human Resources Management - MBA and MBA (Banking & Finance)

Solutions to Assignments

                            MBA and MBA (Banking & Finance)

MMPC 002 - Human Resources Management

MMPC-002/TMA/JULY/2022

Question No. 3. Explain the importance of job analysis, job design, socialization and mobility in Human resource planning citing relevant examples. 

IMPORTANCE OF JOB ANALYSIS

According to scientific management, the key to productivity is a precise understanding of the tasks that constitute a job. If the motions of workers are to become standardized and machine-like, then it is necessary to be certain about what is to be accomplished, as well as what abilities and materials are necessary to do the job. For many years, job analysis was considered the backbone of the scientific clipboards and stopwatches, was the method used to determine the most efficient way to perform specific jobs. As the popularity of scientific management declined after World War II, however, so did the popularity of job analysis. With the new emphasis on human relations as the key to productivity job analysis was used primarily to set salary scales. But in the modern times workers and employers began to take renewed interest in this area because of concerns about two issues: unfair discrimination and comparable worth.
There are two areas where unfair discrimination in hiring can occur: in the standards set for being hired; and in the procedures used to assess the applicant‟s ability to meet those standards. Job analysis addresses the question of what tasks, taken together actually constitute a job. Without this information, standards for hiring may appear to be arbitrary – or worse, designed to exclude certain individual or groups from the workplace. More recently, the issue of comparable worth has also contributed to a new interest in job analysis. Comparable worth refers to equal pay for individuals who hold different jobs but perform work that is comparable in terms of knowledge required or level of responsibility. The major issue of the comparable worth controversy is that women who are employed in jobs that are comparable to those held by men are paid, on the average, about 65 percent of what a man would earn. In order to determine the comparability of job tasks so that salaries can also be compared, a proper job analysis is necessary. Comparable work is an issue of considerable interest to many people.

IMPORTANCE OF JOB DESIGN 

Job design has emerged as an important area of work analysis. It is based on growing conceptual and empirical base and has commanded research attention and is being widely applied to actual practice of management. Job design concern and approaches are considered to have begun with the scientific management movement. Pioneering scientific managers like Taylor and Gilbreth examined jobs with techniques such as time and motion analysis. Their goal was to maximize human efficiency on the job. Taylor suggested that task design might be the most important single element in scientific management.

Job designing evolved into what is popularly known as job engineering. The industrial engineering approach is basically concerned with products, process, tool design, plant layout, operating procedures, work measurement, standards, and human-machine interactions. It has also been closely associated with sophisticated computer applications involving Computer Assisted Design (CAD). These computer systems had a positive impact by reducing task and workflow uncertainty. Top management could readily perceive the immediate cost savings form job engineering, but certain behavioural aspects like quality absenteeism, and turnover were generally ignored.

In the 1950s, different methods were being adopted by practicing managers. For example, IBM job rotation and job enlargement programmes were introduced. Job enlargement programmes essentially loaded the jobs horizontally, and expanded the number of operations performed by the worker and made the job less specialized. Job rotation programmes reduced boredom by switching people around to various jobs. Although boredom at work is still a significant problem in the last several years, attention has shifted to new demanding challenges facing employees on the job. For example, because of downsizing of organizations and increasingly advanced technology, jobs have suddenly become much more demanding and employees must differently adapt to unpredictable changes. For example, in manufacturing assembly line methods are being replaced by flexible, customized production and computer-integrated manufacturing. This new manufacturing approach requires workers to deal with an ever-increasing line of product and sophisticated technology.

In this context, job design takes on special importance in today‟s human resource management. It is essential to design jobs so that stress can be reduced, motivation can be enhanced, and satisfaction of employees and their performance can be improved so that organizations can effectively compete in the global market place.

Job Rotation: An alternative to boredom in work place is job rotation. Job rotation implies moving of employees form one job to another without any fundamental change in the nature of the job. The employee may be performing different jobs that are of similar nature. The advantages of job rotation may be reduced boredom, broadening of employees‟ knowledge and skills, and making them competent in several jobs rather than only one. However, caution needs to be exercised while shifting people frequently form one job to another, as it may cause interruption or the employee may feel alienated in a new job. Another factor is job rotation does not provide the employee any challenge on the job and, hence, those employees who are seeking challenge may feel frustrated.

Job Enlargement: Job enlargement involves adding more tasks to a job. It is a horizontal expansion and increases jobs scope and gives a variety of tasks to the jobholder. It is essentially adding more tasks to a single job. It definitely reduces boredom and monotony by providing the employee more variety of tasks in the job. Thus, it helps to increase interest in work and efficiency. In one study it was found that by expanding the scope of job, workers got more satisfaction, committed less errors, and customer service improved. However, research has provided contrary evidence also in that enlargement sometimes may not motivate an individual in the desired direction. Job Enrichment. 

Job Enrichment: Another approach to designing jobs in job enrichment. In the earlier two methods, human capabilities are not being utilized to a maximum and employees are feeling frustrated. Job enrichment involves a vertical expansion of a job by adding more responsibilities and freedom to it. According to Herzberg, job enrichment is the type of expansion of a job that gives employees more challenge, more responsibility, more opportunity to grow and contribute his or her ideas to the organization‟s success. In other words, job enrichment increases job depth that refers to the degree of control employees have over their work. Job enrichment basically provides autonomy while retaining accountability. It generates feeling of personal responsibility and achievement. Job enrichment certainly improves the quality of work output, employee motivation, and satisfaction. 

IMPORTANCE OF SOCIALIZATION

The idea of role comes form sociology and it is the pattern of actions expected of a person in his activities involving others. It arises as a result of the position one occupied in the social structure as he/she interacts with other people. In order to be able to coordinate his work with others in an organization, one needs some way to anticipate their behaviour as one interacts with them. Role performs this functions in the social system. A person functions in roles both on the job and away from it, as shown in Figure 2. One person performs the occupational role of worker, the family role of father, the social role of club president, and many others. In his various roles he is both buyer and seller, boss and subordinate, a father and son, and an advisor and seeker of advice. Each role calls for different types of behaviour. Within the work environment alone, a worker has more than one role. He may be a worker in group A, a subordinate of foreman in B, and machinist, a member of a union, and a representative on the safety committee. Undoubtedly role is the most complexly organized response pattern of which a human being is capable. Activities of manager and workers a like are guided by their role perceptions, that is, how they think they are supposed to act in a given situation. Since mangers perform many different roles, they must be highly adaptive in order to change from one role to another quickly. The factory foreman‟s role particularly requires that he be adaptive in working with the extremes of subordinate and superior, staff and line, technical and non-technical, and education and uneducated.

A role set is the entire configuration of surrounding roles as they affect a particular role, such as the foreman‟s role just described. That is, all the different persons with whom the foreman interacts in this role of foreman have role expectations concerning the way in which he should act, and these expectations collectively make up the role set for his role as foreman, this role set arises partlyfrom the nature of the job itself, because managers in equivalent jobs but in different companies tend to perceive and play their roles in about the same way. The existence of role expectations means that a manager or other person interacting with someone else needs to perceive three role values, and shown interacting with someone else needs to perceive three role values, as shown in Figure 3. First, he needs to see his own role as required by the function he is performing. Then he needs to see the role of the person he contacts. Finally, he needs to see his role as seen by the other person. Obviously he cannot meet the needs of others unless he can perceive what they expect of him. Research shows that where there is wide variance in a manager‟s role perception of his job and the employee‟s role expectations of that job, there tends to be poor motivation and inefficiency. They may even have difficulty communicating because they will not be talking about the same things in the same way. For example, difficulties may arise because a manager sees his role as that of a hard boiled pusher, but his employees expect the opposite.

When role expectations of a job are materially different or opposite, the incumbent in the job tends to be in role conflict because he cannot meet one expectation without rejecting the other. A president in one company faced role conflict, for example, when he learned that both the controller and the personnel director expected him to allocate

Complex Web as they interact:The new organizational planning function to their departments. Regarding the existence of role conflict research suggests that a manager bases his decision primarily on legitimacy (which expectations he thinks is more “right” and reasonably) and sanction (how he thinks he will be affected if he follows one expectation in preference to the other). In case role expectations are substantially unknown because of poor communication or are inadequately defined, role ambiguity exists, and it is more difficult to predict how a person in that role will act.

From a manager‟s point of view, a fuller understanding of roles should help him know what others expect of him and how he should act. Knowing this he should be more adaptable to each unique role relationship. His decision making should improve because he will understand why other people are acting the way they are. He will also recognize the variety of roles each employee plays and will try to provide motivations and satisfactions for those several job roles. 
 
IMPORTANCE OF MOBILITY

Mobility is an organizational activity to cope with the changing organizational requirements like change in organizational structure, fluctuation in requirement of organizational product, introduction of new method of work etc. Mobility in an organizational context includes mainly „promotion‟and „transfer‟. Sometimes, „demotion‟also comes under mobility.

Purposes of Mobility 
Mobility serve the following purposes: 
a) To improve organizational effectiveness; 
b) To maximise employee efficiency; 
c) To cope with changes in operation; and 
d) To ensure discipline.

A. Promotion 
In simpler terms, promotion refers to upward movement in present job leading to greater responsibilities, higher status and better salary. Promotion may be temporary or permanent depending upon the organizational requirement. According to Clothier and Spriegel, “promotion is the transfer of an employee to a job which pays more money or one that carries some preffered status.”

B. Demotion 
Demotion refers to the lowering down of the status, salary and responsibilites of an employee. Demotion is used as a disciplinary measure in an organization. The habitual patterns of behaviour such as violation of the rules and conduct, poor attendance record, insubordination where the individuals are demoted. Beach (1975) defines demotion as “the assignment of an individual to a job of lower rank and pay usually involving lower level of difficulty and responsibility”.
 
C. Transfer 
A transfer is a horizontal or lateral movement of an employee from one job, section, department, shift, plant or position to another at the same or another place where his salary, status and responsibility are the same. Yoder and others (1958) define transfer as “a lateral shift causing movement of individuals from one position to another usually without involving marked change in duties, responsibilities, skills needed or compensation”. Transfer may be initiated either by the company or the employee. It also can be temporary or permanent. 


All Questions - MCO-021 - MANAGERIAL ECONOMICS - Masters of Commerce (Mcom) - First Semester 2024

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