HRM Notes:

Session 1:

Question to ask while studying: What do we need to do as a functional person and let HR
know what they need to provide you for their function?

To fetch a new project – the person or people giving the presentations or doing bids must
be likeable.
They need to be engaged.
Technology and funds are usually not a differentiating factor in major businesses. It is
People vs. People. Technology doesn’t give you a competitive edge always.
Losing or Gaining business makes a lot of difference on P&L.
Business may be lost due to an incapable workforce.

Replacing or supplementing an incapable workforce impacts the bottom line.

Upgrade and hire the right people.

People should have people skills as well.

While hiring – to ensure a good fit ensure the person is a good fit for the culture – technical
training here or there can be covered.

IDP: Individual Development Plan

Read autobiography of Lee Iacocca – HR of Ford

If you are good technically but cannot get along with people – that is the Kiss of Death.

Aligning HRM with business strategy:

1. A business strategy is a plan that integrates the company’s goals, policies, and
actions.
2. The strategy influences how the company uses physical capital (e.g. plants,
technology, and equipment), financial capital (e.g. assets and cash reserves) and
human capital (employees).
A company cannot grow in isolation, and all departments are interdependent.

When a decision needs to be taken all departments need to be considered and a decision
should not be taken in isolation.

QBR: Quarterly Business Review

Why do we go to dinner with customers: When you identify a need for a company, you will
be seen as an SME on the subject – this can be achieved using informal discussions.

Figure out what is working and not working with the client and the solutions you provide.
People skills are relevant to the role inside and outside the company.

There are 2 kinds of managerial position: Individual contributor or Persons managing a

team.

A career path for an IC should not be mingled with a people manager as it can be an issue.
Some people can be happy in IC, when doing appraisal or hiring, do not evaluate on
nurturing people or talent. Career path should be well defined. The person should be
prepared for it.

Eg Sachin Tendulkar refused captaincy.

Keep having career aspirations meeting to understand where a person wants to be and not
waste training efforts on a person who does not want the role you are thinking of.

Southwest Airlines Case:

1. When you have a number 1 position in the market – the number one challenge is
Attrition on trained workforce that you have spent money on training. (HR problem)
2. Culture vs Climate: Climate – perception of the people (salary is low in the company,
it can change when salary increases. – Climate is easy to change and can be changed
in positive and negative way. Culture is difficult to create and change – it is the way
of operating) – 70% M&A fail due to mismatch in culture – casualty is the man
power.
3. Need to understand if our work is contributing to the norms and culture.
4. 60% of the employees want to make a contribution on their own – the difference
between a successful manager or successful org is how much of the remaining 40%
we can tap.
5. It is not a system that is bad – it is the implementation that is bad or good.
6. Never Bribe people – as it will keep going up and up. R&R (Rewards and Recognition)
should be objective and not a bribe.
7. In southwest – there was a profit-sharing model, culture was a major reason for low
attrition.
8. Culture starts from the top and percolates down – you have to have guidelines.
9. Southwest followed a blue ocean strategy. – operating from less crowded airports
and did not follow hub-spoke model. – less competition
10. Employees are empowered to help customers – with empowerment you need to
have proper training and purpose.
11. Southwest had Employer Branding: even with lower salary people want to join.
12. To prevent managers and teams leaving along with them – Companies have
implemented EWS (early warning system) –
a. Tracking absenteeism
b. Leaving office early
c. Taking multiple sick leaves

Early warning system will indicate the skip level that a conversation needs to
happen with an employee.
 Have regular communication with the people.
13. It is easier to hold a person back till the point where employee has put in the papers.
After that it becomes a dirty negotiation.
14. Book recommendation: who says elephants can’t dance

HRM 3&4

Challenges of strategic HRM:

Recruiting:
Recruitment cell and selection cell – earlier
Now it is talent acquisition cell

Budgeting – HR budget – manpower requirement

Make a structure on the whiteboard and go for zero base manpower planning.

You have a manpower inventory – populate the boxes with the names.
Perfect fit
Check the fit – training need identified?
Doesn’t fit at all – can reskilling be done?

This exercise helps managing people budget. Fill the boxes where they are empty.

Can we rotate people, transfer people – internal filling?

External sources – if can’t fill by internal – this is now recruitment effort.

While recruiting
– be careful of company philosophy and where you are pitching the company.
- Build applicant pool – where your skill and salary paying capabilities match.
- Selection is choosing the best and rejecting others
- Job analysis:
o Job specification: Qualification, Industry from where it is required etc.
o Job description
- Equal Renumeration act
- There are direct cost and indirect cost – opportunity cost if position is not filled.

When writing a case study – analyse data, draw inferences, analyse pain points, bring
external experience, give a strong recommendation

Develop persuasive skills – as you grow up job becomes more and more heterogenous.

Flexibility and Adaptability – important for managerial positions

Projective technique for psychometric profiling: Psychometric profile helps you understand
your abilities and develop flexibilities.
Important to understand before recruiting

Job Analysis: Job Analysis = Job specification + Job Description.

Job Specification: The specification required in a candidate. Non-compromisable trade
qualities
Job Description: Statement or the tasks that a candidate has to do. Job description is created
mutually between the hr and functional dept.
There are 2-3 ways to do it
1. Jot down the tasks and start grouping them
2. What and incumbent is supposed to do.
3. The roles change over time and hence hiring happens outside instead of taking
from own pool. The roles and job description should be modified over a period of
time again and again.

Zero based manpower planning:

1. Create a structure with blank boxes
2. Start filling the boxes with names of who can fit maximum in the role boxes
3. There would be positions where no one is able to fit
4. Then you get the recruitment and training budget.
5. Hire when required and not in the beginning

Compliance is a hard requirement. Own preference should not color decision making when
selecting a candidate.

Retention strategy should be developed.

How to make Panel interviews effective?

1. Planning – send Job description and job specification to the panelist.
2. Interviewees could start doing cross talk, start impressing others and start losing
brand value.
3. Structure the interview and application form as far as possible. Structure and define
the technical and behavioral competencies.
4. Train panels on interview skills. Teach them how to start with first round of
interview.

Tools in selection:
1. Application form
2. Preliminary interviews – basic
3. Next round of interview
4. Psychometric profiling
5. Salary negotiations
6. Offer letter
7. Ensure the person is comfortable in the role.

Reference check should be done after the person has joined the company. That is the ethical
way to do it.
Contractor has to have a licence and the principle employer should also have licence to
employ contractors.
Contract Labor Act.
Liable as principle employer is PF is not paid to govt by the contractor.
Equal Renumeration Act

Thematic Aptitude Test, Projective Technique.

Psychometric profiling should be done before some interview maybe after the preliminary
interview. It needs to be done before the offer to gain clarification with the candidate. It is
an indicative test and not a confirmatory test. Hiring, promotion, or firing decision should
not be taken on psychometric profiling. Only draw inferences.

Succession plans tend to create ripple effect if not planned properly.

Manpower requisition – when a person resigns a form needs to be submitted to the HR. This
is done to manage the ripple effect so that an HR can supply a person for the position.
Need to give justification even for a replacement position.
Why can’t we bifurcate, expand, automate the job?

Compensation Survey:
1. Look at the basket of companies (7-8 companies) – choose the appropriate
basket. Include the companies where you are losing the talent. Choose the ones
where you are getting the man power from.
2. Grade Compatibility – understand the intake point for the bucket companies.
What are the levels compared to no of years of service along with the salaries.
3. After this survey we can decide the promotions and increments.

Session 4:

Letter of Intent vs Letter of appointment

Letter of Intent: This is not legally binding. Give the terms and conditions, designation, date
of joining, and place of joining. It does not include the salary.
Letter of Appointment: This is legally binding

Why did this practice start for the industry?

1. People negotiate their salary with other companies and then don’t join the company.
2. It is also used to expedite the hiring process. LoA needs to be signed by the
responsible authority, but for LoI HR has the authority as well.
3. LoI can be signed while discussing the appointments.
4. LoA can be given when the person gets onboarded.

Training and development:

1. Can be a regular process
2. Can be a part of induction program
3. Training has been replaced with learning
4. Training is an expensive solution
5. Training need assessment – will the problem get solved by training?
 6. Know what is expected out of a training.
7. KSA: Knowledge Skills Assessment
8. KRA
9. KPI
10. Instructional Design (for people who want to get into training)

Learning
70% - 20% - 10%: On Job – Mentoring - Classroom

Session 9 & 10:

Training:
Phase 1: Pre-Training - External
Phase 2: Learning Event - Internal
Phase 3: Post Training – External

Pre Training: Prepare and motivate the people

Learning Event: Facilitate the training
Post Training: Actual implementation

Training – is group level and skill development

Learning and Development is individual level and internal

Knowledge Management System: used to capture the learning. Tools and Documents for
sharing. Example: KX library.

Training and learning should be a continuous process and there should be a way to capture
the results of those training. Training should be undertaken only after understanding that
training is required and peer learning or any other form of learning cannot happen.

L & D: need not be looked on as a different department but infused in the training process.
It is an activity.

If a dept takes care of those then they should have KRAs for that.

A learning org is a flat structure and more flexible, KMS should lead to a learning org which
is nimble on its feet.

Learning should also be imparted to vendors and distribution channels

TNA Training Needs Assessment

Design thinking:
1. There should be a problem at hand – it is a problem-solving tool
2. There should be empathy with the customer.
3. Systematic approach – starts with customers and the ability to create a better future
for them.
 4. It is a process for creative problem solving, it encourages a holistic view, and it aids in
considering the big picture while keeping the end user in mind.
5. 5 steps of design Thinking

1. Affiliation
2. Impartiality
3. Power
4. Job Security
5. Status

As different people are different – every individual is unique – Career aspiration

conversation needs to follow and augmented with training, learning and development.

Customise through instructional design.

Certification for L&D: American society and Indian Society

Appraisal and Managing Performance:

Performance appraisal should be standardized across the geographies and departments.

If a new parameter is added, employees should be trained on those parameters as well.
There should be parenting messages from org to dept, dept to employees
There should be a feedback mechanism. Continuous feedback.
Open Appraisal system: boss reviews, super boss reviews, HR does moderation

Semi open appraisal system

Goals and Objectives: Goals are the outcome, objectives are the steps to achieve to reach
the goal. There should be a mid-course correction in case objectives are not met.

Closed System: Employee is not told about the rating. Employee gets to know only about it
in letter.

A good performance in one year should not be a criteria for performance.

For promotion – continuous level of performance, and readiness for next level (have to see
for a couple of years or more years) – you can give one time reward. If person is not ready, it
can be a problem for the other people in organization.

Machinistic Org (tall orgs – huge hierarchy)

Flat org structure( organic org – small hierarchy) – Multiple level in one cadre. Can promote
easily within a cadre.

Industrial Relations, Unions, Trade Union Act 1976, any 7 people can form a union.

Wages : there should not be a disparity in wages for the same work – inviting trouble.
PPE: Personal Protection Equipment should be uniform
Permanent Employees and Contract workers should get same benefits

Union has office bearers, cannot take disciplinary actions to follow healthy trade union
practices.
Employer should be fair in wages, PPE, benefits

HR Function – accountable for industrial harmony

There should be formal communication channels, as well as informal channels. There should
be someone giving informal information which does not happen in a formal sitting.

Cultural Sensitivity: This matters in JVs, in multinational orgs, in cultures where people are
from multiple cities.
Filter out at recruitment if candidate is not a cultural fit, training, orientation, parenting
message.

Internal Service delivery should be at par with external service delivery to succeed.
Companies also need to ensure internal intelligence to forecast any unrest.

Rhetoric without substance should not be there – what the company preaches it should
practice as well.

Egos should be avoided in negotiations – do not take a stand and focus on negotiations.

Statutory bodies and non-statutory bodies under the Industries Act

Industrial Disputes Act 1987
Objectives of ID Act
Trade Union Act 1926
Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act 1946 (conditions of service)

Workman: Any person, including an apprentice employed in any industry to do any manual,
unskilled, technical, operational, clerical, or supervisory work for hire or reward, whether
the terms of employment express or implied,

Settlement of industrial disputes:

1. Works Committee
2. Grievance redressal mechanism
3. Conciliation
4. Arbitration
5. –

Role of Trade Unions

POSH:

Principal of reciprocity: Used in Marketing, be careful of taking favors