1. Subject: Human Resource Management
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Case 1
Fun at Hitech
Hitech Corporation (Hitech) is a well known IT company based in Hyderabad , India. Hitech provides
networking solutions to many Fortune 500 companies. Started in 1990 by two technology experts, Hitech
currently has almost $40 million in annual revenue. When the founders started the company, they
established as one basic value that working at Hitech should be enjoyable as well as profitable. That belief
has helped create a company culture today that gives Hitech competitive advantages when recruiting and
retaining talented workforce in the challenging labor market of IT.
Because recruitment of talented employees to handle growth at Hitech is so crucial, , the HR unit has an
aggressive employee referral program which pays employees up to $5,000 for referring new hires who
stay with the firm.The HR unit prides itself on prompt feedback to potential employees. Other "fun"
programs include-
· Football, pool tables, volleyball courts, assorted video games, pianos, ping pong tables, and gyms
that offer yoga and dance classes.
· Grassroots employee groups for all interests, like meditation, gourmet cooking and salsa dancing..
· Healthy lunches and dinners for all staff at a variety of caf?
· Theme parties organised each month. Last month Hitech had its executives wearing animal
costumes as part of a "jungle" party .
These fun initiatives have a more important business purpose-to demonstrate that people are important at
Hitech. Is all this fun profitable? Hitech's answer is an unqualified yes. Over 40% of all Hitech ?s new
employees come from the employee referral program. The firm?s cost to hire each new employee is about
$5,000 less than the industry average. Even more important, those hired stay longer as indicated by its
retention rate of 42 months compared to the industry average of 20 months. Also, employee turnover is
about 6% annually? significantly below the industry average. It is obvious that Hitech's approach to HR
management is paying off, both in an enjoyable company culture and in contributing to organizational
success.
Question:
1. Employee referral is the best approach to recruitment .What is your view?
2. Why has "fun at work" been profitable at Hitech?

2. Case 2
Performance Appraisal System at Wellstar Hospital
Wellstar Hospital, a leading super speciality hospital has over 50 centers, diagnostic clinics, an extensive
chain of Wellstar Pharmacies, medical PO as well as health insurance services and clinical research divisions
across seven states in India. Wellstar Hospital was on the cutting edge of medical science but had a super
problem. Its performance appraisal system was rapidly becoming an insurmountable pile of papers; and with
over 2000 employees, the HR staff recognized that changes were needed.Performance appraisal forms can
range from a simple sheet of paper to very lengthy and complex formats. WellStar?s performance appraisal
system had evolved over the years into a form with about 20 pages per employee. Although some of the
length was due to concerns about meeting numerous regulatory,state, and healthcare industry
requirements, other facets of the system had been developed for administrative reasons.The existing
performance appraisal system was based on a combination of job descriptions and a graphic rating scale
performance appraisal form.To complete an appraisal on employees, supervisors and managers scored
employee performance on formal weighted criteria and then summarized the information These summaries
were reviewed by upper management for consistency. The overall performance appraisal process was paper-
intensive, slow,and frustrating because it required a many different steps.
A steering committee was formed to oversee the process of changing to a better performance appraisal
system. The committee established that it was crucial for the new system to better fit the needs of those
using it. Also, the committee wanted the system to use more technology and less paper. Based on these
general objectives, brainstorming was conducted to find bottlenecks and identify what the ideal automated
process would look like. At this point, the committee understood the current systems and what key users
wanted. After reviewing literature on performance appraisal systems, surveying other hospitals, and looking
at software packages, the committee decided it would have to design its own system. The option chosen
consisted of moving the numerical criteria scores from the individual pages of the job description to a
summary sheet that provided for scoring up to six employees on one form. Then total scores were calculated
by the computer. Also, written comments were moved to a summary sheet dealing only with exceptions to
standards. The most difficult part proved to be the design of the database. It had to be designed from
scratch and had to interface with existing HR systems. A software program was written to do the calculations
using data already in place, and another program was written to do the calculations. The new process
reduced the paperwork from 20 to 7 pages per employee. Supervisors and managers were given the option
of using computerized comment sheets. Another time-saver was the ability to use the system to record and
document noteworthy employee performance incidents, both positive and negative in nature, as they
occurred throughout the year. This documentation feature eliminated the need for a separate note-keeping
system that many managers had been using.
To implement the new performance appraisal system, training for supervisors and managers was
crucial.When the training program was developed for the new system, all 97 supervisors and managers
were required to attend. During the training, attendees were given a sample package with appraisal forms,
a user manual, and directions for using the on-line performance appraisal forms. To determine if the
original goals had been met, the committee developed an evaluation form. After the new appraisal system
had been in use, an evaluation revealed that 90% of the supervisors and managers felt that the process
had indeed been streamlined. The new process was viewed as easier to understand, a significant reduction
in paper had occurred, arithmetic errors were prevented, and the appraisal information was clearer and
more concise.
The next year the committee reconvened to examine the first year of operation and identify areas for
improvement. Since then minor revisions have been made in the performance appraisal system, updates
on computer hardware and software were undertaken, and data screens have been simplified for
management users.

3. Recently Wellstar has been accredited by The Joint Commission International (JCI), a U.S based
accreditation body dedicated to improving health care quality and safety around the world. The accreditation
is an international gold standard for hospitals. Health-care accreditation requirements necessitate using a
competency management program focusing on employee development and education.
Questions:
1. Explain why the revised performance appraisal system at Wellstar Hospital is more efficient?
2. Do you think the performance appraisal system at Wellstar is aligned with its corporate profile and
appropriate for all levels of employees?
3. Considering accreditation requirements which focus on employee development and education, what are
your suggestions for changes in the performance appraisal format?

4. Case 3
PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL POLICIES
Berkely Investments is a reputed finance company having 15 branches in different part of the country. In
the home office there are more than 200 employees. This company has a performance rating under which
the employees are rated at six months intervals by a committee of two executives. Graphic scales have
been used as means of appraisal. The qualities considered are responsibility, initiative, and interest in work,
leadership potential, co-operative attitude and community activity. After the performance is evaluated, the
ratings are discussed with the concerned employees by their immediate boss who counsels them. The
ratings aroused to influence promotions and salary adjustments the employees and also as a criterion for
assigning further rating for them.
Recently three employees of the company called on the company’s president to express their dissatisfaction
with the ratings they had received. Their scores and composite ratings had been discussed with them.
Because their ratings were comparatively low, they had been denied annual increments in salary.
Approximately, two thirds of all the employees received such increments. The aggrieved employees argued
that their ratings did not accurately represent their qualifications or performance. They insisted that
“community activity” was not actually a part of their job and that what they do off the job is none of the
company’s business. They expressed their opinion that employees should organize union and insist that
salary increase be automatic.
The threat of a union caused concern to the officers of the company. This particular experience convinced
the top officers that ratings may represent a serious hazard to satisfactory relationship with employees.
Even the chief executive finds that performance appraisal is a dangerous source of friction and its hazards
outweigh its values; so it should be discontinued altogether.
Questions:
1. How far do you agree with the management that performance appraisal should be discontinued?
2. If you were the HR manager, how would you tackle the situation?
3. What modifications would you suggest in the performance appraisal system of the company

5. Case 4
JOB ANALYSIS
A large, well known Candian company had found full depreciation of the equipment which was used to make
specialized automobile companies for north-American automobile producers. Although the equipment had
been well maintained and worked well, it required to be handled by a large number of labourers. The result
was the high labour costs that made the company’s brake assemblies, manufacturer, and related products
unprofitable. A decision was made to replace the equipment with more highly automated, numerically
controlled machine tools. Since the economic value of the old equipment exceeded its value as scrap, the
equipment was shipped to the company’s Brazilian operations, where labour costs were considerable lower.
Upon arrival and after the setting up of a new facility, the company received numerous profitable orders
from Brazil’s rapidly growing automobile industry. Though the labour hours per product remained about the
same the lower Brazilian labour rates allowed the new facility to be profitable. Soon a second shift was
added and with it problems began.
The equipment began to experience a growing “downtime” because of machine failures and quality-
particularly on part dimensions- declined dramatically.
At a staff meeting the Brazilian plant manager met his staff, including several industrial engineers who had
been trained in Canada and the United States. The engineers argued that the problems were almost
certainly caused by maintenance since the machinery had worked well in Canada and initially in Brazil. The
HR director agreed that it was perhaps the question of maintenance of the old machinery but be also noted
that many of the on-machine instructions and maintenance manuals had not been translated into
Portuguese. He also observed that the problems began after the second shift was hired.
Questions:
1. From the discussion of job analysis information and job design, what actions would you recommend to
HR department?
2. Given the problems associated with the second shift, what differences would you look for between first
shift and second shift workers?
3. Since the Canadian workers had considerable experience with the equipment but the workers
particularly in second shelf in Brazil had very little experience, what implications do you see for the job
design?

6. Case 5
SALARY INEQUALITIES
Amrit Electrical is a family owned company of approximately 250 employees. Mr. Rajesh Khaitan recently
took over as president of the company. A short time after joining the company, he, began to following a
discussion with the HR director that the pay of the salaried employees was very much a matter of individual
bargaining. Factory workers were not a part of the problem because they were unionized and their wages
were set by collective bargaining. An examination of the salaried payroll showed that there were 75
employees ranging in pay from that of the president to that of receptionist. A closer examination showed
that 20 of the salaried employees were females. Five of these were front time factory superiviors and one
was the HR director. The other fourteen were non-management.
This examination also showed that the HR director was underpaid and that the five female supervisors were
paid somewhat less than any of the male supervisors. However, there were no similar supervisory jobs in
which there were both male and female supervisors. When questioned, the HR director said that she thought
that the female supervisors were paid at a lower rate mainly because they were women and because they
supervised less skilled employees than did the male supervisors. However, Mr. Khaitan was not convinced
that this was true. He decided to hire a compensation consultant to help him. Together they decided that all
75 salaried jobs should be in the same job evaluation cluster, that a modified job evaluation method should
be used and that the job descriptions recently completed by the HR director were correct and usable in the
study, the job evaluation also showed that the HR director and the five female supervisors were being
underpaid in comparison with the male employees.
Mr. Khaitan was not sure, what to do. If he gave these four female employees an immediate salary increase
which may large enough to bring them upto where they should be, he was afraid the male supervisors could
be upset and the female supervisors might comprehend the situation and demand arrears of pay. The Hr
director agreed to take a sizeable salary increase with the no arrears of pay. So this part of the problem was
solved. Mr. Khaitan believed that he had three choices relative to the female supervisors: (1) To gradually
increase their salaries (ii) to increase their salaries immediately (iii) to do nothing.
Questions:
1. What would you do if you were Mr. Khaitan?
2. How do you think the company got into a situation like this in the first place?

7. Case 5
SALARY INEQUALITIES
Amrit Electrical is a family owned company of approximately 250 employees. Mr. Rajesh Khaitan recently
took over as president of the company. A short time after joining the company, he, began to following a
discussion with the HR director that the pay of the salaried employees was very much a matter of individual
bargaining. Factory workers were not a part of the problem because they were unionized and their wages
were set by collective bargaining. An examination of the salaried payroll showed that there were 75
employees ranging in pay from that of the president to that of receptionist. A closer examination showed
that 20 of the salaried employees were females. Five of these were front time factory superiviors and one
was the HR director. The other fourteen were non-management.
This examination also showed that the HR director was underpaid and that the five female supervisors were
paid somewhat less than any of the male supervisors. However, there were no similar supervisory jobs in
which there were both male and female supervisors. When questioned, the HR director said that she thought
that the female supervisors were paid at a lower rate mainly because they were women and because they
supervised less skilled employees than did the male supervisors. However, Mr. Khaitan was not convinced
that this was true. He decided to hire a compensation consultant to help him. Together they decided that all
75 salaried jobs should be in the same job evaluation cluster, that a modified job evaluation method should
be used and that the job descriptions recently completed by the HR director were correct and usable in the
study, the job evaluation also showed that the HR director and the five female supervisors were being
underpaid in comparison with the male employees.
Mr. Khaitan was not sure, what to do. If he gave these four female employees an immediate salary increase
which may large enough to bring them upto where they should be, he was afraid the male supervisors could
be upset and the female supervisors might comprehend the situation and demand arrears of pay. The Hr
director agreed to take a sizeable salary increase with the no arrears of pay. So this part of the problem was
solved. Mr. Khaitan believed that he had three choices relative to the female supervisors: (1) To gradually
increase their salaries (ii) to increase their salaries immediately (iii) to do nothing.
Questions:
1. What would you do if you were Mr. Khaitan?
2. How do you think the company got into a situation like this in the first place?