Hr Policies - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 30 Words: 8960 Downloads: 10 Date added: 2017/09/13 Category Advertising Essay Did you like this example? A PROJECT REPORT ON HUMAN RESOURCE POLICIES AT FRONTLINE COMPLOGIC SOLUTIONS, HYDERABAD SUBMITTED BY LAVANYA CHOPPADANDI. 030-07-0127. PROJECT SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION TO [pic] OSMANIA UNIVERSITY, HYDERABAD 500007. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Hr Policies" essay for you Create order ST. ANN’S COLLEGE FOR WOMEN (P. G. CENTRE). (Affiliated to Osmania University). MEHDIPATNAM, HYDERABAD-500028. (2007-2009). DECLARATION I, Ms. Lavanya Choppadandi. , a student pursuing MBA. ereby declare that the project work titled† Human resource policies† at Frontline Complogic Solutions, Hyderabad, is a bonafied work done by me under the guidance of Mrs. A. Mary Francina, Lecturer, MBA Management, St. Ann’s College For women (P. G. centre) Mehdipatnam, Hyderabad. This project report is submitted in partial fulfillment for the award of Degree of Master Of Business Management, St. Ann’s College For women, (P. G. centre), Osmania University, Hyderabad. This project work is a result of my own efforts and has not been submitted to any other university or institution. PLACE: DATE: . Lavanya Choppadandi. [pic] [pic] ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The project report titled â€Å"Human Resource Policies† is done by me at Frontline complogic solutions, in partial fulfillment for the award of degree of Master of Business Management. I would like to thank Mrs. Nisha Nair, HR Manager of Frontline complogic solutions for providing me an opportunity to pursue my project work in the esteemed organization. I convey my sincere thanks to Sr. Y. Inyasamma, principal and Sr. P. Amrutha, Correspondent, St. Ann’s College for Women (P. G. centre), Mehdipatnam. I express my gratitude to Associate Professor Mrs. Firdaus Khan, Department of Business Management for her valuable support. I also thank Mrs. A. Mary Francina, Lecturer, Department of Business Management, under whose supervision the study has been successfully completed. I also thank the employees of Frontline Complogic solutions, for their co-operation during their study. TABLE OF CONTENTS |S. NO. CONTENTS |PG. NO. | | |LIST OF TABLES |(i) | | |LIST OF CHARTS |(ii) | |1 |INTRODUCTION |1-8 | | |1. 1. NEED IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY |1-2 | | |1. 2. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY |3 | | |1. 3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY |4-5 | | |1. 4. SCOPE OF THE STUDY |6 | | |1. . LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY |7 | | |1. 6. ORGANIZATION OF THE STUDY |8 | |2 |REVIEW OF LITERATURE |9-30 | | |2. 1. LITERATURE REVIEW 10-30 | |3 |COMPANY PROFILE |31-44 | |4 |DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION. |45-68 | |5 |CONSLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS |69-71 | | |5. 1. CONCLUSION |69-70 | | |5. 2. SUGGESTIONS |71 | | |ANNEXURES | | | |BIBLIOGRAPHY | | (i) LIST OF TABLES |S. NO |TITLE |PG. NO. | |1. |Salary offered by the company. |45 | |2. |Vacations, holidays, leaves offered by the company. 47 | |3. |Training provided to the employee. |48 | |4. |Opportunities to utilize skills |49 | |5. |Approachability of senior managers to develop and guide employee. |51 | |6. |Co-operation of colleagues for the development. |52 | |7. |Communication between top and lower level management to share ideas. |53 | |8. |Company pays for good performance. |54 | |9. Dealing with the grievances among employees. |56 | |10 |Discipline of the organization. |58 | |11. |Amount of work at present. |59 | |12. |Flexibility of working hours. |60 | |13. |Health benefits of the company. |61 | |14. |Safety given to the women employee. |62 | |15. |Number of sick leaves. |63 | |16. |Job location affecting employee resignation. |64 | |17. Continuing education |65 | |18 |Career advancement |66 | |19. |Family or personal reasons. |67 | |20 |Onsite opportunities. |68 | (ii) LIST OF CHARTS |S. NO |TITLE |PG. NO. | |1. |IT-Map. |37 | |2. |Business and IT-Map 38 | |3. |Business Architecture. |40 | |4. |Organization structures. |43-44 | |5. |Salary offered by the company. |45 | |6. |Vacations, holidays, leaves offered by the company. |47 | |7. |Training provided to the employee. |48 | |8. |Opportunities to utilize skills |49 | |9. |Approachability of senior managers to develop and guide employee. 51 | |10. |Co-operation of colleagues for the development. |52 | |11. |Communication between top and lower level management to share ideas. |53 | |12. |Company pays for good performance. |54 | |13. |Dealing with the grievances among employees. |56 | |14. |Discipline of the organization. |58 | |15. |Amount of work at present. |59 | |16. |Flexibility of working hours. 60 | |17. |Health benefits of the company. |61 | |18. |Safety given to the women employee. |62 | |19. |Number of sick leaves. |63 | |20. |J ob location affecting employee resignation. |64 | |21. |Continuing education |65 | |22. |Career advancement |66 | |23. Family or personal reasons. |67 | |24. |Onsite opportunities. |68 | . ABSTRACT Hr-policies in the management of HR cover a wide variety of subjects. A comprehensive coverage of policies embrace any action or decision, taken by either employees or management in relation to the working environment, the rights and responsibilities of employees and management, and the action of both parties. Thus one policy may be a statement of standards for employee attendance and another statement of management obligations in grievance administration. One policy may explain conditions under which loans will be granted where as another may indicate conditions under which an employee is subjected to discharge. HR policies are criteria for making decisions and it saves time by solving problem without any detailed analysis. And also these policies provide a clear idea of what management and employees can expect. HR policies avoid confusion and misunderstanding of conditions which are similar in character and promote consistency, fairness and also it eliminates any bias in employee in employee related decisions. Policy may originate from anywhere inside an organization or from external sources. The HR department has to assist in communicating policies to those who should know about them. HR department interprets policies, periodically reviews the same in order to ensure fairness and uniformity. CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION [pic] Need of HR-policies: The main reason your organization should have policies and procedures, relevant job descriptions and a job evaluation system is to ensure that your staff are treated equally across a variety of employment issues. In addition, written policies help if legal situations arise chances are very good that your organization is required by law to provide written policy information to your employees. Small businesses without HR-departments often scramble for resources when compiling staffing information and developing HR-policies and procedure. In addition, many large organizations have dated policies, procedures and job descriptions that no longer reflect today’s business world. Organizations looking for fresh ideas and new start can do so by using latest HR policies and practices. 1. 2 Objectives: 1. To study the awareness of employee towards different HR-policies 2. To know the contribution of the HR policies in the achievement of the companies objectives and satisfaction of employees. . To study various employee related practices like communication, health and safety, wages and salaries. 4. To identify the needs of the employee towards training and development. 5. To study the recruitment and selection processes followed in the organization. 1. 3 Research methodology: Definition: Research methodology is a systematically solve the research problem and how research is do ne scientifically. 1. 3(i) Research design: It’s a conceptual structure within which research can be conducted. This function of research design is to provide for the collection of effort time and money. The suitable design is the one that minimizes and bias and maximizes the reliability of data collected and analysis. This study involves studying the current policies of the company, suggesting improvement offering benefits. It’s descriptive in nature. 1. 3(ii) Sampling technique: Respondent were chosen using random sampling technique to conduct the study. 1. 3(iii) Sample size: A sample of 50 employees are drawn where the respondent belong to different departments of the organizations. 1. 3(iv) Data collection: Data collection consists of primary and secondary. It is the data through which we prepare questionnaire and based on that questionnaire observations are been made data can also be collected from books, magazines or website of the organization. Data analysis: ? Primary data: It refers to the first hand data and is collected through questionnaire, observation, and discussion with HR manager. 1. Questionnaire. 2. Observation. 3. Interview method. †¢ Questionnaire: It’s prepared and circulated to the employees in the organization. The questionnaire that is of open ended, dichotomous, likert’s 5 point scale questions. †¢ Observation: It is done during he visit to the organization. †¢ Interview method: The study is also includes obtaining information from persons this interview is an informal and unstructured one with the individual employee in the organization. ? Secondary data: It refers to the data, document and record that have already been collected from †¢ Websites. †¢ Journals. †¢ Books. After data has been collected, the data obtained from the questions is arranged in a serial order tabulation is a part of technical procedure where classified data is framed in the form of table the tables thus obtained were analyzed with statistical technique like percentage chart. Interpretation: The percentages were calculated individually for each of the above criteria respectively and presented in a table. 1. 4 Scope: Scope of the study: The study was conducted for 50 employees at Frontline Complogic Solutions in Hyderabad with the primary objective of ascertaining the awareness of employees towards hr policies that are required to perform jobs, and identifying the competencies which enable employees to climb up the ladder in the organization. The level of employees considered for the study is. †¢ System software engineer. †¢ Software engineer. †¢ Analyst †¢ Project lead Technical lead. 1. 5. Limitations: The study includes the opinion of 50 employees representing the sample size, the following are the limitations †¢ Accuracy of the study is based on information given by the respondent †¢ Interaction with employee was difficult as they were not available. †¢ Time constraint was an important factor as it was conducted only for 45 days. †¢ As the employees were busy with their work it had become bottleneck to obtain sufficient data. †¢ A sample of 50 respondents was taken to conduct the study which may not be true representation of the entire organization. . 6 Organization of the Study: Organization of the study deals with the arrangement of the data. The entire work is arranged chapter wise to facilitates easy identification of topics. The First Chapter deals with Introduction which includes Need and Importance of the study, Objectives of the study, Research methodology, Scope of the study and Limitations of the study. The Second Chapter deals with Literature Review which includes surveys. The Third Chapter deals with the profile of FRONTLINE COMPLOGIC SOLUTIONS. The Fourth Chapter gives complete account of the Data Analysis and Interpretation regarding the human resource policies by the employees at of FRONTLINE COMPLOGIC SOLUTIONS. The Fifth Chapter comprises of Conclusion and Suggestions. Conclusion is drawn from the analysis and is briefly dealt. At the end, Annexure of Questionnaire for HUMAN RESOUCE POLICIES is adopted for collecting data from the employees of the organization and Bibliography that deals with various literatures referred for the study are present. CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE SURVEY LITERATURE REVIEW CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE Literature Survey 1 Title: Industrial and labor relations review. Who conducted the survey: Berg. p. appelbaum, E. Balley, and T. kalleberg in the year 2004 Objectives: The authors do a comparative analysis of how management and labor union strategies, the institutional and regulatory environment and labor market conditions affect working time and employees affect working time and employees’ control over work hours in seven countries those are Australia, Germany, The Netherlands, the United States, Japan, Sweden and Italy. The authors provide overviews of government legislation, labor market conditions and management or labor union approaches in each of these countries related to employee work hours. Findings: Findings suggest that while labor unions, collective bargaining, and government legislation have contributed to employees’ greater control over working hours, employers continue to have the greatest effect on work hours. The full-text of this article is available in the Sloan network’s literature database. 2. 1 Literature Review: Employment: The selection devices predictions based on either evaluating the past or sampling the present. The application form, background investigation, and comprehensive interview attempt to find out what the applicant has done in the past and then to project these past experiences and accomplishments into the future. This employment makes certain assumptions concerning the relationship of the past to the future. Specifically, it assumes that a candidate’s past behavior can be guide for predicting future behavior, and that the candidate will remain the same person in the future that she or he was in past. While these assumptions may be accurate and this approach satisfactory, it appears that devices like job-related tests, where relevant may also be good predictors because they sample present behavior in order to predict future behavior. Employment tests: In this tests we have †¢ Written tests. †¢ Graphology. †¢ Polygraph and honesty tests. †¢ Interview. Written tests: A number of companies recognized that testing served vital purpose. There has been renewed interest in written tests, since those that have been validated can aid significantly in the acquisition of efficient and effective workers. However, employment reminds a company that has the sole responsibility for demonstrating that tests used for hiring or promotion are related to job performance. There are literally hundreds of tests that can be used by organizations as selection tools. Employment or selection tests measure intellect, special ability, perception skills, mechanical comprehension, motor ability, and personality traits. Graphology Graphology is a hand-writing analysis, it suggests that employee’s degree of energy, inhibitions, and spontaneity to be found in the writer, disclosing idiosyncrasies and elements of balance and control from which many personality characteristics can be inferred. Polygraph and honesty tests: Use of lie detectors for verifying information on the application form can only be used for specific jobs. The employee polygraph protection act of 1988(followed by many other state laws) prohibits the use of polygraph testing as a uniform pre requisite of employment. However, a second generation polygraph technique, honesty tests, is thriving. Although the questions asked may appear to be relatively innocent, those taking the test do not know how they will be interrupted. For example, the response to â€Å"have you ever cheated on a test in your life? † may not have a correct response on its face value-that Is, if you say yes, you admit that you have cheated; a no response might indicate that you are lying. Nonetheless, the question patterns are such that even those who try to â€Å"outsmart† the test often fail. These tests often contain questions that repeat themselves in some fashion, and the examiner then looks for onsistency in responses. Since polygraphs are all but unusable for the typical firm, honesty testing has become more widespread. By the early 1990s, it was estimated that nearly 17 percent of all American management association affiliated firms used honesty tests. In fact, their use has become so extensive that it has grown into a $50million a year business for these honesty-psychological testi ng firms. Training and development: A learning experience that seeks a relatively permanent change in an individual that will improve his or her ability to perform on the job. Every organization needs to have well trained and experienced people to perform the activities that must be done. If current or potential job occupants can meet these requirements, training is less critical. When this is not the case, however, it is necessary to raise the skill levels and increase the versatility and adaptability of employees. As jobs have become more complex, the importance of employee training has increased. When jobs were simple, easy to learn, and influenced to only a small degree by technological changes, there was little need for employees to upgrade or alter their skills. But the rapid changes taking place during the last quarter-century in our highly sophisticated and complex society have created increased pressures for organizations to readapt the products and services are produced and offered, the types of jobs required, and the types of skills necessary to complete these jobs. Training is a learning experience in that it seeks a relatively permanent change in an individual that will improve his or her ability to perform on the job. We typically say training can involve the changing of skills, knowledge, attitudes, or behavior. It may mean changing what employees know, how they work, their attitudes toward their work, or their interaction with their co-workers or supervisor. Learning is the process of bringing about relatively permanent change through experience. This can be done through direct experience-by doing-or indirectly, through observation. Regardless of the means by which learning takes place, we can measure the changes in attitudes and behavior that occur as a result of learning. We will emphasize how we learn rather that what we learn. Training pedagogic: The most popular training and development methods used by organizations can be classified as either on-the-job or off-the-job training. In the following pages, we will briefly introduce the better-known techniques of each category. On-the-job training: The most widely used training methods take place on the job, on-the-job training places the employees in actual work situations and makes them appear to be immediately productive. It is learning by doing. One of the drawbacks of on-the-job training can be low productivity while the employees develop their skills. Another drawback can be the errors made by the trainees while they learn. Job instruction training: During World War II, a systematic approach to on-the-job training was developed to prepare supervisors to train operatives. This approach, called job instruction training (JIT), was part of training within industry program. JIT proved highly effective and became extremely popular. JIT consists of four basic steps: 1. Preparing the trainees by telling them about the job and overcoming their uncertainties. 2. Presenting the instruction, giving essential information in a clear manner. 3. Having the trainees try out the job to demonstrate their understanding. . Placing the workers into the job, on their own, with a designated resource person to call upon should they need assistance. Off-the-job training: Off-the-job training covers a number of techniques-classroom, lectures, films, demonstrations, case studies, and other simulation exercises, and programmed instruction. The facilities needed for each of these techniques vary from a small makeshift classroom to a n elaborate development center with large lecture halls, supplemented by small conference rooms with sophisticated audio-visual equipment, two-way mirrors, and all the frills. Seminars or conferences: The seminar or conference approach is well adapted to conveying specific information-rules, procedures, or methods. The use of audio-visual or demonstrations can often make formal seminar presentations more interesting while increasing retentions and possibly clarifying more difficult points. Videos: Films can be a useful training technique. Whether purchased from standard video distributors or produced internally by the organization, they can provide information and explicitly demonstrate skills that are not easily presented by other techniques. Videos and seminar discussions are often used in conjunction to clarify and amplify those points that the video emphasized. Development: Employee development, by design, is more future oriented and more concerned with education than employee training. By education we mean that employee development activities attempt to instill sound reasoning processes-to enhance one’s ability to understand and interpret knowledge-rather than imparting a body of facts or teaching a specific set of motor skills. Development, therefore, focuses more on the employee’s personal growth. Employee development pedagogic: Some development of an individual’s abilities can take place on the job. We will review some popular on-the-job techniques: coaching, understudy assignments, job rotation, and committee assignments. Off-the-job methods: Sensitivity analysis: Unstructured group interaction in which participants discuss themselves and their interactive processes. Sensitivity training in â€Å"encounter groups† became quite popular during the 1950’s as a method of changing behavior through group processes. Often referred to as laboratory training, it influences the participants through unstructured group interaction. Members are brought together in a free and open environment in which participants discuss themselves and their interactive process, loosely facilitated by a professional behavioral scientist. This professional then creates the opportunity for the participants to express their ideas, concerns, beliefs, and attitudes. The objectivities of sensitivity training are to provide managers with increased awareness of their own behavior and how others perceive them, greater sensitivity to the behavior of others, and increased ability to empathize with others, improved listening skills, greater openness, increased tolerance for individual differences, and improved conflict resolution skills. Transactional analysis: TA is an approach for defining and analyzing communication interactions between people and theory of personality. TA holds that an individual’s personality. The fundamental theory underlying TA holds that an individual’s personality consists of three ego states-parent, child, and adult. These labels have nothing to do with age, but rather with the aspects of the ego. The parent state is made up of one’s attitudes and behavior incorporated from external sources. It is an ego state o authority and superiority a person acting in a parent stage is usually dominant, scolding, and otherwise authoritative. The child contains all the impulses that are natural to an infant: the person can be obedient or manipulative, charming at one moment and repulsive son can be obedient or manipulative, charming at one moment and repulsive the next. Whereas the parent acts as he or she was taught, the child is emotional and acts according to how he or she feels at the moment. The adult state is objective and rational. Grievance procedure: Probably the most important element of contract administration relates to spelling out a procedure for handling contractual disputes. Almost all collective-bargaining agreements contain formal procedures to be used in resolving grievances of the interpretation and application of the contract. Most labor contracts have been provisions in their agreements for resolving specific, formally initiated grievances by employees concerning dissatisfaction with job related issues. Grievance procedures are typically designed to resolve grievances as quickly as possible and at the lowest level possible in the organization. The first step almost always has the employee attempt to resolve the grievance with his or her immediate supervisor. If it cannot be resolved at this stage, it is typically discussed with the union steward and supervisor. Failure at this stage usually brings in the operations superintendent, someone from the organization’s industrial relations department, or the facility’s manager. If the grievance still cannot be resolved, it is usual for a third-party arbitrator to hear the case and make a ruling. In practice, we find that 98 percent of all collective-bargaining agreements provide for arbitration as the final step to an impasse. Of course, in small organizations these steps tend to be condensed, possibly moving from discussing the grievance with the union steward to taking the grievance directly to the organization’s senior executive or owner. Finally, management should be aware that a number of states have mediation services to assist with negotiation problems. At the national level, the federal mediation and conciliation service provides mediators and arbitrators on a no-fee basis to both public and private organizations. Monitoring: By monitoring activities, company and union can assess how effective the current contract was, when problem areas or conflicts arose, and what changes might need to be made in subsequent negotiations. Throughout these collective-bargaining discussions, we have addressed some fundamental differences that may exist between labor and management. Part of these differences may lie in how the two groups are structured and where their power is held. Discipline: A condition in the organization whereby employees conduct themselves in accordance with the organization’s rules and standards of acceptable behavior. Types of discipline problems: 1. Attendance. 2. On-the job behavior. 3. Dishonesty. 4. Outside activities. Attendance: Why is attendance such a serious problem? While there is no simple or clear answer, we might postulate several reasons. First, many organizations have failed to align worker’s goals with those of the organization; the result is usually a decline in attendance. A Second reason may be a changing attitude toward employment. A Third reason may be the different back grounds of the diverse entrants into the work force during the past 20 years. In the past two decades, we have seen a rapid movement of minorities, women, and younger individuals into the job market; and many of these new entrants had little previous experience. Their values and attitudes toward attendance differed from earlier generations; work, to many of them, was not or is not the most important activity in their lives. Fourth, it is obvious that many employees believe that earned sick-leave days have to be used, regardless of whether they are ill or not. As organizations have increas4ed their paid sick-leave benefits, as part of expanded benefits packages, many employees have merely treated these days as just more earned time off. This is especially true of the organizations that imply â€Å"use them or lose them. Those attendance problems are real, and a major cause of concern for managers. Yet how can HRM help alleviate this? Interviewers can assist by properly delving into the past job behaviors of job candidates during the selection interview. On-the job behavior: This blanket label includes insubordination, horseplay, fighting, gambling, failure to use safety devices, carelessness, and two of the most widely discussed problems in organizations today-abuse of alcohol and drugs. Most of these actions reflect direct infractions of organizational rules. For instance, refusing to obey a boss’s orders, ignoring appropriate safety procedures, or being intoxicated on the job are all behaviors that are usually expressly forbidden. As a result, these infractions are easy to identify furthermore, because they represent a clear violation of an organization’s acceptable standards of behavior, corrective action should be taken immediately. In contrast to ambiguous infractions such as taking unnecessary sick-day leave. Fighting gambling or safety infractions represent clear rule violations. Arriving at work drunk or consuming alcoholic drinks on the job is an age-old problem. Many organizations now consider alcoholism a treatable illness and have established programs to help alcoholic employees. The use of drugs on the job is a newer problem, and a much greater one than it was a generation ago. More and more employees have experienced with drugs off the job and there has been a carryover of drug abuse onto the job. Dishonesty: Dishonesty has traditionally resulted in the most severe disciplinary actions. More and more companies are using honesty tests to determine if an employee has an inclination toward dishonesty. This is because more than with any other type of behavior, evidence that one has engaged in a single dishonest act reflects directly on the employee’s character. Furthermore, it is assumed, rightly or wrongly, that an employee who lies or steals once cannot be trusted and must therefore be separated from the organizations. Evidence of this practice appears in the media on an almost regular basis. Headlines told us of a decade; when it was discovered that he had lied about having earned several advanced degrees, his outstanding record as a meteorologist at the station became incidental-he was fired. Similarly, when it became known that a dean of a major Colorado university had plagiarized a major part of his doctoral thesis, the evidence that he had performed admirably as an academic administrator was dwarfed by the fact that he had broken a cardinal rule within the academic community; under pressure from colleagues, university board members, and the media, he â€Å"voluntarily† resigned. Outside activities: This category covers activities that employees engage in outside of work, but which either affect their on-the-job performance or generally reflect negatively on the organization’s image. Included here are unauthorized strike activity, outside criminal activity, and working for a competing organization. Among managerial personnel, this category also includes bad-mouthing the organization or questioning the organization’s key values in public. An individual may be on the job only 40 hours a week, but that does not exclude the organization from disciplining employees when their behavior off the job embarrasses the organization. While the courts have recently acted to greatly protect employees from arbitrary punishment by management for a worker’s actions off the job, it would be native to assume that the organization ignores the behavior of employees in their off-the-job hours. This is most evident in managerial positions. The line between managers speaking or acting for themselves and speaking or acting for their organization becomes less clear as one rises in the organization, for senior executives, what they say or do 24 hours a day, seven days a week, reflects on the organization. Hence their off-the-job activities must fall within the acceptable standards of the organization or they will be subjected to disciplinary action by their organization. Disciplinary guidelines: All human resource managers should be aware of disciplinary guidelines. Three critical criteria: Make disciplinary action corrective rather than punitive. The object of disciplinary action is not to deal out punishment. The objective is to correct an employee’s undesirable behavior. While punishment may be a necessary means to that end, one should never lose sight of the eventual objective. Make disciplinary action progressive, although the type of disciplinary action that is appropriate may vary depending on the situation. It is generally desirable for discipline to be progressive. Only for the most serious violations will an employee be dismissed after first offense. Typically progressive disciplinary action begins with a verbal warning and proceeds through a written warning, suspension, and, only in the most erious cases, dismissal. Follow the hot-stove rule, Administering discipline can be viewed as analogous to touching a hot stove (therefore, the â€Å"Hot-stove rule†) while both are painful to the recipient, the analogy goes further. When you touch a hot stove, you get an immediate response; the burn you receive is instantaneous, leaving no question of cause and effect. You have ample warning, you know what happens if you touch a red hot stove. Fur thermore, the result is consistent; every time you touch a red hot-stove, you get the same response-you get burned. Finally, the result is impersonal; regardless of who you are, if you touch a red hot-stove, you will get burned the comparison between touching a hot-stove and administering discipline should be apparent. Disciplinary actions: †¢ Written-verbal warning. †¢ Written warning. †¢ Suspension. †¢ Demotion. †¢ Pay cut. Written verbal warning: A written verbal warning is a temporary record of a reprimand which is then placed in the manager’s file on the employee. This written verbal warning should state the purpose, date, and outcome of the interview with the employee. This, in fact, is what differentiates the written verbal warning from the verbal warning. Because of the need to document this step in the process, the verbal warning must be put into writing. The difference, however, is that this warning remains in the hands of the manager; that is it is not forwarded to HRM for inclusion in the employee’s personal life. Written warning: It is the first formal stage of the disciplinary procedure. This is because the written warning becomes part of the employee’s official personnel file. This is achieved by not only giving the warning to the employee’s permanent record. In all other ways, however, the procedure preceding the writing of the warning is the same as the written verbal warning; that is, the employee is advised in private of the violation, its effects, and potential consequences of future violations. The only difference is that the discussion concludes with the employee being told that a formal written warning will be issued. Then the manager writes up the warning-stating the problem, the rule that has been violated, any acknowledgment by the employee to correct her behavior, and the consequences from a recurrence of the deviant behavior-and sends to HRM. Suspension: A suspension or lay-off would be the next disciplinary step, usually taken only if the prior steps have been implemented without the desired outcome. Expectations-where suspension is given without any prior verbal or written warning-occasionally occur if the infraction is of a serious nature. A suspension may be for one day or several weeks; disciplinary lay-offs in excess of a month are rare. Some organizations skip this step completely because it can have negative consequences for both the company and the employee. From the organization’s perspective suspension means, the loss of an employee for the lay-off period. If the person has unique skills or is a vital part of a complex process, her loss during the suspension period can severely impact her department or the organization’s performance if a suitable replacement cannot be located. From the employee’s standpoint, a suspension can result in the employee returning in a more unpleasant and negative frame of mind than before the lay-off. Demotion: If suspension has not been effective and management wants to avoid dismissing the problem employee, demotion may be an alternative. However, we should point out that few organizations use demotion as a disciplinary measure, probably because it tends to demoralize not only the employee but the co-workers as well. Also, in contrast to the previous action, it is not temporary. A demotion is a constant punishment to the demoted employee and hence has broad motivation implications If demotion has a place as a disciplinary action, it probably is where 1. The employee clearly has the ability to perform the job 2. management perceives itself legally or ethically constrained from firing the employee 3. t is believed that a blatant demotion will awaken the employee. In such instances, demotion is a loud message that such employees will have to shape up radically if they want their old job back, and that management has no intention of letting them â€Å"get away† with chronic abuses of the organization’s rules. Ironically, though, demotion appears to exist chiefly in theory. One recent study indicated that dem otion of managerial and professional employee was rarely used. Pay cut: It’s rarely applied in practice, is cutting the problem employee. The pay cut usually has a demoralizing effect on the employee and is suggested as a rational action by management if the only other alternative is dismissal. From management perspective, dismissal means losing the individual’s experience and background. A replacement may be hired at a lower salary but still has to be trained to do the job. In cost-benefit terms, it may be to management’s advantage to save the hiring and training costs incurred with a new employee. This can be done by cutting the pay of the problem employee and saving the investment the organization has already made in the person. And, if the problem employee alters her behavior, the pay cut can always re-scinded. Communications: Human resource management communications programs are designed to keep employees abreast of what is happening in the organization, and knowledgeable of the policies and procedures affecting them. Whereas public relations departments are created to keep the public informed of what an organization does. HRM communications focus on the internal constituents-the employees. Guidelines for supporting communication programs: †¢ Top-management commitment Effective upward communication. †¢ Determining what to communicate. †¢ Allow for feedback. †¢ Information sources. Top-management commitment: Before any organizations can develop and implement an internal organizational communication program it must have the backing, support, and â€Å"blessing† of the CEO. Any activity designed to facilitate work environments must be seen by employees as being endorsed by the compa ny’s top management. In doing so, these programs are given priority and are viewed as significant components of the corporate culture. It is critical for employees to see top management supporting communications, so too is it for them to see communications effectively operating at all levels-that is, effective communications does not just imply that top management sends information down throughout the company. It also implies that information flows upward as well, and laterally to other areas in the organization. Effective upward communication: The upward flow of communications is particularly noteworthy because it is often the employees, the ones closest to the work, who may have vital information that top management should know. Determining what to communicate: If every piece of information that exists in our organizations were communicated, no work would ever get done; people would be spending there entire days on information overload. Employees, while wanting to be informed, or not concerned with every piece of information, like who just retired, was promoted, or what community group was given a donation yesterday. rather,employees need pertinent information-addressing those things employees should know to do there jobs. This typically includes where the business is going(strategic goals), current sales/service/production outcomes, new product or service lines, human resource policy changes. Allow for feedback: We can not assume that our communication efforts are achieving there goals. Consequently, we must develop into the system a means of assessing the flow of information, and for fostering employee feedback how that information is generated may differ from organization to organization. For some, it may be a casual word-of-mouth assessment. Others may use employee surveys to capture the data, or provide a suggestion box where comments can be given. Irrespective of how that information is gathered, employees must be involved. Other wise, not only will measurement of the effectiveness of the communications program be difficult, but you may also lose its benefits from its appearing to be less of a commitment to employees. Information sources: HRM communications should serve as a conduit in promoting effective communications through out the organization. Although HRM plays an important role in bringing this fruition, they are not the only, or the main source, of information. For that, we have to turn to one’s immediate supervisor. If successful programs can be linked to the immediate supervisor then HRM must insure that these individuals are trained in how to communicate properly. Even our benefit change, cited a few paragraphs ago, if implemented would likely result in a number of questions for one’s supervisor. Thus, HRM must make every effort to empower these supervisors with accurate data to deal with â€Å"frontline† questions. Wages and salaries: Many organizations use surveys to gather factual information on pay practices within specific communities and among firms in there industry. This information is used for comparison purposes. It can tell management if the organization’s wages are in line with those of other employers and, in cases where there is a short supply of individuals to fill certain positions, may be used to actually set wage levels. Some special cases of wages and salaries: †¢ Incentives. †¢ Individual incentives. †¢ Group incentives. †¢ Organizations wide incentives. Incentives: In addition to the basic wage structure, organizations that are sincerely committed to developing a compensation system that is designed around performance will want to consider the use of incentive pay. Typically given in addition to- rather than in place of- the basic wage, incentive plans should be viewed as an additional dimension to the wage structure we have described. Incentives can be paid based on individual, group, organization wide performance- a pay – for- performance concept. Individual incentives: Individual incentive plans pay off for individual performances for the 1999’s; these plans have been the biggest trend in compensation administration in the United States. Popular approaches include piece work plans, time-saving bonuses and commissions. Individual incentives can be based on time saved as well as output generated. Individual incentives work best where clear performance objectives can be set and where tasks are independent if these conditions are not met, individual incentives can create dysfunctional compensation or encourage workers to †cut corners† . coworkers be come enemy, individuals create inflated perceptions of there own work while deflating the work of others, and the work of environment becomes characterized by reduced interaction and communications between employees. And if corners are cut, quality and safety may be compromised. Group incentives: To or more employees can be paid for there combined performance is called group incentives. The group incentives are desirable when they make most sense where employees’ tasks are interdependent and thus require cooperation. Organization wide incentives: The goal of organization wide incentives is to direct the effort of all employees toward achieving overall effectiveness. Health and safety: Management has a legal responsibility to ensure that the work place is free from unnecessary hazards and that conditions surrounding the work place are not hazardous to employees’ physical or mental health. Of course, accident skill and do occur, and the severity of these may astound you. From the turn of the century through the late 1960 s, remarkable progress was made in reducing the rate and severity of job related accidents and it is diseases. At the most significant piece of legislation in the area of employee health and safely was not enacted until 1970. This law is called the occupational safety and health act (OSHA). The occupational safety and health act of 1970 provides job safety and health protection for workers by promoting safe and healthful working conditions throughout the nation. Provisions of this act include the following: †¢ Employers †¢ Employees. †¢ Inspection. †¢ Citation. †¢ Proposed penalty. †¢ Voluntary activity. †¢ Consultation. †¢ Posting instruction. Employers: All employers must furnish to employees employment and a place of employment free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious harm to employees. Employers must comply with occupational safety and health standards issued under the act. Employees: Employees must comply with all occupational safety and health standards, rules, regulations and orders issued under the act that apply to their own actions and conduct on the job. The OSHA of USA department of labor has the primary responsibility for administering the act. OSHA issues occupational safety and health standards, and its compliance safety and health officers conduct jobsite inspections to help ensure compliance with the act. Inspection: The act requires that a representative of the employer and a representative authorized by the employees be given an opportunity the OSHA compliance officer must consult with a reasonable number of employees concerning safety and health conditions in the workplace. Complaint: Employees or their representative have the right to file a complaint with the nearest OSHA office requesting an inspection if they believe unsafe or unhealthful conditions exist in their workplace. OSHA will withhold, on request, names of employees complaining. The act provides that employees may not be discharged or discriminated against in any way for filling safety and health complaints of for otherwise exercising their rights under the act. Employees who believe they have been discriminated against may file a complaint with their nearest OSHA office within 30 days of the alleged discriminatory action. Citation: If upon inspection OSHA believes an employer has violated the act, a citation alleging such violations will be issued to the employer. Each citation will specify a time period within which the alleged violation must be corrected. The OSHA citation must be prominently displayed at or near the place of alleged violation for three days, or until it is corrected, whichever is later, to warn employees of dangers that may exist there. Proposed penalty: The act provides for mandatory civil penalties against employers for serious violation. There are also provisions for criminal penalties. Any willful violation resulting in the death of any employee, upon conviction, is punishable by fine, or imprisonment for up to six months, or both. Voluntary activity: While providing penalties for violations, the act also encourages efforts by labor and management, before an OSHA inspection, to reduce workplace hazards voluntarily and to develop and improve safety and health programs in all workplaces and industries. OSHA’s voluntary protection programs recognize outstanding efforts of this nature. Consultation: For assistance in identifying and correcting hazards and in improving safety and health management is available to employers, without citation or penalty, through OSHA-supported programs j n each state. These programs are usually administered by the state labor or health department or a state university. Posting instruction: Employers in states operating OSHA approved state plans should obtain and post the state’s equivalent poster. Benefits and services: In benefits much change has occurred over the past decade. As benefit offerings to employees have become significantly more costly, the benefits administrator has the responsibility of piecing together a benefits package that meets the needs of the employees, while simultaneously being cost effective to the organizations. As such, much effort is expanded searching for lower-cost products are often reviewed, such as flexible benefits programs and utilization reviews, to help in benefit cost containment. The benefits administrator also serves as the resource information officer to employees regarding their benefits. Activities such as helping employees prepare for their retirement, looking for various pay0out options, keeping abreast of recent tax law changes, or helping executives with their pre-requisites, are conducted. This gives individual a great deal of responsibility, but also high visibility in the organization. Employee benefits: †¢ Flexible spending accounts. †¢ Modular plans. †¢ Core-plus options plans †¢ Add-on plans. Flexible spending accounts: It’s a special type of flexible benefits that permits employees to set aside a specified amount of their gross income to pay for particular services. Modular plans: A modular plan of flexible benefits is a system whereby employees choose a pre-designed package of benefits. As opposed to selecting â€Å"cafeteria style† modular plans contain â€Å"A fixed combination of benefit plans put together to meet the needs of a particular segment of the employee population. Core-plus action plans: These benefit plans exhibits more of a menu selection than two programs mentioned. Under this arrangement, employees typically are involved with coverage of core areas-typically medical coverage, life insurance at one time annual insurance. These plans help to eliminate the adverse selection. Add-on plans: It’s a situatio n where current benefit levels remain in effect. The employer has determined that benefit levels for the employees should be raised. These plans provide employees a menu to decide which benefit they desire to purchase or extend to coverage. These services can be provided to employee at no cost, or at a significant reduction from what might have been paid without the organization’s support. Services provided to employees may be such benefits as sponsored social and recreational events, employee assistance programs, credit unions, housing, tuition reimbursement, jury duty, uniforms, baby-sitting services, and the like. Companies can be as creative as they like in putting together their benefits program. The crucial point is to provide a package containing those benefits in which employees have expressed some interest, and perceive some value in its offering. Labor relations: A union is an organization of workers, acting collectively, seeking to promote and protect its mutual interests through collective bargaining. Union security arrangements: †¢ Closed shop. †¢ Union shop. †¢ Agency shop. †¢ Open shop. †¢ Dues check off †¢ The right-to-work issue. Closed shop: Closed shop security arrangement was deemed illegal. Accordingly no union contract may contain a clause that requires union membership prior to employment. Union shop: Employers can hire non-union workers, but they must become dues-paying members within a prescribed period of time. Agency shop: A type of union security arrangement whereby employees must pay union dues to the certified bargaining unit even if they choose not to join the union. Open shop: Employees are free to choose whether or not to join the union; those who do not are not required to pay union dues. Dues checkoff: Dues checkoff occurs when the employer withholds union dues from the members’ paychecks. Similar to other pay withholdings the employer collects the dues money and sends it to the union. The right-to-work issue: It prohibits the requirement that an individual must be a member of a union as a condition of employment. CHAPTER 3 COMPANY PROFILE Chapter 3 Company profile INTRODUCTION: Frontline Consulting Services Inc. designs, develops, markets, and supports enterprise applications and products to meet the critical requirements of businesses. We are geared towards providing focused service to organizations whose competitive edge depends in part on the use of IT and for whom the opportunity to reduce software development cost can enhance their capabilities to compete in the global market place. Our solutions comprise a broad range of advanced products and services designed to enable companies un the business, deploy products and business intelligence tools on a global basis We deliver in Internet time and consider both the strategy and the execution to be of high significance. We are pursuing to transform from a solution provider to a broader based business facilitator. Our partnership programs are used to increase the functionality of our applications, and enhance our service suite, to support a cu stomer end-to-end. We have partnered with leaders like Oracle Corporation, NCR, Software Ag, IBM, Microsoft Corporation, Rockwell Automation and niche players like Hershey’s, Incuity and Azul Systems. Corporate Values People First We believe the potential of our company has no limit and is driven by our associates and their imagination. We are committed to an environment that attracts, motivates and recognizes high performance. Customers: We provide maximum leverage to our customers through value-added products, services, and support. Our tenets: Proactively listen to and understand the needs of our external and internal customers provide time-to-market, cost-effective products and services to our customers, make our deliverables our primary differentiators. Quality We must take pride in everything we do. From our people, to our products and in our relationships with business partners and our community, quality is our signature. Ethical Sourcing We are committed to maintaining the highest level of integrity and honesty throughout all aspects of our business, and strive to ensure that our business associates, including agents, vendors and suppliers, share our commitment to socially responsible employment conditions. We seek to use only vendors who meet the highest standards for safe, healthful working conditions and follow employment practices that conform to local law, best industry practices and our company standards. Environmental Policy FCS is committed to reducing the environmental impact of its operations through appropriate ongoing material management. FCS ensures that this is adhered to in all its operations through the following: †¢ Reduction of waste at source : All ODCs and offices manage work towards reducing the quantity or toxicity of the waste produced by: †¢ Proactively listen to and understand the needs of our external and internal customers †¢ Provide time-to-market, cost-effective products and services to our customers †¢ Make our deliverables our primary differentiators †¢ Recycling: It is the responsibility of every employees to separate, identified recyclable materials and place them in appropriate recycling containers. †¢ Purchasing of products with recycled content: All offices and ODCs purchase and use products manufactured from recycled materials whenever feasible. Active participation of all the employees helps to trim unnecessary waste disposal costs, meet mandated waste reduction requirements, and help FCS meet its commitment to reduce the negative impact of operations on the environment. Corporate Philanthropy FCSs approach to corporate donations comes from our roots in local communities, our global citizenship, and the values of our individual employees. In the cities and towns where we have located our principal operations, we regularly work with local schools and civic organizations to etermine which educational and social programs would most benefit from our support. In addition, FCS contributes to the relief funds across the Globe in case of natural disasters. A primary component of FCSs corporate contributions program is the time and energy invested by our employees as they seek to better their own communities. By donating money that matches the volunteerism of employees, we not only promote a spirit of partnership but assure that cor porate donations are dispensed in a manner that is prioritized based on the employees own values. Management Team Vikas Handa, President Vikas has more than fifteen years of experience in consulting and providing direction in the areas of technical architecture; enterprise management of technology assets; applications development strategies and management; quality assurance; business process reengineering; electronic commerce/e-business and other emerging technology concepts. He is the major driving force in spearheading the new initiatives and areas of growth for FCS. Mike Tennant, CEO Mike has over twenty years experience in managing consulting and technical service practices in both the software industry and manufacturing companies. He has worked in the software industry since 1977 at Xerox and, later, General Electric. Mike worked at Scovill and Fairchild Burns IT departments supporting their manufacturing departmental needs. His experience includes participation and leadership internationally with software implementations across various domains, including British Shipbuilding, Cadbury Schweppes, DuPont, ITT, Bell Atlantic, International Bank of Japan, and Fairchild. Mike managed large services practices at SSA Southeast and at GEISCO. Dharmesh Sethi, COO CFO Dharmesh has more than 20 years experience in management, information services and software consulting. He has extensive expertise in process reengineering, business process improvement, and all phases of the software development life cycle. He has specialized in Manufacturing, Finance, Online Marketplace, Retail, Logistics and Distribution Application systems. Lastly, he has significant experience in managing large teams of development and support professionals Dharmesh has more than 20 years experience in management. Nagarjuna Vangala, EVP Nagarjuna Vangala has over two decades of software industry experience, including seven years in North America. He has lead large software projects with companies like, Xerox, GE, NBC, Allied Signals, Singapore Technologies and Bresga (Switzerland). His expertise is in conceptualizing and managing independent business units, project management, estimation, quality assurance and mentoring. His application experience spans across Internet/ Intranet, large distributed computing applications, e-learning, client/server, desktop publishing software, satellite medical imaging, real time systems and parallel algorithms. He has management diploma for IIMC along with MS (CS) from Canada and a Masters(CS) from Osmania. Chris Birtwhistle, VP Integration Services Chris Birtwhistle, VP Integration Services: Chris leads the Integration Services practice for FCS bringing a strong background in operational strategy, technology implementation and global consulting delivery to this position. Chris began his career with Bell Canada where he held a number of management positions, ultimately leading corporate planning, strategy and execution for the Consumer Market organization. He then joined Price water house Coopers, where he delivered process and operational strategy projects for telecom clients in the US and Canada including AT, Bell South, Bell Canada, ICG, and Qwest. Following PwC, Chris joined web Methods as Senior Director, Global Operations. In this role, Chris was accountable for the day to day operations of the consulting, training and technical support organizations responsible for supporting web Methods 1,400 customers worldwide. Chris was critical in leading the turnaround of the organization, growing services revenues and group profitability while also improving ustomer satisfaction. He was also responsible for the global launch and delivery of a group of high value solutions offerings, helping customers to maximize the return of their software and services investment through enhanced staff productivity, code re-use and focused off-shoring of services. Chris holds an undergraduate degree in Statistics from Queens University (Canada), as well as an MBA from the University of Toronto (Canada). Vikram Takru, VP Vikram has more than 18 years of experience in the Information Technology industry, in both operational and executive roles. His role includes strategic planning, product development, building executive client relationships, driving business through strategic partnerships for the organization. Vikram has last served as the Senior Director with Oracle USA Inc. (NASDAQ: ORCL) and was responsible for the Product Development for Oracle Fusion Business Intelligence suite of products. Vikram has held various leadership roles at Wipro Systems (NYSE: WIT) and IT Solutions Inc. He has strong experience and deep relationships in IT services and Product Engineering sector. Vikram’s areas of expertise include bus