FACULTY OF BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT
BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN COMPUTING
BSC COM 15/BIT 8
MODULE: BBA 111- BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
Date of Examination: 18/03/2011
Time allowed 3 hours.
This paper contains two parts; Section A and Section B. Section A comprises case study
with two questions which are compulsory. Section B contains four questions. Candidates
must answer any two questions only from this section.
Read the following before answering the examination question.
1. Read each of the questions carefully before you answer.
2. Apportion your time according to the marks allocated for the question.
3. Apportion your time equally between Section A and B.
4. Firstly, answer the questions that you feel you can obtain the most marks for you but,
compulsory questions must be attempted.
5. Number the answers to the questions clearly before answering.
6. Please write as clearly as possible as illegible handwriting cannot be marked
Section A
Answer both questions
Contradictions in Human Resource Policy
One of the great ironies of the 1990s was that, while it was the decade of human resource
management, it was also the decade that saw one of the greatest restructurings of business
in the industrialized countries, which led to mass unemployment (which only really
began to disappear in 1998 and 1999). During the 1990s all the talk in companies was
HRM-that people were the most important resource of an organization and that people
should not be regarded as a cost but as a benefit to the organization.
The 1990s was the decade in which the information and communications technology
revolution began to drive home, leading to mass redundancies in industries such as
banking and insurance. The privatization of industries in the 1980s led to massive
downsizing in the newly privatized industries, while major companies like the oil giants
Shell and BP shook out thousands of employees. The early years of the 1990s saw
organizations strip down their core workforce, increasingly to use contracted-out labour
and part-time workers. All this was done in the name cost-cutting and efficiency in an
increasingly competitive global economy.
Meanwhile, the human resource managers were talking about HRM as a strategic
function of the organization, and as the responsibility of all managers. They were saying
it was essential to find out what people wanted in the organization through processes such
as appraisal; that people should be empowered through team-working; and that selfmanaged teams would lead to greater satisfaction at work.
It is not surprising that, by the late 1990s, many people were cynical about the nature of
HRM. Empowerment seemed to apply to those whose jobs were most secure but who had
to work hardest to retain their jobs by working longer hours with less job security.
Meanwhile, the high level of redundancies in many companies in the first half of the
1990s led to stress and insecurity.
Q.1.
a) What is Human Resource Management? (3 marks)
b) Why was it difficult during the 1990s for human resource managers to sell the idea of
HRM to employees? (4 Marks)
c) Why might it (HRM) work better in the first decade of the twenty-first century?
(5 marks)
d) Are companies still continuing to downsize and what are the implications for the
ongoing success of HRM initiatives? (6 marks)
e) Do you think HRM is a good idea? (7 marks)
Total 25 marks
Q.2.
a) What is personnel management? (5 marks)
b) Explain the stages involved in human resource planning and discuss the ethical
issues regarding recruitment, selection and placements. (8 marks)
c) What steps are involved in sales promotional planning? (6 marks)
d) What are the advantages and disadvantages of carrying out sales promotions?
(6 marks)
Total 25 marks
Section B
Answer two questions
Q.3.
a) What is a marketing mix? (5 marks)
b) Discuss the impact of marketing mix elements on the marketing functions of any
Organization. ( 10 marks)
c) Examine how human resource functions interact with other functional areas like
accounting, administration and marketing. (10 marks)
Total 25 marks
Q.4.
a) Why do small business enterprises intend to go into signing partnerships with already
well established companies such as the McDonalds? (7 marks)
b) Why is revenue growth important for upcoming business enterprises? (8 marks)
c) What constraints do small scale businesses face in struggling economies such as the
Zambian one? (10 marks)
Total 25 marks
Q.5.
a) What do you understand by the terms ‘Purchasing’ and ‘Supply’. (5 marks)
b) Illustrate what is referred to as the ‘traditional chain of distribution’? (6 marks)
c) Critically explain what is meant by ‘Stock Control Systems’ and give concrete
examples of some of the stock control methods. (14 marks)
Total 25 marks
Q.6.
a) What is advertising by Objectives as stated in this case study? (5 marks)
b) What are the advantages of the advertising-by-objectives approach? (6 marks)
c) Critically illustrate the provisions of a systematic setting and evaluating of objectives
in an organisation. (7 marks)
d) Clearly evaluate what is meant by marketing mix. (8 marks)
Total 25 marks