B. Tech
(SEM IV) THEORY EXAMINATION 2010-11
INDUSTRIAL PSYCHOLOGY
Q.1. Attempt any four parts of the following:
Q.(a) Define Industrial Psychology.
Ans. According to Harrell (1958). “Industrial Psychology is the study of people at work in
industry and business.”
Explaination—The term study of people, means study of aptitudes, attitudes, training skills etc.
of the worker.
Blum and Naylor (1968) defines it as, “the application or extension of psychological facts
and principles to the problems concerning human beings operating within the context of business
and industry.”
Explaination—Industrial psychology applies the techniques of psychology to the industrial
scene and the problems confronting in industry and business.
According to McCormick and Iigen “Industrial Psychology is the study of human behaviour in
the work related aspects of life and the application of knowledge of human behaviour to the
minimization of human problems in industry.”
Explaination—Industrial psychology studies all aspects of human behaviour at work settings
and applies basic knowledge about human behaviour to minimize the problems of workers.
Industrial psychology is an applied psychology, which studies the behaviour of human being
who are working in industry, business, service and research organizations. It applies the
psychological principles to minimize the worker problems and maintain the welfare of the
workers.
Q.(b) Describe the major contribution of Taylor.
Ans. Taylor, An American Engineer and father of scientific management, observed that lot of
fatigue was produced because workers were not working properly. He believed that management
not labor, was the cause of and potential solution to problems in the industry. Taylor
scientifically rearranged the work and found four times rise in production. It became a kind of
scientific movement and was known as ‘Taylorism’ or ‘Scientific Management'.
Time Study was given by Frederick Winslow Taylor (1890). He applied the principles of
scientific management to the handling of the pig iron in the Bethelhem steel company. By the
application of his method, he showed that a group of men who were loading pig slabs (each
weighing about 92 pounds), Could increase their average loading efficiency from 12 ½ tons
to 48 tons per day. For achieving these spectacular results Taylor trained study group in
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systematic methods of picking the pig slabs and placing them in carriage with appropriate
movements and rest intervals.
Q. (c) What are the different experiments conducted under Hawthorne Experiment.
Ans. Elton Mayo initiated Hawthorne study in 1927 at the Hawthorne (Chicago) plant of the
Western Electric Company. Hawthorne study measured the impact of different working
conditions (such as levels of lighting, payment systems and hours of work) on output. The
Hawthorne study were comprised of following major parts :
(i) Experiment on Illumination: Purpose. To study the effect of illumination on productivity.
Method. Two groups were selected from among the employees. One group was placed in the
room where lighting or illumination remained constant. The other group was placed in other
room where lighting or illumination varied periodically.
Findings. The productivity of both the groups increased steadily. There was no effect of
illumination on productivity.
(ii) Relay assembly test-room study: Purpose. To study the effect of fatigue on productivity.
Method. A group of women were selected for study who had been assembling relays so long
that their production was no longer improving with practice. Various changes like change in the
number of hours in a work week, number of hours in a work day, number of breaks, free social
interaction among group members or freedom to form informal groups, friendly and informal
supervision.
Findings. The findings took the researchers by surprise, since irrespective of the changes
made, there was an overall increase in productivity. This became known as the “Hawthorne
Effect”. They realized that since the subjects’ were given a great deal of freedom, they had
formed an informal group. The researchers thus discovered the concept of informal organization.
(iii) Bank wiring observation room study: Purpose. The purpose of this study was to make
observational analysis of the informal work group.
Method. The method used in this study was similar to the relay room experiment. The bank
wirers were placed in a separate test room. The workers in the Bank wiring Observation Room
Study consisted of three groups: nine wiremen, three solder men and two inspectors. The bank
wiring room study involved no experimental changes once the study had started.
Findings. In the bank wiring room there was continual increases in productivity that
occurred in the relay assembly test room study.
(iv) Mass Interviewing Program: A large number of workers were interviewed by the
researchers to understand their attitudes and opinions on the factors influencing productivity. In
other words, the researchers interviewed a large number of workers with regard to their opinions
on work, working conditions and supervision. It was found that the opportunity to talk freely
about things are important to workers, has a positive effect on their productivity. The findings
confirmed the importance of social factors at work in the total work environment.
(v) Personnel Counseling: The Counseling program had two objectives :
(i) To find out the problems of workers.
(ii) To improve interpersonal relationship among workers.
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With these objectives, the decision was made that officials from the personal department
would be assigned to various departments and would be free to talk with employees. The
program led to improvement in three fields:
 Personal adjustments
 Supervisor-Employee relations
 Employee-management relations
Q. (d) Describe the role of Elton Mayo in Hawthorne Experiment.
Ans. Elton Mayo is known as the founder of the Human Relations Movement, and is known
for his research including the Hawthorne Studies and his book The Human Problems of an
Industrialized Civilization (1933). The research he conducted under the Hawthorne Studies
of the 1930s showed the importance of groups in affecting the behavior of individuals at
work. Mayo's employees, Roethlisberger and Dickson, conducted the practical experiments.
This enabled him to make certain deductions about how managers should behave. He carried
out a number of investigations to look at ways of improving productivity, for example
changing lighting conditions in the workplace. What he found that work satisfaction
depended to a large extent on the informal social pattern of the work group. Where norms of
cooperation and higher output were established because of a feeling of importance, physical
conditions or financial incentives had little motivational value. People will form work groups
and this can be used by management to benefit the organization.
Q. (e) What is the scope of Industrial Psychology in Engineering and Technology.
Ans. Industrial Psychology concerns the application of psychological concepts to the work
environment. Industrial Psychology professionals often perform consulting work for companies.
Scope of Industrial Psychology in Engineering and Technology are as listed:
-Increase worker productivity;
-Design safe work environments
-Train
new employees;
-Organize the company's management
-Structure Job
Analysis ;
-Realization of potentiality of Employee -Individual
Differences ;
-Problem solver
Industrial Psychology and Worker Productivity: One of the main area of Industrial
Psychology is to improve worker productivity. Industrial psychologists research workplaces to
find ways to increase worker satisfaction and boost productivity. Industrial psychologists design
and implement workplace procedures in order to improve employee efficiency.
Industrial Psychology and Workplace Safety: Another function of Industrial Psychology is to
design safe workplaces. Industrial psychologists study the company's operating procedures,
equipment used and types of work performed to determine ways to make employees safer.
Professionals in Industrial Psychology can recommend new equipment such as ergonomic chairs
or updated machinery if needed.
Industrial Psychology Principles for New Employee Training and Orientation Industrial
psychologists are often in charge of creating orientation and training programs for new
employees. They apply concepts of Industrial Psychology to create programs that teach new
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workers about a company's operating procedures and business philosophies in ways that make
employees feel welcome and valued.
Industrial Psychology and Job Analysis: The problems of Fitting men to job requires that we
know how to analyze abilities. To make the proper fit, the job must be analyzed if the abilities
required for a particular job are too complex, the psychologist may cooperate with the engineer
in reorganizing the work so that the job is redesigned.
Realization of Potentiality of Employee: The Psychology is interested in maximizing the
realization of potential for accomplishment and personal satisfaction. Thus it was a responsibility
to all employees. The application of Psychology to industry must concern itself with these
problems.
Industrial Psychology and Individual Differences: The opportunities for using knowledge of
Psychology to improve job satisfaction, labor relations, safety, leadership, social responsibility
the subject matter of individual differences has been applied to industry.
Industrial Psychology and Problem Solving: In the age of globalization, importance of
industrial psychology is to deal with frustration, conflict, stresses and strains of workers and
employees. Psychologists help the worker as well as employees to uncover their repressed and
suppressed feelings and solved their problems.
Q. (f) Discuss ‘THERBLIG’.
Ans. One of the most significant contributions of Gilbreth was the method of breaking down the
task into basic elements of notions which has been now widely practiced as Therblig System
(reversal of “Gilbreth” spelled backwards, with a slight variation), a classification scheme
comprising 18 basic hand motions. Gilbreth showed the importance of the total working
environment by reducing unnecessary motions.
The following table lists the Therbligs, along with their mnemonic symbols
Therblig
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Symbol/Icon
Therblig
Search
Use
Find
Disassemble
Select
Inspect
Symbol/Icon
Grasp
Pre-Position
*Hold
Release Load
Transport
Loaded
Unavoidable
Delay
Transport
Empty
Avoidable
Delay
Position
Plan
Assemble
Rest for
overcoming
fatigue
Q.2. Attempt any two parts of the following:
Q.(a) How does ‘Motivation’ relate to’ Behaviour’.
Motivation is necessary for work behavior because if people do not feel inclined to engage
themselves in work behavior, they will not put in necessary efforts to perform well. Higher
motivation leads to higher performance which in turn leads to higher satisfaction and motivation.
According to Porter and Lawler, there is a complex relationship between motivation and
performance. They studied the relationship between performance and satisfaction,
Valence (1)
of reward
Effort
Reward
Probability
(3)
(2)
(7)
Abilities (4)
Intrinsic Reward
Performance
Role
Perception (5)
(9)
Satisfaction
(6)
Extrinsic
(8) Reward
Fig.:
The Porter & Lawler motivation model.
Effort leads to performance and performance may lead to two kinds of reward, i.e. intrinsic
reward, such as self satisfaction and extrinsic reward such as pay, bonus and status. Both type of
reward is necessary for satisfaction. This leads to further effort for performance, i.e. satisfaction
will affect the effort. The satisfaction leads to more efforts for performance.
Q.(b) What is stress? Explain various causes for the industrial stress.
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Ans. Stress is a many-faceted process that occurs in reaction to events or situations in our
environment termed stressors. An important feature of stress is the wide range of physical and
psychological reactions that different people have to the same event; some may interpret an event
as stressful, whereas other simply take it in stride.
(i) Stressor : The Activators of Stress. The stimuli that can potentially produce stress, it
appears that many events which are stressful share several characteristics:
(a)
They
are
so
intense,
in
some
respect,
a state of overload—we can no longer adapt to them.
that
they
produce
(b)
They evoke incompatible tendencies in us, such as tendencies both to approach and to
avoid some object or activity.
(c)
They are uncontrollable—beyond our limits of control. Indeed, a great deal of evidence
suggests that when people can predict, control, or terminate an aversive event or
situation, they perceive it be less stressful than when they feel in control (Karasek and
Theorell, 1990; Rodin and Salovery, 1989).
(ii) Physiological Responses to Stressors. When person are exposed to chronic sources
of stress, however, this reaction is only the first in a longer sequence of responses activated by
human efforts to adapt to a stressor. This sequence, termed by Hans Selye (1976) the general
adaptation syndrome (GAS), consists of three stages:
 alarm stage, in which the body prepares itself for immediate action; arousal of the
sympathetic nervous system releases hormones that help prepare our body to meet
threats or dangers (Selye, 1979)
 resistance begins, in which arousal is lower than during the alarm stage, but our bodies
continue to draw on resources at an above-normal rate in order to cope effectively
with the stressor.
 exhaustion. During this stage capacity to resist is deleted, and susceptibility to illness
increases. In severe cases of prolonged physical stress, the result can be death.
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Resistance to Stress
During the first
stage, the body
mobilizes
its resources
In the second stage,
resistance levels
off and eventually
begins to decline
In the third stage,
resistance is
depleted, leading
to exhaustion
Normal level of
resistance to stress
Stage I
Alarm
Stage 2
Resistance
Stage 3
Exhaustion
Time
Fig.: Selye’s general adaptation syndrome.
A wide range of conditions and events are capable of generating stress. Such as stressful life
events (e.g., death of love one or divorce), hazardous of daily life (too many things to do at once,
traffic jam etc.), work related stress. Many factors contribute to stress at work. Several important
sources of work related stress are summarized as follows :
Role ambiguity
(Uncertainty about
duties)
Responsibility
for
others
Unpleasant Work
Environment
Lack of participation
in decision making
Work
Related
Stress
Conflict with
other employees
Lack of Support
from Coworkers
Fig. : Sources of Work related stress.
Role Ambiguity : The sources of stress in organizational role include role ambiguity,
which involves lack of clarity about the work objectives or uncertainty about duties. Role
ambiguity results from inadequate information or knowledge to do a job. This ambiguity may be
due to inadequate training, poor communication, or the deliberate distortion of information by a
co-worker or supervisor.
Role Conflict : Role conflict arises where the individual is exposed to conflicting job
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demands or required to do things which he does not want to do.
Responsibility for Others : Responsibility for others act as a source of stress, or in other
words it can be said that responsibility towards people is more stress generating.
Lack of Participation in decision making : Little participation or no participation of
employees in decision making leads to stress.
Unpleasant Working condition : Unpleasant working condition also cause the stress.
Such stressors include: crowded work area, noise, heat or cold, polluted air, strong odor, unsafe,
dangerous conditions, poor lighting, etc.
Conflict with Employees: Conflict is associated with incompatible acts between intraindividual dimensions such as personal goals, between individuals within a group. Such type of
conflict can lead to stress.
Lack of Support from Co-workers : Employees are affected by the support of members
of group. By sharing their problems and joys with others, they are much better. If this type of
social support is lacking for an individual, the situation can be stressful.
Q. (c) What do you mean by ‘Organization’? Explain various elements of
Organization.
Ans. An organization is a social group which distributes tasks for a collective goal. The word
itself is derived from the Greek word organon, itself derived from the better-known word ergon as we know `organ` - and it means a compartment for a particular job. According to Schien “an
organization is the rational coordination of the activities of a number of people for the
achievement of some explicit purpose or goal, through the division of labour and function, and
through a hierarchy of authority and responsibility”.
Basically, an organization in its simplest form (and not necessarily a legal entity, e.g.,
corporation or LLC) is a person or group of people intentionally organized to accomplish an
overall, common goal or set of goals. Business organizations can range in size from one person
to tens of thousands. In other words it can be said that organization is a systematic arrangement
of people to accomplish some specific purpose. Every organization is composed of three
elements i.e. people, goals and system. Each organization has a distinct purpose. This purpose is
expressed as goals generally. Each organization is composed of people. Every organization has a
systematic structure that defines the limit of each member. Some members are managers and
some are operatives.
Elements of Organization: The elements are: coordination, common goals, division of labor
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and integration.
Coordination: An individual alone is unable to fulfill all of his needs and wishes. Individuals
find that they are lacking either in ability, strength, time or endurance to fulfill their basic needs
for food shelter and safety. As several people coordinate their efforts, they can do more than any
of them could have singly. In organization, it is possible through coordination of the activities of
many individuals for all of its member to fulfill their needs.
Common Goals: A second element is the idea of achieving a common goal through coordination
of activities. The common goals keep organizational members together and make them work as
team.
Division of Labour: Division of labour refers to dividing work into operations that are narrow in
scope in order to increase efficiency with which each operation can be performed. Having
divided the work into operations, each operation is assigned to one individual who are more fit in
terms of education, skills and experience to do the job. This is the third element of organization.
The division of labour enables the organization to function more efficiently.
Integration: The fourth element is integration. If different people are discharging different
functions, integrative function is needed to ensure that all are working towards the common
goals. Integration is achieved through hierarchy of authority- some system for super-ordinate
subgroups or individuals to ensure that there is coordination among all through guiding, limiting,
controlling, informing and in other ways managing the activities of people.
Thus by combining the four elements, organization may be defined as the planned
coordination of the activities of a number of people for the achievement of some common goal,
through the division of labour and function, and through a hierarchy of authority and
responsibility.
Q.3. Attempt any two parts of the following:
Q.(a)Differentiate between ‘Fatigue’ and ‘Boredom’ in psychological framework.
Ans. Fatigue has a physiological and psychological components:
Physiological components - Fatigue is associated with physiological changes in brain wave
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activity, eye movement, head movement, muscle tone and heart rate. With the onset of fatigue,
body temperature, heart rate, blood pressure, respiration rate and adrenalin production are
lowered.
Psychological component :-Fatigue affects mood and motivation as well as psycho-motor
and cognitive functions. Fatigue is partly a subjective experience, characterized by lack of
motivation, feelings of exhaustion, boredom, discomfort, and a disinclination to continue the task
at hand. The part of fatigue which is psychological in nature has also been called ‘mental
fatigue’. Mental fatigue is a gradual and cumulative process and is associated with unwillingness
to put in effort, reduced efficiency and alertness and impaired mental performance
Boredom is a mental state resulting from the continuous performance of a repetitive and
uninteresting activity.
The difference between fatigue and monotony (boredom) are as follows:






Fatigue is tiredness and feeling like drained of energy physically while boredom is a
mental condition where a person tends to think he has nothing to do and sit ideally, i.e.
mental dullness.
Fatigue is a condition of decreased capacity for work, whereas boredom is a condition of
decreased interest in work.
Fatigue can be measured while boredom is a subjective attitude and cannot be measured.
Fatigue cannot be removed, it can be reduced, whereas boredom can be removed.
Fatigue expresses in the form of gradual decrement in the work curve with a final and
spurt. Boredom expresses in the form of irregularities in the work curve with intermittent
spurt of short duration and rapid rise toward the end.
Fatigue can be expressed in the desire of rest, whereas, boredom can be expressed in the
desire for change of activity.
Q.(b) What is Job analysis? Explain its relevance in manpower acquisition process.
Ans. Jobs are the means by which people earn their daily bread and represent how they
spend a major portion of their lives. Job analysis is the process of collecting job related
performance.
According to McCormick “Job analysis is the process by which one obtains information
about jobs.”
According to Robbins “Job analysis is a systematic exploration of activities within a job. It is
a basic technical procedure, that is used to define the duties, responsibilities and accountabilities
of a job.”
Process of Job Analysis :The process of job analysis results in two sets of data, which is clear
by the figure :
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Job Description
(How the job is really performed)
A statement containing items
such as
Job title
Location
Job Summary
Task
Working Conditions
Job
Analysis
Job Specification
(How management expects
the job to be performed or
human qualifications
to do the job)
Education
Experience
Training
Judgement
Communication skills
Fig. Job description and Job specification in job analysis.
JOB DESCRIPTION
A job description is obtained from a job analysis. It is a short summary of a job and should be
about two to five pages in length. This suggested length is not really typical of most job
descriptions used in industry; they tend to be only one page. But for a job description to be of
value, it must describe a job in enough detail that decisions about activities such as selection and
training can be made. Such types of decision cannot possible if the description is in only one
page. Job description should contain the following items :
(i) Job Title. A job title is important due to various reasons. An accurate title describes the
nature of the job and also employee selection and recruitment. If the job title indicates the true
nature of the job, potential applicants for a position will be better able to determine whether their
skills and experience match those required for the job. Job title provide workers with some form
of identity. Instead of just saying that she is a “worker at the foundry,” a woman can say that she
is a “welder” or a “machinist.”
(ii) Location. It is concerned with the location of job. The name of department, to which the
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job is concerned. For example, in an engineering college, assistant professor in mechanical
department of HCST, college.
(iii) Brief Summary. The summary should briefly describe the nature and purpose of the job.
This summary can be used in help-wanted advertisements, internal job posting, and company
brochures.
(iv) Tasks. It describes the task and activities, in which an employee is involved. These tasks
and activities should be organized into meaningful categories to make the job description easy to
read and understand.
(v) Working Condition. It is description of conditions of work which will help a worker to
make a right choice for his job. It involves temperature, light, means of communication transport,
toilets, refreshment rooms and parking facilities, etc. Certain studies have revealed that hours of
work are more important for educated men and married ladies. An educated men may like to
participate in some cultural functions and married ladies may have many domestic duties to
perform before coming to the place of work,. It may be noted that certain investigations, have
concluded that for highly educated and high ranking officials (workers), the hours of work are
almost insignificant.
JOB SPECIFICATION
A job specification is a document which states the minimum acceptable human qualities
necessary to perform a job. Job specifications are developed with the cooperation of the
personnel department and various supervisors throughout the organization. The personnel
manager will give a great deal of weightage to the suggestions of a supervisor concerning needed
qualifications, but the personnel manager will like to make certain that specifications are
realistic, fair, and designed to assist the organization in attaining its goals.
Human qualities refer to the knowledge, skill, ability, personal characteristics, and
credentials needed for effective job performance. These terms are defined as:

Knowledge—the body of information one needs to perform the job.

Skill—the capability to perform a learned motor task, such as forklift operating skills and
word-processing skills.

Ability—the capability needed to perform a non-motor task, such as communication
abilities, mathematical abilities, and reasoning or problem-solving abilities.

Personal characteristics—an individual's traits (e.g., tact, assertiveness, concern for
others, objectivity, work ethic) or their willingness/ability to adapt to the circumstances in
the environment (e.g., ability to withstand boredom, willingness to work overtime,
willingness to treat others cordially).
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
Credentials—proof or documentation that an individual possesses certain competencies,
such as diplomas, certifications, and licenses.
The sheer amount of information that can be uncovered during a job analysis may be
overwhelming, but it is unnecessary to gather all possible data. The purpose or intended use of
the job analysis dictates the particular information to be gathered. Therefore, the analyst must
decide how the job analysis will be used before deciding what information to seek. For instance,
if a job analysis were to be used to develop a technical training program for new employees, the
analyst should focus on information about subtasks (a step-by-step description of how the job is
carried out) and the specific knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) one would need to do well
on that job. If the purpose were to develop a written employment test to assess applicants'
knowledge of the job, the analyst should target information about the specific tasks of the job
and the knowledge required to perform each task (i.e., the facts, theories, principles, etc., one
must know to be able to perform tasks satisfactorily).
Relevance in Manpower Acquisition Process
Job analysis assists organization to manage their HR functions in a systematic and
structured way, for instance, it plays as an indispensable factor within organization’s
performance and reward system; it provides great helpful for evaluating and designing the
training program and refining the training content by creating realistic training objectives and
standards; particularly, it carries tremendous administrative benefits, by assisting organizational
general recruitment and selection process and keeping alert on the possible management
problems;
Job analysis is the cornerstone of the major HR activities, it provides valid and solid
foundation for the effective recruitment and selection practices. Recruitment is the ‘process of
seeking and attracting a pool of qualified applicants from which candidates for job vacancies can
be selected.’ With using the sufficient information developed by job analysis, the organization
could establish valid job requirements, and identify who, how and when to recruit during the
recruitment process. As Clifford (1994) indicates in his study, job analysis provides significant
assistance for developing job announcements, summary of job descriptions and job required
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level of skills, provides facilities for the recruitment procedure and enables organization to have
a clear audit trail back to the critical tasks included in the job analysis data. In other words,
Irrelevant or/and distorted job information has/ have been identified by job analysis, which
enables the HR department to proceeding accurate and efficient vacancy advertisement. With
using this finally produced information, both organization and individual job applicants could
have a thorough understanding about the nature and content of the job, and the job required
relevant knowledge, ability and skills (KASs). It is not only facilitate for HR managers to target
on and attract qualified potential talents, but also convenient for individual job applicants to
choose the most desired and appropriate job.
Compared with recruitment, selection is the process that choosing from a group of applicants the
best qualified candidates. In order to choose the most appropriate and qualified individual
candidates, various selection methods will be involved, such as group/ individual interviews,
achievement test and aptitude test. The validity and reliability of these selection methods become
essential. In order to ensure all the involved selection methods achieve these two features,
inevitably job analysis is necessary. As Hartley (2004) mentions in his study, the outcome of the
job analysis is critical deliverable, and could be considered as the foundation to create multiple
derivative products, for instance curriculum design, interview guides self-assessment tools and
even organizational assessments. (Hartley 2004, pp.20) Therefore, it is reasonable to believe that
the information produced by job analysis is efficient for developing selection methods. Since job
analysis does not contain irrelevant or/and distorted information, thus job analysis enables to
specifically develop the valid, fair and reliable selection methods that appropriate for the
particular selection process; additionally, it will also enable to explicitly show the clear
documented link between the content of the selection methods and the job. Gray (2003) provides
an example in his study that, the best interview follows structure or checklist format, where the
structure and the checklist are developed based on the sufficient job analysis, therefore they are
valid and reliable. Select the right person for the right position is specifically important for the
organization in nowadays. Inappropriate recruitment and selection not only waste organization’s
time and effort, but also diminish its profitability and impair it competitive advantage. Therefore,
job analysis is vital and critical, not only for particular general recruitment and selection process,
but also for the organization itself. As Jassim (n.d.) reiterates in his study that, job analysis is
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specifically vital for organizational consistent competitive advantage. Sufficient job analysis
enable organization to target on potential talents that with requisite knowledge, skills and
abilities; once those talents are employed by the organization will inevitably add value to the
organization, which is rare and inimitable. From organizational employers’ perspective, good
quality of job analysis assist targeting and attract potential recruits; whereas from the individual
applicants’ perspective, sufficient job analysis helps them to be more convenient to make up
their mind about whether to apply for the job or not.
Q.(c) What are the different sources of recruitment? Explain.
Ans. Recruitment means obtaining prospective employees with appropriate qualifications. In
other words recruitment is the process of identifying and attracting a group of potential
candidates from within and outside the organization to evaluate for employment. According to
Robbins “Recruiting is the discovering of potential candidates for actual or anticipated
organizational vacancies.” It is a linking activity—bringing together those with jobs to fill and
those seeking jobs.
Recruitment is the process of searching for and obtaining applicants for jobs from whom
right people can be selected. Recruitment involves attracting and obtaining as many applications
as possible from eligible job seekers.
Sources of Recruitment
Sources of recruitment may be classified into two categories :
Recruitment
Internal Sources
(i) Transfers
(ii) Promotions
External Sources
(i) Press Advertisements
(ii) Educational Institutions
(iii) Placement Agencies
(iv) Employment Exchanges
(v) Labour Contractors
(vi) Walk-in Interview
(vii) E-Recuiting
Internal Sources. Internal sources of recruitment lie inside company or organization. It
seeks applicants for positions from those who are currently employed. Internal sources consists
of :
(i) Transfers. Transfer implies shifting of an employer from one job to another without any
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major change in the status and responsibilities of the employee.
(ii) Promotions. It refers to shifting of an employee to a higher position carrying higher
status, responsibilities and pay. Posting jobs is an excellent method of offering promotion
opportunities to all employees and minimizing employee complaints of unfair treatment and
unlawful discrimination. Pomeroy (2005) found that in America more than 20% of their
openings are with internal promotions.
The merits of internal sources are as follows :
(i) It is cheaper than external sources,
(ii) It is a great sources of motivation,
(iii) Appropriate or best use of internal candidate skills and abilities. (In case of transfer).
External Sources. External sources of recruitment lie outside the organization. These are as
follows :
(i) Press advertisement. Advertisement in newspapers and journals is widely used source of
recruitment. Gere, Scarborough and Collison, (2002) conducted a survey of 281 organizations
and found that recruiters selected newspaper advertising as one the most effective avenues of
applicant recruitment.
(ii) Educational Institutions. This source is known as campus interview. Many
organizations send recruiters to college campuses to answer questions about themselves and
interview students for available positions. The Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and the
Indian Instituted of Technology (IITs) are on the top of the list of avenues for recruiters. In fact,
in some companies, recruiters are bound to recruit a given number of candidates from these
institutes every year. The IIMs are an important source for recruiting management trainees.
Campus recruitment is going global with companies like Hindustan Lever, Citibank, HCL-HP,
L&T, Motorola and Reliance looking for recruitees in global markets.
(iii)Placement Agencies. Several private consultancy firms e.g., Ferguson Consultants, ABC
Consultants etc. perform recruiting function on behalf of client companies by charging fee.
(iv) Employment Exchanges. Government of India has established public employment
exchange throughout the country, which provides information about job vacancies. The major
functions of employment exchanges are to increase the pool of possible applicants. It acts as a
link between the employees and the prospective employees. In United States, the main function
of employment exchange is closely tied to unemployment benefits, the benefits in some countries
are given only to individuals who are registered with their state employment agencies.
(v) Labour Contractors. Manual workers can be recruited through contractors who
maintain close links with the source of such workers.
(vi) Walk-in Interview. The most common and least expensive approach for candidates is
direct applications, in which job seekers submit unsolicited application letters or resumes. In this
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type of interview people from different age groups through the premises.
(vii) E-Recruiting. It involves screening candidates electronically, directing potential hires
to a special website for online skill assessment conducting background checks over the internet,
and managing the entire process with web-based software.
Internet recruiters continue to grow and have an impact on hiring: in 2000 there were more
than 30,000 employment-related websites (Leonard, 2000), and 82% of organizations used an
Internet recruiter either to list jobs or to search through resumes (Gere et al., 2002). An Internet
recruiter is private company whose website lists job openings for hundreds of organizations and
resumes for thousands of applicants. The largest internet recruiter, Monster. Com, had more than
11 million visitors per month in 2004. Although small organizations are as likely as larger ones
to recruit employees through their Webpages, larger organizations are more likely to use Internet
recruiters (Hausdorf & Duncan. 2004).
The Internet allow organizations to reach large numbers of candidates easily and efficiently.
Thousands of candidates can visit a company web site and submit an application. Similarly, webbased recruiting companies work with organizations to advertise jobs and screen candidates.
Although job and company web sites are becoming hot new tools, traditional recruiting methods
such as employee referrals are not yet obsolete. Newspaper, job fairs, and professional
organizations continue to be preferred methods and are used to be well over half the survey
respondents.
The merits of external sources are as follows :
1. The organization will have the benefit of new skills, new talents and new experiences, if
people are hired from external sources.
2. The management will be able to fulfill reservation requirements in favour of the
disadvantaged sections of the society.
3. Scope for resentment, heartburn and jealousy can be avoided by recruiting from outside.
The demerits are :
1. Better motivation and increased morale associated with promoting own employees are lost
to the organization.
2. It is costly.
3. If recruitment and selection processes are not properly carried out, chances of right
candidates being rejected (false positive error) and wrong applicants being selected (false
negative error) occur.
4. Adjustment or new employees to the organizational culture takes longer time.
Recruitment is the process of identifying and attracting a group of potential candidates for
employment. Once these candidates are identified, the process of selecting appropriate
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employees for employment can begin.
Q.4. Attempt any two parts of the following:
Q.(a) What are the different techniques of performance appraisal? Explain in brief.
Ans. The methods of performance mangement can be classified as comparative standards and
absolute standards as shown in following figure :
Methods of Performance Management
Comparative standards
Ranking Method
Paired comparision
Graphic rating scale
Critical Incidents
Absolute standards
Assessment centres
Behaviourally Anchored
rating scale
Management by objectives
360 Degree feedback
Comparative Standards. Comparative Standards or Multi-person Comparison. This relative, as
opposed to absolute method, compares one employee’s performance with that of one or more
others.
Ranking Method. In group rank ordering the supervisor places employees into a particular
classification such as “top one-fifth” and “second one-fifth”. If a supervisor has ten employees,
only two could be in the top fifth, and two must be assigned to the bottom fifth.
In individual ranking the supervisor lists employees from highest to lowest. The
difference between the top two employees is assumed equivalent to the difference between the
bottom two employees.
Paired comparison. In paired comparison the supervisor compares each employee with every
other employee in the group and rates each as either superior or weaker of the pair. After all
comparisons are made, each employee is assigned a summary or ranking based on the number of
superior scores received.
Graphic Rating Scale. This method lists a set of performance factors such as job knowledge,
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work quality, cooperation that the supervisor uses to rate employee performance using an
incremental scale.
Absaolute Standards. It is a modern methods of performance management.
Assessment centres. An assessment centre typically involves the use of methods like
social/informal events, tests and exercises, assignments being given to a group of employees to
assess their competencies to take higher responsibilities in the future. Generally, employees are
given an assignment similar to the job they would be expected to perform if promoted. The
trained evaluators observe and evaluate employees as they perform the assigned jobs and are
evaluated on job related characteristics. The major competencies that are judged in assessment
centres are interpersonal skills, intellectual capability, planning and organizing capabilities,
motivation, career orientation etc. assessment centres are also an effective way to determine the
training and development needs of the targeted employees.
Behaviorally anchored rating scales. Behaviorally Anchored Rating Scales (BARS) is a
relatively new technique which combines the graphic rating scale and critical incidents method.
It consists of predetermined critical areas of job performance or sets of behavioral statements
describing important job performance qualities as good or bad (for eg. the qualities like inter
personal relationships, adaptability and reliability, job knowledge etc). These statements are
developed from critical incidents.
In this method, an employee’s actual job behaviour is judged against the desired behaviour
by recording and comparing the behaviour with BARS. Developing and practicing BARS
requires expert knowledge.
Management by Objectives. MBO evaluates how well an employee has accomplished objectives
determined to be critical in job performance. This method aligns objectives with quantitative
performance measures such as sales, profits, zero-defect units produced. This method emphasize
a participative but joint determination of objectives, followed by a participative but joint
evaluation of success in periodic appraisal interview. The superior plays supportive, counselling
and coaching role.
The emphasis of this method is on the value of the present and future rather than that of the
past.The method is applicable to technical, professional, supervisory or executive personnel and
not to the hourly paid workers because their jobs are too restricted.
MBO consists four steps as a way to attain desired performance.
(a) Objective setting—The objectives are set by joint determination of manager and
employee for the next calender year, within the context of overall unit goals and resources.
(b) Action planning—It is a participative or independent planning by the employee asto how
to reach those objectives.
(c) Periodic reviews—It is a joint assessment of progress toward objectives by manager and
employee, performed informally.
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(d) Annual evaluation—It is formal assessment of success in achieving the employee's
annual objectives, coupled with a renewal of the planning cycle.
360 Degree Feedback. This multi-source feedback method provides a comprehensive
perspective of employee performance by utilizing feedback from the full circle of people with
whom the employee interacts: supervisors, subordinates and co-workers. It is the process of
systematically gathering data on a person’s skills, abilities and behaviours from a variety of
sources. It is effective for career coaching and identifying strengths and weaknesses. The product
of this multidirectional method is rich feedback (both positive and negative) and useful in
performance improvement. The results from 360-degree feedback are often used by the person
receiving the feedback to plan their training and development. Results are also used by some
organizations in making administrative decisions, such as pay or promotion. When this is the
case, the 360 assessment is for evaluation purposes, and is sometimes called a “360-degree
review.” However, there is a great deal of controversy as to whether 360-degree feedback should
be used exclusively for development purposes, or should be used for appraisal purposes as well
(Waldman et al., 1998). There is also controversy regarding whether 360-degree feedback
improves employee performance, and it has even been suggested that it may decrease
shareholder value (Pfau & Kay, 2002).
The data gathered from 360-degree feedback throughout the organization can be very
useful in providing insight into organization-wide behaviors and competency (or the lack
thereof), and what development and other interventions may be necessary to address weaknesses.
Internal
Customers
External
Customers
Line
Manager’s
Appraisee
Self
Peers
Subordinates
Q. (b) How does Training differ from development? Explain.
Ans.
Training and development offer competitive advantage to a firm by removing performance
difficiencies, making employees stay long, minimizing accidents, scrap and damage, and meeting future employee
needs. Both terms are used for similar activity, i.e. for improving performance. Though training and development
are differe to each other.
The difference between training and development can be explained on the basis of
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Meaning
Utility
Process
Objective
Demand
Meaning—Training means learning new things and refreshing old ones, but development means
implementing the learned session and finding new ones.
Utility—Training a designed for non-managers as well as managers but development involves only
managerial personnel.
Process—Training is a short term process and development is long term process.
Objective—The objective of training are specific and job related purpose but the objective of development
is broad and consider general knowledge or total personality development.
Demand—The demand of training is for present or current situation, i.e., immediate improvement of the
employee whereas is development, the demand is for future situation, i.e., to make the employee efficient enough
to handle critical situations in the future.
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