CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction

In the present world of globalization, Human Resource Management

(HRM) has become wider and attained immense importance. Worldwide, it

is recognized as the heart of the management process of any organization as

overall performance of these organizations depends solely on the quality of

human resources, such as knowledge, skills, creativity, talents and positive

attitude as well as beliefs of the those individuals who have involved in the

offers of the organization they work in.

In the present technological advancement era, there is greater

recognition that distinctive competencies are obtained through highly

developed employee skills, distinctive organizational cultures, management

processes, and systems. To obtain such competencies, organizations need to

adopt a strategic function to fulfill its own as well as individual goals.

Human Resource Management (HRM) is one such strategic function that

facilitates the most effective use of people to achieve organizational and

individual goals.

Further, many organizations in the present world have started viewing

the human resources as a source of competitive advantage in terms of high

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quality work force that enables organizations to compete on the basis of

market responsiveness, product and service quality, differentiated products,

and technological innovation. For gaining such competitive advantage,

HRM is adopted as a strategic function that encompasses management of

critical human assets.

Gaining such competitive advantage is not only needed for private

organization but also for Government organizations / departments. So, , the

present study is undertaken to evaluate the HRM in a selected organization

of Union Territory of Puducherry.

1.2 Resources

Without resources, no objectives can be achieved. And an objective is

useless if it is not realized. It will remain a daydream only. Resources are the

means for getting results or for fulfilling objectives. Without means it is

impossible to reach set goals. Just as an army, however disciplined and

trained cannot win battles without the necessary equipment, so also no

organization, be it industry, hospital or school can obtain results without aid

of required resources. There are mainly two types of resources viz., Material

Resources (Money-Cash and credit, Land and building, Power, Water,

Wind, Electricity, Electronic, Raw material, Machinery, Tools, Equipments

etc) and Human Resources (Persons viz., Management, Middle

management, other workers etc.).

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1.3 Human Resources

Human resources of an organization are composed of all human

beings working in that organization. While human resources are animated

ones, material resources are in-animated. It should be noted that in the first

instance it is human beings that create or bring together material resources

which are necessary and are made available for the working of the

concerned organization. Therefore it may be asserted that without human

beings, there would be no material resources available at all. But it is waste

of human resources to employ over-qualified persons to do simple job.

Conversely, it is wrong use of human resources to employ under-qualified

persons for jobs needing high skills and responsibilities.

1.4 3R’s of Human Resource Management

All the Human Resource Management functions can be sequentially

and logically grouped under the 3 R’s. It expresses the essence of the HRM.

(I) Recruitment: Personnel planning, job analysis, job knowledge,

application blank, contact with labor sources, inviting applications,

screening applications, staggering interviews, the interview, selecting

the candidates.

(II) Retainment: Induction, placement and job assignment, preliminary

employee, counseling, wage and salary administration, administration

of leave, shift system, transfers, discipline maintenance, grievances

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and their settlement, communication engineering, incentives, rewards,

motivation, training, employee welfare, supervisory leadership,

human approach, employee assessment, promotion, union-

management relations, collective bargaining, workers-management

participation, public relation.

(III) Retirement: Retirement interview, reward and recognition, provident

fund, pension, gratuity, filling vacancies (recruitment)

1.5 Importance of Human Resource

Human resource is the only resource which can produce unlimited

quantities through its better ideas. It is the only factor which appreciates in

value with passage of time due to the fact that people become experienced

and skilled over the period of time. Only human being with his ability to

feel, think, conceive and grow is able to exhibit satisfaction or

dissatisfaction, pleasure or resentment, acceptance or resistance for all kinds

of managerial actions. Further, every individual has his own background

which makes him distinct and unique in his psychological framework. That

is, human resources are heterogeneous. The importance of human resource

has also increased because of the enactment of various labor laws which

have compelled the employers to give fair and humane treatment to their

labourers.

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Because of the increasing importance of the human resources, a great

necessity was felt for setting up a separate department for management of

human resources popularly known as `Human Resource Management` or

`Personnel Management` which is now considered as an integral part of the

managerial set-up. The term `human resource` is wider in meaning than the

term `personnel`. The `human resource` at the macro level includes all the

dynamic components like skill, creative ability, tact etc. possessed by all the

people whether they are employees, self-employed people, employers,

owners, organizers, promoters etc. working at different levels in the

organization where as the term `personnel` even at the macro level is limited

to the employees working in all the organization. At the organizational level

the term `human resources` includes the component resources of all the

employees working at various levels. From top to bottom, all the employees

like board of directors, managing director, honorary workers, experts in

different fields, shareholders and such people as family members influencing

the employees of the organization.

1.6 Concept of Human Resource Management

The management is an art of getting things done through others with

a view to achieve the common objectives of the organization and these

objectives can be achieved only if the organization is managed efficiently.

The management is considered efficient if it is able to coordinate the various

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factors of production in such a way that they contribute their maximum

towards the realization of common objectives

Human being is by far the most important factor of all the factors of

production or services. The importance of human factor in any organization

cannot be overemphasized because the success of every organization

depends not so much on material or financial resources, but on human

resources. In the past, the management was primarily concerned with the full

and proper utilization of the physical factor i.e., material, machine etc and it

did not pay any attention to the human factor on which the maximum

utilization of the physical factors depended.

Materials may be purchased at most competitive price and machine

may be worked to their fully capacity but the out-put cannot be maximized

without the willing cooperation of the workers. In short, human factor is

able to give an output far greater than its input only because of its ability to

cooperate, coordinate, integrate, judge and imagine. In modern days, the

management has realized the importance of the human factor in productive

activity as well as in the successful accomplishment of the organizational

objectives.

Typically Human Resource Management is the organizational

function that deals with diverse issues related to employee compensation and

benefits, hiring, employee retention, performance management, organization

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development, safety/security, wellness, employee motivation,

communication, administration, development and training.

Managers of today unmistakably realize that the human resources are

most vital for the accomplishment of organizational goals and objectives,

and unless the human resources are managed properly, achievement of

organizational goals would be in jeopardy. Human resource management

has, therefore, attained unprecedented importance in the realm of business. It

is universally recognized as the heart of management process. In fact, no

organization can exist without proper human resource management.

1.7 Meaning of HRM

HRM is a newly emerging study in the field of management. It has

fast driving out the traditional term `Personnel Management` and

substituting a new term `Human Resource Management`. It is a management

function that helps manager to recruit, select, train and develop members for

an organization. It is a process that consists of four functions viz., acquiring,

developing, motivating and retaining human resources. The acquisition

functions starts with planning and ends with staffing. The development

function has three dimensions - employee training, management

development and career development. The motivation function includes

identifying the individual motivational needs of employees and ways to

motivates them. The retention function is concerned with providing a

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conducive work environment to the employees and nurturing them to make

them feel committed and attached to the organization.

1.8 HRM - Definition

According to Mathis et al (2007), a formal concise definition of HRM

is "The design of formal systems in an organization to ensure the effective

and efficient use of human talent to accomplish the organizational goals."

Another way to define would be that HRM is concerned with the policies,

practices and systems that influence employees’ workplace behaviour,

attitudes and performance. HRM is a process (or a grouping of processes) of

managing human talents/skills to achieve the objectives of the organizations.

The core aim of all management, to increase predictability and achieve

better control of events is central to HRM. Examples of processes typically

handled by HRM:

Employee compensation and benefits

Industrial relations – The relationship between employees and

management directly or indirectly, through collective

bargaining, affected by union-employer relationship

Performance and appraisal

Safety, security and occupational health management

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Staffing – Job analysis, recruitment, selection and retention

1.9 Nature of HRM

Human resource management, which is concerned with management

of people at work, reflects a new philosophy, a new approach and a new

outlook. The people at work in an organization consider human resource

management and management as one and the same thing. According to

Lawrence Appley [15], management is the development of people and not

the direction of things. He states that human resource management is a

process of bringing people and organization together so that the goals of

each are met. HRM tries to secure the best from people by winning their

wholehearted cooperation. It has the following features:

People Oriented: It is all about people at work, both as individuals

and groups. It tries to put people on assigned jobs in order to produce

good results.

Continuous Process: Human resource management is not a “one

shot” function. It requires a constant alertness and awareness of

human relations and their importance in every day operation.

Future Oriented: It helps an organization meet its goals in the future

by providing for competent and well motivated employees.

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Integrating Mechanism: It tries to build and maintain cordial

relations between people working at various levels in the

organization.

Action Oriented: Human resource management focuses attention on

action, rather than on record keeping or rules.

Inter-Disciplinary function: Human resource management utilize

knowledge and inputs drawn from various sector, i.e., Psychology,

Sociology, anthropology, economics etc. It is multi-disciplinary

activity.

Development Oriented: The main intention of human resource

management to develop the full potential of employees.

Comprehensive function: It is concerned with all types of

organization and all categories of personnel from top to bottom of the

organization.

Auxiliary Service: Human resource manager is a specialist advisor.

They assist and advise the line or operating managers to do their

personnel work more effectively.

1.10 Evolution of HRM

As a part of study, it is necessary to know the evolution of HRM. It is

a relatively new term emerged during the 1970’s. Majority people continue

to refer to the discipline by its traditional title i.e., Personnel Management.

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Due to changing trend, the term nowadays used in industrial sector is HRM.

As far as the evolution of HRM, it may be stated that concern for the welfare

of workers in management of business has been in existence since ages.

Koutilaya had dealt with some important aspects of human resource

management in his “Arthasastra” 400 BC. The rulers then took an active

interest in the operation of different enterprises and provided systematic

procedure for regulating employer-employee relationships. As early as in

1800 BC itself, ‘minimum wage rate’ and ‘incentive wage plan’ were

included in the Babylonion Code of Hammurabi.

In the nineteenth century HRM has changed dramatically. In the

beginning of the twentieth century people where seen as something that need

tight controlling and supervising of work force. In the beginning of the

century, employee needs were secondary to the needs of the industrial

system. Within hundred years the amount of people management has grown

towards the situation where the recognition of employee needs is more and

more important. Nowadays human resource management is one of the key

responsibilities of a company.

Experts of HRM in our country have tried to chronicle the growth of

the subject only since the 1920’s. This was the period when state

intervention to protect the interest of workers was felt necessary because of

difficult conditions which followed the First World War, and emergence of

trade unions.

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For the first time in 1931, the Royal Commission on Labour

recommended the appoint of Labour officer to deal with the selection of

workers and settle their grievances. Because the jobbers were rendering less

services and more harm in industries. The next landmark was The Factories

Act 1948, made appointment of welfare officers compulsory in each factory

employing 500 or more workers. After the recommendation of Royal

Commission, Labour officer can fulfill many other duties particularly in

respect of welfare. Meanwhile, a series legal measure were enacted with

view to regulating hours of work, work environment, wages, employee

benefit etc. The trade unions were recognized in order to maintain cordial

relationship between employer and employee.

In 1918, the Tatas in Bombay (Mumbai) appointed a medical officer

and showed a good deal of interest in promoting the welfare of employees.

The Bombay Trade Disputes Conciliation Act of 1934 facilitated the

appointment of labor welfare officer whose function were the redressal of

employee grievances and the promotion of industrial harmony. Similarly, in

1937, the Indian Jute Mill Owner Association appointed a Labour officer to

bring about a settlement of employee’s grievances with the mills based on

the advice to Government of Bengal.

In 1941, the Government of India initiated the Tripartite Labour

Conferences with the representatives of the government, Labour and

employers with view to (a) promote uniform Labour legislation, (b)

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determine the procedure to settle industrial disputes and (c) promote

consultations on industrial matter affecting the country. In course of time,

two professional bodies, the Indian Institute of Personnel Management

(IIPM) and the National Institute of Labor Management (NILM) were setup

with its headquarters at Calcutta and Mumbai respectively. During the

1960’s, the personnel functions began to expand beyond the welfare aspect,

with labor welfare, industrial relation and personnel administration

integrating into the emerging profession called personnel management. [17]

In the 1980’s, professionals began to talk about new technologies,

HRM challenges and HRD (Human Resource Development). The two

professional bodies: IIPM (Indian Institute of Planning and Management)

and NILM (National Institute of Labour Management) merged to form

National Institute of Personnel Management (NIPM). In the 1990’s the

emphasis shifted to human values and productivity through people.

Reflecting this trend, the American Society for Personnel Administration

(ASPA) was renamed as the Society for Human Resource Management

(SHRM). Thus, beginning in the 1920’s the subject of HRM has grown into

a matured profession.

Now the role of HRM is shifting from protector and screener to

planner and change-agent. “The metamorphosis of personnel into human

resource management reflects the fast that in today’s flattened, downsized

and responsive organizations, highly trained and committed employees-not

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machines are often a firm’s best competitive key.” Thus HRM is a fast

growing profession and it has already been adopted in industries in India but

it has yet to enter the cooperative institutions of our country.

1.11 Scope of HRM

In the present world of innovation and technology, the scope for

HRM is very wide. All major activities in the working life of workers from

the time of his / her entry into an organization until he / she leaves / comes

under the purview of HRM. Specifically, the activities included in HRM are:

human resource planning, job analysis and design, recruitment and selection,

orientation, motivation and communication, welfare, safety and health,

industrial relations and the like. The Indian Institute of Personnel

Management has specified the scope of HRM as: Personal aspect, Welfare

aspect and Industrial relation aspect. The details of these aspects are as

follows:

Personnel aspect: This is concerned with manpower planning,

recruitment, selection, placement, transfer, promotion, training and

development, layoff and retrenchment, remuneration, incentives,

productivity etc.

Welfare aspect: It deals with working conditions and amenities such

as canteens, crèches, rest and lunch room, housing, transport, medical

assistances, education, health and safety, recreation facilities etc.

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Industrial relation aspect: This is concerned with organization

relations with the employees as a group and includes union-management

relations, joint consultation, collective bargaining and negotiating, grievance

and disciplinary procedures, settlement of disputes etc.

1.12 Objectives of HRM

Most of the organization have implemented HRM for fulfilling

various objectives from development of skill, effective utilization of

manpower, improve / maintain good relationship between employee and

employer, increase work satisfaction among the employees to increasing the

productivity. Some of the objectives of the organizations involved in

manufacturing and service activities are:

Maximum individual development: HRM develop the skills of an

individual worker to the fullest potential so that he can enhance his abilities.

Effective utilization of human resource: The human resource is

recognized as an asset. Compared to other physical resources, human

resource enables gain maximum output with minimum cost.

Effective relationship between the employer and employee: HRM

create an environment conducive at work in such a way that respect and trust

are developed between employer and employee.

Establishing group satisfaction: HRM plan vital role in encouraging

group satisfaction and team spirit, which will improve relationship between

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employer and employee. It will create moral to work whole heartedly and

will also lead to welfare and harmony.

Develop and maintain a quality of work life: The organizational

performance depends on improvement in the quality of work life. So it

makes employment in the organization a desirable, personal and social

situation.

Communicate HR policies to all employees: The responsibility of

HRM to communicate in the possible sense, tapping ideas and opinions of

customers, non-customers and other public as well as understanding the

views of internal human resources.

Ethically and socially responsive to the needs of society: HRM

ensure that organizations manage human resource in an ethical and socially

responsible manner through ensuring compliance with legal and ethical

standards.

1.13 Functions of HRM

HRM functions refer to tasks performed in an organization to

coordinate human resources. The functions of HRM, which are concerned

with a variety of activities that influence almost all areas of the organization

can be classified in two broad categories viz., Managerial functions and

Operative functions.

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While managerial functions involved planning, organizing, directing

and controlling the activities of every employees, operative function, also

known as service function, are related to specific activities of HRM, like

procuring, developing, compensating, integrating and maintaining the

employees for attaining the organizational goals. The details of these two

functions are explained hereunder:

Managerial Functions:

Planning: Planning of personnel today prevents crises tomorrow. It

involves formulating the future course of action. It also includes identifying

human resource requirements and forecasting personnel needs.

Organizing: It is primarily concerned with proper grouping of

personnel activities, assigning of different groups of activities to different

individual and delegation of authority. It involves establishing an intentional

structure of roles for people in an organization.

Directing: It is the process of directing all the available human

resources towards organizational goals. It involves supervising and guiding

the personnel without direction there is no destination.

Controlling: It is concerned with the regulation of activities in

accordance with the plans. It is the comparison of results with the standards

and correction of deviations that may occur. It makes individuals aware of

their performance through review report and personnel audit.

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Operative Function

(1) Procurement: This function is concerned with procuring and

employing people who possess necessary skill, knowledge and aptitude. It

includes:

(i) Job analysis: It is the process of collecting information relating

to the operations and responsibilities pertaining to a specific

job.

(ii) Human resource planning: involves forecasting the

requirements and future supply of human resources. It assures

an organization of suitable and adequate manpower performs

various jobs in accordance with the organizational goals.

(iii) Recruitment: It is the process of searching for prospective

employees and stimulating them to apply for job in the

organization.

(iv) Selection: It is a process of choosing capable applicants

according to the predetermined number out of a large number

of applicants through different tests.

(v) Placement: It means sending the newly employed person to

some department for work. It is based on the qualification and

qualities of the person selected.

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(vi) Induction and orientation: Induction is the welcoming process

to make the new employees feel at home and generate in him a

feeling of belonging to the organization.

(vii) Internal mobility: The movement of employees from one job

to another through transfer and promotion is called internal

mobility.

(2) Development: It is the process of training and developing

employees to improve and update their knowledge, skills, aptitude and

attitude. It helps them to perform their job better. This function includes:

(i) Training: It is a continuous process, by which employees learn

skills, knowledge, abilities and attitudes to organizational and

personnel goals.

(ii) Executive Development: It is a systematic process of

developing managerial skills and capabilities through

appropriate program.

(iii) Career planning and development: It refers to identifying one’s

career goals and formulating plans of reaching them through

means of education, training and work experiences.

(iv) Human resource development: It create a climate that enable

every employee to develop and use his capabilities in order to

further both individual and organizational goals,

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(3) Motivation and Compensation- It is a process which

stimulates people to give their best to the organization through the use of

intrinsic and extrinsic rewards.

(i) Job Design: The main purpose of job design is to integrate the

needs of employers to suit the requirements of an organization.

(ii) Work Scheduling: It is an attempt to structure work

incorporating the physical and behavioral aspects of work.

(iii) Motivation: It is the complex of forces inspiring and keeping a

person at work in an organization.

(iv) Job Evaluation: It is a systematic process of determining the

relative worth of jobs in order to establish which jobs should

be paid more than others within the organization.

(v) Performance Appraisal: It is a systematic and objective way of

evaluating work related behaviour and potential of employees.

(vi) Compensation Administration: The main purpose to design a

low-cost pay plan that will attract, motivate and retain

competent employees.

(vii) Incentives and Benefits: In addition to basic wage structure,

organization offer incentive compensation based on actual

performance. It includes Social security, insurance, welfare

amenities etc.

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(4) Maintenance: It has aims to protecting and preserving the

physical and psychological health of employees through various welfare

measures.

(i) Health and safety: All employees are ensuring a work

environment that protects from physical hazards and unhealthy

condition.

(ii) Employee welfare- It includes the services, amenities and

facilities offered to employees within or outside the

establishment for their well being.

(iii) Social security measures- To provide social security to

employees in addition to fringe benefits. It includes maternity

benefits, dependent benefits, retirement benefits, medical

benefits, disablement benefits etc.

(5) Integration Function: It helps to integrate the goals of an

organization with employee aspirations through various employee-oriented

programs. Such as

(i) Grievance redressal: Every organization requires a permanent

procedure for handling employee grievances.

(ii) Discipline: It means working in accordance with certain

recognized rules, regulations and customs whether they are

written or implicit in character.

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(iii) Teams and teamwork: Self managed teams have emerged as

formal groups in organization. Teams have inherent strengths

which lead to organizational goals.

(iv) Collective bargaining: It is a process of agreeing on a

satisfactory labour contract between management and union.

(v) Employee participation and empowerment: Participation

means sharing the decision making power with the lower ranks

of an organization in an appropriate manner.

(vi) Trade unions and employees association: It is a continuous

association of workers for the purpose of maintaining or

improving the conditions of their working lives.

(vii) Industrial relation: Harmonious relation between employer and

employee are essential to achieve organizational growth and

higher productivity.

(6) Emerging Issues: Effective HRM practices need to look at

other important issues that can motivate people to give their best in a

dynamic and ever changing environment.

(i) Personnel records: It is essential to have tangible record to

know what is actually happening in an organization.

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(ii) Human resource audit: It is a process of examination and

evaluation of policies, procedures and practices to determine

the effectiveness of HRM.

(iii) Human resources research: It is a way of evaluating the

effectiveness of human resource policies and practice and

developing more appropriate ones.

(iv) Human resource accounting: It is a measurement of the cost

and value of human resources to the organization.

(v) Human resource information system: Human resource

information system is an integrated system designed to

improve the efficiency with which human resource data is

complied.

(vi) Stress and counseling: To promote the physical and mental

well being of employees through proper counseling and

development program.

(vii) International human resource management: In this global

scenario international.

1.14 Importance of HRM

Managing people is the heart and essence of being a manager. It

concerns all activities relating to human in the organization. The importance

of human resource management has increased these days because

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management can achieve the organizational objectives only with the co-

operation of the employees of the organization. Without the efficient use of

human resources, management can never accomplish organizational

objectives. Therefore, creating and maintaining a motivated workforce is the

central responsibility of management everywhere .

Management of human resources is a very challenging job. It is not

only concerned with managing people at work, but also with managing a

social system. It is a challenging job because of dynamic nature of human

element. Human resources comprise a large number of individuals of

different sex, age group, socio-religious groups and of different educational

or literacy standards. These individuals exhibit not only similar behavior

patterns and characteristics to certain degree, but also they have many

dissimilarities. Each individual who works has his own set of needs, drives,

goals, and experiences and also possesses his own physical and

psychological traits. A person is not only a product of his biological

inheritance but also a result of interactions with his environment. Family

relationships, religious influences, racial background, educational

accomplishment, and many other environmental factors affect him as he

works. Among the environmental factors which influence his work behavior

are various organizational elements such as authority relationships;

organizational goals, procedures, rules and policies, informal group

relationship, the type and manner of supervision received by the employee,

etc. The quality of an organization is, to large extent determined by the

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quality of people it employees. Success for most organizations depends on

finding the employees with the skills to successfully perform the tasks

required to attain the company’s strategic goals .

1.15 Role of HRM

Human Resource (HR) management has three roles in organizations.

The administrative, operational, and strategic. The details of these three roles

as fallows

Administrative Role

The administrative role of HRM is heavily oriented to processing and

record keeping. Maintaining employee records and HR-related database,

processing employee benefits claim, answering questions about training if

any undertaken and or sick leave policies are all examples of the

administrative nature of HR Management. These activities must be

performed efficiently and promptly. However, this role resulted in HR

Management in some organizations getting the reputation of paper shufflers

who primarily tell managers and employees what cannot be done. If limited

to the administrative role, HR staffs are seen primarily as clerical and lower-

level administrative contributors to the organization. In some organizations

these administrative functions are being outsourced to external providers,

rather than being done inside the HR departments.

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Operational Role

Operational activities are tactical in nature. Compliance with equal

employment opportunity and other laws must be ensured, employment

applications must be processed, current openings must be filled through

interviews, supervisors must be trained, safety problems must be resolved,

and wages and salaries must be administered. In brief, a wide variety of the

efforts performed typically are associated with coordinating the management

of HRM activities with the action of managers and supervisors throughout

the organization. Typically, the operational role requires HRM

professionals to identify and implement operational programs and policies in

the organization. They are the major implements of HRM portion of

organizational strategic plans developed by top management, rather being

deeply involved in developing those strategic plans.

Strategic Role

The strategic role of HRM emphasizes that the people in an

organization are valuable resources representing significant organizational

investments. Effective use of people in the organization can provide a

competitive advantage, both domestically and abroad. For HRM to play a

strategic role it must focus on the longer- term implications of HRM issues.

How changing workforce demographics and workforce shortages will affect

the organization, and what means will be used to address the shortages over

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time, are illustrations of the strategic role. The importance of this role has

been the subject of extensive discussion recently in the field, and those

discussions have emphasized the need for HRM to become a greater

strategic contributor to the success of organizations. So, HRM plays a

several important roles to;

Apply quality and productivity principles to improve the HRM

function.

Make policies clear, consistent, and complementary or

synergistic.

Facilitate implementation of quality and productivity

intervention.

Pay attention to such functions as staffing, training, appraisal,

and compensation to ensure fit with organizations: if goals

change, function need to change.

1.16 Main HRM Activities

The main HRM activities which make up the personnel function can

be considered in terms of those activities that apply before, during and after

the appointment of employees. That is, HRM relates to the acquisition,

management and disposal of resource which in this case happen to consist of

people. Managers and supervisors throughout organizations are responsible

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for the effective use of all the resources available to them. Therefore,

effective management of the human resources is integral to any manager’s

job, whether as a hospital head nurse, assistant manager in a retail store,

director of engineering, or president of a non profit agency.

The central focus for HR management must be on contributing to

organizational success. The key to enhancing organizational performance is

ensuring that the human resources activities support organizational efforts

focusing on productivity, quality, and service, which are described below.

Productivity: The productivity is measured by the amount of output

per employee. The continuous improvement of productivity has become

even more important as global competition has increased. The productivity

of the human resources in an organization is affected significantly by

management efforts, programs, and systems.

Quality: The quality of products and services delivered significantly

affects organizational success over the long term. If an organization gains a

reputation for providing products and services of poor quality, it reduces the

organizational growth and performance, in turn good will. An emphasis on

quality requires continuous changes aimed at improving work processes that

opens the door for reengineering the organizational work done by people.

Customer value received and satisfaction become the bases for judging

success, along with more traditional HR measures of performance and

efficiency.

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Service: As people frequently produce the products or services

offered by an organization, HRM’s considerations must be included when

identifying service blockages and redesigning operational processes.

Involving all employees, not just managers, in problem solving often

requires changes in corporate culture, leadership styles, and HR policies and

practices.

1.17 HR Planning and Analysis

The HR planning or strategy is the heart of all HRM activities. The

activities of HR planning and analysis have many facets. Through HR

planning, managers attempt to anticipate forces that will influence the future

supply of and demand for employees. Having adequate human resource

information systems to provide accurate and timely information for HR

planning is crucial. The importance of human resource in organizational

competitiveness must be addressed as well. As part of maintaining

organizational competitiveness, HR analysis and assessment of HR

effectiveness must occur.

Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO)

The strategic HR plans must ensure sufficient availability of a

diversity of individuals to meet affirmative action requirements. In addition,

when recruiting, selecting, and training individuals, all managers must be

aware of EEO requirements.

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Staffing

The aim of staffing is to provide an adequate supply of qualified

individuals to fill the jobs in an organization. By studying what workers do,

job analysis is the foundation for the staffing functions. From this, job

descriptions and job specifications can be prepared to recruit applicants for

job openings. The selection process is concerned with choosing the most

qualified individuals to fill jobs in the organization.

Human Resource Development

Beginning with the orientation of new employees, HR training and

development also includes job-skill training. As jobs evolve and change,

ongoing retraining is necessary to accommodate technological changes.

Encouraging development of all employees, including supervisors and

managers, is necessary to prepare organizations for future challenges. Career

planning identifies paths and activities for individual employees as they

develop within the organization. Assessing how employees perform their

jobs is the focus of performance management.

Compensation and Benefits

Compensation rewards people for performing organizational work

through pay, incentives, and benefits. Employers must develop and refine

their basic wage and salary systems. Incentive programs such as gain sharing

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and productivity rewards are also growing in usage. The rapid increase in

the costs of benefits, especially health- care benefits, will continue to be a

major issue.

Health, Safety and Security

The physical and mental health and safety of employees are of vital

concerns. The traditional concern for safety has focused on eliminating

accidents and injuries at work. Additional concerns are health issues arising

from hazardous work with certain chemicals and newer technologies.

Through a broader focus on health, HRM can assist employees with

substance abuse and other problems through employee assistance programs

in order to retain otherwise satisfactory employees. Employee wellness

programs to promote good health and exercise are becoming more

widespread. Workplace security has grown in importance, in response to the

increasing number of acts of workplace violence. HR management must

ensure that managers and employees can work in a safe environment.

Employee and Management Relations

The relationship between managers and their employees must be

handled effectively if both the employees and the organization are to prosper

together. Whether or not some of the employees are represented by a union,

employee rights must be addressed. It is important to develop, communicate,

and update HR policies and rules so that managers and employees alike

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know what is expected. In some organizations, union/ management relations

must be addressed as well.

1.18 Challenges of HRM

The environment faced by HRM is challenging one; changes are

occurring rapidly across a wide range of issues. The most prevalent

challenges facing HR management are:

Economic and technological change

Workforce availability and quality

Demographics and diversity issues

Organizational restructuring

The challenges of HRM are described in detail hereunder:

1.19 HRM in Manufacturing Sector

The HRM function in the industries under manufacturing sector is

often concerned with payroll, administrative work and mediating between

the management and the workers. Mostly, the manufacturing companies lean

on the HR function in times of labor unrest and strikes.

The manufacturing companies have classification of employees into

blue collar and white collar roles which creates a barrier to the way in which

they are treated and they in turn demand their rights. The contemporary

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management theory has evolved to a point where the HRD function is being

crucial in manufacturing sector and the coming years might see a paradigm

shift in the way human resources are conceptualized with the advent of

knowledge worker in this sector. The HRM strategy in manufacturing

sector typically consists of following three aspects:

Best Fit and Best Practice

In this strategy, there is correlation between the HRM strategy and

the overall corporate strategy. As HRM as a field seeks to manage human

resources in order to achieve properly organized goals, an organization’s

HRM strategy to accomplish such management by applying a firm’s

personnel needs with the goals / objectives of the organization. Specific

HRM functions, such as recruitment and selection, reward / recognition, HR

plan or learning and development policies, would be tailored to the corporate

objectives.

Close Cooperation between HR and the Top / Senior Management

Theoretically, a senior HR representative should be present when an

organization’s corporate objectives are devised. The personnel’s proper

management is vital in any manufacturing firm to be successful. Thus HR

can be seen as one of the critical departments within the functional area of

an organization.

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Continual Monitoring of the Strategy

In this HRM strategy, the implementation of HR strategy is no always

required, and may depend on number of factors, viz., the size of the firm, the

organizational culture within the firm or in the industry that the firm

operates in and also the people in the firm.

In genera, HRM strategy in manufacturing sector can be broadly

divided into two facets, viz., the people strategy and functional strategy. The

people strategy pertains to the careful evaluation of HRM policies / actions

to attain the goals laid down in the corporate strategy. The functional

strategy, on the other hand, relates to the policies employed within the HR

functional area itself, regarding the management of persons internal to it, to

ensure its own departmental goals are met.

1.20 History of HRM in India

The concept of management is not new to our country. Historically it

is stated that Kautilya, the most reputed economist, management guru of

Indian History and advisor to King Chandragupta Maurya, provided a

systematic treatment of management of human resources as early as 4th

century B.C. in his treatise titled "Artha Shastra". This book or treatise

details logical procedures and principles with respect to people management

referring to the Rajya (State) as an organization and the Raja (King) as the

head or CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of an organization.

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Kautilya being the eminent advisor, through his sutras emphasizes

the need of humility in the king and his mantris (ministers) while following

the path of dharma (ethics & righteousness) in managing the Rajya (State).

The importance was on self-management and self-evaluation before

considering oneself truly capable of leading the State (Rajya) as a competent

leader keeping welfare of people and the State before one’s own motives.

The text although written centuries back in Sanskrit (an ancient script) draws

parallel to today’s modern organization systems and issues (Muniappan,

2008) .

Similarly the Bhagvad Gita , considered one of the most holy texts of

Vedic literature written during Mahabharata is a practical guide to all aspects

of life including management of self and thereafter management of people

and human resources. Concepts like optimum utilization of not only human

resources but also all other natural resources, decision making, leadership,

ethics, motivation, morale and deeds (outcome of performance) are clearly

marked in the verses of this great book as ongoing dialogues between the

Lord Shree Krishna and the Warrior Arjuna.

Understandably the ancient Vedic concept of ‘Varnashrama’ also

refers to division of work on the basis of natural classification inherent in a

society, based on one’s personal capabilities and aptitude. ‘Varna’ means

‘root’ and its understanding differs in interpretation of Rig Veda and

Bhagwad Gita. The ‘Purusha Sukta’ in the Rig-Veda refers to the

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classification of four varnas by way of comparison to the ‘primordial man’

(Purusha). It defines the Brahmana as the mouth, his arms as the Rajayana

(used for Kshatriyas), his belly and thighs as Vaishya and his feet as Sudra.

The Bhagvad Gita differs in this viewpoint with Lord Krishna classifying

individuals not on the basis of his birth or heredity but on his interests and

capabilities in doing work .

The fact that Hindu societies had already understood this concept can

be aptly visible from segregation in terms of skill based work like Brahmins

(the mouth) – undertaking teaching and spiritual work, Kshatriyas (the arms)

– undertaking protection of the state as warriors, Sonars (belly and thighs –

the providers) – goldsmiths, Lohars – blacksmiths, Baniyas – traders (part of

the Vaishyas clan) and Shudras – people undertaking menial jobs. This

ancient management knowledge was quite relevant to the functioning of a

society, being relevant in this century also; wherein we refer to career

development based one’s interest and aptitude towards work.

This concept of management from ancient India was however lost

due to successive invasions upon the country and confluence of different

cultures from across the world, fragmenting the country into numerous small

states governed by sovereign rulers lacking at times both competence and

people (Praja) management skills .

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1.21 Advent of Modern Management in India

The initial years of modern management evolution in India, started

with the 18th century (Colonial period till the year 1950), an era that has

been marked with a sole focus on utilization of labour as a commodity

which can be bought and sold at a price. when the Britishers or the colonial

rulers set foot in the country. So great was the impact of this thought process

during the colonial rule, that the then formulated Plantation Act 1863 treated

labour with imprisonment and severe punishment on failure to do work as

ordered. The mechanism was biased with hardly any intervention to protect

the interests of workers except in issues related to wage settlement. The slow

progress towards recognizing labour as human beings and not machines

began with the Factories Act 1881, which allowed some liberal policies like

weekly offs, fixed wages and fixed hours of work. Personnel management

being the main concern of employers during the early 20th century, there was

more concentration on industrial relations and labour management paving

way for the enactment of various acts viz., the Trade Union Act (1926),

Workmen Compensation Act (1926), Trade Disputes Act (1929), Bombay

Industrial Relations Act (1938); recommendations of Royal Commission on

Labour 1931 led to the Payment of Wages Act (1936) and further

amendments to Factory Legislations Act .

Post independence focus slowly started shifting towards

industrialization of the new country and evolution of a uniform Labour

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policy. However, the veil of colonialism still hung greatly over India with

major leaders still being under the influence of Western philosophies and

policies. Evidence of this fact is visible during the post-colonial phase of

management evolution in India, from 1959-1976. The Indian government

was keen on aping all that was Western and incorporating the same in the

Indian context. It began looking at industrial investment through a ‘mixed

economy’ policy wherein technology would be imported from Western

nations but there would be a protection regime for domestic industries by

way of policies relating to regulations on price levels, import levels, joint

ventures, and investment levels to name a few (Rothermund, 1992) .

However this hope of quick fix policy by the Indian government did

not work very well, with the country witnessing turbulent times from the

year 1977 (when emergency was declared in India) till 1990 – the year

before liberalization process began in India. The subsequent series of wars

that India faced from 1962-1972, bred a culture of protection across the

Indian industry per say the industrial sector (being the most dominant

sector). The crisis was compounded by the lack of managerial talent in India

based on the fact that Indian managers belonging to a totally different

cultural background just could not adjust to the managerial theories and

models of the West.

Theorist started questioning the root of Western philosophies with

scathing remarks on Indian policy makers and so-called management gurus

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about the sanity of blindly aping the West in all domains of industrialization

and management. They emphasized the need to understand concepts from

India’s own ancient roots, culture and values, even spirituality (Hinduism)

and incorporate the same into Indian managers for better sensitivity to one’s

own people alternatively for better people management (Chakraborty, 1995) .

India during this era of crisis, dipped from being one of the major

industrialized countries to the bottom of the rung in the list of 10

industrialized nations. The 1992 UNDP Report of Human Development

ranked India at 134, in a list of 160 countries on the human resource index.

The country’s journey of progress began with the New Economic

Policy, 1991 initiated by the then Prime Minister – Shri Rajiv Gandhi and

his stalwart – Dr. Manmohan Singh, opening the doors of Liberalization and

ushering in the concept of competing in a globalized environment for the

Indian industry. Banga (2005) presented a view on liberalization and its

impact on wages and employment. She went on to conclude that FDI

(Foreign Direct Investment) needed to be increased in export-oriented

sectors coupled with liberal labour laws that can go a long way towards

improving employment levels and also add on to the skills of workmen

enabling strategic utilization of manpower for economic growth of the

nation. This phase beginning 1992 has progressed greatly over the last two

decades, accepting Human Resource Management as a holistic concept

incorporating the essence of human spirit and recognition of its potential for

business success.

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1.22 Profile of PONLAIT

The PONLAIT (PON for Pondicherry and LAIT, a French word,

means Milk), called as Pondicherry Milk Supply Society initially, is the first

Co-operative Society in the Union Territory of Pondicherry registered on 7th

February 1955. Started in a tiny shed, its primary objective and focus was to

supply milk to the urban consumers. As time passed the supply society has

diversified its activity from consumer to producers, and concentrated in

increasing the milk production by giving various assistance / incentives to

the milk-producing farmers. The Union started procuring milk from the

village producers on quality basis from 1970 onwards. To keep pace with

the milk production, the Milk Union has also set up a dairy plant with

10,000 litres capacity for processing on 12th April 1971.

During the year 1973, the supply society was converted to co-

operative milk producers’ union with objective of shifting its focus on the

milk producing community and its welfare. With the success of the Amul,

the National Dairy Development Board has programmed to replicate the

Anand pattern (collecting the quality milk from the members and payment

of remunerative price in cash regularly and providing milk production

enhancement) all over the nation. The Pondicherry Co- operative Milk

Producers’ Union has also taken up the world’s largest Dairy Expansion

Programme, the “Operation Flood” during the year 1982-1985. With the

launching of Operation flood Programme, the dairy plant was expanded to

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process 50,000 litres capacity of milk per day. All the milk primary co-

operative societies in India were converted to Anand pattern societies during

this time.

PONLAIT has entered the Mnemonic club conceived, implemented,

promoted and popularized by the NDDB (National Dairy Development

Board, India) for the entire Dairy Co-operative of the Nation, with effect

from 30th March 2002. Thus PONLAIT was committed to improve the

economic and social uplift of the rural farming / milk producing community

and supplying the urban consumers with good quality milk. The PONLAIT

is the only institution in Pondicherry, which has been extending more than a

crore every month to rural economy in cash for the benefit of farming

community, by way of Milk Purchase during the last decades.

Different Units of the Milk Union

(a) Milk Procurement and Input Wing

PONLAIT is operating in the Pondicherry Region with 99 affiliated

functional Dairy Co-operative Societies. There are 34798 Cattle owners who

became members in the Dairy Co-operative Societies at villages and

supplying milk to PONLAIT. Milk Supplying members are paid fortnightly

in cash with remunerative milk price and inputs in kind. The Primary

responsibility of procurement and input section is to procure clean and

quality milk from the village cattle owners and carryout milk production

42

enhancement services. To achieve this objective, the procurement & Input

wing is conducting various programmes like Clean Milk Production and

Quality Milk Procurement at Dairy Co-operative Societies. Besides the main

activity, the milk-supplying members milch animals are also providing with

cattle feed, green fodder and artificial insemination.

(b) Milk Processing

The present handling capacity of the Dairy plant is 50,000 litres per

day. However with prudent technical manpower and top managements

support an average of 80,000 litres of milk is handled per day and 93,000

litres of milk handled in peak. Three varieties of milk namely Tonned Milk,

Standardised Milk & Premium Milk are produced as per the consumer

requirements. The daily consumer demand is met fully. Present demand is

62,000 to 65,000 liters per day.

From the August 2002, the Dairy is supplying 15,000 liters of

standardised milk to school children in the morning under Sri Rajiv Gandhi

School Children Break fast scheme, 1st of its kind in the nation organized by

the government of pondicherry. Besides at present the union is 28,500 liters

if milk supplying to the students both in the morning and evening. The

Evening milk supply effected from 20-10-2005 as desired by the

government of pondicherry.

Besides milk processing and grading, the Dairy is equipped to

produce 15 MTS of ghee and 1500 kgs of Khoa (milk peda) monthly. The

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PONLAIT ghee and khoa are much sought after products in the pondicherry

town. The Dairy is producing 1000-1500 pockets of flavoured milk and

500-1000 of butter milk every day and sells in pondicherry town. The Dairy

is also producing Paneer and Curd as per the requirement of the consumer as

and when needed.

(c) Quality Assurance by Making Proper Milk Testing in Laboratory at Dairy

Since the milk is highly perishable commodity, proper care is taken to

maintain quality of the milk right from the point of production to the point of

consumption. At the village level, the milk poured by the individual member

producer are tested at the primary society. The milk tested for the quality at

society level reaches the Dairy Plant. The raw milk is tested organoleptically

at the Dairy reception dock for its quality and then the individual society

sample are tested for its fat content and other microbial standards.

Apart form this, the processed milk is sampled at every point of

storage during the process and proper care is taken to maintain quality

standards. Finally the different varieties of milk are graded and kept ready

for packing to the consumers. The pouched milk samples are randomly taken

and tested for its shelf life after dispatch of the consumers. Presently the

milk is dispatched to the market at 5 degree centigrade in three varieties viz

Toned milk 3.0% Fat 8.5% SNF, Standardised milk 4.5% Fat 8.5% SNF and

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the Premium milk 5.0% Fat 9.0% SNF. (SNF- Solids Not Fat). Day in and

Day out maintaining the quality of milk receives the top priority.

(d) Marketing

The Pondicherry Co-operative Milk Producers’ Union is operating in

the Pondicherry market, selling three different varieties of milk catering to

the different segments of the market, under its brand name “PONLAIT”.

PONLAIT is the number one milk brand in the Pondicherry town. Though

there are many private players in the market, PONLAIT is the major market

shareholder. A market survey finding indicates that the present market share

of PONLAIT is around 52%.

The present average market throughput is 62,000 ltrs per day and the

sales is in the uptrend. It is anticipated that the sales curve may touch its

peak (60,100 ltrs monthly average) during January 2006. To cater the urban

population, 180 retail outlets are operated by retail sales agents. The retail

outlets are supplied with milk through a network 10 milk distribution routes

daily in the morning and the evening. Besides, the Union is also running 9

milk parlours to sell milk and ilk products. Milk is made available to the

urban consumers. 24 hours a day through 5 such parlours.

(e) Cattle Feed

PONLAIT owns a Cattle Feed Plant of 5 metric tones per day

capacity in Thattanchavady Industrial Estate, Pondicherry. Compounded

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Cattle Feed is produced with cost effective ingredients and supplied to the

members through Dairy Co-operative Societies on non profit motive.

PONLAIT is extending subsidy of Rs.100 as provided by the Government of

Pondicherry to each bag containing 50 kilograms of feed out of the total cost

of Rs.312 per bag. The present monthly production and supply is 235 metric

tones. In addition PONLAIT Cattle Feed is also supplied to neighbouring

Villupuram District of Tamil Nadu. Batch wise, the Cattle feed is being

regularly tested for its quality. The balanced compounded Cattle feed

produced in the PONLAIT Cattle Feed Plant is proved to be effective for

animal health and quality milk production.

(f) Administration

The PONLAIT Administration is vested with the committee of

management comprising 12 elected representatives from the Presidents of

Dairy Co-operative Societies and a nominee from National Dairy

Development Board, Co-operative Department of Animal Husbandry and

Managing Director of the Milk Union. Since the committee of management

is dissolved, the Administrator manned by a Deputy Registrar form the Co-

operative Department is looking after in lieu of the Board of Management

with effect from 6th September 2002.

As per the order of the High Court, Chennai, an Advisory Board with

the following three members has been constituted in order to guide the

46

Administrator by making major policy decisions and other administrative

matters.

(1) Registrar of Co-operative Societies - Chairman(2) State Director, NDDB, Erode - Members(3) Director, Animal Husbandry (AHD), Pondicherry- Members

1.23 Statement of the Problem

As managing human resources is now globally recognized as the

basic job of management, sound management of human resources through

proper training and development, salary administration, creating conducive

working atmosphere, providing challenging job environment and

maintaining sound relations with people is of much need not only for private

organizations but also for Government undertakings for achievement of

desired goals.

Particularly, in the Government enterprises, which are involved in

revenue generation process and deliver the basic services, like providing

water, sanitation and roads, there should be efficient HRM in order to

maintain congenial and harmonious human relations not only to determine

the performance of the organizations under Government control but also to

increase the growth and performance of the entire economy of the country.

It is felt that loss of revenue and lack of public services is mainly attributed

to the lack coordination among the employees due to incompetent human

resources arising out of improper HRM practices. Therefore undertaking a

research problem on HRM is felt necessary to report current efficiency level

47

of HRM practices, identify the weak areas and address the problem of

improper HRM practices if any in the Government enterprises.

1.24 Significance of the Study

Human resources with distinctive competencies is crucial for any

organization, either Private or Government organization to deliver the

service to the expectations of the stakeholders (General public, promoters

and people representatives). For Government organizations to function up

to the expectation of the general public, the operational efficiency of the

employees at all levels should be improved to increase the overall

competencies. Moreover, employees (work force) all over the world have

started demanding for high quality work environment, proper training and

development programs, adequate compensation and benefit plans. Hence to

bridge the gap between expectations of the work force and long-term goals

of the Government undertakings, HRM must be adopted in right manner.

Therefore, a comprehensive study like the present one is essential for

addressing various issues inherent in HRM pertaining to recruitment of work

force, training and development, job satisfaction, working environment,

work life balance in the Government enterprises.

1.25 Need for the Present Study

There are many research works evaluating production, marketing,

finance, technology and other aspects of industries under cooperative sector

48

empirically as can be gauged from the review of literatures. However, there

are no much research works on Human Resource Management in industries

under cooperative sector, particularly in the Union Territories of India.

Little attention had been devoted to the internal structure and HRM policies

and practices followed by cooperative units.

As HRM is concerned with getting the right people into the right jobs

and HR managers have a strategic role in an organisation because they deal

with recruitment, salaries, training programmes and staff performance, any

research work on HRM practices in an industry under cooperative sector

would help in understanding and analyzing the HRM policies and practices

for HR managers. Further, by studying HRM, the officials in the HR

departments will be able to acquire people management skills that will help

them to better understand their workmates and employees, and effectively

manage their future staff.

There is a need for evolving an effective HRM concept for any

industry under cooperative sector because there is an imperative need to tap

the potentiality of the human resource, which is available in abundance in

rural areas along with other physical resource. Moreover, the success of an

enterprise largely depends on the efficiency skill set and commitment of its

workforce, which is influenced by the organizational policies and practices.

This workforce will have to be properly nurtured, motivated, rewarded and

counseled to bring out the best in them. Therefore, HRM which is to be

49

more concerned with the human side of an enterprise has a major role to

play for the success of any industry. Hence the need for the present study

which attempts to analyze the HRM in an manufacturing industry under

cooperative sector in Union Territory of India. In this study, the Milk

processing and Milk by-products manufacturing company, PONLAIT under

cooperative sector in Union Territory of Puducherry is considered for

sample.

1.26 Scope of the Study

The focus of the present research is evaluating the status of HRM in

PONLAIT, a Government of Puducherry enterprise. The PONLAIT under

cooperative department has involved in processing milk and manufacturing

dairy products since 1955. This enterprise is the old and well established

one with substantial number of human forces monitored by well structured

human resource department. Hence, this cooperative organization is

selected for distributing the questionnaire to get an idea about human

resource practices based on the views of the employees.

1.27 Objectives of the Study

The objectives framed for this study are:

1. To investigate the current status of HRM practices in the PONLAIT

50

2. To ascertain whether there is any notable difference in the HRM

practices by various departments within PONLAIT.

3. To study the working environment and find out the relationship

between working environment and HRM Practices

4. To evaluate the effectiveness of HRM practices on Organizational

commitment of the employees

5. To find out the relationship between HRM practices and Work life

balance

6. To analyze the relationship between HRM practices and Employee

job satisfaction

7. To summarize the findings, provide suggestions and give conclusions

1.28 Hypotheses

For the present research work, the following null hypotheses are

framed:

1. There is no significant difference in HRM practices among various

departments within PONLAIT.

2. There is no effect of HRM practices on organizational commitment of

the employees in PONLAIT.

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3. The work life balance of PONLAIT employees is independent of the

HRM practices.

4. There is no significant relationship between HRM practices and work

life balance of the employees in PONLAIT.

5. There is no significant influence of HRM practices on job satisfaction

among PONLAIT employees.

1.29 Period of the Study

The researcher started collecting the data from December 2012 to

December 2013. Analyzing the data has been going on since January 2014.

1.30 Limitations of the Study

The present study has following major limitations. The study area is

limited only to PONLAIT located in Pondicherry in the Union Territory of

Pondicherry as there is no any such enterprise in any other parts of this

territory.

1.31 Chapter Scheme

The present study is incorporated with following chapter schemes:

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First chapter, “Introduction”, provides a brief introduction about

HRM and HRM practices followed by statement of problem, Scope of the

study, Objectives of the study, Hypotheses, Limitations and Chapter

schemes.

Second chapter is “Review of Literature”. In this chapter, articles

published journals as well as in other media along with books related to the

present topic are provided.

Third chapter, titled as “Research Methodology, is incorporated

with methodological issues, such as sampling techniques adopted for data

collection and statistical techniques used for analyzing the data. Definitions

for some important terms are also provided here.

Analysis part starts from fourth chapter titled as “HRM Practices in

PONLAIT: An Evluation”. In this chapter, the factors underlying HRM

practices is explored and current status of HRM practices in the organization

is evaluated.

The fifth chapter is “Impact of HRM Practices on Organizational

Commitment and Work Life Balance". In this chapter, the organizational

commitment and work life balance of the employees in various departments

in this organization are explored. The relationship between organizational

commitment and HRM practices as well as the relationship between Work

Life Balance and HRM practices is also evaluated.

53

The sixth chapter, “Importance of HRM Practices on Job

Satisfaction”, is last chapter in the analysis series. Here an attempt is made

to identify the employees’ satisfaction and extent of role played by HRM

practices adopted by PONLAIT in determining job satisfaction.

The seventh chapter is “Findings, Suggestions and Conclusion”.

The findings stemmed out of results of the analysis are summarized in this

chapter. Based on the findings suitable suggestions and appropriate

conclusions are drawn for further development.