End Term Examination (AY 2020-21 Even Semester)

Name- Vedant Kanwate URN- 2019-M-23031997

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Section II
1. What is job design? Briefly explain job characteristics and job crafting.
ANS-
Job design is the process of organizing work as group of tasks, arranging and defining the job
process and structure at the workplace depending on the job analysis performed. The job
design takes into account the organizational objectives to be achieved along with trying to
minimize on–the-job fatigue, stress and human error. Job Design is done specifically to
reduce the mechanical aspects of the job and make sure that the employee derives job
satisfaction from the assigned roles and responsibilities. Job analysis plans the job and
analyses the roles and responsibilities which are core to the job but Job design makes the job
better and basically updates the job so that it remains relevant.
The factors the affect the process of job design are the task characteristics, workflow,
ergonomics, work practices, employee abilities and availability, social and cultural
expectations and feedback.

Core Job Characteristics

 Skill variety: Doing the same thing day in, day out gets tedious. The solution to design
jobs with enough variety to stimulate ongoing interest, growth, and satisfaction.

 Task identity: Being part of a team is motivating, but so, too, is having some ownership
of a set of tasks or part of the process. Having a clear understanding of what one is
responsible for, with some degree of control over it, is an important motivator.

 Task significance: Feeling relevant to organizational success provides

important motivation for getting a task or job done. Knowing that one’s contributions are
important contributes to sense of satisfaction and accomplishment.

 Autonomy: No one likes to be micromanaged, and having some freedom to be the

expert is critical to job satisfaction. Companies usually hire people for their specialized
knowledge. Giving specialists autonomy to make the right decisions is a win-win.
 Feedback: Finally, everyone needs objective feedback on how they are doing and how
they can do better. Providing well-constructed feedback with tangible outcomes is a key
component of job design.
  Job Crafting- job crafting is an employee-initiated approach which enables employees to
shape their own work environment such that it fits their

 individual needs by adjusting the prevailing job demands and resources

There are three types of job crafting techniques: task, relational, and cognitive. Task crafting is
when employees change their formal job responsibilities by either adding or dropping tasks; by
changing/altering the tasks; or the time and effort devoted to different tasks Relational
crafting involves altering how, when, or with whom employees interact in the process of
performing their job duties. Cognitive crafting is when employees alter the way they perceive the
tasks and relationships that comprise their jobs While the idea of job crafting evokes images of
positive benefits, it’s worth noting that job crafting can be negative for the organization. Job
crafting is positive when the altered meaning of work and the new identities lead to behaviors
that align an employee’s work patterns with the organization’s objectives. “However, if job
crafting altered connections to others or task boundaries in ways that were at odds with
organizational objectives, job crafting could harm rather than enhance organizational
effectiveness

2. Explain best practice approaches as technique used by HR.

ANS- The best practice approaches used by HR are as follow-

1. Providing security to employees

2. Selective hiring: Hiring the right people

3. Self-managed and effective teams

4. Fair and performance-based compensation

5. Training in relevant skills

6. Creating a flat and egalitarian organization

7. Making information easily accessible to those who need it

1. Providing security to employees- The first Human Resource best practice is employment
security. Life is unpredictable and work is a stable factor that is very important to most
people. Having an employer who enables the employee to provide for themselves and
their family is, in essence, the number one reason why people come to work. There is
both a formal contract and an informal contract between the employee and the employer.
Employment security enables employees to go home after work and provide for
themselves and their families. This concept of security is essential and underpins almost
everything HR does.
 For example providing life insurance to the employees, providing life benefits to the
employees.

2. Selective hiring: Hiring the right people- The second HR best practice is selective hiring.
This enables an organization to bring in employees who add value. You can’t just hire
anyone; you want people who are fit for the job. Companies do their utmost best to hire
exceptional people because they add the most value to the business. There also needs to
be a prioritization of building a structured and fair selection process. This reflects legal
requirements, internal diversity goals, and that a more diverse workforce, better reflects
society. This can be hugely beneficial for understanding wider consumer behavior and
the needs of different customers. 

For example hiring the right employees based upon their experience and skills.

3. Self-managed and effective teams- We all know that teamwork is crucial in achieving
goals. High-performance teams are crucial for any company when it comes to achieving
success. Teams provide value because they consist of people who are, and think
differently but are working towards a common goal. This means that different ideas are
generated to help achieve the goal. These ideas are then processed and combined,
resulting in the best ones being selected.

For example- Empowering the employees to work on their own and creating teams based
upon the task and goals.

4. Fair and performance-based compensation- this is an example that shows how different
best practices work together to provide more value than they would alone, in this case,
selective hiring, contingent compensation, and employment security. Paying people
above the norm also has some potential disadvantages. For instance, it discourages bad
employees to leave. However, if you’re consistently hiring world-class performers, an
above-average compensation is a must.

For example- paying the employees based upon the performance and targets achieved
during their role in the organization. This will help the high performing employees to
perform more and be motivated

5. Training in relevant skills- This HR best practice states that companies should invest
heavily in training time and budget for its employees. After recruiting the best people,
you need to ensure that they remain the frontrunners in the field. This has become even
more relevant today as the rate at which technology is developing is growing
exponentially. 

For example- providing relevant training to the employees regarding certain skills that
will help improve the skill, for example providing providing training through online
webinars, offline practices etc.
3. What is the role of HRMS in Knowledge Management?

ANS-

Much as the industrial revolution changed the nature of work and had far-reaching
implications for how we manage human resources in organizations, the current knowledge
revolution has far-reaching implications for how we manage knowledge workers. It is widely
agreed that a firm’s competitive advantage is determined by how well it leverages its
organizational knowledge. A human resource management system (HRMS), if properly
realigned, can play a vital role in contributing to the management of organizational
knowledge. These redesigns will help move such systems out of the realm of being just
passive support to becoming active aids to organizational members. We must use technology
to meet organizational goals and challenges. One of the central challenges that all managers
face is how to manage organizational knowledge. Knowledge workers are specialists ranging
from HR and marketing professionals to software engineers, project managers and business
analysts.

Knowledge is the key component of their work, so they consume and generate it on a daily
basis, but they detest arbitrary schedules. Because they are involved with the design of
mechanical or logical products using informational systems, they are expected to take in
knowledge, process it and disseminate it to other members of the organization. For an
organization to remain dynamic, successful management of this knowledge is key.

Knowledge management includes all activities involved with the generation, dissemination
and maintenance of knowledge to meet organizational goals. Just as humans must create
knowledge, they also consume it. Moreover, their interactions with other humans is a
mechanism for knowledge transfer, so when they leave an organization they take their
knowledge—both professional and social—with them. HR management is central to
knowledge management in an organization. Conducting small redesigns to HRMSs will
alleviate the traditional hurdles in knowledge management.

Candidate management: Relates to employment offers to candidates and how you promote

your brand to both the outside world and current employees who may wish to apply for
internal jobs or make referrals. Critical for companies for which the candidate experience is a
primary concern—from applying to resume management to interview scheduling to making
offers, all the way through onboarding.

Employee engagement: People who are more engaged tend to produce higher-quality work
and more fully adopt the company’s values and execute its vision, so how an employee
connects with leadership and colleagues is important. Often, the HRMS is the route to
 complete a training course, acquire a new skill, develop a career path, gain recognition or
become a mentor.

Employee management: There’s a reason this function is often referred to as core HR

Delivers a central portal to support analysis, reporting and compliance processes. It’s where
you structure your workforce into organizational units, like departments or locations; define
reporting relationships between managers and employees; and align payroll to accounting
cost centers.

Optimization: Gleaning information from the HRMS to develop a vision for the future
workforce is a primary selling point. It’s also the least-utilized function of a typical HRMS.
The real value of this function usually comes to the fore with a merger or acquisition, sharp
economic swings in either direction or when executives exit.

Payroll: This is also a primary function of the HRMS calculating earnings from gross to net
or net to gross and withholding individual deductions and issuing payments can be made just
as routine as paying the rent. Payroll functions comprise benefit elections and both employee
and employer costs

4. Briefly explain any three tools used for knowledge transfer.

ANS-

Knowledge Transfer is a practical method for transitioning knowledge from one part of your
business to another. It is both a theory and a practice which means that it can be applied to your
company culture and to your business systems. It is more than just communication, though. It
involves the circulation of information, ideas, tasks, processes, tools, documents, and so much
more. When it comes to innovation and problem solving, it can be hard to convert abstract
concepts into an actual game plan.

Beyond that, you need to figure out a way to apply that idea to the task at hand. Sharing
knowledge is tricky because it involves quantifying and qualifying knowledge that exists in the
mind. A knowledge transfer system helps you translate that knowledge into words, visuals, and
processes that can then be shared with the team.

Knowledge transfer can help your business in the following ways:

 Accelerate the accumulation and dissemination of knowledge across your organization

 Provide easy and rapid knowledge access to your team
 Eliminate time and space constraints in communications
 Stimulate associates to experience the value of sharing knowledge in providing custom-
tailored service to customers
 Respect the dignity of each individual by cultivating an environment that enhances his or
her professional development and recognizes each person as a valued member of a service-
oriented team.