M.B.A. HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENTSECOND YEARAcademic Year 2017 - 2018ASSIGNMENT TOPICSThis booklet contains assignment topics. Students are asked to write theassignments for SIX papers as per instructions, those who have opted Project andViva-Voce.Students are asked to write the assignments for the EIGHT Papers as perinstruction those who have opted Two Theory Papers (2.7.1 & 2.7.2) as specialisation.
Last date for submission: 28-02-2018Last date for submission with late fee ` 300/- : 15-03-2018NOTE:1. Assignments sent after 15-03-2018 will not be evaluated.2. Assignments should be in the own hand writing of the student concerned andnot type-written or printed or photocopied.3. Assignments should be written on foolscap paper on one side only.4. All assignments (with Enrolment number marked on the Top right hand corneron all pages) should be put in an envelop with superscription “MBAAssignments” and sent to The Director, Directorate of Distance Education,Annamalai University, Annamalainagar – 608 002 by Registered post.5. No notice will be taken on assignments which are not properly filled in withEnrolment Number and the Title of the papers.6. Students should send full set of assignments for all papers. Partialassignments will not be considered.ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONSWrite assignments on any TWO topics in each paper out of the FOUR. For eachtopic the answer should not exceed 15–pages. Each assignment carries 25 marks(2 topics).DR. M. ARULDIRECTOR22.1 ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND MANAGEMENT OF CHANGE1. “OD is the prescription for the process of planned change in organisations”-Discuss.2. “A collection of suitable interventions, built on humanistic- democratic values,that seeks to improve organisational effectiveness and employee well-being”-Discuss.3. “Change is easy to devise but difficult to implement and impossible to sustain”-Examine this statement and offer your comments.4. “Learning organisations attack fragmentation, competitiveness, and reactiveness”-Elaborate this statement?2.2 TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT1. A leading FMCG company in India decides to train its entire population ofemployees and managers to provide “Legendary Customer Service.” Suggestand explicate a design for evaluating the impact of such a massive trainingeffort.2. Is training transfer an important issue in the automobile manufacturingcompanies? How transfer is evaluated in those companies? Design an actionplan sheet that a manager and employee could use to facilitate transfer oftraining. Justify each category included in the action plan.3. In a financial services company where 100 employees are working ininformation technology department had a high employee turnover rate. A surveyof employees revealed that the reason most left was dissatisfaction with the levelof training. The average turnover rate was 23 percent per year. The cost torecruit and train one new employee was Rs. 56,625/-. To address the turnoverproblem, the company developed a skills training program that averaged 80hours per year per employee. The average employee wage was Rs. 35/- perhour. Instructor, classroom, and other costs were Rs. 170,000/-.a) What is the total cost of training? The total cost of turnover?b) If the turnover rate dropped 8 percent (from 23 percent to 15 percent), whatwas the financial benefit of the training program?c) What was the ROI of the training program?d) How much would the turnover rate have to be reduced (from 23 percent) forthe training program to show a benefit?4. Assume you are a personnel manager in an service organisation, If you had anopportunity to choose between adventure learning and action learning fordeveloping an effective team in your organisation, which would you prefer?Defend your choice with precise justification.32.3 LABOUR WELFARE1. Elucidate the objectives scope and need of the voluntary welfare measures.2. Discuss the various welfare measures available to protect the female labour andthe Agricultural labour mention the social assistance available to them.3. Write the various statutes enacted by Indian Parliament from time to time andvarious schemes implemented by government for the welfare of child, femaleand contact labours in India.4. Explain the psychological issues relating to the employment and measures to betaken to prevent adverse impact on overall health of employees.2.4 INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS1. Describe the new perspectives of 1990s. Discuss the implications of postmodernism for employment relations. Explain the latest developments in HRMfor industrial relations issues with suitable examples.2. Explain the historical perspective of Industrial relations in India. Discuss theissues and challenges facing by the organisations related to industrial relationsin an organisation you are familiar with.3. Explain the meaning, origin and growth of trade unions in India. Describe thepresent trade union scenario of an industrial area with which you are familiar.What are your suggestions for strengthing the trade unions in India.4. Define grievance and discuss the role of Human Resource department ingrievance handling. Explain various approaches of grievance resolution, in youropinion which approach is most effective and why?2.5 WAGES AND SALARY ADMINISTRATION1. ‘‘Indian managers are poorly paid compared to their counterparts abroad’’.Examine this statement and offer your comments on it with suitable evidences.2. ‘‘Hard workers get poor wage where as the workers hardly work get high wage.’’Do you agree to this statement? Justify your stand with valid evidences.3. Do you agree that the objectives of collective bargaining are to reduce the areasof conflict and to crate work atmosphere geared to productivity? Elucidate.4. “If selection and placement decisions are done effectively, an individualperformance should not vary a great a deal; therefore, an incentive system is notnecessary”. Dou you agree to this statement? Justify your view.42.6 STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT1. If strategic planning is essentially a program, can it display the degree ofadaptiveness that 21st century enterprises need? Would ‘strategic improvisation’be a plausible alternative? Explore the practical consequences of strategicimprovisation for enterprise management.2. Select an Automobile industry in India, and evaluate its competitivebusiness strategy using Porter’s five force model? What strategies can yousuggest to convert the unattractive forces in to attractive ones?3. “Complementary mergers may result in each firm filling in the missingpieces of their firm with pieces from other firm” – Examine the validity of thestatement in the Indian context with necessary examples.4. ‘Formality is the enemy of creativity and innovation’. ‘Informality is theenemy of disciplined and reliable performance’. Is it consequently impossiblefor an enterprise to be both innovative and disciplined? Investigate howthese qualities can be combined.2.7.1 E-COMMERCE1. Describe the current e-commerce scenario in India and explain the futureprospect of e-commerce.2. Explain the characteristics of large companies that involve B2G and B2Ctransactions in their business, which require roboust, capable and scalableelectronic commerce system.3. Visit the following sites:www.olx.com / www.labour.tn.gov.in / www.clicks.co.za / www.digitalplanet.co.zaa. For each site determine whether it is in the exposure stage, interaction stage, ecommerce stage or e-business stage. Provide reasons for your answer.b. Determine whether each site is B2C, C2C, C2B or B2B and why.c. Critically discuss the process of setting up a free-standing website and evaluatethe potential of e-commerce for small business development in India.4. Consider the development of a portal for a Retailer shop. Discuss the varioustechnologies, tools and components involved in designing the same.2.7.2 BUSINESS RESEARCH METHODS1. Below is the gist of an article from Business Week. After reading it(a) identify the broad problem area, (b) define the problem, and(c) explain how you would proceed further.“While Chrysler‘s minivans, pickups, and sport utility vehicles take a big shareof the truck market, its cars trail behind those of GM, Ford, Honda, and Toyota.Quality problems include, among other things, water leaks and defective parts”.2. It is advantageous to develop a directional hypothesis whenever we are sure ofthe predicted direction. How will you justify this statement?3. If a control group is a part of an experimental design, one need not worry aboutcontrolling other exogenous variables. –Discuss this statement.4. Whenever possible, it is advisable to use instruments that have already beendeveloped and repeatedly used in published studies, rather than develop our owninstruments for our studies. Do you agree? Discuss the reasons for your answer.M.B.A.[H.R.M.] – 2ND YEAR - Assignment C- 1900ANNAMALAI UNIVERSITY PRESS 2017 - 2018
ANNAMALAI UNIVERSITYDIRECTORATE OF DISTANCE EDUCATIONM.B.A. HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENTFIRST YEARAcademic Year 2017 - 2018ASSIGNMENT TOPICSThis booklet contains assignment topics. Students are asked to write theassignments for EIGHT papers as per instructions.
Last date for submission: 28-02-2018Last date for submission with late fee ` 300/- : 15-03-2018NOTE:1. Assignments sent after 15-03-2018 will not be evaluated.2. Assignments should be in the own hand writing of the student concerned andnot type-written or printed or photocopied.3. Assignments should be written on foolscap paper on one side only.4. All assignments (with Enrolment number marked on the Top right hand corneron all pages) should be put in an envelop with superscription “MBAAssignments” and sent to The Director, Directorate of Distance Education,Annamalai University, Annamalainagar – 608 002 by Registered post.5. No notice will be taken on assignments which are not properly filled in withEnrolment Number and the Title of the papers.6. Students should send full set of assignments for all papers. Partialassignments will not be considered.ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONSWrite assignments on any TWO topics in each paper out of the FOUR. For eachtopic the answer should not exceed 15–pages. Each assignment carries 25 marks(2 topics).DR. M. ARULDIRECTOR21.1 PRINCIPLES OF MANAGEMENT1. What do you see as the main difference between a successful and anunsuccessful decision? How much does luck versus skill have to do with it? Givea detail note on it.2. Take any two Indian companies and examine how they have succeeded or faileddue to poor strategic planning.3. Suggest a method of departmentation for a large multi-product Organisationwith a huge market spread over the whole country. Explain the reasons for yoursuggestions.4. ‘Motivation is the core of management’. Comment. What practical suggestionswould you offer to management to motivate its staff in an industrialOrganisation?1.2 MARKETING MANAGEMENT1. “Chinese computer and electronic products possess advantages in design,innovation, rapid response and global market flexibility”- comment.2. “Legal aspects protect competitors and consumers from many unethical pricingstrategies that unscrupulous marketers may wish to attempt”. Critically analysethe statement.3. “Advertising on the internet has changed significantly over the past decade andsome might argue that it is for the worse" Do you agree or disagree? Discusswith practical illustrations.4. Examine the challenges encountered by the pharmaceutical wholesaledistributor for surviving and thriving in this new and ever changing environment1.3 FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT1. “The consequences of over- capitalization are far more serious and fatal thanunder-capitalization”. Discuss.2. “An optimal combination of the decisions relating to investment, financing anddividends will maximize the value of the firm to its shareholders”. Examine3. “Efficiency inventory management is reflected in the liquidity and profitability ofthe firm.” Explain.4. “A low dividend payout Ratio promotes the welfare of stock holders becauselong-term capital gains are treated more favourably than dividend income fromthe tax point of view.”31.4 OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT1. Operations management is the area of creating competitive advantage. Do youagree? Justify your answer.2. A manufacturer requires 10,000 items per year. Price discount as follows:Rs.4 up to 2000 items, Rs. 3.80 between 2000 and 4000 items. Rs.3.70 forquantities above 4000. Ordering cost = Rs. 50.Comparative inventory cost=25% per year of average inventory price. Determinethe optimum purchase policy under discount.3. Explain JIT. Do you think it is practically feasible in India? What is yoursuggestion for implementing JIT?4. Operations personnel usually have a large volume and variety of resources attheir command. They should endeavor to make effective and efficient use ofthese resources to achieve the largest outputs. Comment! What are theapproaches for enhancing the utilization of resources?1.5 HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT1. “The field of HRM changes so rapidly that had become necessary for one toconstantly review procedures and laws so that the practices will be effective andlegal”. Critically evaluate this statement.2. “Majority of the testing techniques for selection do not accurately assess thecharacteristics of the job. In fact most of the executives would divulge that thetesting had no impact on future job performance. Do you accept or not?Discuss with justification.3. “Identify the paramount barriers to effective training programme in IT field andhow to crush them”. Explain with real life examples.4. Technological advancements and automation are causing high stress and burnout among employees, which results negatively and unable to reap the benefit ofautomation”. Do you agree or disagree? State your view.1.6 STATISTICS FOR MANAGERS1. A random sample of 1000 workers from south India show that their mean wagesare Rs. 47 per week with a standard deviation of Rs. 28. A random sample of1500 workers from North India gives a mean wage of Rs. 49 per week with astandard deviation of Rs. 40. Is there any significant difference between theirmean level of wages?2. Calculate seasonal indices for the data given below by the link relative method
Quarter Years2007 2008 2009 2010 2011I 45 48 49 52 60II 54 56 63 65 70III 72 63 70 75 84IV 60 56 65 72 6643. The following is the summary of a survey on the color of pens purchased bypersons belonging to different age groups. use chi-square test at 5 % level ofsignificance to find whether the age of the person has any association with thechoice of color.
