North South University, Bangladesh

School of Business and Economics

BUS 601: Human Resource Management
Summer semester 2020
Section 5
Mid-semester examination

Exam duration: 5 hours

The exam represents 25% of the total marks for the unit
Students are required to answer THREE (3) QUESTIONS IN TOTAL

YOU MUST ANSWER ONLY ONE (1) QUESTION FROM SECTION A AND TWO (2)
QUESTIONS FROM SECTION B.

SECTION A
You must answer ONE (1) of the two questions
Question 1
a) Discuss the challenges facing HR during the Covid-19 pandemic. Use example to justify
your answer.
b) What are the limitations and problems of human resource planning? Describe with
example.
(7+6=13 Marks)
Question 2
a) Discuss present Trends of HRM using real world examples.
b) What do you understand by job analysis? Explain the parts [JD & JS] of a job analysis
with example.
(4+9=13 Marks)
SECTION B
You must answer TWO (2) of the three questions
Question 3
a) What do you understand by recruitment process? Discuss with example.
b) Discuss two (2) sources [one from external and one from internal] of recruiting
employees with example.
(2+4=6 Marks)
Question 4
a) There are several ways to conduct a selection interview. Discuss how to conduct effective
interview [explain five interview techniques]. Give example(s) to support your analysis.
b) What items should a letter of offer definitely contain? Explain in brief.
(5+1=6 Marks)
Question 5
Write short note on:
i. Technology and HRM; ii. Job Analysis Process [6-step];
(2X3=6 Marks)
Name: Md. Rakibuzzaman
ID: 1935160060

Section A:

Answer to the Question Number: 1(a)

The Covid-19 pandemic has a huge impact on serious mental, physical and financial
complications to people all over the world. Many organizations over the world are facing this
unprecedented situation and trying to be adopted with the ‘new normal’. HR of many
organizations are facing tough challenge than any of the recent times. Organizations are now
relying more than ever on HR departments to ensure the safety of the workplace as well as of the
employees. HR professionals are trying their best to handle this situation by overcoming many
challenges.

Below it will be discussed regarding some top challenges that HR department of many
companies are facing currently during COVID 19 pandemic.

1. Mental Health and Wellbeing of Employees: The sudden shift of work culture created
a huge impact on mental health and wellbeing of many employees working on different
organizations all over the world. Stress, anxiety, fear and other mental health issues are
now getting a common feature on everyday life. So most of the employees are going
through a stress which lacks their work productivity as well as creates harmfulness to the
health; both mental and physical.
In this regard, HR department has huge challenges to face for the wellbeing of the
employees and also keep focus on their mental health. When employees work in office
environment, it is easier to understand their pulse and sensitivity for HR. But employees
going remote makes this job harder for HR to focus on these topics as for lack of proper
communication. So HR professionals all over the world has responded mental health and
wellbeing of employees as a major concern. HR department should quickly cope up with
these challenges.
As for example, in Robi, employees are doing home office and this work from home
creates a difficult situation for the HR department to get in touch with all employees
thoroughly. To overcome this situation or at least to have a little grasp on every
employee’s mental health and wellbeing, Robi HR has introduced an app based service
named FSD ( Facility and Service Desk) where employees are putting their everyday
update of physical and mental health situation as well as any symptoms of coronavirus in
their bodies. So HR can track easily and monitor accordingly. If they see some
discrepancies, they immediately call and talk with the employees and even go for further
support if necessary,

2. Managing Remote Work: After the COVID 19 pandemic, many of the companies have
started work from home due to ensuring the safety of their employees. This has led to
many unfamiliar problems. HR managers has to ensure a seamless connectivity for the
employees to continue the organizational activity as well as they have to be concerned
 regarding providing the proper tools and real time updates to run the work from home
facility properly. They have to introduce the new way of working to all the employees.
For example, to continue home office in BAT, HR departments has ensured multiple
sessions to all the employees regarding hoe to adopt with the new form of working.
HR managers has to build new strategies to keep focus on employee productivity. As it is
not possible to monitor employee activities physically, they have to ensure productivity
by depending on various online mediums which is also a challenging job for HR
managers.

3. Lack of Agility: One of the main challenges HR managers are facing during this COVID
19 pandemic is lack of agility. Many HR departments are facing lack of agility during
this pandemic situation. HR is one of the most agile department over the organization.
But this pandemic situation has brought tough challenges to them, creating huge
challenges to keep focus on their work, makes them less agile.

4. Communication with Employees: Employee communication regarding the valuable

topic of the company is one of the main jobs of HR. But during this pandemic, this job
has become more challenging. Without the right communication channels, it becomes
difficult to manage a workforce. Though tools like Zoom, Microsoft Office are
commonly used to meet the needs, it is definitely not enough to get all the employees on
the same page.
HR team has to update employee’s current measures taken by organizations. They also
need to keep focus on valuable data of the company safe, which is very much difficult
whether employees are doing home office. For example, we can mention about banking
sectors. Banking sectors hold various important files and data which is unsafe to get out
of the company or be shared with outside of the company. For this many companies and
offices of this sector has forced themselves to start normal office activity during this
pandemic.

5. Uncertainty: During this pandemic, many small and even large organizations are forced
to cut off their employees’ salaries or even forced to reduce employee numbers to run the
organization. Lafargeholcim Bangladesh was bound to call lay off during this pandemic.
Energypac, Pathao has reduced their employee salaries to various percentages. HR
managers are struggling with these types of situational factors and also have to prepare
company policies and also employee engagement properly. As employees are affected
mentally, not knowing about the future regarding their jobs, HR team is facing huge
challenge to put everything in alignment.

The challenges mentioned above are not common type of challenges HR mangers face regularly.
This is an unusual and unprecedented situation all HR managers are facing currently. HR
professionals need to update them with the knowledge as well as with various online resources to
take over the challenges to adopt with the ‘new normal’ and do the best for the employees as
well as for the companies during this COVID 19 pandemic.
 Answer to the Question Number: 1(b)

HRP is the process of including forecasting, developing and controlling by which a firm ensures
that it has the right number of people & the right kind of people at the right place at the right
time doing work for which they are economically most useful.
From the organization’s objectives, corporate & business level strategies, HRP is the process of
analysing an organization’s human resource needs & developing plans, policies, & systems to
satisfy those needs.

Though HRP is a very advantageous method, there are limitations of it. These limitations are
discussed below.

 Limitations of Forecasting: There is no certain future in any country. It means there are
political, cultural, technological changes taking place all over the world which affects
employees situation. For example, Mobile companies, like GP and Robi, running their
business in Bangladesh may not face the same challenges whereas running their business
on other countries. There are political and governmental impacts like taxes and other
facilities; many technological challenges which their other concerns may not face running
their business on other countries. So here HRP can only be a guiding factor, management
cannot blindly rely on it. These uncertain factors make forecasting tougher and HRP can
not provide exact forecast regarding this.

 Employers’ & employees’ traditional bias & apathy: Biasness and apathy is of the big
limitation of HRP. There are common culture of employee and employer biasness and
apathy which leads to nepotism and thus proper candidate may not be selected for any
job. Suppose, one of the top managers in ACI wants to recruit an employee for an empty
position. For this when HR selects some candidates for interview, that top manager
introduces his familiar candidate and wants him to get the job. This type of situation can
be a limitation of HRP. Also racial bias, gender bias can also be the limitations.

 Resistance from employees: Employees and trade unions often resist human resource
planning to do their activity. They feel that this planning increases their workload and
thus controls a monitory system over them through the regulatory process. They also feel
that it would lead to unemployment and insecure their job, especially for the unskilled
labour. For example, in RMG sectors in Bangladesh, we see workers are frequently
rioting due to various issues. This is actually a natural phenomenon, not a negative term
in business. These type of activities are big hindrance for HRP.

 Incidence of absenteeism: This is a stumbling block in HR planning. When HR creates

or evolves any plan, some employees keep absent due to some unavoidable reasons. For
this the HRP cannot be properly effective for all the employees of the company. Suppose,
 HR department of Unilever has organized a training session on a software to the technical
department of the company and some of the employees were absent. It will be tough for
HR to conduct the training session again for those absent employees. This factor creates a
problem for the HR managers to execute their plan properly and is a big limitation in
HRP.

 Illiteracy & paucity of skilled labour: The skilled labour shortage is a big concern for
many industries. Due to the low unemployment rate, the applicant pool is small in this
sector. HR managers works hard to find the skilled employees, and likely paying more
attract skilled workers. Because there are so many manufacturers looking for skilled help,
the competition is high and can force them to hire people without the specific skills they
need and train them to do the work needed.
Unskilled and illiterate labours create many problems in the organization. While HRP is a
smart and developing solution, most of those employees misunderstood this and thus
creates hindrance in this plan.

 Time consuming activity: HRP collects information from all departments, regarding
demand and supply of personnel. To collect these information HR department need detail
data or info of each and every job considered. So this activity is a huge time consuming
and need a good source of manpower.

 Expensive process: The solution provided by process of HRP incurs expense for which
company has to spend or bear a lot of money in carrying out the activity. For example,
Robi HR has planned to provide VRS to some of their employees. So the company has to
spend a good amount of money to process the VRS and thus it’s become an expensive
procress.

Though HRP is planned to get the best benefit and advantageous situation for any company, it
lacks in some points. Some of those are unavoidable and some of those can be mitigated by
proper planning.

Section B:

Answer to the Question Number: 3(a)

Recruitment is the discovering of potential applicants for actual or anticipated organizational

vacancies. It is the process of exploring & searching prospective employees & providing them
stimulus to apply for specific positions (jobs) in an organization, through varied internal &
external sources. Recruitment process have some key factors to be mentioned:

 It is the development & maintenance of adequate manpower sources

  It helps to find or attract applicants for the employers' open positions
 Recruitment methods appear to vary according to job level and skill

For example, Banglalink wants to hire some employees for their technical department. So the HR
department will publish advertisement mentioning proper criteria about what an employee
should persists within to apply for the job. By this the HR will have some potential employee
profiles where applicants are searching for that technical category jobs. Then by having proper
interview or recruitment methods this recruitment process can be done.
Or Banglalink can also fill up those empty spots from their internal sources who are capable for
the job. So, both type of recruitment process can be done.

Recruitment process focuses on three basic areas:

a) Personal Policies
b) Recruitment Sources
c) Characteristics of the Recruiter

Answer to the Question Number: 3(b)

There are two basic recruitment sources for any organization. One is internal and another is
external source. These two sources of recruiting employees are discussed in below:

 Internal Recruitment Sources: Internal sources of recruitment consist of employees

who are already doing job in the organization. It also includes former employees who
have returned to work for the organization. Internal sources recruitment is done to fill up
vacancies through promotion, re-hiring and transferring employees within the company.

For example, Masud worked for Walton for 5 years since 2011-2016 as Assistant
Manager in marketing department. Now in 2020, Walton is searching for a Manager in
the marketing department. Now they called Masud to rejoin in the company now as a
Manager and Masud agreed to join. This scenario will be an example of internal
recruitment from the former employees.
If here Walton recruits someone from the company who is currently working will also be
an example of internal recruitment.

Many organizations are practicing this approach currently to motivate the skilled
employees of the organization, to reduce the employee turnover, to reduce the cost and
to get a competitive advantage. ACI is following this culture mostly in Bangladesh. It is
very much common for them to recruit for a higher position vacancy from inside the
company mostly in cases.

There are various methods of internal sources or recruitment are as follows.

 Job Posting: Publicizing an open job to employees & listing its attributes, like
qualifications, supervisor, working schedule, & pay rate. Suppose, Energypac
wants to hire for a post. It circulates an opening for job posting and find the
selected candidate internally.
 Rehiring: Sometimes company hires employees who were previously working
with them. For example, Masud worked for Walton for 5 years since 2011-2016
as Assistant Manager in marketing department. Now in 2020, Walton is
searching for a Manager in the marketing department. Now they called Masud to
rejoin in the company now as a Manager and Masud agreed to join. This scenario
will be an example of internal recruitment from the former employees.

 Succession Planning: Succession planning is the ongoing process of

systematically identifying, assessing & developing organizational leadership to
enhance performance.
For example, Graduate Trainee Program of Robi can be mentioned. Here
graduate trainee employees are go through a succession planning and with proper
development training they fill up the upper level vacancies of the company
internally.

 Promotion: The most common form of internal recruitment is promotion

wherein the employees are moved to the upper levels of the organization with
more responsibility and prestige. When there is a vacant is higher level position,
company recruits from within the organization so as to capitalize the various
benefits.

 Employee Referrals: Sometimes thhe present employees refer their friends and
family to the job. They are well aware of the organizational culture, working
conditions and job requirements. If they find them suitable for the job, they refer
their name to the HR.
The organizations as well as HR managers encourage employee referrals as the
cost and time could be saved than from hiring people from the external sources.

There are some advantages and disadvantages of internal recruitment. Some key
points are shared below:

Advantages:

 It helps building up moral of the employees, motivating & encouraging them

to rise above their present positions. Thus employees get energized and
motivated to work for betterment of the company.
 Internal recruitment is simple & cost effective compare to external
recruitment process. For example, if ACI recruits someone form their internal
sources, their HR department need not to spend for advertising for job
posting.
  Internal recruiters are well aware of the company's policies, activities & its
objectives. They know how the company make profit, where to put more
effort to get success.
 It create a ‘sense of security’ among employees. Employees feel secured by
thinking that company cares for them and think about their betterment. This
will increase employee activity.
 It crates loyalty feeling among the employees so that employee get loyal to
the company.

Disadvantages:

 Internal sources of recruitment reduces the scope of finding skilled and more
efficient people.
 Introduction of new methods and skills may not be developed.
 Promotions & transfers within the company may create dissatisfaction &
resentment in the minds of the employees.

 External Recruitment Sources: Sometimes company hire employees from various

external sources. There can be two types of external sources.
Direct applicants are people who apply for a vacancy without prompting from the
organization;
Referrals are people who apply for a vacancy because someone in the organization
prompted them to do so.

There are various sources of external recruitment process. Some of them are discussed
below.
 Advertisements in Newspaper & Magazines: This is a bit expensive method. It
increases the effectiveness of recruitment through advertising. Some employers
advertise in television also.
 Electronic recruiting: Posting career information at company websites or use of
domain name with a ‘jobs’ extension on the company websites. Almost 21%
recruitment done by this process.
 Public employment agencies: These are local employment agencies. Primarily
serve the blue-collar labour market. AXIS Manpower Banglades is an example of
public employment agencies.
 Private employment agencies: It primarily serves the white-collar labour
market. These are often known as headhunters. These are more expensive
compare to public agency. Example of private employment agencies are:
Monowar Associates.
 Colleges & Universities: This is basically for internship program. On campus
interview process holds by many companies.
 Temporary agencies & alternative staffing: This mainly happens for part-time
or just-in-time workers through temporary help employment agencies.
  Offshoring & outsourcing jobs: Outsourcing means having outside vendors
supply services (such as benefits management, market research, or
manufacturing) that the company’s own employees previously did in-house;
Offshoring means having outside vendors abroad supply services that the
company’s own employees previously did in-house.

There are also some advantage and disadvantage of external recruitment process.
Those are mentioned below:

 To some extent already ‘sold’ on the organization as employee are

offered and negotiation done between them
 Social network helps job seekers & simplifies recruitment for employers
 Cost less compare to other external sources
 Best sources of new hire
 Limit the likelihood of exposing the organization to fresh view points
 People tend to refer others who are like themselves
 Contribute to hiring practices that are unfair, and leads to nepotism.
Internal employee may refer their near ones though they might not be
suitable for the vacancy.

Both the internal and external sources are important recruitment process. It mainly depends on
the vacancy type, position and need of the company. So HR best defines which one is better for
the company at what moment.

Answer to the Question Number: 4(a)

Interview is purposeful exchange of ideas, the answering of questions & communication between
two or more persons. It choices about the types of questions to ask & the number of people who
conduct the interview.

There are five effective techniques to conduct a selection interview. Those are described below.

1. Nondirective interview: This is a selection interview in which the interviewer has

great discretion in choosing questions to ask each candidate. Here employers ask
open-ended questions about the candidates strengthens, weaknesses, career goals, &
work experience. Sometimes candidates are asked for SWOT analysis. The
candidate’s reply to one question may suggest other questions to ask.
This technique gives the interviewer wide latitude about the candidate. It’s reliability
is not great and questions may not be valid every time.
 2. Structured interview: Structured interview is a selection interview that consists of a
predetermined set of questions for the interviewer to ask. Most of the questions are
related to job requirements. I covers relevant knowledge, skills, & experiences.
The interviewer supposed to avoid asking questions that are not on the list. The
results may be more valid & reliable than with nondirective interview.
For example, when an employee faces interview for a technological vacancy, most of
the times he faces questions regarding the relevant knowledge.
3. Situational interview: This is a structured interview process in which the interviewer
describes a situation likely to arise on the job, then asks the candidate what he or she
would do in that situation. High validity in predicting job performance is the key
factor here.
For example, a job interview for a security man can be a situational interview method.

4. Behaviour description interview: This is a structured interview in which the

interviewer asks the candidate to describe how he or she handled a type of situation in
the past. Questions about candidates’ actual experiences tend to have the highest
validity.
For example, the interview for an experienced driver can be the example of this type
of interview process.

5. Panel interview: This is process of selection interview in which several members of

the organization meet to interview each candidate. Gives the candidate a chance to
meet more people & see how people interact in that organization. It provides the
organization with judgments of more than one person. This reduces the effect of
personal biases in selection decisions. This is appropriate in organizations that use
teamwork. This is a computerized interviewing process.
For example, in Robi, they follow the panel interview process to select their
candidate.

Answer to the Question Number: 4(b)

An offer is an legal document. It contains many valuable information which is important for both
the employee and employer.

An offer letter provides a brief overview of the position and company and includes specific job
details, like start date, salary, work schedule and benefits.

An offer letter mainly contains:

 Job description
 Job title
 Reporting structure
 Starting date of employment
 Salary
 Benefits information and eligibility
 Acknowledgment of offer and confirmation of acceptance