CAIIB Human Resources Management Module A Unit 2 : Organisational Behaviour

CAIIB Human Resources Management Module A Unit 2 : Organisational Behaviour (New Syllabus)

IIBF has released the New Syllabus Exam Pattern for CAIIB Exam 2023. Following the format of the current exam, CAIIB 2023 will have now four papers. The CAIIB Rural Banking includes an important topic called “ Organisational Behaviour”. Every candidate who are appearing for the CAIIB Certification Examination 2024 must understand each unit included in the syllabus.

In this article, we are going to cover all the necessary details of CAIIB Human Resources Management  Module A Unit 2 : Organisational Behaviour, Aspirants must go through this article to better understand the topic, Organisational Behaviour and practice using our Online Mock Test Series to strengthen their knowledge of Organisational Behaviour. Unit 2 : Organisational Behaviour

Organizational Behaviour

• As defined by Kossen, ‘an organisation is a group of individuals co-ordinated into different levels of authority and segments of specialization for the purpose of achieving the goals and objectives of the organisation.’
• This definition to the concept of ‘organisation’ reveals that organisation is a group of individuals and as such individual and group dynamics are core to the organisation and the study of ‘Organisational Behaviour’. Organizational behavior (OB) is the study of how individuals, groups, and organizations interact and influence one another.

Behavioural Dynamics In Organisations

Organisation Charts

• An organisation chart is a simple and understandable representation of the formal organisation structure. It is a formal record of the chain of command, along with titles assigned to the various individuals in the organisation.
• The organisation chart well drawn, can give an insight in to the organisation’s philosophy, its hierarchical structure, line and staff authority, authority and responsibility levels, chain of command, line of delegated authority, decentralisation or otherwise in an organisation as well as span of control.

Organisation charts can be divided into

• Master chats and
• Supplementary charts.

The master chart shows the entire formal organisation structure, and the supplementary charts shows details of relationships, authority and the job-roles within the prescribed area of a department or major component of the organisation.

Formal and Informal Organisations

• An organisation is said to be a formal organisation when two or more than two persons come together to accomplish a common objective, and where, formal relationships, rules, and policies are established for compliance, and there exists a system of authority.
• On the other end, there is an Informal organisation which is formed under the formal organisation as a system of social relationship, which comes into existence when people in an organisation, meet, interact and associate with each other.
• The intention to clearly define the structure and roles in a formal and organised manner, leads to an enterprise that is a formal organisation. The informal group in an organisation is the network of personal and social relationships unrelated to the firm’s formal authority structure. These informal units can make the formal organisation more effective by providing support to management, stability to the environment, and become important communication channels.

Matrix Structure

• In a matrix organisation, teams are formed and team members report to two or more managers. A matrix design is the result of combining a project design with a functional structure. It helps to achieve economies of scale.
• In this structure, there will be several communication channels for transmitting decisions. This is considered to be a well-balanced structure of organisation.
• In this structure, the person right at the top of the structure is responsible for the success of the project. The line and staff officers can provide support according to the requirements of the project. Once a project is completed, the persons involved will be drawn back to their original jobs, thus, ensuring optimal use of personnel and enhanced productivity. This form is ideally suited for companies, such as constructions that are project-driven.

Advantage

• This form of organization retains the expertise and management skills of functional managers while executing the project. The expertise available can be applied in a most flexible and efficient manner to benefit a number of projects.
• Matrix project organization is a fascinating arrangement for the highly skilled professionals who want to work on new and challenging projects.
• The project manager can devote his/her time towards complex issues of the project and coordinate various tasks and priorities of the organization without being distracted by any other details of project implementation.
• Policies and procedures can be set up independently for each project provided that they do not contradict company policies and procedures.
• A strong technical base can be developed and more time can be devoted to complex problem-solving. Knowledge is available for all projects on an equal basis.

Disadvantage

• Each project unit operates independently.
• Functional managers may be biased according to their own set of priorities.
• People do not feel that they have any control when continuously reporting to multiple managers.
• Dual line of command can cause delay in decision-making and may create conflicts also.
• Difficulty in monitoring and controlling.

Divisional Structure 

• In a divisional organisation, corporate divisions operate as relatively autonomous businesses under the larger corporate umbrella.
• Made up of self-contained strategic business units each of which produces a single product, the controlling authority focuses on results, coordinates and controls the activities, and provides support services between divisions.
• Functional departments achieve division goals. A weakness however, is the tendency to duplicate activities among divisions.

Organic and Mechanistic Structure 

• Organic organisations have a flat structure with only one or two levels of management, emphasizing a decentralised approach to management that encourages high employee involvement in decision making.
• This structure creates independent small businesses or enterprises that can rapidly respond to customers’ needs or changes in the business environment.

Functional Structure

• Functional structures group similar or related occupational specialties or processes together under the familiar headings of finance, manufacturing, marketing, accounts receivable, research, human resources, etc.
• However, in this type of organisations, there is an avoidable risk of losing sight of its overall interests as different departments pursue their own goals.

The Person – Job Fit

• Most HR Managers would like to profess that their ultimate aim is to provide the right man for the right job, in other words, the perfect job fit.
• Basic orientation training and extensive skill upgradation at frequent intervals during work-life of the individual in the organisation and the clear focus of individual skills, knowledge and attitudes vis-à-vis various job-roles are key to ensure a perfect job-man fit in the organisations.
• The contemporary method of learning forum is ‘Assessment/Development Centres’. This method is used for higher learning especially to those who are required to handle higher echelons in the organisation. Assessment/Development Centers are batteries of simulations of work challenges that participants are likely to face in future roles.
• Common job simulations used in assessment centres are: In-basket exercises, Group discussions, Simulations of interviews with “subordinates” or “clients”, Fact-finding exercises, Analysis/decision making problems, Oral presentation exercises, Written communication exercises.

Group Dynamics

• Group dynamics refers to the attitudinal and behavioural characteristics of a group and is concerned with how groups form, their structure and process, and how they function. Group dynamics is relevant in both formal and informal groups of all types.
• In an organisational setting, groups are a very common organisational entity and the study of groups and group dynamics is an important area of study in organisational behavior.

Group Development

• Group dynamics is concerned with why and how groups develop. There are several theories as to why groups develop. A classic theory, developed by George Homans, suggests that groups develop based on activities, interactions, and sentiments.
• Basically, the theory means that when individuals share common activities, they will have more interaction and will develop attitudes (positive or negative) toward each other. The major element in this theory is the interaction of the individuals involved.

Social exchange theory:

• Individuals form relationships based on the implicit expectation of mutually beneficial exchanges based on trust and felt obligation. Thus, a perception that exchange of relationships will be positive is essential if individuals are to be attracted to and affiliate with a group.

Social identity theory:

• It suggests that individuals get a sense of identity and self-esteem based upon their membership in salient groups.

According to Tuckman’s theory, there are five stages of group development:

i)Forming,

ii)Storming,

iii)Norming,

iv)Performing, and

v)Adjourning.

Group Types

One common way to classify group is by whether they are formal or informal in nature. Formal work groups are established by an organisation to achieve organisational goals. Formal groups may take the form of command groups, task groups, and functional groups.

• Command groups: Command groups which are often called as ‘Permanent work groups’, are specified by the organisational chart and often consist of a supervisor and the subordinates that report to that supervisor.
• Task groups or ‘temporary work groups’: are created for a specific purpose – to solve a specific problem or to perform a defined task and typically disband once that purpose is accomplished. Task groups consist of people who work together to achieve a common task.
• Functional group: It is created by the organisation to accomplish specific goals within an unspecified time frame.

Three common types of informal groups are ‘Friendship groups’, ‘interest groups’ and ‘reference groups’.

• Friendship groups: are formed by members who enjoy similar social activities, political beliefs, religious values, or other common bonds. Members enjoy each other’s company and often meet after work to participate in these activities.
• Reference group: is a type of group that people use to evaluate themselves. According to Cherrington, the main purposes of reference groups are social validation and social comparison. Social validation allows individuals to justify their attitudes and values while social comparison helps individuals evaluate their own actions by comparing themselves to others.
• Interest group: consists of persons who share common interests; they may be job-related interests, such as an intense desire to learn more about computers and non-work interests such as community service, sports or religion.

Group Structure:

Group structure is a pattern of relationships among members that hold the group together and help it achieve assigned goals. Structure can be described in a variety of ways. Among the more common considerations are group size, group roles, group norms, and group cohesiveness.

Group Size:

• Group size can vary from 2 people to a very large number of people. Small groups of two to ten are thought to be more effective because each member has ample opportunity to participate and become actively involved in the group. Large groups may waste time by deciding on processes and trying to decide who should participate next.
• This includes a concern for ‘Social loafing’ which is also called ‘Ringlemann effect’.

It acknowledges that people may tend not to work as hard in groups as they would individually for two reasons:

i)Their contribution is less noticeable, and

ii)They prefer to see others carry the work load.

Group Roles:

• In formal groups, roles are usually predetermined and assigned to members. Each role will have specific responsibilities and duties. Group roles can then be classified into work roles, maintenance roles, and blocking roles.

Group Norms:

• Norms are acceptable standards of behavior within a group that are shared by the members of the group. Norms define the boundaries of acceptable and unacceptable behavior.
• They are typically created in order to facilitate group survival, make behavior more predictable, avoid embarrassing situations, and express the values of the group.

Group Cohesiveness:

• Cohesiveness refers to the bonding of group members and their desire to remain part of the group. Cohesiveness in work groups has many positive effects, including worker satisfaction, low turnover and absenteeism, and higher productivity.

Group Effectiveness

Group effectiveness is the capacity a group has to accomplish the goals or objectives administered by an authorized personnel or the organisation. The measures of effectiveness of group depends largely on the characteristics of a group and its activities which are as under:

• Productivity
• Satisfaction and attitudes
• Attendance
• Retention
• Learning and adaption
• Physical and mental well-being

Leadership

• According to Stephen P. Robbins and Timothy, “leadership is a process and the ability to influence a group toward the achievement of a vision, set and attends to a common goal within its group context”.
• leadership skills can be innate in person and they can also be acquired, and honed. But then leadership actually differs from management skills in a number of ways.
• Management involves planning and budgeting. Leadership involves setting direction.
• Management involves organizing and staffing. Leadership involves aligning people.
• Management provides control and solve problems. Leadership provides motivation.

Leader vs Manager

The Six Leadership Styles by Goleman

The 6 leadership styles given by Goleman, their origin, when they work best, and their impact on an organisation’s climate and thus, its performance.

Situational Leadership Theory

• This theory was propounded by Hershey and Blanchard in 1969 as Life cycle theory of leadership. Later on, this theory was named as Situational Leadership Theory.
• This theory says that one leadership style does not fit in all the situations. Leaders have to modify their styles according to the followers’ willingness and ability. Willingness refers to intention and motivation to do the job task, whereas, ability refers to required skills and knowledge to perform the task at workplace. There are four types of employees based on the willingness and ability.
• Low willingness, Low ability: employees having low intentions and low skills and knowledge to perform the task. Such employees need specific instructions and constant supervision.
• High willingness, Low ability: such employees have intentions and confidence to perform the task but they are not having the required ability. The performance of such employees can be enhanced by providing training and guidance.
• Low willingness, High ability: employees in this category have the required skills to perform the task but lacks willingness. Leaders need to inculcate interest in such employees by assigning job role according to their interest, assigning goals that are relative to their personal goals and implementing the incentive policy.
• High willingness, High ability: employees, high in willingness and ability, prove to be assets for the organization. They do not need specific instructions and much supervision. They are self-motivated. Leaders should work on to retain such employees by providing relative incentives and benefits.

Accordingly, this theory suggests four leadership styles:

• Telling Style: this style is characterized by high task guidance, low-relationship style where the leader gives explicit directions and closely supervises the employees’ performance. This style is usually followed for employees who are low in willingness and low in ability.
• Selling Style: this style is characterized by high task guidance behavior, as well as supportive behaviour. This type of leadership style is usually followed for employees high in willingness and low in ability, as such employees are self-motivated but lack of required ability.
• Participating Style: this leadership style provides opportunities to employees to participate in exchange of ideas and decision-making. This is done to impart the willingness in employees having required skills and abilities. Hence, this leadership style is suitable for employees high in ability and low in willingness
• Delegating Style: Delegating means assigning the work and responsibilities to the employees who deserve the same. This is suitable for employees who are high in ability and high in willingness.

Managerial Grid’ Theory of Leadership

Managerial Grid’ Theory of leadership is developed by Blake and Mouton. They emphasize that leadership style consists of factors of both the task-oriented and relation-oriented behaviour in varying degrees. The grid depicted two dimensions of leader behavior, concern for people on y-axis and concern for production on x-axis.

Blake & Mouton have described the five leadership styles as follows: 

• (1,1) (improverished) – Leader has minimum concern for production and people- Laissez Faire leadership
• (9,1) (Task-oriented) – Leader having less concern for people and more concern for production – Autocratic Leadership style
• (1,9) (Country Club) – Leader having less concern for work and more concern for people – People oriented leadership style.
• (9,9) (Team Builder) – Leader having high concern for production as well as people – Team building leadership style.
• (5,5) (Middle Path) – Leader having adequate performance through balance of work requirements and maintaining satisfactory morale.

Some Contemporary Approaches To Leadership

Whether to Lead from Front, Back or Center?

There has been a modern thought which advocates that ‘Leader should lead from the back’ on the theme that – ‘Being a leader is not about being in front but it is about taking care of his/her team’. If the leader wishes to lead from behind, he/she should ensure to adhere the following:

• Set goals and parameters: ‘Leading from behind’ is still active leadership which shapes organisation’s culture and drives change. To lead from behind, leader need to build a strong team that is united by shared values and goals. The leader need to make the group’s goal clear, whether that’s developing a new product or overcoming a problem the organisation is facing.
• Enable innovation: The goal is to enable the team members to emerge as innovators and leaders themselves. When leading from behind, leader should provide support and inspiration. Leader should create opportunities for learning and growth, such as workshops and a collaborative work environment, and reward new ideas.
• Step forward in key moments: While leading from behind often means playing a supporting role, there are times when it’s necessary to step forward. This is the particularly the case if you notice your team veering off-track.

Be Dynamic and Constantly Adapt to Change

• Leaders and people employed therein is that to find and focus on inventing and creating the best suited solution to meet these emerging challenges resolutely with timeliness.

Strategic Leadership

The more uncertain your environment, the greater the opportunity—if you have the leadership skills to capitalize on it.

A research at the Wharton School and at the authors’ consulting firm, involving more than 20,000 executives, had identified six skills that, when mastered allow leaders to think strategically and navigate the unknown effectively. They are the abilities to:

• Anticipate
• Challenge
• Interpret
• Decide
• Align
• Learn

Transformational Leadership

It is a leadership style in which leaders encourage, inspire and motivate employees to innovate and create change that will help grow and shape the future success of the company. This is accomplished by setting an example at the executive level through a strong sense of corporate culture, employee ownership and independence in the workplace.

Four Factors of ‘Transformational Leadership’

• Inspirational Motivation – A transformational leader should inspire people to move in the right direction. Even when the leader is not present himself, his people should be motivated and inspired in their professional and personal life to follow the leader and to do the right things. Inspirational motivation describes leaders who motivate associates to commit to the vision of the organisation.
• Intellectual simulation – It describes leaders who encourage innovation and creativity through challenging the normal beliefs or views of a group. Leaders with intellectual stimulation – constantly innovative, challenges subordinate to be innovative and creative, promote competitiveness, critical thinking and problem solving in an effort to make the organisation better.
• Idealized influence – It describes leaders who are exemplary role models for associates. Leaders with idealized influence – drive the subordinates towards purpose, they actually ‘walk the talk’, can be trusted and respected by associates to make good decisions for the organisation.
• Individualized consideration – It describes leaders who act as coaches and advisors to the associates. Leaders with individual consideration – are ‘people’ driven, genuine concern for needs of subordinates, encourage associates to reach goals that help both the associates and the organisation.

Qualities of a ‘Transformational Leader’

• Encourages the motivation and positive attitudes and a culture of development among subordinates.
• Exemplifies moral standards within the organisation and encourages others for the same.
• Fosters an ethical work environment with clear values, priorities and standards.
• Builds organisation culture by encouraging employees to move from an attitude of self-interest to a mindset where they are working for the common good.
• Holds an emphasis on trust, authenticity, cooperation and open communication.
• Empowers followers to do what is best for the organisation.
• Trusts the followers and allows the followers the required freedom.
• Strong role model with high values.
• Listens to all viewpoints to develop a spirit of cooperation.
• Creates a vision, using people in the organisation.
• Acts as a change agent within the organisation by setting an example of how to initiate and implement change.
• Helps the organisation by developing other’s contribution to the organisation.
• Focuses on turning followers/subordinates into future leaders.

Transactional vs. Transformational Leadership

• Transactional Leadership heavily relies on motivating employees through rewards and punishments. It requires supervision, oversight, and performance-monitoring. This leadership model doesn’t try to innovate. Instead, it’s rooted in keeping things consistent and predictable over time. Errors and faults are closely investigated, and the overall goal is to create efficient, routine procedures. This style is best suited to departments or organisations that require routine and structured areas where businesses want to reduce chaos or inefficiency.
• Whereas Transformational leadership, on the other hand, supports agile environments. Conscious effort must be made to adopt a transformational style. Transformational leadership is a vital role for effective leaders because leader effectiveness determines the ultimate success of the organisation.

Human Resource Implications Of Benchmarking

Benchmarking

• ‘Benchmarking’ is the process of comparing the business processes and performance metrics including cost, cycle time, productivity, or quality to another that is widely considered to be an industry leader and hence considered as the standard benchmark or best practice. Benchmarking helps to compare and understand where a given business is in relation to the recognized standard.

Types of Benchmarking

• It includes process benchmarking, financial benchmarking, performance benchmarking, product benchmarking, functional benchmarking, best-in-class benchmarking, operational benchmarking.

Latest Initiatives by Major Indian Banks on Technology / Automation Front

SBI takes lead in blockchain, to use it to prevent fraud

• The SBI’s initiative, christened Bankchain, is in partnership with IBM, Microsoft, Skylark, KPMG and 10 commercial banks. The country’s largest lender has also tied up with a startup firm Prime chain Technologies for this exercise. Bankers said that digitially signed documents that are part of consortium lending and which have to be shared can be put up as a block so that they will be known to all members.

New initiatives on technology/automation by Bank of Baroda

• Bank of Baroda announced several new initiatives on the occasion of its 110th Foundation Day on 20 July 2017. The bank is introducing new products like Baroda E-Business Pack for MSME customers for availing overdraft/demand loan/term loan and composite loan, Baroda Champs saving account which is aimed at children below 17 years of age and paperless pre-approved digital personal loans which are transferred instantly through net banking and mobile banking apps.

Quality Initiatives In Organisations

Total Quality Management (TQM)

• TQM is defined both a philosophy and a set of guiding principles that represent the foundation of a continuously improving organisation.
• It is the application of quantitative methods and human resources to improve all the processes within an organisation and exceed customer needs now and in the future.
• It integrates fundamental management techniques, existing improvement efforts, and technical tools under a disciplined approach.

Principles (Pillars) of TQM

• A committed and involved management to provide long-term top-to-bottom organisational support.
• An unwavering focus on the customer, both internally and externally.
• Effective involvement and utilization of the team work.
• Continuous improvement of the business and production.
• Benchmarking
• Treating suppliers as their business colleagues.
• Establish performance measures for the processes.
• Involvement of employees in decision-making
• TQM as a Large Scale Systems Change, is seen primarily as a change in an organisation’s technology and its way of doing work. In the human services, this means the way client servicing is processed, the service delivery methods applied to them and ancillary organisational processes such as paperwork, procurement processes, and other procedures. TQM also brings about a change in an organisation’s culture, its norms, values, and belief systems about how organisations function.

Quality Initiatives In Organisations

Total Quality Management (TQM)

• TQM is defined both a philosophy and a set of guiding principles that represent the foundation of a continuously improving organisation.
• It is the application of quantitative methods and human resources to improve all the processes within an organisation and exceed customer needs now and in the future.
• It integrates fundamental management techniques, existing improvement efforts, and technical tools under a disciplined approach.

Principles (Pillars) of TQM

• A committed and involved management to provide long-term top-to-bottom organisational support.
• An unwavering focus on the customer, both internally and externally.

TQM- Sources of Resistance

• Implementation of large scale change such as TQM will inevitably face resistance, which should be addressed directly by change agents. Historical worker antipathy to the use of statistics and data in the human services may carry over into views of TQM, which encourages the gathering and analysis of data on service quality.
• For many traditional managers, this transition will require training, self-reflection, and time as well as assurances from higher management that they are not in danger of being replaced.
• There are several tactics which can be helpful in dealing with resistance to TQM implementation. Generally, they have to do with acknowledging legitimate resistance and changing tactics based on it, using effective leadership to enroll people in the vision of TQM, and using employee participation.

Relevance of TQM in Banking Industry

• Banking industry caters to the needs of the vivid categories of people in the society. The service quality of commercial banks plays a dominant role in its success story. Providing the best service quality is viewed as the pre-requisite for the success in banks.
• Since the institutional performance largely depends on quality of service rendered to the customers at large, the total quality service is an imperative need. High quality in customer service creates synergies and value creation for banks.  Therefore, in banking industry, high customer value has become a source of competitive advantage.
• Therefore, commercial banks have employed creative business platforms like Total Quality Management (TQM) for mammoth value creation for their sustainability in the severe competition.

Business Process Reengineering (BPR)

• Business Process Reengineering (BPR) is one approach for redesigning the way work is done to better support the organisation’s business goals and improve efficiency on all parameters.
• “Reengineering is the fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in critical, contemporary measures of performance such as cost, quality, service and speed”.
• BPR focuses on processes and not on tasks, jobs or people. Reengineering starts with a high-level assessment of the organisation’s mission, strategic goals, and customer demands.
• Reengineering identifies, analyzes, and redesigns an organisation’s core business processes with the aim of achieving dramatic improvements in critical performance measures, such as cost, quality, service, and speed.

BPR Implementation: Broad Guidelines

BPR which can be applied universally by following these broad guidelines.

Envision new processes

• Secure management support
• Identify reengineering opportunities
• Identify enabling technologies
• Align with corporate strategy

Initiating change

• Set up reengineering team
• Define desired performance goals

Process diagnosis

• Describe existing processes
• Uncover deficiencies in existing processes

Process redesign

• Develop alternative process scenarios
• Develop new process design
• Design HR architecture
• Select IT platform
• Develop overall blueprint for action and gather feedback

Reconstruction

• Develop/install IT solution
• Establish process changes

Process monitoring

• Performance measurement, including time, quality, cost, IT performance
• Link to continuous improvement

International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) & ISO 9000 Series

• The ISO 9000 family addresses various aspects of quality management and contains some of ISO’s best known standards. The standards provide guidance and tools for companies and organisations who want to ensure that their products and services consistently meet customer’s requirements, and that quality is consistently improved.
• Originally published in 1987 by the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO), a specialised international agency for standardisation composed of the national standards bodies of 90 countries.
• Underwent major revision in 2000.
• Now includes ISO 9000:2000 (definitions), ISO 9001:2008 (requirements) and ISO 9004: 2000 (continuous improvement).

ISO 9001:2015

• ISO 9001:2015 sets out the criteria for a quality management system and is the only standard in the family that can be certified to (although this is not a requirement). It can be used by any organisation, large or small, regardless of its field of activity.
• Using ISO 9001:2015 helps ensure that customers get consistent, good quality products and services, which in turn brings many business benefits.

Standards in the ISO 9000 family include:

• ISO 9001:2015 – sets out the requirements of a quality management system
• ISO 9000:2015 – covers the basic concepts and language
• ISO 9004:2009 – focuses on how to make a quality management system more efficient and effective
• ISO 19011:2011 – sets out guidance on internal and external audits of quality management systems.

Potential Benefits

• ISO 9001:2008 covers an extensive range of requirements and seeks to improve the quality of all of the organisation’s management activities, which has the potential to result in some substantial overall organisational improvement.
• ISO 9001:2008 is one of the most nationally and internationally known quality standards that affirms the independent approval of a management system designed specifically to deliver high levels of customer satisfaction.
• It has the potential to improve internal and external accountability and communication of management and production procedures.
• ISO 9001 certification can help an organisation qualify for a tender or to achieve preferred supplier status, typically in the western countries.

Potential Limitations

• Pursuing the standard has the potential to be expensive in terms of start-up and running costs and has the potential be time consuming to implement.
• There is less flexibility than other tools and it is much more difficult to use in smaller parts of for single issues.
• Its origins are in the industrial sector and whilst the latest version, has been made more user friendly for service organisations it may be less suitable for socially enterprising organisations.
• The vast majority of ISO standards are highly specific to a particular product, material, or process. However, ISO 9001 (quality) and ISO 14001 (environment) are ‘generic management system standards’.

‘Quality Circle’: HR Strategy To Quality Improvement

• Participative methods in the workplace are one way to improve both the work environment for employees and productivity and quality for the company. Quality Circle is one such employee participation method.
• It involves the channelization of skills, capabilities, confidence and creativity of the workforce through cumulative process of education, training, work experience and participation. Quality Circles have emerged as a mechanism to develop and utilize the tremendous potential of people for improvement in product quality and productivity.
• Quality Circle is a small group of 6 to 12 employees doing similar work who voluntarily meet together on a regular basis to identify improvements in their respective work areas using proven techniques for analysing and solving work related problems coming in the way of achieving and sustaining excellence.

Objectives of Quality Circle

• Change in Attitude: From “I don’t care” to “I do care”. Continuous improvement in quality of work life through humanisation of work.
• Self Development : Bring out ‘Hidden Potential’ of people. People get to learn additional skills.
• Development of Team Spirit: Individual Vs Team – “I could not do but we did it” Eliminate inter departmental conflicts.
• Improved Organisational Culture: Positive working environment, total involvement of people at all levels, higher motivational level and participative management process.

Organisational Structure of Quality Circle

• A steering committee: This is at the top of the structure. It is headed by a senior executive and includes representatives from the top management personnel and human resource development people. It establishes policy, plans and directs the program and meets usually once in a month.
• Coordinator: He / She may be an HR or Administrative officer who co-ordinates and supervises the work of the facilitators and administers the programme.
• Facilitator: He/She may be a senior supervisory officer. He/She co-ordinates the works of several quality circles through the circle leaders.
• Circle leader: A Circle leader organises and conducts Circle activities
• Circle members: They may be staff workers. Without circle members the programme cannot exist. They should attend all meetings as far as possible, offer suggestions and ideas, participate actively in group process, take training seriously with a receptive attitude.

Implementation of Quality Circle

The operation of quality circles involves a set of sequential steps as under:

• Problem identification: Identify a number of problems, decide the priorities and select the problems to be taken up first.
• Problem is clarified and analyzed by basic problem solving methods.
• Generate alternative solutions: Identify and evaluate causes and generate number of possible alternative solutions, and select the most appropriate solution. Discuss and evaluate the alternative solutions by comparison in terms of investment and return from the investment.
• Prepare plan of action for converting the solution into action plan and implement solution as a test case. The management evaluates the recommended solution. Then it is tested and if successful, implemented on a full scale.

QC in Banks

• Quality Circle is a voluntary group of employees in the same work area, coming together, working as a team, solving work related problems resulting in self-development and organisational benefit. The concept has been built on the basic foundation of “Participative work culture” with motivation and involvement of employees at grass roots level exploring their potentials, creativity and capabilities.
• With a view to provide greater exposure and wide experience, Quality Circles which have successfully completed their projects are nominated:
• To participate in Bank’s Apex Quality Circle Contest.
• For presentations at external forums like – Local Chapter Conventions and Annual National Convention on Quality Circles (NCQC) organised by Quality Circle Forum of India (QCFI).

Although, some Banks including SBI have been forming the QCs and have experienced the benefits of this concept, still this concept remains to gain popularity.

‘Six Sigma’: A Model For Improving In Business Processes

• Six Sigma is a fact-based data driven structured methodology that is used to create breakthrough improvements in business processes with a strong focus on customer needs. It is used to solve tough business problems when the root cause of the problem or the solution is not known.
• Six Sigma is a top-down solution to help organisations align their business strategy to critical improvement efforts, mobilize teams to attack high impact projects, accelerate improved business results and govern efforts to ensure improvements are sustained.
• Six Sigma began in 1986 as a statistically-based method to reduce variation in electronic manufacturing processes in Motorola Inc in the USA.

Six Sigma DMAIC and DMAICT Process Elements

Most practitioners and users of Six Sigma refer to Motorola’s early DMAIC acronym (extended since to DMAICT) as a way of reinforcing and reminding participants what needs to be done.

• D – Define opportunity
• M – Measure performance
• A – Analyze opportunity
• I – Improve performance
• C – Control performance
• T – Transfer best practice

KAIZEN METHOD

• Kaizen is a Japanese word which means “improvement”. It refers to the continuous efforts by the employees of each and every level in the organization to improve the quality.
• This works under ‘5S’ technique – Sort, Set in order, Shine, Standardise and Sustainability. Initially it was developed for housekeeping but later it was adopted as a sound management practices by the organizations.

The details about these ‘5S’, are mentioned below:

Seiri (Sort) – The first step is decluttering.

• The decluttering process is done to remove the unnecessary items from the desk or the organization.
• Remove the unused items.
• Assess the difficulties in achieving the goals and remove those obstacles.

Seiton (Set in order) – it includes:

• Arrange the things in order.
• Prioritise the work, which work is important, which work can be deferred, in order to handle the workload efficiently.
• Proper process should be followed to avoid confusions and manage time efficiently.

Seiso (Shine) – this step talks about the cleanliness.

• The workplace such as desktop, offices should be clean to induce positive vibes.
• Machines and equipment should be clean and maintained regularly to prevent early deterioration.

Seiketsu (Standardise) – this step talks about the standardisation.

• W. Taylor also talked about standardisation in Scientific approach of management. He mentioned that standardised processes should be followed to do the work in efficient manner.
• It means work should be done in standard format to save the time and avoid the errors.

Shitsuke (Discipline and Sustainability) – It includes:

• Rules and regulations should be followed at workplace.
• Dedication should be embraced and procrastination should be avoided.
• The work should be done in a sustainable manner avoiding the wastage of resources.

‘Positive Attitude’: The Core Behavioural Capital Of Organisations

An attitude can be defined as a predisposition to respond in a favorable or unfavorable way to objects or persons in one’s environment. When we like or dislike something, we are, in effect, expressing our attitude toward the person or object.

It is imperative for the organizations to develop the feasible mechanisms to instill and reinforce positive attitudes among its workforce, which will improve organizational performance.

• Identification of employees with negative attitudes and to counsel them: In the first step, the organizations should identify the employees infested with negative attitudes and behaviours through attitudinal survey exercise.
• Disseminate the need for imbibing Positive Attitudes: This can be achieved through either positive measures i.e., through persuasion, education and rewards or negative measures i.e., through reprimands and punishments.
• Effective communication of policies and decisions that may influence assessment of employee’s performance: Under the positive intervention which is mostly an employee-friendly measure, the organization needs to communicate its policies and decisions which are likely to influence assessment of employee’s performance.
• Creating a healthy Organisational climate: the organizational climate should foster the growth and development of positive attitudes. Since organisational climate has a strong influence on employee performance, it should be responsive to attitudinal changes. Organisational climate refers to the prevalent attitudes, values, norms, beliefs, perceptions and feelings of employees concerning the organization.

Stress Management

Stress is the way human beings react both physically and mentally to changes, events, and situations in their life. The reaction is based on one’s perception of an event or situation. If a situation is viewed negatively, one will likely to feel distressed—overwhelmed, oppressed, or out of control. The other form, eustress, results from a “positive” view of an event or situation, which is why it is also called “good stress.” Eustress helps the individual to rise to a challenge and can be an antidote to boredom because it engages focused energy.

The stress has the following features:

• It is a physical and/or mental process originated from the body response out of the physical and psychological events individuals experience
• It is a part of life and if exceeds it becomes difficult to cope with.
• It has positive as well as negative effects on the individuals
• It has a cumulative effect. If stress is not managed well on time, the hardships one faces in forthcoming period will add upon to the existing stress.

Coping Strategies for Stress

• To adopt effective time management techniques by proper planning the schedule of daily work priority-wise
• To learn to relax by taking up a hobby, physical & mental exercise by way of morning walk, yoga, meditation etc. so as to feel physically and mentally relaxed
• To set up a flexible plan in the life by setting goals that are achievable.
• To learn to get along with other people and to maintain inter-personal relations
• To learn to face the things as it comes in the life
• To get physical examination in frequent intervals and to take adequate medical care.
• To encourage upward communications in the organisations
• To define the job roles properly without any ambiguity.
• To enhance employee participation in decision making process.
• To have required resilience in selection and placement of personnel so as to ensure that high-stress jobs are entrusted only to experienced individuals.
• To delegate the authority down the hierarchy and to empower the subordinates with an objective not to penalize them for mistakes but enable them to develop and prosper.
• To practice positive thinking, develop best skills, attitudes & behaviour and to be innovative, creative and practical approach.

Business Etiquettes

• ‘Business Etiquette’ is a set of manners that is accepted or required in a business or profession. The basic definition of Business etiquettes is that it is the forms, manners, and ceremonies established by convention as acceptable or required in social relations, in a profession, or in official life.
• Proper etiquette is important in a social setting, but it is equally crucial in a business setting. Banks being service organisations, maintaining proper etiquettes at workplace and also while delivering service and augmenting business is very essential as, any deficit in etiquettes by the workforce at large will reflect badly on the organisation and business.

Five important elements of business behavior:

• Work Behavior;
• Meeting People;
• Telephone Etiquette;
• Dining Etiquette; and
• Etiquette for Correspondence.

Work Etiquettes

The following behaviours and principles can be followed at work environment to reflect good work etiquettes:

• Maintain proper Time Management:
• Exhibit proper behaviour and attitude
• Be conscious about office behaviour
• Be knowledgeable about the Organisational policies, rules and regulations etc – both written and unwritten
• Be as professional as possible
• Accept challenge with resolve and commitment
• Be flexible in approach/attitude but without losing your individuality

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CAIIB HRM Module A Unit 2-ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR (Ambitious_Baba)

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