Title – Growing pains: problems in the performance appraisal of China's state-owned enterprises transformed from governmental organizations. Study level/applicability – This case is suitable for undergraduates, MBA students and students from business administration departments in the teaching of human resources management and performance management. Case overview – Luodian Electric Power Construction Corporation Group (LEPCC Group) is a state owned enterprise transformed from a construction unit of Luopu Power Supply Bureau (LPSB), a governmental organization in charge of all the electricity supply in Luopu City. The general manager of LEPCC, Gu Ming tried to set up a modern market-oriented management system for LEPCC. Unfortunately the problems that had accumulated in the past two decades during which LEPCC was a governmental organization made his reforms very difficult. The first headache for Gu Ming was the performance appraisal reform in LEPCC. The existing performance appraisal system seemed to have at least three problems in practice: unclear appraisal objectives, an improper assessment system, a different appraisal standard for similar positions. What should Gu Ming do to build a proper performance appraisal system to help the fast-growing LEPCC Group to make LEPCC a competitive market-oriented player? Expected learning outcomes – The first objective of this case is to enable students to understand that the issues of working performance are issues of people first, rather than issues of the management system. If the management focuses on the system instead of on the staff of the company to design the performance management system, the system will be fruitless and inefficient. The second objective is to cultivate students' capability to apply the basic theories of human resource management and the knowledge of performance appraisal in case analysis and practical management. This case, seemingly about performance appraisal, is in fact about the organizational structure and processes of the organization. Reform should start with organizational analysis, job analysis and job descriptions. Only when all these have been done correctly, can the performance management system be designed more reasonably, scientifically and efficiently. Supplementary materials – Teaching notes are available; please consult your librarian for access. Close

Title – Welcome to Pointsoft family. Subject area – Human resource management, strategic management, organisational behaviour. Study level/applicability – Graduate and post graduate students of management, organisational behaviour and strategic HRM. Case overview – This case is about a small company named Pointsoft Pvt. Ltd, which is a 25-year-old software company situated in Pune, India. Thanks to the IT boom, the company grew well under the leadership of Aravind, who is the managing director. Aravind took care of all matters related to human resources (HR) directly. So far, the company never had any HR manager, but now Aravind thought about handing over HR matters to an HR manager. After much scrutiny Meenaxi was appointed as HR manager. The case then proceeds narrating a series of incidents after the arrival of the new HR manager and how there began a clash between the new HR manager and the senior management team of the firm. A situation then arose where the HR manager, after one year of service, submitted her resignation quoting that she was being harassed by the senior management team. The core issues in this case are whether Pointsoft's decision of having an HR manager was right and whether the decision of having appointed Meenaxi was right. Expected learning outcomes – The case brings out the necessary characteristics of an HR manager by showing the undesirable characteristics of an HR manager. The case also highlights typical issues of working in a small Indian firm which is trying to rise to a globalised setting. The case will also help the students understand about organisational culture and the importance of gelling with the same. Supplementary materials – Teaching notes are available. Please consult your librarian for access. Close

Title – Dilemma in hiring. Subject area – The recruitment and selection process, human resource planning, talent management and succession planning. Study level/applicability – The case has been tried and tested in the classroom setting with management students pursuing a Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management (PGDBM). Case overview – The case is set in the southern part of India in a manufacturing organization, Plomsom Ltd (a disguised organisation). Plomsom Ltd manufactures tractors and has a pan-India presence. The sale of tractors in India fluctuates over time. Sales are largely dependent on the seasonal harvests which in turn are heavily dependent on the monsoon rains. The case is designed for understanding the importance and necessity of finding the right man at the right time with the right skills in a manufacturing set up where production output is a factor of many interdependent variables. Expected learning outcomes – The learning objectives of the case are: critical analysis of recruitment and selection; importance of job analysis in recruitment and selection; understanding the role of HR planning in running the operations; understanding problems in the manufacturing sector in an Indian context. Supplementary materials – Teaching notes are available. Consult your librarian for access. Close

Title – Role of “haraam” practices on behavior and performance of employees: a case study of business organization. Subject area – Management sciences (organizational behavior). Study level/applicability – The case is suitable for MBA students, employees of any organization, human resource practitioners, organization administrators, human resource directors and senior line management. Case overview – The study deals with unethical or “haraam” practices at the workplace. It is based on the observation of the researchers. The business organization was selected and the behavior of employees was observed for two months. An interesting behavior of an employee was observed and the change in behavior was followed. The study describes the various factors influencing the behavior and performance of the employee and emphasis is made on the “haraam” practices of drinking alcohol and unacceptable behavior. The focus is on the performance of the employee. Major events and changes were elaborated to deduce the descriptive cause and effect results based on observation. It was found that behavior as well as performance was reduced due to “haraam” practices, which can be a lesson for other employees to follow as well as for managers to devise strategies in order to improve the most important resource of their organization, i.e. the human resource. Expected learning outcomes – As this case was designed for an executive education programme, no detail regarding where it fitted into the curriculum is applicable as would be the case with cases designed for students. The case is intended to develop skills in students to creatively approach a common and wide spread problem and to think about the solution in an innovative way. The overall purpose of the case is to engage human resource practitioners (students) in creatively constructing innovative solutions to address the problem of compulsive drinking in the organizational environment. Supplementary materials – Teaching notes are available, please consult your librarian for access. Close

Title – Automating attendance recording of contingent labours at a large construction site. Subject area – Operations and human resourcing. Study level/applicability – This case study is intended for use in graduate, executive level management and doctoral programs. The case study illustrates a combined IT and HR driven participative management control system in a flexible organization structure. It is intended for a class discussion rather than to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of an administrative situation. Case overview – The case describes the situation of managing unskilled workforces (=14,000 workers) during the construction phase of the 4×250 MW power plants both for purposes of turnout as well as due compensation, in the event of an accident. The approved labour forces appointed for 45×8 h. Man-days after a rigorous fitness test and approvals of the safety officer are allocated housing and other necessary amenities and a commensurate compensation system. Expected learning outcomes – These include: illustrating typical organizational responsibility structure at a construction site of a large power plant; illustrating the planning and administrative control mechanism in implementing strategy at a construction site of a large power plant; offering students the opportunity to understand and view a typical operational (project) structure; allowing students to speculate adaptations in the wake of an ever-changing business and company environment; and providing an opportunity to introduce a power scenario in India, Indian labour laws and radio frequency identification technology and to relate this to the case in context. Supplementary materials – Teaching notes are available; please consult your librarian for access. Close