Advances In Management

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Advances In Management






Vol. 5(9) September 2012

Human Resource Development: A New Roadmap on Success of Industrialization

Panigrahi Anita Kumari

Department of Humanities, Gandhi Academy of Technology and Engineering, Berhampur, Odisha, INDIA
panigrahi.anita@gmail.com

HRD has emerged as an important concept in India as in other parts of the developing and developed world and is seen as an important strategy of facilitating sustainable development of industries. It promotes human resources through education, training, employment creation, population, health . . . all of which form the basis for enhancing and utilizing their skills, knowledge and productive capacity as well as to set up the goal of an organization. Everything – production, management, marketing, sales, research and development etc. may be more productive, if people are sufficiently motivated, trained, informed, managed, utilized and empowered. By applying a well-ordered and professional HRD approach to work in the protected areas field, the skills, knowledge and attitudes of park personnel will be enriched and this overall quality of work performed will improve. Thus, HRD provides the essential tools needed to manage and operate an industry in an effective way. Nowadays it is one of the accepted key towards a developed and industrialized society.

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Micro Credit as a means of Socio Economic Empowerment –A Survey in Andhra Pradesh

Savitha B.* and Jyothi P.

School of Management Studies, Hyderabad Central University, Gachibowli, Hyderabad 500 046 (A.P), INDIA
*savithas1604@gmail.com

The provision of credit to the poor and underprivileged sections of the society is an important aspect of the larger mandate of social banking today. In India, the institutional credit delivery system of banks has been aptly complemented by the growth of self-help savings and credit groups. This has resulted in bringing together the banking system and the poor for mutual benefit. Irrespective of the model of credit delivery, the availability of loans often brings about a change in the household welfare of the borrowers and makes a significant impact on their empowerment and socio economic status. The present article which is based on an empirical study of responses from a survey conducted in a district of Andhra Pradesh provides an insight into how the availability of credit and membership in Self help groups brought about a change in the socio economic status of the borrowers thereby contributing to their empowerment.

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Application of Artificial Neural Networks for Sales Forecasting in an Indian Automobile Manufacturing Company

Chauhan Manish Kumar1 and Mittal M. L.2*

1. Mechanical Engineering Department, Krishna Institute of Management and Technology, Moradabad (UP), INDIA 2. Mechanical Engineering Department, Malaviya National Institute of Technology, Jaipur (Rajasthan), INDIA
*mlmitttal.mnit@gmail.com

Sales forecasts are essential part of any business as planning such as facility planning, human resource planning, manufacturing planning and scheduling, and planning of sales promotions are driven by it. Traditionally, time series analysis was used as a tool for sales forecasting which suffers from limitations such as efforts needed for analysis and the accuracy of the resulting forecasts. Recently, Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) have been developed for a variety of applications in engineering and management. Sales forecasting is one such application where ANNs have been successfully applied. This study reports the application of ANN in an Indian auto manufacturer for sales forecasting. The results are compared with the time series models.

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The Voyage of the Renault-Nissan Alliance: A Successful Venture

Weng Marc Lim

School of Business, Monash University, Caulfield East Vic 3145, AUSTRALIA
lim.weng.marc@monash.edu

The purpose of this paper is to examine the voyage of the Renault-Nissan alliance being a successful venture. Three cores are: The Backfire of the Alliance Proclamation; The Sagacity behind the Renault-Nissan Alliance; and The Recipe for Renault-Nissan Alliance Success. The first core attempts to find out the reasons of various stakeholders in regards to their disapproving stances towards the strategic alliance formation. Subsequently, the second core attempts to find out the rationale of Renault and Nissan desire to form a strategic alliance. Among the rationales were the complementary strong market presence, skills and technologies of both parties. Finally, the third core section seeks to study the key challenges face by Nissan’s COO – Carlos Ghosn and what steps he took to overcome those challenges.

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Personality Type ‘A’ as a Moderator for Relationship between Occupational Stress and Organizational Effectiveness

Mahal Prabhjot Kaur

Rayat- Bahra Institute of Management, Punjab Technical University, Jalandhar. INDIA
prabhjotkaurmahal@gmail.com

The Indian corporate society is presently experiencing an accelerated change in economy, social structure and family structure. Due to that the most of the employees are mainly spending their time on the job related work purposes resulting in ignoring the stress influencing their work and life. Now a day’s people are more worrying about their outcome of work that can even affect the way they are being treated in their organization. This has resulted in a renewed focus on HR strategies that can ensure organizational effective-ness as well reduction of occupational stress. This is possible only when the employees working in the organization possess a personality to reduce the stress as well as to increase the organizational effectiveness. The present study was performed on a sample of 400 employees belonging to service sector. The major objective of the study was to analyze moderating effect of Personality Type A on the relationship between occupational stress and organizational effectiveness. Moderated regression was conducted to find the results. It was found that occupational stress was negatively related to the organizational effectiveness and Personality Type A moderated occupational stress and organizational effectiveness.

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Economic Problems in Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMES) in India

Venkateswarlu P.1* and Ravindra P.S.2

1. Department of Commerce & Management Studies, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, INDIA 2. Miracle School of Management, Miracle City, Bhogapuram, Vizianagaram (Dist.) 535216 (A.P.), INDIA
*po_venkat@yahoo.com

Globally, there is an increased recognition of the important role played by micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the economic development of a country. Similarly, in the South Asia region, MSMEs are the main engines behind the economic growth. In particular, MSMEs are one of the biggest contributors to GDP, employment and play a core role in the supply chain of large businesses. One of the major problems faced by MSMEs in South Asian countries is lack of finance to advance business growth. MSMEs lack setup capital, liquid capital, working capital and investment capital to survive and grow in a dynamic and predatory competitive business environment. MSMEs heavily depend on the financial institutions such as banks, credit corporations and development banks for the supply of finance to meet their daily financial needs.

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Creation of Demand for Millet Foods – A Case Study of Successful Change Management of an Innovation Project

Manikandan P.

Division of Human Resource Management, National Academy of Agricultural Research Management, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad 500 030, INDIA
manik@naarm.ernet.in

With globalization challenges and the increased competition and accountability issues that the agricultural research organizations face, there is a definite need for bringing about innovation in the research agenda. The present study describes the success achieved in one of the innovation projects in India aimed at creating increased demand for sorghum. Appropriate Change management model was developed to understand the success of this project, more specifically the project and HR-related issues. The model emphasizes the need to take into account six important factors viz. definition of challenge, strength and supporting factors, planning and design of change activities, system/structure/culture, stakeholder interests and leadership.

The important role of the leader in ensuring that conducive micro-level systems, structures, processes and culture within a given macro system are put in place for ensuring success of innovation is also highlighted through this case study. The success achieved through this project also reinforces the principles of systemic and continuous innovation. The study brings out the fact that though change initiatives were not planned and implemented keeping any model in consideration, successful change efforts could be effectively described through an appropriate model. The model developed and described for change management here, if considered during the planning of any change initiative, would definitely help enhance the effective-ness and success of change and development efforts for any organization.

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Occupational Stress and its impact on QWL with specific reference to Hotel Industry

Mohla Charu

Maharaja Agrasen Institute of Management Studies, Rohini, Delhi, INDIA
deepticharu@yahoo.co.in

This study endeavours to draw attention to occupational stress amongst workers in so-called ‘low risk industries’ – namely the service and hospitality industries - and to explore their perceptions of stress, their attitudes to managing stress and their responses to the recent inclusion of stress in the Health and Safety in Employment Amendment Act, 2002. It is also the intention to broaden the scope of analysis by investigating a range of employment factors – such as heavy workloads, interpersonal relationships and organizational factors - which can contribute to occupational stress amongst workers. Findings indicate that working in the hospitality industry can be stressful and that many workers are vulnerable in terms of their poor working conditions and low wages. Consistent with other studies, it was also found that there was low trade union presence and a high rate of casualization and staff turnover. At the same time, there was a lack of overt conflict between management and workers, with an apparent close alignment of goals between the two parties and a style of management that could be described as unitarist.

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Employees’ Perception on Welfare Practices- A Study of A.P. Eastern Power Distribution of AP Limited

Ramesh M.

School of Commerce and Management, Dravidian University, Kuppam 517 425, Chittoor District (Andhra Pradesh), INDIA
rameshmoturi@gmail.com

Welfare is a corporate attitude or commitment reflected in the expressed care for employee at all levels. Obviously, there must be financial constraints but a concern for welfare makes no immediate contribution to perceived managerial priorities. An attempt is made here to elicit the views of the respondents on the various issues relating to the welfare practice in the EPDCL under the study. On the basis of the results, it is suggested that the performance of employees in any organization depends on the policies, procedures and welfare facilities adopted by the organization. The organization is stretching its hands to provide full range of welfare facilities to workers i.e. statutory and non statutory benefits. Apart from that, facilities like medical aid and subsidized food will improve the health and standards of living of the workmen that may positively affect loyalty, sincerity and commitment which in turn will bring morale and productivity.

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Environmental Accounting and Reporting In India: An Appraisal

Sharma V.K.

New York Institute of Technology, Bahrain Campus, BAHRAIN
vks123@gmail.com

Earth’s environment is a rich heritage handed over to us by previous generations. The present civilization is involved in varied activities. Many of these activities generate waste with potential constituents. The ultimate disposal of the waste leads to environmental pollution. One of the significant buzzwords emerging out of the globalization and privatization paradigms has been corporate social responsibility. Responsibility towards environment has become one of the most crucial areas of social responsibility. We have witnessed environmental degradation during the recent years. Environmental pollution is a worldwide phenomenon. In many parts of the world, the magnitude of pollution of environment has already reached an alarming level. It spoils human health, reduces economic productivity and leads to loss of amenities. Now-a-days, consumers expect firms to meet high health and safety standards for workers, respect human rights, protect the interests of consumers and meet environmental standards.

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Book Review:

“Steve Jobs”
by Walter Isaacson

Publishers: Simon & Schuster (USA) Little, Brown (UK) – 2011 ISBN: 978-1-4087-0374-8

Reviewed by Rungta Shravan Associate Professor (Marketing) at N L Dalmia Institute of Management Studies and Research, Mumbai, INDIA

The Personality Seldom has the world witnessed a personality who has influenced, defined, shaped and reshaped a gamut of Industries worldwide. And seldom has a personality deviated, criticized and had utter disregard for conventional theory and practice of leadership. Steven Paul Jobs has been one such individual who has had as many admirers as those who hated him for his working style. Walter Isaacson, the CEO of Aspen Institute, has accomplished capturing the lives and times of historical figures like Einstein, Benjamin Franklin and Henry Kissinger. Being at the helm of affairs of two of world foremost media brands like CNN and Time Magazine, he has had one of the best perspectives on remarkable individuals and their impact on society at large. In this book of Walter Isaacson titled “Steve Jobs”, he presents a somewhat personal and a more public account of a man who defied conventional leadership style and created his own road, leading him to both grief and glory in equal measure. There are many ways to interpret (review) the book, but as I took this journey (of reading the book) I noticed two remarkable themes constantly appearing and re-appearing throughout the so called only „Official” biography of the maverick they fondly called “Steve Jobs”.

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