HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT MODULE A QUIZ 1

Strategic HRM aligns people-related policies and capabilities with the bank’s business objectives. It goes beyond routine administration by ensuring that staffing, skills, performance, culture and rewards support long-term organisational goals.

Human capital refers to the knowledge, skills, competencies, experience and other productive capabilities embodied in people. Investment in learning and development can improve this capital and organisational performance.

HRM is the broader framework for managing the employment relationship, including staffing, compensation, performance and employee relations. HRD is a development-focused component concerned with learning, capability building, career development and organisational development.

Confidentiality requires personal and employment information to be accessed and disclosed only for legitimate, authorised purposes. HR ethics also requires fairness, integrity and respect for employee and candidate privacy.

Person–job fit concerns the match between an individual’s attributes and the demands or requirements of a particular job. A good fit can improve performance, satisfaction and retention, though it does not remove the need for development.

Groupthink occurs when the desire for harmony or unanimity suppresses critical evaluation and dissent. Leaders can reduce it by inviting independent views, assigning a devil’s advocate and evaluating alternatives systematically.

Transformational leadership motivates people through a shared vision, intellectual stimulation, inspirational motivation and individualised consideration. The described behaviours align especially with challenging assumptions and coaching staff.

Effective teams need a clear shared objective, defined roles, complementary skills, open communication, trust and accountability. Clear roles reduce duplication and confusion while coordinated problem-solving improves outcomes.

A quality circle is a small group, usually of employees doing related work, that meets voluntarily or regularly to identify, analyse and solve work-related quality or productivity problems. It encourages participation and continuous improvement.

DMAIC—Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve and Control—is the common Six Sigma framework for improving an existing process. It uses data to reduce defects and variation and to sustain improvements.

TQM emphasises organisation-wide commitment to customer satisfaction and continuous improvement, with employees at different levels participating in improving processes. Quality is treated as everyone’s responsibility rather than solely the inspection department’s job.

Benchmarking compares processes, performance or practices against relevant internal or external reference points to identify gaps and adopt improvements. The comparison should be contextualised rather than copied without considering differences.

Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) involves fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in measures such as cost, quality, service and speed.

A positive attitude supports constructive responses, persistence, cooperation and service orientation. It does not mean ignoring genuine problems; it means approaching them realistically and seeking workable solutions.

Effective stress management combines organisational measures (reasonable workloads, role clarity, support and breaks) with individual coping skills. Addressing root causes is preferable to treating stress only as an individual weakness.

Professional etiquette includes punctuality, preparation, respectful language, attentive listening, appropriate appearance and disciplined use of meeting technology. It supports credibility and effective working relationships.

Kotter’s model begins by creating a sense of urgency, helping people understand why change is necessary. The later steps include building a guiding coalition, forming and communicating a vision, empowering action, generating short-term wins, sustaining acceleration and anchoring change.

A change agent facilitates and supports organisational change. The role may be performed by an internal leader or HR professional, or by an external consultant; effectiveness depends on credibility, communication and stakeholder engagement.

Responsibility charting makes decision rights and roles explicit. It reduces gaps, overlap and delays by clarifying accountability and the involvement expected from different stakeholders.

Knowledge management involves creating, capturing, organising, sharing and applying knowledge. Documenting experienced employees’ tacit know-how in case notes helps convert it into explicit knowledge that others can access and use.