Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India (ICFAI) University 2008 C.A Accounts -PCC--08_ – 6- INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT.doc - Question Paper

Globalisation by a Company. (4 + six = 10 Marks)

ques. 9

What is Benchmarking? discuss briefly the elements involved in Benchmarking process. (3 +7 = 10 Marks)

ques. 10

learn the subsequent case and ans the ques. provided at the end:
Sahni Auto Industries is a manufacturer and exporter of Auto parts with an annual turnover of
Rupees 1 thousand crores. It employs about 2,000 persons in its factory in Punjab and its
other offices in India and abroad.
The Personnel Administration and Human Resources Department of the company is headed
by Mr. Amit Kapoor--the Chief Personnel Manager. Mr. Amit Kapoor, an Automobile Engineer
joined the company five years ago as Product Development Manager. After a successful stint of
4 years as Product Development Manager, he was transferred to Personnel Administration
and Human Resources Department as the Chief Personnel Manager as a part of Career
development plan. Mr. Vikas, MBA in Human Resources from a renowned Business school,
joined the company as Personnel Manager only three months back. He reports to Mr. Amit
Kapoor--the Chief Personnel Manager. He handles all routine personnel and industrial
relations matters.
One day, during informal discussion with Mr. Amit Kapoor, Mr. Vikas suggested him of linking
Human Resources Management with Company's strategic goals and objectives to further
improve business performance and also to develop Organisational culture that fosters more
innovative ideas. He also advocated creating abundant 'Social Capital' on the ground that
people tend to be more productive in an environment which has trust and goodwill embedded
in it rather than which is highly hierarchical and formal. Mr. Amit Kapoor disagreed with Mr.
Vikas and told him that the role of Human Resources Department was only peripheral to the
business and all his suggestions about its strategic role were beyond the purview of Personnel
Administration and Human Resources Department. After this, Mr. Vikas started having number
of arguments with Mr. Amit Kapoor in several problems relating to personnel and industrial
relations since he felt that a person with a degree in Human Resources Management was in a
far better position to run Personnel Administration and Human Resources Department. Mr.
Amit Kapoor – the Chief Personnel Manager had often shown his displeasure on Mr. Vikas's
argumentative. tendency and had made it known to the General Manager.
The General Manager called Mr. Amit Kapoor in his office to inform him that he has been
elected for an overseas assignment. He further told him to obtain a suitable person as his
successor; he even suggested Mr. Vikas as a possible candidate. Mr. Amit Kapoor, however,
opted Mr. Balram, who was working as Training Manager in a Multinational Company for
the last five years.
Mr. Vikas, soon started having arguments with Mr. Balram also over number of problems relating
to industrial relations since he felt that he had no experience in handling industrial relations
matters. Mr. Balram now realised that Mr. Vikas was trying to make things difficult for him.
After a series of meetings with the General Manager, Mr. Balram eventually succeeded in
convincing him to transfer Mr. Vikas to an office outside Punjab. On learning about his
impending transfer, Mr. Vikas wrote a letter to the General Manager joining details of different
instances, when Mr. Balram had shown his incompetence in handling problematic situations.
When asked for explanation by the General Manager, Mr. Balram had refuted almost all the
allegations. The General Manager accepted his explanation and informed Mr. Vikas that most
of his allegations against Mr. Balram were unwarranted and baseless. He further advised him
to avoid confrontation with Mr. Balram. Mr. Vikas then wrote a letter to the Chairman repeating
all the allegations against Mr. Balram. On investigation, the Chairman obtained most of the
allegations were actual. He then called all the three-the General Manager, the Chief Personnel
Manager and the Personnel Manager in his office and implored them to forget the past and
henceforth to work in coordination with every other in an environment of Trust and Goodwill.

Questions

(a) Indentify and explain the major problems raised in the case. (6 Marks)

(b) Comment on the recruitment of the 2 Chief Personnel Managers. (4 Marks)

(c) Would you justify Mr. Vikas's argumentative tendency with the Chief Personnel
Managers? provide reasons for your ans. (4 Marks)

(d) Do you agree with suggestion offered by Mr. Vikas to link? Human Resources
Management with the company's strategic goals? If yes, suggest prominent areas where
Human Resources Department can play role in this regard. (6 Marks)

Earning:   Approval pending.